[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Welcome to the Sky Careers podcast and I'm your host, Mark Hodgson. Today I'm thrilled to share my conversation with Victoria McFarlane, a remarkable pilot who flies Airbus aircraft to some of the most challenging places on Earth, including Antarctica. Victoria is not just any pilot. She's also a human factors and non technical skills manager who brings a fascinating perspective on how modern aviation is evolving beyond technical flying skills. From her early dreams of becoming a pilot to landing on frozen oceans, Victoria's story shows how an aviation career can take you to places you never imagined. And as a mother of two young sons who send their favorite toys along for Antarctic adventures, Victoria proves that even the coolest jobs in the world can still get cooler. Join us as we explore Victoria's journey and discover what it takes to fly to the bottom of the world.
[00:01:10] Speaker C: So, Victoria, welcome to the Sky Careers pod.
You and I met, oh when we first, you were one of our first Sky. Sky Careers ambassadors.
And you know, and that, that, that involves doing a video interview which is still, you can still see on our Sky Careers website and we'll put a link to that in the notes. And you've got that sort of fantastic role where you're not only a pilot, but you fly down to the Antarctic. And I remember standing on, standing when, when we launched Sky Careers at the Perth Careers exhibition. Yeah, there was a lot of interest in your car because it's such a, it's like, you know, it's a, it's a girl pilot. Flies, flies to the South Pole. What, what, what, what? What a lovely story. So, yeah, when I thought of podcast guests, you were, you came, came straight to, straight to the top of the list of someone who, you know, I think would be really interesting for our listeners to get to know a little bit more about. And really, as ever, you know, what we're very interested in, Victoria, is understanding how, how did you get to do what you do today and where have you come from? Because at Sky Careers, we're all about helping people. Maybe they're not in aviation at all yet and they're maybe a bit curious about it, or maybe they're in aviation and they've just joined and it seems, it seems a bit confusing and not quite sure where to go next. So anything, anything we can share with people to show the breadth of the industry and also the little stepping stones people take to, to get to where they go to. That, that'd be great. So, so welcome. So how are you?
[00:02:48] Speaker A: I'm good. Thank you very much for having me. It's kind of exciting that this is expanding into the podcast. And yeah, it's a pleasure to be here.
[00:02:57] Speaker C: So, so I, so I don't maul it and get it wrong. So tell me about your, your, your, your. Tell me your current role and where you work.
[00:03:05] Speaker A: Yeah, so I am a captain on the Airbus A319 and I as non technical skills manager for a private company based out of Tullamarine.
[00:03:18] Speaker C: Wow. That, that, that, that's. We'll pick apart, we'll pick apart the second because that's. That says that sounds like something we'll want to explore. So you're a pilot.
How did you become a pilot? So where did you go to school and what were your favorite. What were your favorite subjects that, that, that led a young Victoria to be now flying over the ice?
[00:03:41] Speaker A: Very good question. And not probably not the path that I anticipated at that point, but I went to school in Western Australia, up in the hills in Les Mdy. And I really loved a mixed bag at school. I always enjoyed my maths, I always enjoyed my sciences, but I also really loved drama studies and English and a little bit of sport and I was a bit of, you know, I'd like to try everything, give everything a go. So I don't think that I really focused very. I didn't have a single focus in high school, I suppose. And I did know very early on that I wanted to be a pilot, but I, I wasn't 100% sure what that really meant. I thought, I think, I thought I wanted to be an airline pilot. But when I finished my flying training, I went straight in. After high school, I did one year full time to get my commerc. And when I finished, I realized that there was this whole world out there that I knew nothing about. General aviation in Australia, that was a big shock to the system. And in the end it turned out to be a wonderful one, I suppose.
[00:04:57] Speaker C: Fantastic. And when you say you'd wanted to be a pilot from sort of an early age, how did that come about?
A film went to an air show.
What was the moment?
