A big welcome to Helene Young. Helene has a new novel out, Burning Lies. How she manages to write when she’s an aviator amazes me. I asked Helene to share a little of her flying life …

Every flight’s a joyflight!

After dreaming of flying for many years I was twenty-four before I finally had my first lesson and the wonder of that has never left me.  I still feel the buzz every time the power levers are advanced, the engines roar and I’m pressed back into my seat for take-off.  

When I started flying at Archerfield Airport there was one other female pilot amongst a couple of hundred males. The industry average now sits at four percent, but I work for a regional airline and at my home base of Cairns thirteen percent are women. It means there’s every chance of going to work with an all-girl crew and that’s still cause for comment from passengers!

I’m a Check and Training Captain, which means I train and test our pilots to ensure they’re meeting the company standard. I enjoy the challenge and the rewards of helping pilots achieve their potential, but there are very few women in that high level role in Australian airlines. I’ve had some wonderful male mentors in the last twenty-two years who’ve all encouraged me. As with so many industries the glass ceiling is a reality that takes a little patience to push through.

A career in civilian aviation can be so diverse. I’ve been a flying instructor, tracked dugongs, surveyed mines and sugar cane, been whale watching, and carried passengers all over the east coast of Australia. Other friends have done cattle mustering and worked on stations, flown the mail run or carried freight through the night. The Royal Flying Doctors attracts dedicated pilots, as do the aero-med networks.  And then, for the adventurous, there’s the coastal surveillance operation that I use as the backdrop for my books.

Every flight deck is a small office with an amazing view. I love watching the landscape below me change from the lush green of the coast edged by the vibrant blue of the Pacific Ocean, to the spider veins of the channel country, down the spine of the coal seam and on to the rich browns of the western plains. It’s a perfect way to spend the day, and what’s even better? I’m paid to look out the window!

Find Helene at www.heleneyoung.com

Or www.australianromanticsuspense.com

Follow her on twitter at http://twitter.com/HeleneYoung

Or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Helene.E.Young