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10 things you had no idea Melbourne was famous for

Australia. Awesome place to go backpacking. Kangaroos. Kind of cut off. Beer, BBQs, outback and beaches. Surf bums and cowboys living in one big dusty country somewhere at the bottom end of the globe. Sydney has a ring to it, and the Great Barrier Reef is cool after you learned all about it watching ‘Finding Nemo’, but Melbourne? Hmm I don’t know. The weather is a bit grey, and even the name sounds a bit muted. What does Melbourne have to do with you?

Apart from taking our word that it’s a pretty awesome place, without having been here you may wonder what difference this city on the southern coast of a southern island has done for the world. Even if you’ve never been to Paris, you still see its croissants and fashion influence on your high streets. You see LA and New York in your movies. You know about Moscow and Beijing from history books; Tokyo and Singapore from futuristic computer games. All around the world, places we’ve never been to influence our daily lives, our view of the world. If London suddenly disappeared, you’d miss it. But Melbourne?

Well, you’re in for a surprise. For people who are actually here, the fact that Melbourne has been voted the world’s most liveable city 5 years in a row is important, but here are 10 things from Melbourne you may not have known that influence YOUR life, wherever you are.

1) The Black Box Flight Recorder – 1958
Get on any commercial airliner and it will be equipped with the thing that makes the news in the highly unlikely event of the plane crashing. The Black Box Flight Recorder was invented right here in Melbourne in 1958 by Dr David Warren at the Aeronautical Research Laboratories. Three guesses what colour the Black Box is… (comment below!)

2) Dim Sims
Not to be confused with a style of cooking small dishes for the Emperor to touch his heart (Dim Sum means ‘touch the heart’), one of the staples of Fish & Chip shops worldwide was actually invented in Melbourne in 1945. Just like chop suey is American and ketchup is Chinese, the humble Dim Sim was developed by Chinese chef William Wing Young for his restaurant “Wing Lee”. Willy was a clever dude developing the first automated production line for dumplings and ended up very rich. Nothing to do with the fact his address is 88 China Town Lane.

3) Eight Hour Day
You know that time you get to ‘clock off’ every single day? That whole 8 hours sleep, 8 hours work, 8 hours scratch-your-balls-&-Netflix routine you get thanks to international labour laws? The 18^th century didn’t work that way as people were in factories from whenever to whenever the owners said they were, often clocking 14 hours a day, 6 days a week, kids above nine included. The French may have pushed for a 12 hour day in 1848 and the Brits a 10 hour day in 1847, but it was Australian stonemasons of Melbourne that on the 21^st of April 1856 hammered through their demands, paving the way for generations and nations to come. Thanks for that first piece of labour rights, where would we be without you? (Answer: probably in the office)

4) First Feature Length Film
Ever heard of Ned Kelly? Well, if you haven’t, look him up. You’ll see where steampunk gets its armour. In 1906, a team of filmmakers decided to shoot “The Story of the Kelly Gang” the world’s first feature length film about the notorious gangster right here in sunny Melbourne. Clocking in at 70 minutes and with a budget of $2250, it’s inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. Now, where’s our film fund so we can make the next one, Victoria?!

5) Latex Gloves
Every first aid kit, every hospital, every dentist, every self-respecting serial killer has them. But it was the Ansell company of Melbourne that developed and has been making disposable latex gloves alongside its household gloves since 1964. Whilst Caroline Hampton, chief nurse at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore may have had the bright idea to hand-make & use thin rubber gloves, it was a Melbourne branch of the Goodyear Rubber Company that developed the industrial scale product we use every day. Handily, Ansell also mass produce condoms. Fun!