[00:05:11] Speaker A: I think it was a bit of a mix. So I'm very fortunate that we traveled a bit. When I was a kid. We used to go back and forth to the uk, where my parents are from, and I had really strong memories of walking up the stairs on the 747 into the days when you could go into the cockpit and say hello in the middle of the flight. So I remember that. I remember looking out the window and seeing Runway lights and feeling excited by that and my uncle is a pilot over, he works for Emirates. And when I was really young, he also took us up in a small aircraft. And I actually, I don't remember the flight itself, but my parents say that was really the moment that you just latched onto it and, and it all.
[00:05:54] Speaker C: Went from there, that little spark and you've just gone up, you've just gone up in my estimation. Did I hear you're, you're actually a fellow, fellow Brit or kind of?
[00:06:04] Speaker A: Yes, my parents are both British. So there you go.
[00:06:08] Speaker C: You've got, you've got the royal blood in there. Victoria, of course, that explains why you, why you've got, why you've gone so far. So when you, so how did you. Now, for those who don't know, and I only know this because you told me before, an A319 is, it's similar to what an A320, I think is that most of us would jump on to fly, to short haul flying within Australia and other parts of the world. But it's different, isn't it? And what's different about it?
[00:06:41] Speaker A: Yeah, so very similar, like you say. So the 318, the 319, the 320, the 321, they're all the same from a pilot perspective, largely. But what they did is they took the aircraft and they just stretched the body of it. So the 319's body is just a little bit shorter, a little bit smaller in that respect, but same cockpits, essentially the same endorsement. So, yeah, we have a bit of a mixed fleet. So we have mostly 319. So we have 320s as well.
[00:07:13] Speaker C: Yeah. And how, how did, how did you end? How did you. So you, you said you, you, you, you've become aware that there's a much rather than sort of the Channel One airline, sort of traditional, you know, a Qantas or a Jetstar or an Etihad or something like that or that kind of, that kind of.
What was your stepping stones from? I guess finishing your flying training, get a commercial pilot's license and then kind of go, okay, where can I go now?
What was your potted history, if you like?
[00:07:44] Speaker A: Yeah, so during my flight training, I was still very focused on working for an airline. And at the time I really wanted to fly for Qantas and I, I heard they had a cadetship program that I could apply for. And I remember that I applied for that and I didn't get in. I got knocked back at the application stage thinking, well, maybe they were thinking, go out and get Some real experience first and then come chat to us later. But the, yeah, I think that really, that was the first time I really had to think about a second option. And I was only 17, about to turn 18, so, so I still had plenty of time, I guess, to work out what happened next. And so once I started to be.
[00:08:34] Speaker C: Relieved to know it's 17 and 18, it's not too late.
[00:08:39] Speaker A: It's not too late.
You've got your whole life ahead of you. But yeah, so I started asking around at the flight school, well, what else? What do you do? If you're not an airline pilot, what do you do? And became the common story was, well, you, you go up north, this elusive up north, and that was either up north in WA or up to the Northern Territory. And, and you try and get your first job. And so I did. Once I got my commercial, I drove up to Darwin and out to Arnhem Land, and you go and you knock on people's doors and you're handing your resume and they tell you to go away, you don't have enough hours. And eventually somebody gives in because you're very persistent in trying to get a job. And yeah, so that really started my, my time in general aviation. And I guess throughout that, you know, that first kind of knockback gave me the, the ability to see that, wow, this is whole world I don't know about. And you start with one job that leads into this other job you didn't know about, and then somebody tells you about something else that you've never heard of. And it just kind of evolved like that. I will say that I planned to be a pilot. That's definitely what I wanted to do. But it wasn't until much later in this process that I thought, oh, do you know what I'd really love to do? I'd love to fly to Antarctica. And how do I go about doing that? It wasn't something I set out from the get go, but as my life evolved and my career evolved and I opened my mind to different opportunities, different jobs, then it all just kind of, you know, followed on from each other.
