Aviation Careers Expo

Today my family and I headed off to the airport again but for a very special reason; the annual Aviation Careers Expo was on. We turned up right on starting time at 10am and made our way through to the first one of two buildings. There were many many stands offering information on every aspect of aviation you could think off; there were extensive and informative training demonstrations, seminars and the best part of all, a static aircraft display.

After wondering around the displays in the practical hall we went into the pool hall to watch the Care Flight huet demonstration. That was very interesting to watch and to see what these guys actually do.... they are truly amazing ladies and gentlemen. 

After being blown away by the rescue demonstrations we went back into the practical hall for a full on aircraft emergency evacuation demonstration. We were inside a wide body cabin training simulator, then after the inflight briefing, the lights started to flicker and smoke filled the cabin; then the lights went out. A full on emergency demonstration was then swung into action; hearing the words "brace brace brace" really gave me goose bumps. 

We then wandered up to building no 2 passing a sausage sizzle a few other marquees and the local radio station 97.3 FM along the way, inside the building was a small display of aircraft models and the defence forces but more importantly the heart of Aviation Australia, we got to see their workshops plus the aircraft they work on.

After wondering around there for a while we boarded the bus that took us for a short drive to the gate where the static display was being held. There we found many aircraft including a C17 Globemaster; a Super Hornet; 3 military helicopters and many small aircraft on display.  After wondering around we went on board the C17, and despite having to wait 1 hour and 45 mins to view the cockpit, the wait was well worth it... The cockpit was amazing; a lot more room than I expected.

FLIGHT ONE BEECH 58 VH-PRG (CN TH-1134)

FLIGHT ONE BEECH 200B SUPER KING AIR VH-FON (CN BB-1145)

FLIGHT ONE SIRRUS SR 20 VH-FOH (CN 2276)

BEECH 45 VH-XUS (CN T-34)

AVIATION AUSTRALIA PIPER PA-31P VH-UAA (CN 31P-7530009)

AVIATION AUSTRALIA BEECH C90 VH-SQH (CN LJ-730)

AVIATION AUSTRALIA BEECH C90 VH-CFO (CN LJ-510)

QUT (QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY)

CESSNA 172R VH-EWW (CN 17280090)

TECNAM P2004B 24-5300

ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE C17 GLOBEMASTER 111

PRATT & WHITTNEY F117 ENGINES

ARMY EUROCOPTER EC-655 TIGER A38-015

ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE F/A 18F A44-202

CIRRUS SR 22 VH-IXB (CN 154)

Then if today wasn't great enough, as we were about to leave I received a phone call from a lady named Vicky from Care Flight saying the raffle tickets we bought earlier that morning won the Care Flight Bear, so we have one very excited little girl. 

CareFlight is an Australian aeromedical charity, established in 1986.

CareFlight's mission is to save lives, speed recovery and serve the community by providing the highest standard of rapid response critical care. If you would like to donate to CareFlight please go to http://careflight.org/support1/donate3

During the day we met a lovely young lady by the name of Tiana Prudden who works for Aviation Australia and who's job it was to coordinate this whole event; Tiana invited us all to visit their brand new Boeing 737 simulator over in another part of their offices. It was very late in the afternoon when we called over and spoke to a gentleman by the name of Alan, time was getting on and we really wanted to catch a few of the aircraft departing Brisbane so we were torn between two great loves.... stay and look at the simulator or go; we chose to leave and made our way up to the turning circle at Brisbane airport as runway 01 was in use. Having taken hundreds of photos during the day we were now down to one camera and that battery light was flashing too; but we managed to capture the C17 departing Brisbane back to Amberley. 

Congratulations goes to Tiana and her team for putting on an amazing event, my family and I really enjoyed the day and the feedback I was getting from the guys at the turning circle was the same. 

If you are interested in any form of a career in aviation please take the time to look up Australian Aviation on the web or contact them directly and tell them about your hopes and dreams and I am confident the helpful team there will help you on your way.

Details are www.aviationaustralia.aero; or telephone 07 3860 0900