I had a pilots licence, no pilot job, an idea, gratitude and patience. It worked. It took 7 months.
It's a frustrating process sometimes having payed over $50,000 for flying training and not being able to get your foot in the door for a job. That sum was back in 2012. These days by the time a pilot finishes all his training and gets all the ratings they're easily paying more than $100,000 – which could have been used for a deposit on a house.
The first flying job is always the hardest to get. After achieving my commercial pilot licence and flight instructor rating I began instructing in my spare time. However, this wasn't a paid role. It was a volunteering job but it was getting me the odd hour every now and then. I was grateful for what I had at the time. It was the best I could get within the current circumstances I was in.
Getting my first 60 hours instructing, for free, was an enjoyable experience. Finally, flying without having to pay for it! This was a dream. Those 60 instructional hours were achieved over the course of 2 years. Very slow and steady. Today I'll rack up 60 hours in just over two weeks – just to give a perspective on how steady the process was back then.
Over the course of those 2 years whilst looking for a breakthrough – I wavered in and out of motivation due to the amount of effort I was putting in with little in return. I went back to the drawing board. Right. What do I like doing? Driving is the first thing that came to my mind. I've been driving for the Department of Education since I left high school. I was taking school children with disabilities from their homes to school in the morning and vice versa in the afternoon. I was their private chauffeur. I loved this position. Thought it was fun, easy, and enjoyable. My pay was on a monthly basis. The payment wasn't flash either, but it was enough to live off.
I wouldn't drop the job due to my love of driving. My job reminded me of flying in the respect that I did everything a pilot would do in their job except I was on the ground and pilots were in the air - I was responsible for the lives of passengers, I had to get them to school and back home on a scheduled time, I had to conduct myself with a high level of professionalism – right down to the menial tasks such as refuelling the van and filling out paperwork. That's probably why I continued doing it – because it reminded me of where I wanted to be eventually – doing the exact same thing, however, in the sky rather than on the road. I was keeping my dream alive without even realising I was doing it.
In mid 2014 a thought chimed up in my head. How great would it be to drive the skydiving bus for one of the skydiving companies in Sydney?! That would be awesome. It'd be the same deal as what I'm doing now- transporting passengers - however the only difference being the vehicle is bigger and more passengers – and of course its skydiving! – The thought definitely got my interest going. If I get in to the company as a driver I can utilise that opportunity to form a network with the chief pilot and some of the pilots already in the company. Bus driver to pilot. That was the plan. Sounded simple to me but there was a bit of work to do.
I threw in a resume online for Skydive the Beach, however I heard nothing back from them. I thought, nah I'm going to make this work somehow. I had a plan.
I made it a goal to learn 5 brand new skills before the end of the year. Learning to drive a truck and getting a truck licence was one of them. I rang an instructor that a family member recommended. He answered. I told him my name and that I wanted to learn how to drive a truck. There was a pause. After some negotiations we settled a date for a weekend – a week later.
After a two day course, unlearning and relearning, shifting 13 gears, and a bunch of gear crunching moments later – I developed the competency to pass my driving test for a Heavy Rigid licence. I was stoked.
I still never heard from the Skydive the Beach mob so later that the year in December 2014 I gave Sydney Skydivers a call and asked them directly if they needed drivers. They transferred me to a man named Russell. I thought, damn! I know that name! I could still remember his face from around the time I did my first Tandem jump when I left school. I told him right away that I remembered him from years ago and we developed a conversation. I asked him directly if he needed drivers on the buses. I knew from the very first word he said, through the tonality of his voice that he was looking for someone.
"We could actually do with a driver. You've called at a very opportune time. Send us a resume and we'll go from there". A bit more talk then I closed the phone and wasted no time. This was it. The chance I've been hustling for.
I've always had a good habit of keeping my resume updated every few weeks, which meant I emailed an updated resume through minutes after closing the phone.
Russell calls back 10 minutes later and says he'll give me a trial run with one of their drivers in 3 days time. I was ready to go.
From the moment I rang for the position, through to sending in my resume in, then getting called back with an OK - took a total of 40 minutes flat.
I didn't know what to expect, so I played it safe by wearing formal – white buttoned up shirt, black pants, and black leather shoes. I met one of the drivers in the city who was willing to show me the ropes. When I first walked into the Dropzone I started introducing myself. I got absolutely laughed at. I was "way too formal" apparantly. Skydiving staff uniforms were lax. A polo shirt. That's it. You can wear whatever shoes and pants you wanted. There was no requirement to rock up clean shaven either. I thought damn – the hell is this place? – Heaven!?
I met Phil, the owner of the place, who held the record for the most number of jumps done in the southern hemisphere (35,000 jumps). He's been jumping since the 70's and I had a tremendous amount of respect for his personal achievements. We had a good conversation on my first day there. We swapped stories and I had the nerve to straight up ask him for his minimum requirements on his planes. I was 300 hours too short from what he wanted. I didn't meet his insurance requirements but that didn't stop me from trying to negotiate with him over the next 7 months.
It was nearing the end of the year and the peak of summer. This meant that skydiving was in its prime time. Summer is the busiest period of the year with many wanting to jump. The majority of our customers were backpackers. Busy was good. Busy is what I wanted. I just wanted to drive all day. I never complained once since I got there.
I learned the ropes in just one day. Within the next few months I was given the opportunity to move into a full-time role. The money I was making monthly was more than double the amount then what I was making in my previous driving job. This later provided me an opportunity to learn how to skydive and buy my own parachute – another skill I added to my list of achievements.