[00:10:26] Speaker C: So it's really interesting in the pre chat you and I had, I think one of the things that comes across having, you know, I'm lucky I get to interview so many smart men and women in aviation and sort of do this sort of backstory conversation. And there are recurring themes and one of the, one of them is, you know, a sort of to, to be successful, you need a good attitude, you need to be, you need to Be versatile. You need to be resilient. I think it's. It's the idea there's lots of opportunities, but yet. But, but the industry might make you work them a little bit. So it's. Yeah, you're not just. You're unlikely to just walk into your dream job. And absolutely. A lot of times it's, you know, it's. It's where you end up maybe through three or four stages.
But one thing that shines about your story, and I'm going to the question we asked you, are you. Are you glad that you didn't get the tick for Qantas all those years ago and just went straight into the kind of, you know, the short haul and. Or long haul sort of. Yeah. Career. That is in many ways, isn't it? In many ways, it's almost seen as the apex of flying. But I wonder if it really is.
[00:11:36] Speaker A: Yeah, look, and if the Qantas recruitment team are listening, then forgive me for a second, but the.
Yes, in. In many ways, I think that there is still a huge, you know, had my career gone that way, had I got into Qantas that day and gone that way, I believe I would have made the most of it and I would have had a wonderful time and that would have just been a different path. But at the time, it felt devastating that there was. That everything I thought I had been doing this for was now gone. And I didn't know, you know, this was going to be the second best option and that wasn't the reality at all. I could never have imagined doing some of the things I've got to do. And. Yeah, if you take me back and say, would you change it all? No, I wouldn't, because I've had a totally different experience that I didn't anticipate and I've loved. I'm not. No, I was about to say I've loved every minute. That's not true. That's absolutely not true. And I love that you use the word resilience because it's what you really do need in this industry.
No matter how smooth your path is, there will be days, moments, points in your career where you think, oh, gosh, what am I doing too hard? Or this is not taking me where I want it to go, but how you pick yourself up and how you open your mind to, well, what am I going to do about this? What's next? What do I need?
You know, that's all comes from your resilience. And, yeah, I'm very grateful for the career I've had and the little forks in the road that led me somewhere I didn't quite anticipate.
[00:13:21] Speaker C: Yeah, I love that the. I do quite a lot of work in leadership and one, I can't remember who told me now, I think one of, one of my. One. I think, I think people misunderstand resilience. Often resilience is portrayed as the ability to stand strong.
And I think the better understanding of resilience is actually the ability when you've been knocked back or disappointed or in some way fresher, resilience is the ability to, to, to bounce back you consistently. And that's almost more of an elasticity. And I think you know what you're describing and also what a lot of other guests describe it. I think it creates perspective, it creates strength and you know, it encourages our persistence to strive to where we want it to where we want to get to.
[00:14:14] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:14:15] Speaker C: Fast forward because we can't not talk about the, the ice and so forth. So tell us about, so just tell us about a typical day because you now fly, one of your roles is you fly down to service the, the scientists and other people on, on the, on, on the, on the southern ice and you'll tell, you'll say more about it than I will. Talk us through, Talk us through firstly what that's about and then what, how does that get set up? What's a typical day when you, when you leave your two lovely young sons in the morning or maybe the night before.
Where are you off to? Mama's up. I'm going to the South Pole. See in a few days.
[00:14:58] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, so a typical day for an Antarctic flight. And you know. Yeah, I've got to say that this is. Once I had heard that there was this company that flew to Antarctica. I did everything I possibly could to get that job and felt very grateful that I did because it is still mind blowing to me. I've done seven seasons or this is my seventh season that was just commenced and it, it doesn't get old. It's, it's a pretty, it's a pretty special operation. So typically our biggest issue with flying to the ice or flying to the Antarctic is the weather forecasting and the variability in that. It's quite a challenging place to forecast. The Met forecasters are amazing, but they're specialized in, in their area of Antarctica even and the local kind of conditions that they come across. So we work very closely with MET forecasting teams and that can be from different nationalities depending on what kind of work we're doing. But we will Usually in the lead up, maybe even a week out, we'll start getting preliminary forecasts and a little bit of idea of big picture stuff and then as it gets closer it starts to get a little bit more accurate as to timings of weather. We can make a call maybe two days out, look no good. We're going to shift the flight we've got in two days time, another two days and we'll reassess then. But if everything's looking okay, then the night before or the day before we'll have a video forecast. Usually with the team we get given a whole bunch of information, different models. I had to learn a lot about things that weren't in my usual meteorological exam or any of my usual pre flight stuff for just Sydney, Melbourne.
