A Pilot’s Path: From Cadet to Qantas Captain

I got my pilot’s licence when I was still at high school in Adelaide. It was at a private flying college, which turned out to be where Qantas started its aviation cadetship training. I went to university and studied electronic engineering and kept madly applying to the cadetship program until I got in. I managed to complete uni as well as my flying training before also working at the college as a flight instructor. This helped me get my initial flight hours and experience needed for Qantas.

I’ve done various things during my career, some of which were due to my engineering background. I did interesting projects like flight testing mobile devices for our flight technical department and assisted in managing our retiring fleets. I’d do a lot of the logistics with our engineering team to fly retired 767s to weird and wonderful places. I’ve also worked with the charter teams on amazing B747 charters. At the moment, I’m on the 787 and we do all the long-range flights, until the Airbus A350 arrives and lets us fly direct to London or New York.

I’ve worked on repatriation flights, most recently from Larnaca, Cyprus [to return Australians from Lebanon]. There are so many teams involved – flight planning, diplomatic clearances, medical personnel – and it’s a credit to our ground teams’ expertise and ability to collaborate that we achieved the short timeline. It was a special operation to be involved in.

Flying around the world has made me realise that most people have a good heart. That’s the commonality – people just want the best for their communities, their children, their families. The opportunity to meet them is why aviation is such a great industry to be in. The technical stuff is interesting, but the people you meet and the friends you make from all different cultures, they’re fantastic. It’s a privilege. It’s a gift.

Owen Weaver
Qantas 787 Captain