Keeping the Dream When Your World Falls Apart

None of us have crystal balls that we can gaze into and know exactly what our future will hold - and that’s a good thing. Knowing there are terrible times ahead could snuff dreams and desires being pursued. When you have a burning goal that you just have to reach but Fate is throwing everything in your way, it can be hard not to be demoralised.

Let’s be clear… achieving your first paid job as a pilot is incredibly hard for most newly minted CPL pilots. It’s at that point when you feel the world is your oyster but the flippin’ clam is closing on you. You need to keep your steely wits wrapped tightly round you and against all odds, believe in yourself and your ability to reach your dream.

Today’s writer is Air New Zealand Captain Joe Mathieson. He’s made it, but with blood, sweat and tears. His advice for those coming out of their Flight Training Schools is gold.

Over to you, Joe 👍

Gidday, I’m Joe Mathieson, a skipper on the ATR with Air New Zealand in Napier.

I started my aviation journey from a very young age - about 3 years old…ish. Much to the consternation of my mum and dad, flying was all I wanted to do, other than for about 6 months when I was 13 and thought political science was interesting….not entirely sure why that happened but I’m glad I saw the light!

3 year old Captain Joe

 I started flying when I was 15, funding it with help from my parents and a part time job in a distribution warehouse after school and on weekends. By the end of high school, I’d amassed a whopping 25 hours in the best plane ever built (a Cherokee 140), a forklift licence, and a serious lack of any savings (a constant theme throughout my flying career…..)

These initial 30 hours, though, I credit toward being some of the most valuable in my career. Not only did it get me solo and well on the way toward a PPL, but I was fortunate to have an excellent instructor for most of it, who taught the basics extremely well and gave me a solid foundation to work from. Possibly even more importantly, it taught me that I did not want to be in a distribution warehouse packing dog food for the next 10 years.

About 6 months of labouring on a construction site later, I started full time at IAANZ, in Canterbury, on their student loan program. It was a fast paced introduction, with 6 PPL exams in 6 or so weeks. From there, the PPL was done predominantly out of West Melton airfield, before moving back to Christchurch for the remainder of the training.

It was a high pressure environment, which suited some, and fortunately I found it worked well for me. About a year and a month later, I’d come through there with a CPL/MEIR and about 4 months after that, we’d completed our frozen ATPL subjects. Whilst most of our instructors had relatively low flight hours, the quality of instruction across the board was excellent and I have flown with many of them on the ATR in recent years. I am fortunate enough to call a lot of them great mates.

During my time at IAANZ, there’d been almost a complete freeze on any form of hiring at the airlines, which had a flow on effect to the GA industry. As we worked through the training, I became acutely aware that very soon, we were going to have a licence that meant I could work as a pilot - but not have any pathway to a job as one. I also wasn’t sure that I really wanted to stay on as an instructor, whilst a fantastic way to gain hours, and I even had an informal job offer on the table. But, I’d seen enough 206’s come in and out during my training that I knew something like that would be epic. On the converse, it was going to be extremely damn difficult to find - but I had to take the risk or I knew I’d kick myself later. This was a terribly big decision at the time, but one that I look back on and I’m happy with. Decision making is funny like that....most of the time, you just have to make one - the worst decision is no decision.

That was where a bit of good fortune stepped in. Years earlier, my mum, Stephanie, had worked for Mount Cook Airlines in scheduling, and they had used Air Safaris in Lake Tekapo a number of times to cover overflow on the CHC - Mt Cook - ZQN charters when there weren’t enough seats in the Hawker Siddeley. Mum remembered Richard Rayward (founder of Air Safaris) had always been a pleasure to deal with, and suggested I get in touch with him. This led to a series of visits down to Tekapo, getting a feeling for the operation - and around Christmas of 2014, a job offer - starting on the ground in a reception/sales/scheduling/landscaping/cleaning role, with the potential to move into a flying role throughout the years that followed. At the end of January 2015, I moved south to start.

The best type of flying

That next year was one of the most exciting, yet the hardest of my life. I started in Tekapo, then flew up to Auckland to finish off the AIC course at Air New Zealand and complete the diploma of aviation - airline strand I think it was called? I’ve lost that bit of paper.