[00:16:49] Speaker C: A very deep relationship with meteorologists and weather people.
[00:16:52] Speaker A: Yes, yeah we do because it really is, that's the hardest bit and often it's looking at the different timing. So we want the weather has to be good enough of course for us to land. That's usually what we think about as pilots. But it then also has to be suitable for the entire period we're on the ground, which is often not what we think about as pilots. And then it needs to be suitable. Should we take off and we have something go wrong before we get to a point where we have enough fuel to carry on to mainland Australia or New Zealand, we need to be able to turn around and go back. So we've got these three kind of levels we're looking at. We make a call the night before, then we make another call in the morning, then we'll typically have another brief once we get to the aircraft. And then if everything's good, expedition is a loaded and freights loaded. If we've got freight and away we go. And then we use the sat phone to call our favorite people, the Met forecasters again. And we'll be now we're looking for this, we expect this and now what are you observing? And if they match then that gives us a lot of confidence, of course and we might continue.
If they start to diverge in what they expected, now what they're seeing, then that starts to make us feel a little bit nervous about how confident can we be in the forecast. And you know, it's not, it's not common but it's certainly not unheard of either where we do what we call a boomerang. So if we get there and we think this isn't right, then we'll turn around and we'll come back because it is not the kind of place you take excessive risk, of course.
[00:18:33] Speaker C: Versions. Have you. Sorry you haven't got many diversions.
[00:18:37] Speaker A: No, exactly. So there's a lot to think about and. Yeah, but all things being, all things going our way, we get this beautiful view of if we're doing some work for the Americans or the Italians, if we're lucky enough to do that. The Trans Antarctic mountains, Mount Erebus with smoke coming out of the top of this beautiful volcano or for the Australians even just beautiful icebergs and coasts and this pristine ice. And they will have graded a Runway for us which changes, gives us different surface definition and that allows us to get the right perspective. Not all places we have have approaches, but usually we have a GPS approach that allow us to get to. Down to a certain level. But then it's all visual flying and yeah, you get to land on the ice, you do a turnaround, you swap expeditioners or you know, whatever you're doing that day. Usually about an hour, an hour and a half on the ice. You take a lot of selfies. It doesn't matter how many times you've been, you'll do that and we'll, we'll.
[00:19:45] Speaker C: Pop into the show notes here, not only your original video, but your, your sky career card because it's got some gorgeous, I think some of the, some of our favorite images. I mean, yeah, if you can't take a good selfie on the ice, what are you doing?
Not trying hard. It was.
[00:20:00] Speaker A: It's of the Antarctic pilot training. Sophie.
[00:20:06] Speaker C: I'm looking fabulous. But the ice is one. Yeah, but we're looking good. That's the main thing.
[00:20:10] Speaker A: Well, nowadays, you know, when I was younger, it was a lot of selfies and fun photos of the crew and it's still that. But now I also have the additional tasks with my two sons. They have a rotation of special toys that get to go to Antarctica and they come down in my suitcase and they come out and they have to have photos on the ice. So now I also look pretty silly with three or four teddies or cars or something under my arm gu. Going down and, and taking photos of them.
[00:20:36] Speaker C: I'm gonna ask you to send me some more pictures and we'll, we'll put them. We'll find a. What? We'll find a way of putting them on the podcast because it's. Yeah.
And you're doing a beautiful job of painting a picture, but I think I want to see the pictures. I want to see the pictures.
