From Model Aircraft Flying to B777 Captain via Air Traffic Control

We’re pretty chuffed to present the aviation journey of our very own David Griffin.

Dave is one of our interviewers when Scholarship candidates come for their first interview in the three stage assessment.

I’ve know Dave for a very long time and we feel very lucky to have him on our team.

His journey is interesting for the variety of aviation careers and interests.

Ladies and Gentlemen…. Captain David Griffin!

Over to you, Dave 👍

Captain David Griffin

My name is David Griffin, I am flying for Air New Zealand as a Boeing 777 Captain with just over 21,000 hours flying.  I’d like to share my journey to where I am today.

My Mum and Dad were both in the British Royal Air Force and, after I was born, served around the UK and in Singapore. All through that time, when Dad was in the Air Force, I would get to watch the aeroplanes flying and he'd often take me down to the flight line where I got to sit in many fighter aeroplanes - perhaps an early induction or introduction to flying as flying was all I really ever wanted to do from an early age. 

When I was 11 years old, we immigrated to Nelson, NZ. At the age of 13 I joined the Air Training Corp in Nelson and got into everything on offer from flying, gliding, shooting, camping, marching and model aeroplane competitions.  I soon developed quite an enthusiasm for model aeroplane flying and did that right through my youth, both with the ATC and with the local model aeroplane club.

As a model aeroplane pilot, I initially flew control line and free flight models.  At one unsatisfying competition in Blenheim I remember looking across while trying to fly a free flight where the model aeroplane kept flying away and not coming back, and seeing Paul Lagan (one of the Air Force officers helping us flying).  He had a radio controlled glider that seemed to always come back and land at his feet.  I thought ‘that's what I wanna do’ and from then on I concentrated on the radio controlled glider aspect of the hobby and still do to this day.  (Melissa here… these model aircraft are huge! Dave’s not talking about the tiddlers we played with as kids!). I’ve enjoyed the sport for its challenge, camaraderie, opportunity – establishing an internationally successful model aircraft business (Canterbury Sailplanes) - and competing at 3 world championships with the NZ team, winning Bronze, Silver and then the Gold medals at successive championships.

Near the end of my high school days, I applied for the New Zealand Air Force as a pilot and was unsuccessful – that was quite a surprise and disappointment as that really was what I expected to be doing after high school.  When I did finish school, my dad found me a job in the National Park cleaning toilets and digging ditches.  Within a few weeks I decided that was not my future! So I went back to Nelson and found a job in a bank.  I took my first pay down to the Nelson Aero Club to learn to fly.  I continued doing that for a couple of years, slowly realising I was unlikely ever to be able to afford commercial pilot training.  One day I saw an advert seeking candidates to be Air Traffic Controllers.  I applied and was successful.  That took me to Auckland and eventually to Hamilton for training where I qualified as an Aerodrome and Approach Controller.  I loved the challenge of ATC and working closely with aircraft and Pilots. 

As I now had a good income, I carried on learning to fly.  The ATC training had included the Commercial Pilot subjects, so it was an easy decision to carry on gaining hours and training to attain the CPL, then C Cat Instructor, and multi instrument rating qualifications.  All this with the intention of doing some flying on the side of ATC. 

That said, I soon got to a position where I was employable and had to think about what my future really held, whether I wanted to stay as an air traffic controller - a job I really enjoyed - or take a punt and try and make it as an airline pilot. After talking to family and some pilots I looked up to, I decided to leave ATC (knowing I could probably go back to it).

I worked freelance at Hamilton Airport for several commercial air operators for about six months before being offered a job at Flightline Aviation at Ardmore.  I worked there for two years as a flight and ground school instructor, as an ‘Eye in the Sky’ pilot with Bill Mudgeway on the regular road traffic patrols around Auckland and also flew scheduled service to Waiheke island.  This offered a very good range of experience from teaching, through to flying Cessna 206 & 207, and to Waiheke bush strip flying.

As an aside… near the end of my time as an ATCO I tried out for the New Zealand Precision Flying team to attend the World Champs in Florida.  I made the team and competed very successfully over the following 4 years at the sport in NZ, Finland and Denmark.  If you get the chance at competition flying, I can highly recommend it as a way to focus your training and skill improvement.

In 1987 I was successful applying to Air New Zealand where I started flying in 1988 as a Fokker F-27 Friendship First Officer based in Christchurch.  The step up to airline flying was a good challenge, aided by excellent, thorough training.  Just two years later Air NZ stopped flying the F-27 and it looked as though I would be laid off, along with about 140 or so fellow junior pilots.  This was a tough time for all of the junior pilots. About 100 were laid off and another 30 or 40 were told to expect to go – that included me. 

Considering options, I contacted ATC and asked if I could get be rehired.  The answer was yes, however after considering the options I decided I really wanted to fly and would hold on to that goal even if it meant leaving NZ.  After quite some time we learned that several senior pilots retired early, saving my, and many other, jobs.

With the F-27 going, I retrained on the Boeing 737-200, flew that for 4 years, then the 767 for 9 years, including a year in the UK on secondment to Britannia Airline flying the 757 and 767. 

In 2003, I was promoted to Captain on the B737-300. In 2005 – I became a Captain on the A320. In 2015 I became Captain on the B787. However, two years later I decided I wasn’t coping well the fatigue and moved back to the A320 for 6 years before moving on to the B777 as Captain earlier this year.

Nothing quite like a big engine!

On the side, I still fly about once a month in a Light Sport Aircraft – a Tecnam. It’s about the simplest form of aviation – and love that too!  I have also served in the NZ Airline Pilots Association in several roles, and I am particularly proud of the work we did in the technical field and my time as Regional Vice President for the International Federation of Air Line Pilots.

What do I love about Airline flying?  The challenge of learning the technical aspects of each aeroplane, how to fly them, managing failures of engines and other equipment (fortunately only in the simulator so far!), the tourism opportunities in all the places we get to layover and the wonderful people I get to work with in Air New Zealand.  I think the people, and the flying, are what I will miss the most when I retire next year. 

There are good benefits in pay, time off and travel, once settled in the career, it is possible to lead an enjoyable life with much more than just a job.  I still think this is a great career. My son has followed me into it.  It’s not for everyone, even today with student loans and airlines needing lots of pilots there will most likely be setbacks along the way. 

Quite a number of those who train to commercial level don’t make it to airlines, often as there are too few jobs for junior pilots to get the needed hours to be eligible for airline selection.  If you can’t get an instructor job, head for Northern Australia, work hard and keep your nose (reputation) clean.  As a wise old aviator once told me the hardest time to say NO is the first time.

Try as much as you can as a young person, to convince and prove to yourself this is what you really want to do.  Join Young Eagles, volunteer at the airport, clean planes etc, take a few flying lessons.  It’s easy to get student loan, but for many it becomes a lifetime burden, particularly if you don’t end up flying and earning good money to pay it off.  If it is for you, work hard, be flexible in your choices for the next job, be it in outback Australia or other parts of the world.

Dave with his son, Alex ,who has just started with Air New Zealand as pilot.