This is your captain speaking
BEFORE each flight, Captain Matthew Hicks gives the engines a little pat. It’s part of his external walk around, to make sure there are no obvious issues with the aeroplane.
“I think it’s just to encourage it to keep working,” he said. But the ritual hasn’t always worked.
On November 4, 2010, Captain Hicks was one of the pilots on board Qantas Flight 32 out of Singapore when an engine exploded while over Indonesia.
Then a First Officer, Captain Hicks worked alongside four other pilots for two hours to keep the flight safely in the air, burning off excess fuel before they could land safely back in Singapore.
“We were so busy at the time, I was very task oriented,” Captain Hicks said.
“You think you’d have more headspace to think about family, but you don’t.”
It was that incident which led the pilot to move from international travel on the Airbus A380 to domestic flying on Boeing 737s.
“It was a defining thing that made me think about what’s important in life,” he said.
“I spend a lot of nights at home now, which is great.”
Captain Hicks is a husband and father of three children aged between 8 and 13.
The 47-year-old first set his sights on the skies when he was six and, although his parents “thought it was a passing fad”, he started a TAFE course after school with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.
He then started his career in Dubbo working as a flying instructor before moving to Sydney to fly bank freight.
His career has also involved charter flights out of Perth, coast watch flights with Skywest, living in the Torres Straight for 18 months and flying in and out of Darwin, plus time in Alice Springs, and Cairns. In 1995 Captain Hicks achieved his childhood dream of working for Qantas.
“I always wanted to work for Qantas so I pursued that pretty hard over the years,” he said.
“I love it. I love the history and I think that all the pilots bar none know the history and know they’re carrying on a tradition that’s gone on here for almost 100 years of guys doing amazing things.”
For the past three years the company has been awarded the title of World’s Safest Airline, but the history goes back further than that.
The airline has had a fatality-free jet era, and Captain Hicks said that record keeps the pressure on pilots.
“I’d be lying if I said I don’t think about it,” he said. “I feel the responsibility of maintaining that accident-free record.
“It’s not in the forefront of your mind, but it does make sure you do a good job.”
For those on the outside, the aviation industry is glamorous, with pilots and flight attendants jetsetting from one city to another.
But the day-to-day reality for those working for the airline is vastly different.
In 20 years Captain Hicks has spent just three Christmases at home.
He said the disruption to his family life was his least favourite part of the job.
“You’ve got to have a very patient wife because we spend a lot of our own time studying and keeping our skill base up,” he said.
“The rules and procedures change a lot, so you’re constantly looking at that.
“It’s hard to come home after being away from family and then having to study.”
In terms of the Christmases he’s missed, Captain Hicks has STORY: PHILLIPPA BUTT tried to make sure he still spends time with his loved ones.
“The best way to get around it is to take my family with me,” he said.
“We’ve had Christmases in Singapore where I’ve dropped them off, gone on to London, and then come back to Singapore and we celebrate there. You just have to adapt and make it work.”
Despite the downside, he said the job does have its upside.
“For most people, the travel is the perk of the job,” he said.
“Personally, on my holidays I love nothing better than getting in the car, but I accept that my family likes to fly places, so I suck it up. It can seem glamorous because you’re tripping around the world. One week you’re in London and the next you’re in New York, but that wears off.”
Depending on the schedule, dining in some far-flung places can be a solo affair, or involve the whole crew.
“We’re quite social because you’re in a small team environment, but it depends how long you’re there,” Captain Hicks said.
“When I was travelling internationally I did a lot of sightseeing and I think I’ve seen everything there is to see in London.
“I know that’s a big call, but it’s one place I’m really looking forward to taking my family and showing them everything I’ve discovered.”
Another highlight of the job for the pilot is getting to meet passengers.
“I’m always happy to talk and I love it when kids come up after the flight,” he said.
“I think that’s because I would have loved to do it when I was a kid.
“Obviously since September 11 we can’t have people coming up during the flight, but if they ask, we try to let people come up afterwards and I like doing that.”