[00:20:50] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:20:51] Speaker C: We'll see what we could. We'll see what we can do there.
How, how often? So how so? I mean, what's, what's the. In theory, you, you guys are providing the service to their what, every week, twice a month?
[00:21:05] Speaker A: Three times.
[00:21:07] Speaker C: What's the, what's the theoretical schedule?
[00:21:10] Speaker A: Yeah. So normally the season lasts from October through to March. So the summer season and we try to fly, typically fly about once a week during that time except for now the ice actually the Runway becomes too warm, the ice becomes too warm and we get a little bit of melt during, usually during January. So now we don't typically fly during January and so it's kind of that. Yeah, beginning of the season, it's just started and then we start up again in February after, after the January break.
We can operate outside of that and we do do some special operations in the case of say a medevac if, if needed or sometimes working for other nations that like to fly in a little bit earlier or helping take their Runway team in or the team that opens up the station, we can do that kind of stuff that's not as common.
[00:22:08] Speaker C: And I'm going to ask a silly question just in case the answer.
[00:22:11] Speaker A: No silly questions. No such thing.
[00:22:13] Speaker C: I know. Is there, is there room for two little boys?
[00:22:21] Speaker A: I wish, I really wish I could. I have taken them flying on a, on a ferry flight in the Airbus, but unfortunately not to the ice. But they, they, they are my biggest supporters. They always wear their penguin socks and their penguin jumpers and you know, they're big, they're a great cheer squad.
[00:22:41] Speaker C: You'd be the ultimate cool mum ride at school.
[00:22:45] Speaker A: Maybe. I don't know how long that's gonna last, but I'll take it while I.
[00:22:48] Speaker C: Can, you know, milk, milk it, milk it while you can because it won' or you're embarrassing like every other parent.
[00:22:54] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:22:55] Speaker C: For whatever reason. Now one of the things I wanted to touch on a little bit. So you've been flying for how long now?
[00:23:02] Speaker A: 20 years now.
[00:23:03] Speaker C: 20 years. And we talked a little bit before about, I guess from maybe from a, from, from a more a broader perspective because obviously being a pilot and in the early days you do, you, you do aptitude tests and you do, you do, you do flying training, you get qualifications and obviously you need to qualify and do simulators and so forth. But we were speaking before about how it's changed and probably in a more holistic sense. So I thought might be interesting if you tell us a little bit more how is being a pilot or maybe, maybe better question being part of a. Part of A flight deck crew or a flight crew, how's that changed in terms of I guess the training that you're doing?
[00:23:43] Speaker A: Yeah, look, I think we are seeing a big shift that is evolving over time to really understand that it's important that you know how to technically fly the aircraft, of course, and we want you to be able to technically handle an engine failure, of course. But if you don't also develop what we call your non technical skills. So looking at your ability to communicate, your teamwork, your leadership, how you manage workload and how situationally aware you are, as well as your decision making and your problem solving, if you don't have those skill sets developed as well or you're not looking to continually grow them, then we find that you rapidly come unstuck. And that is, is of, is more obvious for people when they think about multi crew operations where you have perhaps two pilots, maybe you've got cabin crew as well.
But it is also extremely relevant for single pilot because you're still working within these multi team systems. You've got air traffic control, you've got your ground staff, you've got all sorts of things that are the forecasters. I can't mention them enough.
So yeah, we're seeing this shift, I'm certainly seeing this shift.
The industry has gone with it. We see a big change in legislation around human factors non technical skills training that occurred in 2021, a big expansion on who should be exposed to that. And there's very good reason for it. It's very important and you can see that practically when you are operating. But you can also go and read any kind of, I guess in the more negative end, if you go and read any accident or incident report that's been written in the last, I don't know, four decades, you'll find things in there that highlight exactly why this is our focus now. This is our focus for safety. But you know, it, it's, it's where you want to put your energy in terms of becoming a better pilot. Certainly.