6) The ‘Call Girl’

You may or may not frequent brothels on a regular basis, but chances are very high you’ll have heard or even used the expression ‘call girl’ when referring to a prostitute. Thanks to Melbourne brothel owners’ entrepreneurial spirit in the 1800s, a telephone rendezvous system was invented and widely practices from 1891. Who said the innovation boom is yet to come?
7) Reading Machine for the Blind
In 1990, Milan Hudecek of Melbourne invented reading machines and the world’s first computer for the blind. In Melbourne. Here’s a pic of Stevie Wonder with his.

8) Famous people

Granted, Melbourne didn’t exactly invent them, but this now no-longer-unassuming city has produced quite a few well-known faces. Portia de Rossi, the hot chick married to Ellen DeGeneres? Geelong girl. Geoffrey Rush? Lives in Camberwell. Steve Irwin? Was born on his own mum’s birthday in Essendon. Eric Bana? Actually called Eric Banadinovic. Cate Blanchet, Guy Pierce, Thor (aka Chris Hemsworth) and even Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers – all Melbourne kids!

Oh, and that giant butthole that is Rupert Murdoch. From Melbourne. But to balance that one out: Kylie!!! (who, unlike lil’ Rupert had to move around Melbourne as a kid to be able to sustain the family’s living costs. Glad she’s doing well now.)

9) Ice (Not the Walter White kind)

If you’re fortunate enough to live in a country that has awesome weather, you’ll probably need to either eat very fresh food or have a fridge. Cue 1854 and James Harrison of Geelong who invented the mechanical refrigeration process creating ice and keeping your steak nice and edible for months. Refrigeration meant huge human development as suddenly people were able to eat well a lot more often, transport food far and live in places previously scarcely populated. Where’s my gin & tonic?

10) Vegemite
How best to sum up the impact this beautiful city has had on the world with something that is so quintessentially Australian, the Brits and Aussies fight over it nearly as much as the cricket. In 1919, following disruption of UK favourite Marmite’s delivery stream due to WW1, Fred Walker and Cyril Callister had an idea. They salvaged waste from the nearby Carlton & United brewery (if you’ve ever had a gloriously bogan VB in Oz, that’s where it’s from – plus we had the perfect view of the brewery from the RaD Penhouse balcony’s urban hipster setting) and developed a spread from one of the richest known natural sources of the vitamin B group – brewers yeast.

Initially a bit of a flop with the kids, by the late 1940s, Vegemite was included in Australian Army rations and marketed in conjunction with Kraft Cheese, which made it a staple in nine out of ten Australian homes. The name “Vegemite” was selected out of a hat by Fred Walker’s daughter, Shelagh. The winners were local sisters Hilda and Laurel Armstrong, who were known as “The Vegemite Girls” for the rest of their long lives. Now owned by multinational Kraft, but still virtually unchanged from its original recipe, Vegemite is produced at Modelez’s Port Melbourne at a rate of more than 22 million jars a year.

Who would have thought it? Surprised at how much our lovely city has already infiltrated your life without even knowing it? We know you’re a little bit jealous. Let us know what your city is famous for below. Oh, and come visit whilst the weather is ace!

3 reasons you’ll regret missing your nearest film festival

All, Inspire

You may know that Rat & Dragon was founded on two professionals knocking their heads together above a giant wok and collecting the bits that fell off to create the most awesome ideas stir fry in the history of Mornington Crescent. It is true, dear reader, that over the last two and a half years, we have been on an exclusive mission to capture the furthest corners of the #otbt traveller world, but before all that, our founding members had their fingers deep in all the independent film pies.

It may have taken 2 years of non-fiction for the ghosts of Christmas past to bite us in the butt, but this March, one of our producer’s films screened at Cinequest film festival in the heart of Silicone Valley and thus brought a whole flood of reminiscing, reconnecting and recalibrating to your favourite maverick film team. You can read all about it here, but whilst we’re at it, we need to share a secret with you. For you, dear reader, deserve the best we can give, and after 3 weeks in California, the advice we have for you is: Get your butt to a film festival. Here’s why:

1) Unique inspiration

Its Friday night. You’ve just walked out of Batman vs Superman and thought “soooo, that was a bit same-ish, lame-ish…”, wondering if you’ll ever waste $20 for this cinema thing again. That feeling that you’ve seen that same story a million times before, just acted out in turns by disgruntled superheroes, Hugh Grant & Scarlett Johansson, a talking car, a plucky dinosaur, and a redneck family from Idaho… well, your gut is right. Big cinemas play what big distributors buy, and big distributors buy what they feel is a safe return on investment: the same story that was marketed to sh*t and got you into the cinema last time.

