Geoff Austin spoke to the club giving an overview of the aviation industry.
After 16 years with Virgin, Geoff has now been retired for 4 years.
Aviation Industry heavily regulated by CASA, Civil Aviation Safety Authority. All segments of the industry, flight crew, cabin crew, engineering and flight control must be qualified for their respective duties.
Flight crew undergo a license test every six months. Cabin crew trained to be competent in an emergencies, skilled in people management and trained in martial arts.
Planes are certified every day by licensed engineers.
One hour before take off, flight crew undertake flight planning, consider the weather, loads and decide how much fuel. They then undertake a physical inspection then in the flight deck do a 30 minute system check. The cabin crew inspect all equipment in the cabin before take off. Ground staff, luggage handlers, fuel handlers all attend to their duties to enable plane to take-off.