Amanda Deed’s dad, Paul, started flying before she was born, and she’s been in the front seat with him ever since she could reach the controls. Now, both fixed-wing and heli pilots, they are a spirited pair crisscrossing the country, ferrying all manner of aircraft and relishing Australia’s natural wonders.
“The inspiration to pursue aviation definitely came from my family and their love for adventure,” grins Amanda. “Ever since I was little, we were off on different trips all over Australia. I remember when I told my Year Three teacher where I had been on the weekend: on a camping trip with fold-up push bikes and little trailers to carry everything. She thought I was making it all up!”
Most of these experiences involved getting away in a family-sized plane loaded up with gear – in this case, to Flinders Island, where Paul, Carolyn and the kids would regularly rough it with another young family, tucked up in the Bass Strait, braving the Roaring Forties. Or, they’d head north to visit Amanda’s grandpa in Coffs Harbour, a different outline with its towering green hills and large lit runway, twinkling parallel to the coast in the depths of the evening.
Eventually, the Deeds purchased their own slice of Flinders, which they retreat to regularly while continuing to visit every other corner of our country, from Western Australia to the Territory.
“I feel very lucky to have lived like this. As I got older, I knew I didn’t want the adventures to stop, so I decided to start my flight training.”
Amanda got stuck into the theory first – the commercial exams – which Paul was adamant about.
“I’ve always said to all my kids, ‘Whatever you wanna do, I’ll support you. If you want to fly, I’ll support you. But you’ve gotta prove to me that you’re keen enough to do the theory first,” Paul maintains matter-of-factly, his eyes twinkling.
“And it works; it’s a double win – because if they’re really serious, they will put that effort in. It actually saves them money because they’re not learning theory in the air, which is costing – you know – a fortune. You learn how to fly the plane in the air, and you should know the theory already, within reason. It’s a bit of a balance, but that’s my advice.”
Amanda agrees, “It gave me a great insight into the level of knowledge and understanding that’s required to become a pilot, and I loved it. I found it really interesting, and I wanted to know more. After that, the flying was a bonus!”
Still knee-deep in a Bachelor of Science, Amanda was looking for a pay-as-you-go training option that would enable her to graduate while flying on the side. She landed on Lilydale Flying School, a flourishing little training airport in the Yarra Valley, Victoria, and started working the desk there a few days a week to help pay for her flying.
Clearly a natural, Amanda cruised through her fixed-wing training and tested for her Commercial in the family Piper Aztec, simultaneously earning her twin endorsement. A few months later, she was converting that licence into one that would allow her to fly helicopters, too – another beneficial strategy Paul loves to promote; it’s the path he took as well.
“Actually, it amazes me that more people don’t,” he says, “Because – in Australia, anyway – it’s cheaper [to convert from fixed-wing], and you get two licences. The majority of it’s the same, so you may as well do it in a Cessna that’s costing you a couple of hundred dollars an hour rather than a heli that’s costing you six to eight hundred. You’re just going to be doing the same thing.”
“I started to explore the wonderful world of helicopters once I’d finished my PPL,” Amanda continues. “That aviation bug… it had well and truly got me!”
The Helicopter Group at Moorabbin became Amanda’s new haunt, where she was instructed by the same bloke that licensed Paul in the 1990s. Learning to hover was not without its challenges, and Amanda had to push herself when it came to mastering what some have described as ‘flying a slippery noodle.’
“It felt like a bit of a step backwards, if I’m honest. I knew I could fly; I had my plane licence. But this was a whole different set of skills to master. Emergency procedures, engine failures – they were probably the most confronting initially. Helicopters certainly do not have the same glide ratio as planes!”
The day she went solo in the heli at Moorabin, Amanda was thrilled, and she quickly progressed through her private and CPL(H).
In April 2021, Amanda headed north to embark on the newly minted pilot’s rite of passage: a season in the Outback. This worked well for Ayers Rock Helicopters – Amanda made a very handy pilot. On any given day, she was flying tours of Uluru and Kata Tjuta in either the Robinson 44 or the C172, able to step out of one and into the other as required.
The significant benefits of this were highlighted in an event that took place during the wet season, when a lot of the other pilots had taken off, leaving Amanda there on her own for a couple of weeks. The NT police got news of a man who’d attempted to make it out to a remote community in his vehicle during an ex-tropical cyclone that had moved in from up north. The area was drenched. He hadn’t arrived by the evening, a Monday, so the next day, the alarm was raised. They came to Amanda.
Working through her options, Amanda decided to perform the initial search in the C172 – the heli didn’t have the endurance that might be required if he’d gotten a long way down the winding track. But the weather was still a problem. “I said, ‘Look, it’s all possible, but we can’t go right now – it’s definitely not safe to fly.’ The cloud was still on the ground.”
They waited until Wednesday, the cloud finally lifting with the late morning heat. Amanda spotted him first – their traveller had made it quite a long way, but they could see from the air that he was bogged to the axle. Fortunately, he had abided by the outback adage: stay with your vehicle. It was judged by his vigorous waving that he was in somewhat satisfactory physical condition, so Amanda waggled her wings – a pleasing moment that felt like it was straight from a book! – then diverted back to Yulara to ready the Robinson 44.
“As I circled in the plane, I’d been looking out for areas to land the chopper, assessing the situation and the surroundings so I could check it off with my boss from an ops manual perspective. There were a few shrubs and things around, but I thought I could land up the road a little bit, beyond a dip and up on the rise. I reckoned it would be dry enough there and would give me more room for the tail.”
As it turned out, the wind was coming straight down the road when she returned; Amanda surveyed the area again, then settled the heli some distance away. “I’d wanted that; it gave me time to shut it down safely before he got over to us in his excitement.”
In cases like this, so much is about appropriate people management, and Amanda’s easy conviviality goes a long way. Also, the ability to prepare for and calmly read higher-pressure situations is one Paul has gently tested her on over the years, and it shows.
At the end of 2022, after a year and a half out back, Amanda returned to Melbourne to complete her Instrument rating with Steve Pearce at Moorabbin, which then continued into ATPLs ‘while she was in study mode.’
“I had so much fun working up at the Rock, but I knew that to further progress in my career, I’d need to get them done next,” she smiles grimly. “They were big exams.” She also admits that, despite years of observing her dad on instruments, the complexities of that rating were still a struggle at times. So, that was her focus for the following twelve months – alongside her work as a casual pilot, flying charters and ferries to everywhere. Thanks to Melbourne Heli Group’s values around internal career progression, she’s now operating everything from Jetrangers to Squirrels.
The family tradition of exploring their Australian wonderland continues; Amanda smiles warmly and tells me they’re all flying to Queensland for Christmas – Paul in the Navajo and her in the Aztec to fit everyone in, now! From there, they will head out to the islands to put faces to the sun and toes in the sand. It’s great to see Amanda taking the time to enjoy each milestone rather than relentlessly pressing on in the aviation race.
Nevertheless, she is excited to see what is next. “There are so many opportunities in the industry at the moment and a diverse range of companies offering incredible flying. I’m now looking to join an organisation where I can progress my skills, learn, and explore even more of what this industry has to offer.”
Originally written for and published in the Jan-Feb 2024 issue of Australian Flying
Bronni Bowen 