How Cathay Pacific captain spun memories of defying death as a New Guinea bush pilot into an award-winning book
Matt McLaughlin’s early years as a pilot were spent in the vertiginous highlands of Papua New Guinea, some of the most dangerous terrain on earth; years later, he realised others might want to read about his experiences
BEST LAID PLANS I grew up in a town of about 30,000 people, called Gisborne, in New Zealand. I was inspired to be a pilot as a 12-year-old, travelling on a small regional airline. I peered down the aisle into the cockpit and saw the pilots wrestling with the controls. A little light bulb went off.
When I was 18, in 1989, I joined the New Zealand Air Force as a trainee pilot. That was Plan A, but it didn’t work out. It’s a long story, but I got glandular fever and was taken off the course. So I tried Plan B: do the civilian qualifications, and then join Air New Zealand Regional.
That got destroyed when Air New Zealand shut down half of their regional fleet, so I had to go for Plan C. I volunteered to be a missionary – as a pilot.
I thought I’d wind up in South America or somewhere in the Pacific; I had these visions of lying on a beach under a palm tree, and flying four or five days a week between islands. Instead, I wound up in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, at the age of 21, in some of the most dangerous flying conditions in the world. I was there for just under four years.
