My Journey with QantasLink on the Dash-8

I feel like it's a real honour to connect the regions to the city and also to the world. We might be the starting point of someone's amazing journey overseas or we might be flying to Moree to pick up a famer who is 50 years old and has never flown before. 

I've been working on Dash-8 turboprops since I joined Qantas in September 2000. There have been opportunities over the years to move over to the jets, but I've always loved the work I do. I love the people. I love the flying. I love the smell of the tarmac and the sounds when I walk out to the aircraft. 

It's a unique experience on the Dash-8s because there's only one or two cabin crew on board so you learn everything and have to be able to do everything. I'm talking to pilots all day, I know the names of the passengers, the caterers, the cleaners, the airport staff. 

I'm based in Sydney so most of my flying is around NSW. My next flights at to Tamworth, Wagga and Dubbo, and we've recently started flying to Griffith. These services are really important to the regions and there are a lot of Frequent Flyers that you get to know by name. 

It's always been a really supportive place to work. I had breast cancer in 2016, and Qantas helped me the whole way. I later joined the FlyPink flights, which help to raise awareness for breast cancer. And flying regionally has been great for raising my two daughters, as I'm not away from home for long. It's a bit of a cliché but Qantas is really like a family to me.

Fiona Crockett
QantasLink Cabin Crew