Waking Hours

Ciabhan O Murchu (37) is an actor from Indreabhan, Galway. He has played the part of Jason in TG4’s ‘Ros na Run’ since he was 15. Having completed his training, now he is about to embark on a new career as a commercial pilot

From soap actor to pilot

Normally, I live in Indreabhan in Connemara, but recently I’ve been moving around. I’ve just become a pilot. Up until then, I was an actor. I’ve been in Ros na Run since the very start, and I played the part of Jason. I’ve been in 22 seasons, and I was in the opening scene. I started out when I was 15, and I continued right through the Leaving Cert and afterwards.

The season is six months of the year, so during that time I was kept busy — preparing work, filming five days a week, and rehearsing on the Saturday. Then, for the other six months, you’d be off doing other things. That’s how my new career started. I trained as a commercial pilot, and I have just started work.

Ever since I was very young, I had a big interest in flying. That came from my mother’s side of the family. She is from England, and my grandmother still lives over there. I used to visit her, and she’d bring us to World War II aviation museums. Sometimes you’d see the aircraft still being used.

It was always a dream of mine to fly. I was forever building model aircraft and making my own planes out of wood. There were no pilots in the family. If we were in an airport and I saw pilots, I’d always look at them and wonder how you would become one. Back then, the internet existed, but only in a minor way, so I couldn’t look up the information. Then TG4 opened and I got the job in

Ros na Run. Up until then I did drama courses, and when I was 13, I did a weekend course in film and editing. It was for adults, and I was the only kid there. I was always interested in getting out and doing things. Later on, one of the people doing that film course suggested that I do an audition for Ros na Run.

During those years, I focussed on television. I put the flying stuff aside because I just thought that it was out of reach, especially as I had no connection to it. Also, there was no money in my family to pay for something like that. It costs a lot.

I remember the day that I decided that I was going to go to Girona in Spain to get a private plane licence. I felt like I had to break the news lightly to my family, because they’d think that I was mad. They were a bit surprised, but my sister was very enthusiastic. She told me to go for it and that the rest would figure itself out as I went along. It wasn’t easy, and there were times when I ran out of money for the next part of the training, but between the bank and the credit union, somehow I managed to get it together.

The training for the private plane licence wasn’t that expensive, in comparison to the commercial licence. It was doable. I did the course when Ros na

Run wasn’t filming. I was lucky to have that flexibility. But I was worried that I was too old, or that it might be too difficult for me. In the end, I decided to just do it, and if I liked it, I’d continue with more.

As soon as I started, I realised that this was what I wanted to do. It’d been a while since I’d taken up something new, and it was a challenge. I loved the flying side of it, especially flying solo. To be up there in the sky is the most amazing feeling in the world. It’s one thing taking off, but when you’re up there and you realise that you are the only person in the plane, the only one who can land it, you realise the responsibility you have. I also loved the camaraderie in the school, where everyone was helping each other out, sharing information and tips.

I started out flying Cessna 172s, and after I had to study the theory for the commercial licence. Sometimes when I was acting in Ros na Run, I would spend my lunch breaks and weekends learning all this theory. I had no life because it was just work and study, but when you’re doing something that you really love, it doesn’t matter.

I was lucky that I had the seasons off from Ros na Run. During those months, I did blocks of training in Lodz in Poland. The standard of the training was high, and it was a lot cheaper than Ireland or the US.

I suppose the biggest connection between acting and flying is that you have to memorise stuff — in acting, it’s a script, and in aviation, you have to remember procedures, and even the wording has to be precise.

I make sure that I exercise and I watch what I eat. Keeping fit and healthy is a big part of being a pilot. The aviation medical is quite rigorous, with yearly check-ups, and after 40, you have one every six months. The thing that surprised me most about aviation was mathematics. When I was in school, it all seemed a bit pointless to me, but when you do the theory of flying, mathematics is a central to it all. Computers do a lot of the stuff,

“I love flying. To be up there in the sky is the most amazing feeling in the world, a dream come true”

but you still have to do the theory.

I was always in awe of Spitfires, but even more so now. To think that those pilots were flying them, navigating, and monitoring their fuel without technology.

A pilot’s life is a disciplined one. There is so much to learn and review. And you have to keep healthy. Getting enough sleep is crucial, too. Sometimes you have to be up very early in the morning and you almost have to plan for it a few days in advance.

I don’t have much time for a life outside work right now. Work consumes my life, but that’s absolutely fine. I’m delighted that I made the move to become a pilot. It’s a dream come true, really. But I made it happen. It wasn’t from sitting around doing nothing.