Who would have thought that a boy from the bush who dreamed of flying the helicopter that was mustering above him, would one day be running a Civilian flight school on the Sunshine Coast training students from all over the world to fly. Using his background of mustering, long lining and fire fighting, Fergus Ponder is value adding to the resources available to his students.
As a kid, Fergus Ponder grew up on a 40 000 acre sheep station in Northwestern NSW. His first job out of school was with Stanbroke Pastoral Company in 1986. He continued to work with them as a Jackaroo, stockman and then Head stockman until 1996 with brief stints away droving and helping out on the family station.
In 1996, the dream was to become a reality and to the shock of his wife Lee, he decided to become a helicopter pilot. Mike and Jan Becker had just started Noosa Helicopters, a flight school and Fergus was their second student to train. He took to it like a duck to water and found that helicopters were a whole lot easier to start than a colt on a cold morning.
His first job was with Webb Helicopters at Emerald QLD and it would be remiss to not mention his first official task as a newly graduated rookie pilot was to clean the loo! He soon worked his way in to mustering in an R22 around Central and Southwest Queensland, based at Windorah and venturing as far out as the Gammon Range in South Australia.
Fergus went back to Becker Helicopters in 1998, this time as a Flight Instructor. Mike and Jan were training students from a wide variety of backgrounds. Although flying was a comfortable place, standing in front of a class full of eager students was a bit of a stretch for Fergus. However he gained in experience and knowledge and started yearning for bigger and brighter horizons.
The Coleambally Irrigation Area in NSW was a long way from the Sunshine Coast, but a year of spraying rice and soy beans with MAS Agwork was a new challenge, however vertical reference long line was a goal that was not easily attained in Australia. As luck would have it and due to a 1 in 5 million chance, Fergus and his wife won a Green card through the American Diversity Lottery.
March 2000 saw a very different horizon – Southeast Alaska had much WOW factor at first glance, mountains that rise from the sea, virtually straight up and with big timber easily topping out around 200 feet tall. This was a place where long lining was commonplace. Temsco Helicopters gave Fergus his break in Turbine Helicopters and vertical reference, giving support to the Forestry Service all around the mountains and glaciers of Alaska. We won’t mention the days of Salmon fishing or riding a push bike trying to out run a black bear on the way home from work.
Fergus and Lee went to Texas for the winter of 2000 flying traffic watch in the Dallas metroplex in a Bell 206 Jetranger. The Australian accent was a bit of a hindrance over the airwaves and at one point he was stuck between two DFW runways hovering while the tower worked out what direction he was wanting to go. He soon learnt to talk ‘Texan” and radio speak was much easier.
The next summer - 2001 found them back in Alaska with Fergus honing his skill with the long line as he helped support a crew of 40 staff and 200 dogs on a glacier 6000 ft above Skagway. He also flew tourists over the glaciers, fjords and mountains SE of Alaska. You can’t beat an Aussie from the bush telling tourists about Glaciers in Alaska – watch out for the drop bears on the glacier!
The next two years Fergus flew Emergency services in Texas and Alaska in Twin Squirrels, BK117’s, Bell 212 and Bell 407’s. Long line took back seat to the birth of his two boys, Jackson and Lachlan.
Midwest Helicopters in Chicago took Fergus under their wing in 2003 where he started at ground level and worked his way up to Chief Pilot as the lead long line pilot flying an S58T all over the continental USA. MWH is mainly a construction support and fire fighting company, flying 100 – 300 ft lines bringing aerial support to high rise in the cities, to power line tower construction over the Mississippi and concrete pouring for cell towers in the Rockies.
In 2005, he was booked for ‘parking’ the helicopter in a no parking zone in down town Chicago, while they refueled the S58T during a high rise job. To his defense, it was a hot refuel and he still says he was not parked at the time, as the engines were still running.
Fergus flew the Army Core of Engineers and other military and civilian contractors around New Orleans during the relief effort after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The fire seasons were long, starting as early as Easter and at times not finishing until November or December.
So our blast in the USA came to an end in 2008, after many adventures it was time to come home. Now the Head of Becker Helicopter Civil Flight school – managing a fleet of R22, R44, AS 350, Agusta 119 Koala and Agusta 109 E Power. Fergus will use his wide base of experience to bring a little something extra to the civilian flight school.
“We are running regular long lining courses here” Fergus says, “we do 10 hours of flight training and that includes everything from belly hooking right up to either a 100’ or 150’ line depending on the student. It’s a great challenge and when you get the knack, it is an extremely satisfying skill.”
Written by Lee Ponder, as with most bushies, Fergus (my husband of 17 yrs ) hates to tout his own horn, but his wife it happy to brag – so here goes………
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