Film festivals are different, as, on the whole, you don’t need millions of dollars to get your film seen by an audience. They are curated by people who – yes – need to get butts on seats, but who also know their audience wants to see something fresh and new (or they’d just go to the cinema instead). Just because a film gets through the distributors criteria for big global cinema release doesn’t mean it’s good. And likewise, just because a film gets rejected by big distributors, doesn’t mean it’s boring, or ‘art-house’ or plain unwatchable.

Festival releases such as Loveless Zoritza, Yakuza Apocalypse, Dependent’s Day, Love Is All You Need?, and Lost in Munich will have you crying with laughter or heartbroken or deeply shocked or in awe, way before they get distributed (in some cases unfortunately “if” they ever do).

2) The cool factor

Remember that time you ended up at the casino bar at 4am with Antony Hopkins and Quentin Tarantino after everything else had closed and your group was just having a far too good time? Yeah, you don’t. But this older director Patrick we know has exactly those memories – because he was in the festival circuit when Antony and Quentin were getting known. Hollywood is employing more indie film makers than ever before because they bring new exciting visions to projects, that admittedly get watered down a lot along the way by stakeholders (refer back to point 1).

Festivals are your chance to see the big names when they’re just taking off and if you’re lucky enough to end up at The Breakfast Club after a good night of meeting people, you’ll probably know the whole backstory to what went into filming what you saw last night. And you know what they say: sometimes behind the scenes is even more interesting than what’s in front.

3) Get involved

Films are a collaborative process. Guess why everyone who’s won an academy award always sits up there for ages thanking their agents and crews and Jesus and their cat called Omelette until they are awkwardly asked to shut up and sit back down to let someone else have a go. And on the whole, films are really just a bunch of people getting together in a place and telling a story.

Well, festivals give you the chance to actually rub shoulders with people making films all around you, and engage personally with them at many Q&As, screenings or networking events. And if you have something of value, like an apartment with a great view, or a cool looking dog, or access to a prison, or heaps of enthusiasm, or (especially in London) spare time and your own car, you can actually find yourself helping out on an indie film set in the not too distant future. Making films, especially at festival level, is only possible by bringing people, assets and passion for the project together, so if you’re interested, chances are you’ll become a valued member of a film team. And if you play it right, your name might even be dropped whilst accepting an academy award one day.

A re-assessment of interconnectedness

All, Inspire

There are certain image collections that keep on popping up on facebook. “20 scary pictures from the past”, “OMG I can’t believe she wore THAT to the Oscars”, “10 things you should never eat” and “these paintings sum up modern life completely.” Especially the last one. Cue a selection of kitsch digital paintings showing suit-clad zombies with faces stuck to their phones, a lone woman trapped in a facebook cage right next to a slightly ajar door, and how your kid’s childhood is being eaten by a soul-eating iPad.

Hang on a second. It’s true that we’re spending more time than ever before in front of screens and feel a little weird leaving the house without our phone, but that is because the digital revolution has opened up a whole new world of possibilities in which technology is simply too useful to ignore. Anyone who read Douglas Adams predicting the invention of the internet-enabled smartphone in 1978 would have dismissed this mythical device along with the other futuristic gadgets introduced in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (drink inventor, anyone?). But ladies and gentlemen, just like we found out the earth is actually no longer flat, we have made the future’s wildest dreams reality. That little affordable device that fits in your pocket, works for 12 hours without being plugged in and can connect you to anyone around the world instantaneously also happens to give you access to the entirety of human knowledge, from everywhere and of all time. THAT, dear friends, is a miracle.