Once back south, I started to try settle in to the job. It was hard. I had to relearn a lot of how I communicated with people, both management, colleagues and customers, and try to keep my head down and rear end up whilst also being present if any opportunity to fly came up.

Then in September that year, my mum passed away. Trying to deal with that as well as still trying to fit in, both in town and at work, took a hell of a toll. My work ethic took a real hit, and it led to less flying and generally feeling like my whole career was crumbling before my eyes - completely through my own doing.

Fortunately, I had a great group of people around me in life and at TL who almost solely pulled me out of it, and in February that next year I got checked out on the Airvan (squarevan, scarevan, second best plane ever built) operating scenics around Aoraki/Mt Cook and the Glaciers.

The next 3 years of flying was awesome. Fantastic people, good gear, great passengers - it was the ultimate mix of surreal flying in a challenging environment, around weather, terrain, and of course the pressures associated with working in a tourism based business.

Whilst it definitely wasn’t all smooth sailing, and there’s bits of it I to this day look back on and get embarrassed/frustrated/confused about, it shaped me as a person and as a pilot, and I couldn’t ever thank Richard and Tim enough for the opportunity they gave me. It takes a hell of a lot of trust to put a 19 year old in charge of a logsplitter let alone an Airvan - as a matter of fact I think the Airvan rating came first! I also was lucky enough to be a part of an amazing wee town in Tekapo, and still get back down (less regularly than I’d like) to visit.

Simmering away though was the desire to fly for Air New Zealand, and that opportunity was fast arising. The industry was booming, and a lot of people were starting to get sucked up by the national carrier. I was pretty happy with where I was, but I knew that if I didn’t move quick I would end up missing out. A trip down to Mainland Air in Dunedin for a very efficient MEIR renewal and some night flying with the South Canterbury Aero Club later, I had the minimums - albeit only 800 hours total time (we were flying only around 200 hours a year each in Tekapo - quality over quantity!)

Surprisingly, that next phase happened extremely quickly. Within about 3 weeks of uploading my hours, I had the initial psych evaluation exams done, and about 2 months after that, I was at the interview. Only 3 weeks after that, I was sitting in the car park at Roundhill ski field talking to HR about what fleet and base I’d be assigned (ATR, Wellington).

In January 2019 I was on the type rating course for the ATR, and from there, the rest is history I guess! There’s been a small pandemic since then, and adjusting to flying for an airline, but I’m happy to report that I absolutely love my job. Regional flying in NZ is a bit of a sweet spot - great people, excellent training and a real variety of conditions. And yes, we still get to fly the plane - despite what some unfamiliar with airline flying types might lead you to believe!

Captain Joe Mathieson

 Anyway, that’s all well and good, but what tips can I give from my 10 odd years in the industry so far is probably more useful to you.

•  Always have your eyes open for opportunity, in the form of setting yourself goals. It sounds cheesy but it’s so important. Remember, getting a CPL/MEIR is just enabling you to get a job - finding the job is the bit that requires the most time and effort, and is a process which there is no manual for. Don’t start thinking about this after your CPL - you need to think about this before you start flight training.

• Be prepared to move. I’ve watched so many good mates fall out of the industry, or delay promotions etc. because they don’t want to move. It’s very tough, especially if you have a family, but if you can find a way to make it work, then do it!

• Keep living life outside of flying. I worked for Placemakers and as a car park guy for events while at IAANZ, and at the pub in Winter in Tekapo as well as writing a community paper on the side. It was a much needed escape from the aviation industry even if only for a few hours a week, and those jobs led me to have awesome experiences (and fed a malnourished pilot who couldn’t cook, in the case of the pub).

• Confidence should always sit just below ability. You’re only as good as the next fright you give yourself, and believe me, you will give yourself plenty!

• Enjoy the process. It’s really easy to get caught up in comparing yourself to other people’s journeys, get disenchanted with what you’re doing or where you’re working, or not pick yourself up when you get knocked back. It’s going to happen but maintaining a positive attitude, keeping that drive toward those goals you set and being ready to roll with the hopefully-not-literal punches will get you through! It’s funny, I love flying the ATR - but I actually really miss cleaning toilets, selling flights, log splitting on the side.

 Finally, you’ll need some luck, but most luck that comes your way, you make!