[00:25:49] Speaker C: So, so the, the, the non technical skills, I mean so kind of the human factor. Is that, is that another kind of, kind of, kind of way of describing that?
[00:25:59] Speaker A: Yeah, well, the human factors we talk about looking at human performance, you know, can we create an environment that allows somebody to perform at their peak for the most amount of time? And we will look at all sorts. It's a, you know, very, very broad term that will encompass everything from how much, how much oxygen can exist in a room before you're no longer, you know, cognitively functioning to those, I guess your ability to recognize that this is a space I need to develop my non technical skills or you know, utilize the resources around you. It's a very broad term that looks at human performance and trying to understand it.
[00:26:39] Speaker C: Cool. And, and the how, how much, how much of that. I'm going to lead you, I'm going to ask you a leading question and I could be wrong. So I'm interested in how, how the how. I guess the, the teamwork aspect has changed as with generationally as in my, my older. Because I do leadership work and traditionally older generations have learned from a more sort of command and control. You know, I, I say you do kind of. And there's also a kind of almost a militaristic or military, a militarily sort of derived sort of command structure. And there's still a little bit of that in, you know, in, in, in the structure. But I guess as, as in young. Yeah. In more current generations. I wonder how that's how that's changed.
[00:27:30] Speaker A: Yeah, I think again as part of this recognition, you know, you can hear some of the older generation will talk about there was a time when in the flight deck and perhaps still in some flight decks around the world that it was the captain and the boy. It wasn't seen as these two critically important roles. The captain was, you know, the God and whatever they said went and they would typically almost entirely male at one point, you know. And so I think what occurred was several kind of accidents and incidents where the first officer knew that this was dangerous, not right, something was wrong, but didn't have the ability in that environment to speak up. And so we call that a cockpit gradient and a really steep, a steep cockpit gradient in that case. And so we're all now about understanding, well, where's the balance? Sometimes rank is important. It must have, you know, there must be a delineation of responsibility. But we can all work within our skill sets to get the best outcome. And captains need skill sets that say I'm going to create an environment that allows everybody to input their expertise and I'm going to invite that and make sure that that is something I'm creating, actively creating. And first officers need the skill set to be able to, you know, graded assertiveness to able to speak up when they need to, but then to also keep the relationship within the flight deck, you know, appropriately. If we, we can have, you know, mismatch in the gradient if it goes the other way too, and that doesn't work either or if it's Too flat. So there's this and then of course that's just talking about flight deck. And I think this is where we've seen the biggest change is that it used to be also just that if we get the flight deck right, then nothing can go wrong. And what we saw was, no, you've got perhaps four, maybe 10, maybe more cabin crew behind you who are also doing a safety critical role. And if you're not inviting them into the same relationship building, if you're not incorporating them as your team, then you're putting all of your crew at risk as well. And so there's a big shift in that space. I see. And that's really what I love. I love being part of this big team and getting the best out of every individual as much as you can. And I'm still learning and I see, you know, so many different ways to do that and that's kind of a cool thing as well. This is.
[00:30:08] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, I love that. But there's, there's so many parallels and we, we, I'm sure. I think we will do another podcast and come back to this maybe in a little bit more detail because it's fascinating, because it's fun.
[00:30:17] Speaker A: I'd love that. Yeah.
[00:30:19] Speaker C: Fundamentally about teamwork and you know, and it's, it's, yeah, the tape. The team is, the, the team could be tens of people can't either physically on an aircraft or around loading an aircra, putting a gate, pushing an airway out. And then you've got the, you say air traffic control and meteorology. And so it's a fascinating part of the team. And I think one of the lovely things that we, you know, that we sort of, that we kind of promote in sky careers. I mean you're a pilot, which is great, but we very much just try and help make, make more people aware. There's such a broad range of roles in that team. From a ground handler from, you know, from, from, from a marketing person to someone who's doing the planning or the cute, the crew whs. And so there's so many roles and everything and, and, and they're all, they're.
[00:31:10] Speaker B: All, they're all important.