Louis CK did a fantastic commentary on Late Night in which he describes how instead of seeing the incredible things we’ve created, we take things for granted filling us with an instantaneous feeling of entitlement. Everything is amazing, and nobody’s happy – is this just the human condition? We like to think that humans are empathetic beings, and respond to what is around them. And as founders of a company that uses the internet every day, we see what an incredibly powerful and positive tool it is. Put aside high computing power, stock markets and commerce, for one thing that technology has totally revolutionized, it’s how we connect to other people.

You may argue that we spend less time with real humans and more in cyberspace. However, if you weigh up the incredible benefits of global interconnectedness with you making the decision to stay on your sofa with YouTube instead of inviting friends over for dinner, we’re afraid to tell you that blaming the biggest social communication network in the world for you choosing the easy option is plain lazy. Meeting up with people takes a little bit of effort. It always has and it always will. You need to create your own entertainment, you need to navigate through awkward pauses, you need to *shock horror* share your personal space with other people. As messaging and facebook made interactions less awkward (you can, after all, wear whatever you want and walk away from a conversation at any point by claiming your phone died), we tend to choose staying in over going out of our way to connect with others in real life. That’s hardly technology’s fault, so stop faffing on Buzzfeed and go organize that movie night with mates right now.

Once we’ve got over the scapegoating, let’s sit back and contemplate who we’d not be in touch with if it wasn’t for the internet. Our team have travelled and lived in many different countries over the years, and facebook has provided an invaluable platform to keep in casual contact with our friends. No need for long, personalized “my life this year” newsletters. No need to cut off from people you weren’t good enough friends with to be pen pals, but had a great time with and care about enough to be interested in how they’re getting on. And how about the people you would never have seen again because, even if you wanted to, there’s no way to be in touch? Take for example one of the nurses that treated Saxon when he got Typhoid in Timor, in hindsight a pretty funny story that involved a ping-pong match, skimping on travel jabs and carrying blood back and forth up and down 3 flights of stairs. That nurse is on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Melbourne next week (what are the odds?), and we only know because of this wonderful global interconnectedness. Beer time.

Our producer’s recent California mission was powered completely by facebook – connecting with old contacts at Cinequest Film Festival, networking in LA and bringing together good friends that hadn’t seen each other in years due to pursuing careers around the world, everything was possible at the touch of a button. And the best thing was – despite being on opposite sides of the planet, we had been part of our lives all along. Chatting online, posting articles and film trailers we loved, showing what we were up to for fun, things that happened that made us sad… we were all there in it together. Isn’t that incredible?

No matter if it’s connecting likeminded people unrepresented by government and media to gain strength and stage a revolution for democracy, doctors sharing knowledge to fight disease on a global scale, or YouTube, the global stage for absolutely everyone to show off what they are passionate about and by doing so open people’s minds to strangers from different countries… the best of humanity is out there, ready for you to take part. Because the secret is, no matter where we’re from, what we do, what our cultural background is – we all care about the same things. Where we sleep, what we eat, what we do for work and fun, and how much we care about those we love. Technology hasn’t changed this, it’s added a whole new universe to our lives as social beings. Thank you, digital revolution.

Wonder why Aussie weather is so spectacular?

All, Learn

We just happened to look up from our editing machines as the lightning struck full pelt across the horizon. Ominous black clouds rushed across the skyline as Melbourne’s corporate tower blocks were swallowed one by one by the encroaching bank of torrential rain. It may have been 2pm, but the sky was so dark our screens had automatically adjusted to twilight settings. No wonder our eyes were straining. We looked up at each other puzzled. Hadn’t it been blazing sunshine just half an hour ago?

