It’s taken me a few weeks but I’m excited to announce the all new Bush Flying Diaries website and blog. You’ll notice these pages now have a new URL too which is https://mattdearden.co.uk, so please don’t forget to update your bookmarks.
As I’ve migrated the old blog from the old Blogger platform to this fancy new WordPress one, there could well be a few broken links or photos lurking about the place. If you find one, please let me know via the contact page here. Please also let me know what you think, and if you have any suggestions for improvement, let me know!
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It’s been great following you and your mates since I seen the TV shows.
Welcome to WordPress, but be sure to lock your WordPress blog down. It’s a great blogging platform, but there are numerous malicious “bots” out there that love to wreak havoc on the web sites.
Continued success, and blue skies!
P.S. are you a member of Share Aviation?
Hi Joe,
I’m still very new to this WordPress setup but very much enjoying the flexibility it offers over my old Blogger setup. I’ve still got plenty of tweaking to do but I think it’s mostly how I want it now. I’ll certainly make sure to secure everything as I know all about bots et al from my old IT days.
I’ve not heard of Share Aviation so will check it out.
Cheers
Matt
Excellent! The type of flying you and your mates do everyday is exciting and thrilling. I am sharing the series with my Civil Air Patrol Cadets here at home in America. Don’t blush, but you are inspiring a new generation to aviation! 🙂
Hopefully, some of your fellow pilots can learn to share the excitement as well. (??)
Joe
Hi Joe,
Great to hear we’re inspiring new, young pilots into the industry! As for my colleagues, I think most of them just point potential pilots to my blog rather than start their own. A few of them are on Instagram/Twitter though.
Matt
Very good to hear!
Hi Matt,
Loving your blog so far. Just finished watching the tv show too. Enjoyed it thoroughly.
I was just wondering if you know what the prospects are at the moment of getting a start with susi?
I’m a low hour ppl/almost cpl.
Keep up the good work.
Tim
Hi Tim,
I know we’re always accepting new applicants but as to your chances I couldn’t say. I do know you need 250 hours minimum though so don’t bother applying until you have that total time.
Best of luck!
Matt
Have you watched Ice Pilots of the North West Territories? If not, they are all over Youtube. 🙂
I certainly have. Also loved that Flying Wild Alaska show. As much as I’d love to fly out in those areas, I’m just not sure I could deal with the cold!
Living the dream Matt, how cool is that? Spent most of my flying in a cub in Alaska off airport and I just love your blog and videos. Always admired the Porter and remember the ones the Wein flew in Alaska years ago. Keep up the great pics and vid.
Hiya, saw the show and stumbled upon your blog now. Great stuff and enjoy the real flying! I fly private jets around the world and you seem to have the best gig going… being bored on a 10hr flight makes me want to learn the skills you have:
Also these days with the pilot schools churning out airbus/boeing cannonfodder who cant fly to save their lives, its good to see you build real stick & rudder skills! An airplane is the same irrespective of size, so these skills will aid you in whatever future jobs you get.
Too many “children of the magenta line” cant fly unless they can program an FMS or follow flightdirectors so I feel sorry for them that will never learn flying skills like you and your bunch out on the last frontier. Just look at the bozos who parked a b777 in solid VFR during a visual approach into SFO…
It is rather sad that many future pilots will never know the pleasures of flying a simple aircraft by only looking out of the windows. These new multi-crew pilot licences are a worry if you ask me. And as for the Asiana Airlines 777 in SFO: if a pilot can’t fly and land their aircraft without an autopilot and visually, then they have no right to be calling themselves a pilot.
I agree, my envy meter of Matt and his mates is off scale high 🙂 I too am stunned how an ATP pilot doesn’t know how to visually slow flight an aircraft he is supposedly check-out in. Even worse, why was it a good idea to practice with real passengers?? Poor souls. Matt, take good care, fly safe, and take lots more pics and videos! I’m spoiled rotten 🙂
Hi matt, I was just wondering what the best way to get to susi air is and the amount of hours that you had when you came over to Indonesia to start flying
Hi Lukas,
I got the job out in Indonesia pretty much straight out of flying school with just over 230 hours total time. I think it’s still possible to get a job here with low hours but I think you might need a few more now to stand a better chance of a job offer.
Hola, Matt! I think flying and writing is a cool combination. Well, I was flying with Susi Air from Jakarta to Pangandaran by the end of February 2015 and sat between my sister and someone I assume a flight trainee. His mobile phone was turned on and took some pictures. I could not make sure actually whether it was in flight mode or not. But, behind each of the seats there were a caution not to activate the mobile phone. What is your opinion about mobile phone activated on board?
Hello,
You should always have your phone in flight safe mode when on board an aircraft. The main reason for doing so is because mobile phones can interfere with the aircraft’s radios, especially during take-off and landing. During these phases of flight, mobile phones that are still active will be trying to make contact with the antennas on the ground. This produces a pulsing sound in the pilots’ headsets which is very distracting and if they are transmitting at the time, this noise will also be transmitted to ATC.
Basically, please make sure you have your phone in flight safe mode at all times when on board an aircraft :o)
Cheers!
hi, I wants have the news of formation for the pilot in Susi air
There’s some information on the company website here: http://fly.susiair.com/
Dear Matt, Im Stephen Wally 33 years old from Sentani Papua, Im a singer and a song writer. My biggest dream is to be a musician and a pilot so that I can help fellow Papuan people in health and eduction. Since I was in the elementary school, I saw many pilots flew Pilatus Porter, Cesna and many other planes since I lived near the runway. And since that time I believe that I am going to be a pilot. Dear Matt, please help. Thank you