Meet our People

How did you come to work for Leidos Airborne Solutions?

I previously worked for the Royal Australian Air Force, and in 2012 I did a tour of Leidos Airborne Solutions’ Adelaide HQ building and Hangars with about 20 other RAAF personnel. I decided that very day that I wanted to work for Leidos Airborne Solutions (formally Cobham). In 2017, I finally was fortunate enough to successfully obtain the position of Mission Systems Support Technician in Adelaide. A dream come true, not only did I get to work for Leidos Airborne Solutions after five years, but I got the perfect role within the company, for me.

Tell us about a typical day at work for you.

The first thing I do when I arrive in the morning, is my daily checks. This involves a complete check of the whole AMSA network, from every network router right through to aircraft mission records. I’m checking for network connection, power outages, disk space on every device, website services are running, firewall is intact, fatal errors logged in any of the log files and finally wrapping up with email and chat servers used by the aircraft to communicate with AMSA in Canberra. If there are any issues, I rectify them as a priority.

The rest of my day is never dull and never the same. I receive Program Trouble Reports (PTR’s) all day and all night, these are forms the operators submit when they notice an issue with the mission system. It could be something as simple as the mouse not moving the cursor on the display, or it could be something that requires a deep investigation such as the surveillance RADAR not operating or satellite communications dropped off.

If the entire system is purring along nicely then I turn my attention onto development, stabilisation and/or research.

My favourite development activity is what I call “Crafternoon”, this is where I head down to the laboratory with a pile of cardboard and some masking tape. I mock-up a design for a modification, check that it’s appropriate and then begin drawing up the design in an engineering application called CAD. I’ll provide those drawings to internal departments or external contractors and have a prototype built.

Some of the stabilisation work that I carry out might involve creating or changing wiring diagrams to catch up on the ever-growing systems on board the special mission fleets, or it might involve building a web portal to give operators or customers a polished and professional graphical user interface to ensure that they can move and manipulate the data captured, effectively and efficiently.

Then there is the research. This can be fun and usually is the most challenging part of my role. Every now and then, I will be asked to look into a piece of equipment, sometimes military equipment controlled by ITAR and sometimes just a really cool and innovative commercial item. I am responsible for reading through all the documentation provided and planning out how it could be installed in our fleet and what the benefits are. Only a couple of months ago, I received a loan item from a supplier, It’s a radio about the size of a tissue box. This radio actually houses 5 different radios that operate on different bands and can cover Military UHF, Digital UHF, FM and Marine FM. I was tasked with designing the initial integration and testing functionality, to possibly address obsolescence. A lot of Research and Development goes into the equipment on our aircraft and like this radio, every item on board the aircraft, was at some point, never seen before.

What do you like most about your job?

The challenging and varying responsibilities. I know it’s a bit cliché, but I really love that no two days are the same. I’m constantly learning and delivering better products to our people in the skies and our customers on the ground. I take great pride in knowing that the work I do and the systems I implement are used to save lives and protect our waters and borders. My job is one of a kind.

What are your favourite things to do outside of work?

My absolute number one passion outside of work is motorcycles. Currently I have 6 parked in my back yard and each has its own style ranging from iconic classics older than me right through to brand new and modified drag bikes. But the nerd in me still creeps in as I have even built my own standalone fuel management and fuel maps.

What might people be surprised to know about you?

My favourite movie genre is romantic comedies and my favourite music genre is country and western. I’m a sucker for romance.

How did you come to work for Leidos Airborne Solutions?

I was working in the Middle East and looking to return to Australia as my eldest son was starting high school. My primary objective was to find a job in Perth with a distinct preference of doing something other than regular passenger transport (RPT) flights. Leidos Airborne Solutions was looking for people on this new contract so I applied and was successful in my application.

What does your job entail?

As a crew we are on standby for anybody that may need assistance anywhere in our search and rescue region. If we do get a job my first task is to look at the task and conduct a thorough risk assessment making sure the task can be completed safely. I will then submit a flight plan and electronically submit aircraft specific paperwork before proceeding to the aircraft.

In the aircraft I am primarily responsible for the safety of the aircraft and crew but I can perform either Pilot Flying or Pilot Monitoring duties and allow the First Officer to fly the aircraft. This we tend to share so that both pilots maintain some form of currency and proficiency in operating the aircraft.

Tell us about a typical day at work for you.

Arrive at work and prepare a briefing for the entire crew covering the aircraft, weather, emergency procedures and any new procedures that may have been introduced. On occasion we will proceed out to the aircraft to conduct a full system check and ensure everything is working as it should. After that the crew and myself will wait for a phone call to get airborne and assist someone in trouble. There are a lot of quiet days during which time there is always discussions on relevant topics or study for simulator checks that will keep us all busy.

What do you like most about your job?

It is varied. You are not taking off from Perth and flying 4 hours to Sydney to then return. On any given day you could be assisting someone bogged in the middle of the desert, dropping communications equipment and food to an Indonesian fishing vessel or searching for a missing boat in the middle of the ocean. Every task is different.

What are your favourite things to do outside of work?

I have 3 boys who are very into sport. With football training 3 times a week and games on Saturdays as well as basketball 2 nights a week.

When I can I enjoy playing golf and also doing Yoga twice a week to keep the pounds off.

How did you come to work for Leidos Airborne Solutions?

I was working at another place in the airfields, after having a break from aviation for about 15 years. Some guys I'd done my apprenticeship with asked me to come work for National Jet as it was then known, and I’ve been here ever since!

What does your job entail?

Basically I do mechanical work on aircraft – I am a Licenced Aircraft Maintenance Engineer. I work on both our Search-and-rescue and surveillance aircraft for AMSA and ABF, to ensure that they are compliant and serviceable. We look after all our Australian aircraft.

Tell us about a typical day at work for you.

There is no such thing as a typical day in my job! These days every day is varied and busy, as most of the maintenance of our Challenger and Dash 8 fleet is done in Cairns. We are only going to get busier, as we will soon be commencing modifications to our Dash 8 fleet to fulfil our contract with the Australian Border Force.

What do you like most about your job?

The people I work with. At our base, we all get on well and help each other out. Every day is entertaining. I am a small piece in the puzzle – we are an awesome team.

What are your favourite things to do outside of work?

I love water-skiing with my family when we can all get together.