Melbourne has the reputation of having four seasons in one day. Popular TV panel show The Gruen Transfer even made a point back in 2013 of advertising nearby Tasmania as the most cost effective destination for the 2024 Olympics as you could hold both the summer and winter Olympics in the same venues, on the same day. Two for the price of one you may say.

This volatile climate is mainly down to two factors: wind direction and topography. Wind from the south comes straight over the ocean from the arctic and creates wonderful ski slopes around Mt Buller east of Melbourne. Yes, you can ski in Australia. Google it. Wind from the north comes straight from the hot desert where the first three Mad Max films were shot. As Melbourne is by the sea, and air warms and cools at different rates over land and the ocean, wind is common. Add a lack of mountains (such as the Rockies along west coast USA) to hold hot or cold air pockets in place and you get days where the wind suddenly changes causing a 38 degree day to turn into a 21 degree afternoon. And vice versa – this is what makes it all so exciting. Yes, it’s not for everyone. It gets cold, but it also gets really hot and having a good mixture ensures we never get too bored with either. And with a floor to ceiling panoramic view from the top floor of our studio & living space, we thoroughly enjoy the show.

Melbourne isn’t the only place in Oz with rather spectacular choreographies going on in the skies. Perth’s extremely hot, super-dry summers, inherently unstable atmosphere and close proximity to the dusty, iron-ore-red outback have brought forth spectacular dust storm cloud formations. Slap one of those rust-orange towering walls topped with a froth of swirling charcoal thundercloud above the azure ocean and you’ll see where Fury Road got its colour palette. Perth also boasts the most costly natural disaster in Western Australia’s history, when a particularly ferocious storm cell on the 22^nd of March 2010 caused over $1 billion damage.

The 27^th of November 2014 saw another vicious weather system hit Brisbane. Huge tennis-ball sized hail showered down on parts of the city, smashing all windows on one side of our Dragon’s brother’s house and pock marking cars all along the street. Ominous dark, swirling clouds eventually passed, leaving what has until hours before been an early summer’s evening looking like it had been hit by a freak blizzard. More than 100,000 homes lost power supply due to 642 power lines brought down, 39 people were injured and a number of planes were flipped over at Archerfield Airport. Over 500,000 insurance claims for hail-damaged cars took over a year to process and repair. Brisbane is otherwise a lovely city with wonderful warm weather. Just don’t mention the 2013 ocean foam buildup on the nearby sunshine coast that blanketed roads, resorts, caravan parks, back yards, houses, cars, dogs, gerbil cages and unsuspecting German tourists in what looked like a 2m deep Ibiza club foam party. Just a few big-ish waves and rough seas during a cyclone, that’s all. Nothing to see – move along!

To steer clear of severe weather, all you need to do is avoid the East Coast, West Coast, South Coast, Tasmania and the centre of the Australian continent. The Northern Territory may be home to an abundance of man-eating crocs, but at least the climate is friendly. That is if you are a being from hell. For Australia is rather well known for its devastating bushfires that in the case of a 2003 alpine fire, destroyed 41 homes and over 1.3 million hectares of land. The most fire prone areas may be in the southern states (Victoria being the heaviest hit), but one plucky cameraman in Alice Springs managed to capture the moment a fire was sucked up into a tornado. Yeah Sharknado might have been fun, but this shit is real!

Australia’s extreme weather is destructive, no question about it. However, as with most things in life, there is another side to the bat-shit crazy weather that is incredibly creative. Certain plants such as the Banksia have evolved to rely on bush fires for re-production, where seed pods only open due to presence of extreme heat. Indigenous Australians have used fire to cultivate grassland and create tracks in dense bushland, allowing for plants and animals to thrive, making bush fires an essential part of Australia’s ecology. For us mere humans, being able to ski, surf huge waves, relax on tropical beaches and trek through rust-red deserts and dramatic wind-swept rock formations all in one country makes Australia an incredible place to be. Don’t even get us started on the clouds…

5 People you’d never expect to see skydiving

All, Inspire

We get it. You’ve seen it all already. On those posters, fliers, brochures, facebook ads and friends’ profile pics: the screaming, freefalling, sometimes cleavage-heavy adrenaline portraits of the young and daring tandem skydiver, plummeting through the air at 200km/h strapped to some tattooed weekend-base-jumper with a maniac grin plastered across his Oakley-sporting face.