Most busy days I was doing a good 7 hours of driving a day – running up and down the highway as much as 3 times both ways. The Dropzone was an hour from the city. The city is the hub where we picked up our customers from.
The job was a life-changer. It elevated my customer service skills and I became more socially savvy as time went on. The more I talked to different people the more comfortable I felt around anyone who I met. I drew the epiphany that 'people are people'. They are what they are. Everyone is different in their own ways. Never try change them. Just because they don't think and act like I do doesn't mean they are wrong – they're just different. After all, there are hundreds of methods of how to live life. The key is to find an effective method to communicate with them without the need to enforce your beliefs and methods on them. This is social intelligence, and I was improving on it day in and day out.
On one of my days off I decided to go down for a trip to Wollongong airport and watch the parachuting aircraft in action. When I arrived, I parked my car near the fence where the Cessna Caravan picked up the skydivers from near the Skydive the Beach hangar. I wanted to get closer to the action so I went right up airport boundary fence, grabbing on the fence with both hands whilst positioning my face as close to the fence as possible. I can smell the fumes of jet fuel along with the sounds of the Pratt and Whitney PT6 engine. When the Caravan landed and taxied back in to pick up the next load of parachutists I noticed a blond-haired chick flying the aircraft. She pulled up near the hangar and the jumpers all loaded up then she put the power in to taxi back out toward the runway for another parachute drop. I continued to stare in admiration. I'd do anything to be in her position commanding that aircraft, anything! As she taxied past me, she seen me standing there on the fence, looking attentively. She waved, I waved back excitedly.
After that moment, I was motivated beyond belief to put my efforts in to be in her position. I wanted to do exactly what she was doing. Either I keep standing behind this fence as a spectator or I could be commanding that aircraft. It was a do or die situation.
I met the chief pilot and we had a good chat. He was honest and straightforward about the flying opportunities in the company. I thanked him for his time and made it a habit to revisit him at least once a month to keep my face fresh in his mind.
Months later I emailed the check and training pilot regarding a jump pilot course. We negotiated a few days to train during my time off. We ended up doing the ground school over the course of two days with the flights being done over the course of a month whenever there was availability (the weather wasn't in our favor on some days).
Nearing the end of my training there was an opportunity open up to fly parachuting operations in Melbourne. I was to replace a pilot who had moved on to something else. They were about to sign me up until a few weeks later I got a call saying the pilot who left wanted to come back for some reasons I didn't know about at the time. Damn it. I was almost in! My spirit however remained high as I had a feeling I was going to get something at some stage.
I was still on the buses doing my thing. I was enjoying every bit of the process. Grateful that I was doing a job I loved and was getting paid well for it. I made sure I was doing the best I can possibly do. I wanted to be in a position where I developed a standard so high that I was irreplaceable.
Since the start of my job I learnt many different skills such as socialising (having been a shy kid when I was younger), customer service, and editing videos while I hung out at the Dropzone waiting for my customers to finish their jump. When ever time permitted I would go for a jump as well. I was still within the "A" licence training phase at this stage progressing toward my "B" licence. I also started becoming more financially intelligent. Since I was making a good income for myself I developed a good habit of knowing how to spend it wisely, hence save it as well – as both traits work likewise.
Being a bus driver gave me the opportunity to meet many people in the skydiving industry which provided a gateway to network with other skydivers and pilots in other skydive companies. I wasn't a guy applying off the street anymore. I was already established in a respected company among skydivers which lead to myself connecting to pilots and jumpers from other Dropzones such as Wollongong. I used that to my advantage as there were people who were putting in a good word for me at the other end which gave me a few more points to scoring a pilot job with them. Trust takes time to build. It was a process that required patience, and I had plenty of it.
A long month went by and I got a call to come back down to Wollongong to finish off my ICUS hours which was part of my Jump Pilot course. After completing my last hour and shutting down the aircraft, I walk into the hangar and seen the check and training pilot talking to the chief pilot through the office window. They called me upstairs and I found myself standing in front of the two, as they stared at me with a level of seriousness.
"Harvey, we're going to offer you a choice – either Redcliffe or Byron Bay."
My first instance was wanting to jump over the table and hug the chief pilot. However, I contained my excitement somehow. I couldn't believe it. I was stunned at the offer made. I knew that Byron was the best Dropzone in the country, and never hesitated putting my decision toward it. I remained humble though, as I knew they were going to be monitoring my performance the minute I start working there. I thanked both gentlemen graciously as I walked out oozing with cheerfulness.
All my patience and hard work paid off. It took 2 years to get my first real start as a pilot after completing my commercial pilots licence. Who would have ever known that a truck licence provided the leeway to creating the connections required to get closer to my vision. It was a cunning way to get to my goal after failing so many other times before.
That one qualification made all the difference which provided the gateway to my dream job. One piece of skill that was completely unrelated to aviation worked its magic to get me closer to beginning a flawless adventure as a pilot.
The main takeaway is this.
Every qualification no matter how unrelated it is to where you want to end up matters. The more skills you learn, the more valuable you become in the marketplace. Skills and qualifications provide gateways which can direct your journey down different pathways, opening many doors and opportunities to channel you through to your vision.
Finally, can you recall the blond pilot chick that waved at me as she taxied past while I was standing behind the fence? Well, the next time I seen her, she was sitting in the right-hand seat this time. She was training the guy who she once waved at, as he stood spectating, admiring her job, 6 months earlier.
