Happiness is a head in the clouds
by
Rebecca Jenkins
For many land lovers just the thought of sitting at the controls of a
plane thousands of feet above the ground is enough to bring on a cold
sweat.
But for experienced pilot David Harris, soaring through the skies is
nothing short of meditation.
The senior research fellow with the Systems Engineering and Evaluation
Centre at Mawson Lakes learned to fly in Tiger Moths at the age of 16,
before he even had his driver’s licence.
“I used to ride my pushbike to the airfield, and then get in the plane
and fly,” he said.
“It’s the amazing feeling of being able to get away from everything.
It’s a feeling almost like meditation.”
Aviation remained a large part of Harris’s early career from flying jets
when he was completing his national service, to working as a test pilot
for a light aircraft firm in England.
These days, the Sport Aircraft Club of SA president keeps his feet on
the ground during his day job, but loves taking to the skies in his
spare time.
Earlier this year he used his skills to help fulfill an ambition of Lea
Trowbridge, a friend battling cancer, who always wanted to fly around
the Kimberlies.
Harris, Lea and Tom Trowbridge planned a three-week flight up the centre
of Australia, to the Kimberlies and along the coast of Western Australia
before tracking back to Parafield Airport.
“We three friends have all had ‘The Big Fright’ – a diagnosis of cancer.
It is not a pleasant thing to happen, but it does have the positive
effect of focusing life onto what matters,” Harris said.
Throughout May, they flew over and dropped into some of the most
dramatic and remote spots in Australia.
Having to hand-start one of the plane’s engines, deal with never ending
attention attracted by their unusual plane – an Aero-145, and negotiate
clouds of bull dust at the airfield at the Bungle Bungles were among the
highlights of the adventure.
The air strips they used were often basic – but welcoming. At Dalhousie
Springs, for example, there was the nice touch of a luggage trolley on
the air strip to take the luggage 200m to the camping area.
But when it came to move onto the next stop, the crew was always pleased
to be spared a bumpy ride across the scorched desert roads.
“When everyone got into their cars to drive over the corrugated roads,
we simply climbed in the aeroplane and flew on to the next stop,” he
said.
“Though sometimes we had a bumpy ride through the scorched desert air.”