If hanging around drop zones for the last 5 months has taught us anything (and it’s taught us WAY more than we could have possibly imagined), it’s this: Yes, that backpacker-thrill-face is part of our daily subjects as we cling to our cameras whilst trying to not get hit by landing humans on the beach. However, as with the added knowledge about the sky, the clouds, the physics of parachuting and the aviation industry in general, we were surprised by the people we met who we’d never expect to be in any way connected to what is perceived to be such an ‘extreme’ sport. Filmmaking gives you amazing access to people’s experience, ideas and worlds, and here are our top 5 surprises:

1) Don – the unintentional expert

Don is a tandem master with over 9600 jumps to his name. “It all started back in the 80s, I had just got divorced and was looking for a new social group”. He was introduced by a friend and as he really enjoyed hanging out with everyone at the drop zone, he ended up jumping. It actually took Don 20 jumps to start enjoying himself properly.

After years of experience and training, Don gained his tandem qualification in 1991. In his typically calm, collected and approachable manner, he explains that he loves taking people flying, and especially enjoys tandems with paraplegic passengers or people with cerebral palsy. “You’re up there in the air with them, and there’s nothing for your legs to do, so letting your passenger fly a parachute around feeling weightless and free is just amazing”.

Don also teaches the AFF (accelerated free fall) course to people who want to learn to fly on their own. “It’s rewarding to the max to see people I taught flying on their own and having fun or challenging themselves in competitions”. We ask him if this is day job. “Oh, no, this is how I spend my weekends. I’m a postman during the week!”

2) Alan – the birthday boy

There seems to be a popular belief that skydiving is the realm of 20-something year old people without a real job. We must admit that we were a little surprised ourselves to learn that, unlike driving your car without regular tests, the upper age limit for skydiving is non existent. We first met Alan as he was assisted off the landing area as he had difficulty walking. “I’ve always wanted to skydive, but my wife wouldn’t let me!” h犀利士
e laughs out in a brash Aussie twang. “Well, unfortunately she died before I was 80, so on my 80^th I booked in to skydive. I’ve treated myself on my birthday every year since!”

Alan has difficulty walking, but so long as you can lift your legs up for the landing, you can go skydiving without any special equipment, yes, even if you’re in your 90s or above (and it’s been done!). “We had three elderly ladies booked in Cairns”, Hannah who organizes front of office explains, “and as they all put down the same address, I thought they lived together. Turns out it was the address of their nursing home. They had a fabulous time up in the air and wouldn’t stop telling me all about it whilst they waited for their photos.”

3) Allie – the fast rider

Allie is probably the most likely out of all our unlikely people because she does things that you would expect from a skydiver, and at that, one thing in particular: Allie races motorbikes. What is completely unexpected is how humble she is about her amazing achievements on the racecourse and in the sky. “Many of my skydiving colleagues would never ride a sports bike, because it’s ‘too dangerous’” she smiles knowingly. “I’m the ground safety officer here and make sure everyone lands nice and safely after jumping out of the plane. So I absolutely agree with them. Looking at the statistics, you’re more likely to get hurt driving in your own car to the drop zone than falling out of a plane.”

