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It's ODOO.com. Podcast 010. This is Metro Tower. You are cleared for takeoff.
Roger, Metro Tower. Podcast 010 is rolling. Welcome to Females in Aviation, Past and Present, episode 10. We are here today with Heather Ford, who is currently a pilot instructor in Valorat, Victoria, but has previously worked as an Australian bush pilot.
Welcome, Heather. Well, thanks. I appreciate it. I saw you out for this interview because I've actually had requests from some of the younger lady pilots on the Facebook page that we're both on.
And they asked me to do an interview with a bush pilot. They're very curious about that lifestyle. You are a Canadian? I should be in.
Yes. I was just going in Edmonton, Alberta. OK. So you've been in Australia since you were a youngster?
Since I was dead in here. Yes, OK. Awesome. And so tell me about how you got into flying and what led you to become a bush pilot.
Because of all the travel we did, I really enjoyed flying and thought it'd be something fly training and we had a lot of pace flying in the right. Oh, that's cool. And then we... So you had how many houses?
Three houses. Three houses and a pub. That's funny. OK.
He was pretty small. Yes, I guess. And so what exactly is a bush pilot? What did you do?
Where did you fly? And why? Because a main flight, main work was tourist flights. Wow, I guess.
So were they saw grass strips? Or were they paved runways that you like? Some of them, a lot of them, they were... Iraq, OK.
They were like interested. I had to feel them. OK. They were working on a paddle.
The paddle rustling, are you saying? Mustering. Mustering? Yeah.
So is that like rounding them up? Pretty much. OK. And you do that by air?
That by air, yes. Oh, lots of fun. It was great fun. The main station we worked for was called Anacryx Station.
It was 24,000 square kilometers. That sounds like so much fun. It was great. It was really fun.
And what kind of accommodations did you have if you stayed up there for three days? It's some fun. It was pretty rough. Some of the time they take us back out.
It sounds like fun. I think I would enjoy that. Definitely this is an occupation for women or men, but women who would enjoy that outdoor life, huh? Yeah, most definitely.
And other people and that night fish. Speaking of the people, were you pretty much accepted? Were you the only female bush pilot? Or how did that go for you?
We actually had quite a few. We probably had four or five pilots in the patient. Well, it sounds wonderful. Sounds like a great time.
So what made you move on from that? Well, I finished my second season with them. I had two and a half thousand hours. The engine time, because we just went to the original aircraft and I could still be around.
Oh, I bet it was. So that's where you are now as an instructor pilot. Yep, that's where I am now. I've been working on what I need to get for me very young.
So I'm not sure. So the bush pilot experience that so many of the young ladies have asked me about that they're kind of enthralled with or namored with. It almost has a romantic sound to it. I'm going to go be a bush pilot.
What's more of a stepping stone position? Would you say, are there people who just want to do that for life? There are people who just want to do that for life. Can you either way?
I definitely, if I got off the change of life with other companies in the outback of the bush pilot, I'd love to do that again. Yeah. Part of the reason I'm working here, and we want to go and find Dr. Servicine.
Yeah, it sounds amazing. It was beautiful. The challenges of the flying. Okay.
Okay. This is so much fun. You didn't tell them what a close call it was. No, no.
Would that be your funniest experience as a bush pilot? Or scary, yes. That would be potentially one of the most scary ones. No, actually I'm too busy admiring your tests.
Yeah, you're not healthy about the life like you're skilled. Thank you. That's a good one. Yeah, that was very fun.
Heather, what would you say is the biggest misconception that people have about being a bush pilot? I think a lot of people think. Sure. So it sounds like it could be with the right employer, a good, almost a good starter position.
It would be an easy to get a lot of ideas down to them. Amazing what you can do when you have to. Exactly. And you don't practice that at your home airport if you have the option to land more directly into the wind.
Why go with that strong crosswind so you don't get as much practice until necessity demands it? That's exactly it. And that's the one of the pilots that I try now. What would you say?
Heather, is there anything I have an ask that you'd like to share? But exactly. We're saying that anyone does that. I have a look at each job and I help you build for a start of flying.
I'm glad you said that. I'm glad you brought that into the conversation because I experienced that as well. You know, when I started flying in the 70s and of course there weren't even any air line pilots when I started flying. And everybody says that's the end all job.
I did end up rejecting an airline job to stay at Ford where I was a corporate pilot. But in the end when I reflect back I think I had the most fun teaching. Yeah. I instructed at a community college that had a two year flight training program and Johnson loved it.
That was the most fun of all. That would be fantastic. And there's something to say to teaching. I love it.
My love's being a student playing like a safari breathing track. I'm going to find it. Well, thank you so much for making the time to do this. That's okay.
I wish you the best in the future. You're looking to be a air ambulance. I could pilot next. Yeah.
So I'm looking to fly to the well-fined doctor for the doctor. Well, I wish you well with that. And once again, I thank you very much for joining us. Thank you very much.
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