Life Flight

Hi, my name is Cam I started my career as a Flight instructor for 7 years, first 5 were in Australia flying in the outback, last 2 were back in Hamilton teaching multi engine IFR.

Before I was a flight instructor I did loader driving for Farmers air. I began flying Aeromedical work in 2018 with the Westpac Air Ambulance flying the Mitsubishi Mu2 which joined up with Lifeflight in 2023. I am currently a Training captain at our Hamilton base.

I absolutely love the mix of flying and medical work that we do. When deciding what I wanted to do when I was younger, it was 50/50 between a pilot or a doctor, I have a great interest in the medical field so this job allows me to combine my interests. I also enjoy instructing (you can’t do that job for 7 years if you don’t love it!), so as a training captain it’s the best of both worlds, I get to fly but also teach/train/instruct others to do a job I’m passionate about.

The variety of work that this role requires also keeps me interested and enthusiastic about coming to work each day. We never know where and when we will be required to fly somewhere, or the nature of the job. One day it might be a stable patient returning home, the next it might be a 2 AM callout to do a NICU job requiring transporting a premature baby in an incubator, or an urgent ICU job, each day is different. Our role is variable too, primarily as a pilot we fly the planes, but in Hamilton we also get to drive the ambulances to and from the hospital and help the medical team get the patient ready for transfer – it’s a very hands on job which is different and unique to most other flying jobs I.e. airline pilot or other air ambulance operators. Being so hands on makes the job a lot more rewarding than “just flying a plane” so it feels like I’m really helping people being a pilot for Lifeflight.

In my time away from work I have two young kids so I don’t get out much. I am a road cyclist but at the moment most of my riding is done in the garage on Zwift using a smart bike in a virtual world. When the kids are asleep, the wife is out and my training rides are done, then I also like to play games on my PC or watch movies.