[00:31:12] Speaker A: Absolutely. Absolutely.
[00:31:13] Speaker C: So maybe, yeah, maybe, maybe it's a bit overly simplistic. That sort of old sort of hierarchical pilots are gods and everyone else is kind of a sort of, sort of some, some in some kind of servant relationship. That's just not true, is it? That's not what I'm hearing at all.
[00:31:28] Speaker A: No. And I think, you know, we're really lucky. We often fly with engineers, traveling engineers and I, you know, you don't hear a lot of that in kind of similar work and it's a really, it's an extra resource but it's also another addition to the team that has been really interesting to me and I think that's one where you get to see these skill sets in a more practical way is that an engineer, for example, they're very focused on getting something fixed and we can be in a port where something breaks and I can as a pilot do to the limit of my checklist and my books. But then of course I'm going to have to hand over to the engineer.
You can see then that we'll be thinking in two different modes and if you don't bring yourself together with that team at that time then you can really go off in two different directions. And I've really enjoyed getting to see that. Where you get to see this is a moment where something's broken. Now the leader becomes the engineer because they have the skill set around that, that I'm going to need. I can't, I'm going to have to leverage off that. But I'm now thinking about my flight and duty time or the well being of the passengers and the cabin crews informed me about something going on in the back. And so you start this little dance that goes between all of you and you're coming in and out of. Look, you worry about that, I'll worry about this. Then we'll come back together and get on the same page and you really see it all come to life. And I really, I've enjoyed that kind of like, like I said before, that multi team aspect to it where you can shift in and out of different roles.
[00:33:08] Speaker C: I love it, I love it. Now I'm going to, I'm going to have to put, I'm going to have to pull us to an end because otherwise you and I are going to.
[00:33:13] Speaker A: Oh yeah, sorry.
[00:33:16] Speaker C: We will definitely do a, a part too. Because what I was saying is, I mean the, the things that shine through Victoria in our conversation are firstly is, is the, the. The importance of team up also from you the love of teamwork and, and the, and the, and and the way that's being, you know that the, the, the non essential so the soft skills if you will are increasingly important, maybe more important because you've always had to be able to fly, to fly if that makes sense. But the, the other things have not been emphasized and now, and you were telling me about how they're they're being sort of added to it, to the curriculum.
Really cool. But the other thing that shines through is you're 20 years in, but your love of learning. And I think that's one of the lovely things that I observe around, around aviation. The people I speak to, everyone's learning all the time, which is such a. And I love that idea of lifelong learning. And aviation seems to be, you know, if you, if you're, if you're looking to keep learning and growing and having new opportunities, aviation seems to be a place where that is both encouraged almost, Almost, almost demanded, I guess, because everything's changing all the time.
[00:34:19] Speaker A: Absolutely. And I think so. I've just recently joined the training department as a line trainer on the 319 as well. And I find that one of the biggest focuses in our training department has really been about that. It's the attitude component. If you show up ready to learn something, whether you've been doing this for 40 years or four, then we're get something out of this and you're almost certainly going to walk away as a better pilot. If you close yourself down to that and think, well, you know, it's worked a million times and I don't, you need to adjust or I don't need to change, then that's when things can really come unstuck. And so promoting that love of learning is so important. And like you say, this is, it's a beautiful environment because it does offer you an opportunity to expand yourself every, every opportunity. Every time you go to work, you fly with someone different, perhaps then you've got something to learn from them and that can be a junior to you as much as it could be a senior. It doesn't mean that you don't have something to learn. And yeah, I think, yeah, if you do love learning and development and you like that kind of thrill that comes from, oh, I didn't know that. And now I do. Then, yeah, aviation's a great spot for it. It.
[00:35:36] Speaker C: I love it. I was going to ask you another question that led to that answer, so I'm going to ask you a different final question, which is this.
What's the most amazing thing you've either seen or experienced from, from, from, from your cockpit anywhere in the world? And I know you've flown a few places, but particularly if you're flying down to. Over the, over the ice.
