This week Nicola and Di chat with the fascinating travel expert, Captain Greg Fitzgerald. Greg had an incredible career with Qantas, where he flew for 35 years. He was involved in some pretty amazing flights during that time and shares with us some great stories. After retiring from Qantas during the pandemic, Greg was offered the opportunity to work with Antarctica Flights and provide historical commentary for flights over Antarctica, another passion of his. And it’s not just flying that Greg loves, he’s also involved with Vintage Rail Journeys, where he takes 5-day train tours on the old Southern Aurora. Greg is also a husband to Donna, his wife of 40 years and they have 3 wonderful daughters. 

In this chat, we hear how Greg was initially knocked back from Qantas, but how that setback turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because it gave him the experience of flying regionally in Papua New Guinea. Not deterred by his knock back, Greg reapplied to Qantas years later where he ended up working for 35 years. Not only that, he became a key part of Qantas pilot recruitment. We hear what it takes to be a pilot for Qantas and the rigorous process and testing they go through. 

Greg shares what the most frightening experience was for him as a pilot, as well as some of his proudest and most memorable moments. We hear what it was like to fly burn victims back to safety after the Bali bombings in 2002, the covert operation Greg was a part of during the Iraq war and the rescue flight he captained from Wuhan back to Australia in February 2020 at the start of the pandemic. 

Greg was also involved in one of the stand-out moments in recent aviation history, when he was part of the crew that flew the last Qantas 747 jumbo from Sydney to the Mojave desert. He tells the story of the planning that went into that special day and how emotional it was to farewell the 747 aircraft. 

It was so great chatting to Greg about all of his travels and hearing how passionate he still is about exploring Antarctica and beyond. We hope you will feel as inspired as we did by all of his tales. 

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