A very public announcement advising John’s last flight - out of San Francisco in 2018. An emotional moment heralding impending retirement after 40 years.

But our retirement has been a blast. What will your retirement be like? We’ve put together this guide for every pilot. But it’s message is pertinent for anyone finishing their career, regardless of industry.

Like this introduction, it’s a long article - you’ll need your feet up, a good coffee and a muffin.

Captain Emma Hamilton sits firmly in the 1% of commercial pilots globally. As a female captain, she commands the B787 for Air New Zealand.

We’re thrilled to introduce her so she can tell us her story so far.

In our last article we heard from Tom what it’s like to start in the airlines as he rises up the career ladder. This week we hear from Jeremy Burfoot, ex Qantas A380 Captain, starting again as a First Officer on Air New Zealand’s A320 fleet.

Can you teach old dogs new tricks?

For those of you reaching for the dream, one of our Scholarship supporters, First Officer Tom Koppen, has made it! A few months back he passed all his line checks and is now living his dream - a pilot flying for Air New Zealand! Here, in this article, he talks about the training he had to go through once he began with the airline. An interesting read for those rising up behind him 👍

Gemma Bray, the fourth winner of the Pauwels Flying Scholarship Special Award (2022) has secured a full time Flight Instructor role at Nelson Aero Club. We are so proud of her!

Winning a Pauwels Flying Scholarship is one thing, but getting through the essential pilot training is another.

From leaving home, to organising adult life as well as University level pilot training, it’s a huge life change.

Mason Jensen tells us how it really is.

Flying the Concorde! Perhaps the apex experience in airline flying. John got the opportunity to tick off a bucket list item and we flew to the UK so John could fly the only operational Concorde Simulator in the world.

Was it worth it? Check out the cheesy smile at the end of the article.

BTW - it’s a long article so arm yourself with a coffee and a muffin and legs on the desk.

The sooner you decide that moving overseas for your first job after qualifying either as a CPL or C-Cat instructor is a likely scenario, the sooner you will find yourself employed in a global market starved of pilots - unlike in the tiny New Zealand market that produces way more CPL qualified pilots than there are jobs for.

Captain Shemuel Low decided very early on to head overseas and has never regretted his move.

In Part Two of Jetstar First Officer Andrew Vialoux’s aviation biography, he shares with us his Flight Instructor years and how and why he transitioned to an airline role.

There are many s to routes to an airline pilot role, and it’s important that you enjoy the journey to get there. Andrew’s story certainly demonstrates that the journey can be just as interesting as the destination.

We have another Pilot Progression story for you - both today and in our next post. First Officer Andrew Vialoux has an impressive history of Flight Instructing before he recently took the step into airline flying with Jetstar.

Today, he tells us about a good summary about his aviation career. Next article, he will focus on his successful Flight Instructing career and transition to airline flying.

Good Morning! This week we have videos to show! With the tragic cancellation of the Omaka airshow this weekend, we thought we might show you the B787 ZFT Simulator going through its paces.

Captain Arthur Gatland, Air NZ B787 Sim Instructor tells us what exactly ZFT means and how they work.

Aircraft are practically bullet proof these day (if not missile proof!) and the culture on the Flight Deck is pretty much as good as it can get. But aircraft disasters still occur.

Black Swan events are always going to happen so maybe crash analysis needs to change its mindset. Rather than “What went wrong?”, the question ought to be “What went right?” - so the lessons learnt can be passed onto crew who may find themselves in a similar set of circumstances in the future.

Between October 2018 and March 2019, 346 people died in two air crashes. they shared a common cause - Boeing’s secret MCAS system installed in the new B737 MAX aircraft.

The pilots in the first crash (that killed 189 innocent people) had no clue what was going on and therefore had no way to divert disaster.

The pilots in the second crash were able to identify the threat but went on to make two critical errors and a further 157 people died.

The Swiss Cheese model had been proven. Today, Captain Bob Henderson explains the model to us.

Pakistan International Airlines Flight 8303 crash in 2020 sums up in the one event everything that Captain Bob Henderson talks about in this Part 2 of his series of 4 articles on Human Factors.

Even if you aren’t a pilot, you will learn a lot about how and why we all make errors. The consequences of which can be minimal or fatal to many.

The Tenerife Air Disaster still remains the worst air disaster in history. Two 747s collided on the runway. 583 people died. Why?

In short, the culture at the time was that the Captain was God - his word was gospel - even when wrong.

In this first article (of 4 to be published over the next 3 fortnights), Captain Bob Henderson, an authority on Human Factors addresses why this culture of God Captain had to change.

How are we doing? We’ve operating since awarding the first scholarship in 2018. We have 14 recipients so far. So how are we doing? Are we learning as we go? How are our winners going? Read on to find out.

If you are thinking of applying for a scholarship, we’ll open the next round in February – put it in your diary.

And of course – a Meri Kirihimeti/Merry Christmas to everyone. We’ll join you again each Friday from 7^th February 2025.

It seems that our post last week struck a nerve with lots of people and after reading the comments on the post on social media, we felt that some people may not understand what student pilots today are having to deal with, financially.

We asked four of our winners who have either recently graduated, or are close to it, to tell us how they have handled the funding side of their qualifications – it’s tougher than even we thought! But excellent advice for young people considering pilot training.

This weeks article hits right at the centre of why John and I created our Scholarships. Today, you will read words from an impassioned author (me). A bit grumpy but hopefully with merit.

We’ll be curious to see what your thoughts are on this subject.

Have you ever wanted to take the controls of a Boeing 737? If you’re in Christchurch, Mike Pero’s Boeing 737 Simulator offers you the chance to pilot this iconic aircraft with guidance from a retired airline captain.

John is one of the instructors and I interviewed both him and Mike to find out more about the simulator and the client experience. For those of you who read the article, there’s a pleasant little surprise at the end – just in time for Christmas!

Now here’s a bit of controversy for the weekend. Definately food for thought. What’s more important for safe flight in a commercial airliner? Manual flying or flight management monitoring?

What are your thoughts after reading this well written article?