[00:35:59] Speaker A: So I'm very fortunate to be able to tell you this only in the last couple of months. So even. Yeah, about a couple of months ago, I did an Antarctic Flight to a, an Italian base. The Italian base, Terranova Bay. Mario Zichelli is the station. And we haven't done a lot of that work before and I hadn't, I hadn't done any of that work before. It was quite a bit of a lead up, a lot of weather delays before I ended up were getting the green light that, yep, this is going to be a good day for it. I was sitting next to one of my closest friends. I had one of my closest friends sitting in the jump seat behind me.
This is like nowhere else in Antarctica that we've been to because it's not a, an ice Runway, it's a sea ice Runway. It's frozen ocean. They came in the week before they built this 3000 meter Runway for us. It's one direction bowl of terrain, lots of incredibly beautiful, but you know, also threatening mountains surrounding it. And you've got to get the exact right conditions to be able to land one way and take off the other. And there's no approach. So you come down in visual conditions, you get visual. We flew over the top of the aerodrome, well, not the aerodrome. We flew over the top of the frozen ocean sea ice Runway to have a good look and then we maneuvered ourselves round and in the Airbus, so often we use a lot of the software and the programming and the instrumentation and the automatics to make things as safe as possible. And I love that it also makes it simple or much simpler for you as a pilot. But if you, if the aircraft doesn't know there's an airport there, you absolutely need to take a whole bunch of stuff off that you don't normally have off to make it work. And it goes back to those really early stick and rudder skills where you've just got to fly a plane like you fly a plane. And as we kind of maneuvered round, I exhaled perhaps a little bit loudly and as I sighed and the, my friend who was next to me said, you're going to be okay, just fly out like a normal plane. And I just, I love, you know, we maneuvered and again, like just for anybody feeling a little bit nervous, you know, we obviously we trained for this and I was, I was very confident in my ability to do it, but it's certainly not something that I had, you know, do we do very often anymore? And we maneuvered out over the ice down onto this frozen ocean Runway. I thought a lot about the fact that it was only 2 meters of frozen ocean when I touched down as softly as possible.
And yeah, and I've got This photo, I will have to share it with you.
[00:38:50] Speaker C: Where going to say every listen is going. I want to say I want to see. I want to see.
[00:38:54] Speaker A: Yeah. And I just, I just turned to look out the window and I've got this biggest grin on my face because it just was, yeah, it was an absolute highlight, a combination of a whole bunch of things. But to me that was, I think that would be extremely hard to beat. But I will be remiss if I don't mention this. I've also had the pleasure of flying in the flight deck with my husband when he was a captain and I was an FO and we flew together in Vietnam on the A320. So I, I, I have to mention that as well because you'll be very upset of a late save.
[00:39:30] Speaker C: You're, yeah, you're all, you're already in trouble.
[00:39:33] Speaker A: Hey, I probably am. Yeah.
[00:39:36] Speaker C: You have been such a fabulous guest on our pod. We're going to have you back. But for now, thank you so much for sharing so much about what you've been doing and what you're going to do and, and especially around those leadership aspects because it's really helpful to give other people an insight into just that broad smorgasbord that's available. So thanks for your time and we'll welcome you back soon. And we can't wait to see your pictures.
[00:40:03] Speaker A: Thank you for having me. And I love what you guys are doing and I hope that anybody out there is interested just a little bit about aviation, does a little bit more expert exploration. I think it's, yeah, it's a great space to be in. So thank you for having me.
[00:40:23] Speaker B: Thanks for listening to the Sky Careers podcast. If today's conversation has sparked your interest in aviation, then head over to our
[email protected] au whether you dream of flying aircraft or you're curious about the hundreds of other exciting roles that keep the aviation industry moving, Sky Careers is your gateway to discovering these opportunities. And if you are already in the industry, check out Sky Careers Connect and Sky Careers Leadership and consider joining our online learning community. Until next time, keep reaching for the skies.