Her knowing smile holds another story though, as Allie is afraid of flying. “It used to be awful, I’d have to take a Qantas flight here or a Jetstar flight there and whilst everyone was sitting around chatting about the coffee being terrible or zoning into the in-flight entertainment, I was clinging to my seat, sweaty palmed.” Most people think the riskiest part is outside the plane, but everyone we know in skydiving is much happier once they leave the plane. “Those things are way more scary than jumping out. I used to take my parachute on as hand luggage so I knew that if anything happened, I’d be fine in mid air”. Allie successfully manages her nervousness when flying these days but it gives her valuable insight into what first-timers feel like and how to re-assure them. “It’s not about being fearless, it’s about feeling it but helping yourself to do it anyway. You’ve got to go out there and enjoy life.”

4) Sammy – the wiz-kid

“There’s lots that determines your coolness-factor at school. One of them’s your pencil case. Another is your mum’s restraint level when you just don’t want a cuddle. I totally nailed it. I jumped out of a plane.” Sammy isn’t 18. He isn’t 16 with parental consent either. Sammy did his first skydive at 13, one year older than Australia’s 12+ age limit. Surprised? Well, in New Zealand, so long as you can get strapped in, you can fly, no matter how young you are.

“It’s like when you’re in bed, and you’re having a dream that you’re falling, and you wake up with a jolt, BUT IT DOESN’T STOP” he explains mystically to his older sisters. “I was a bit nervous, not about the plane, cause it was going to be my first flight ever anyway so I thought I’m gonna love it. But going on this bus full of adults I don’t know to get to the airport was a bit daunting. But Dave my tandem master explained everything really clearly and then kept on joking about stuff so we ended up sniggering all the way.” Sammy’s mum was also a little bit nervous but the knowledge each rig contains a main and backup parachute as well as a computer that deploys the chute automatically at a certain altitude was reassuring. “He had such a good time, it was all worth it. Someone’s got a new fridge photo to put up and show off.”

5) Greg – the aviator supreme

You’d be surprised to not find a pilot at a skydiving gig. These mystical creatures, shrouded in starched shirts, mirrored aviators and banter only air traffic control pretends to understand, are often the only clean-shaven face in sight of a plane’s petrol docking station. You may have had the privilege of catching a glimpse of a pilot walking through the VIP lane at airport security or flicking switches and checking charts with the co-pilot through the crack of the nearly-closed cockpit door as the stewardess opposite you motions to you to take your seat at the back in row 29 and refrain from holding up the queue any longer.

But when you’re cramming 17 people into a small plane with two seats and a Perspex shutter instead of a door, things get cosy and you have the chance to get a good look at a real-life pilot. Greg as been flying since 2011 and completed his training for skydiving piloting 2 years ago. He’s flown a lot of different types of planes in all sorts of environments, but flying parachutists requires quite a unique combination of skill and experience. “Unlike a normal flight, everyone’s really excited to be there. You have to get up to altitude as fast as you can and then maintain a track, altitude and air speed whilst losing about 1400kg out of the door in the space of about 50 seconds.”

Camera fliers make things really interesting for Greg as they cling to the outside of the plane creating a lot of drag until they suddenly drop off at the same time as two other people. “You have to compensate with the plane, which is fine with 1 camera flier but when there are fun jumpers involved, we’ll have up to 13 people hanging on to the outside of the plane.” All this experience means that when you apply for jobs with a commercial airliner, having worked as a skydive pilot is great on your CV as you’ll have honed your skills to keep a plane steady and secure as well as being awesome at takeoffs and landings. “In a normal situation, you may do 3 or 4 takeoff and landing combinations a day. When you’re working in skydiving, you’re doing 10 to 20 a day, which means you get really, really good.”

When the door of the plane opens, it gets a bit scary, we say. “You don’t need to be fearless, just skilled, and the physics involved are amazingly supportive. One pilot I work with is scared of heights, but he loves flying once he gets to a certain altitude, so he just deals with his fear and he’s fine. He’s applying for a major airline at the moment and he’s a fantastic pilot so will do very well. It’s when you see beyond your physical reaction to the possibilities life holds that you really start to enjoy yourself.”

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