Qantas pilot’s dual role: keeping tourists safe across land and sea
PARTNER CONTENT: From cockpit to coastline, this Qantas pilot has witnessed 37,000 Australians embrace a unique beach safety initiative worth frequent flyer points.
When Qantas pilot and volunteer surf lifesaver Tim Staunton notices a fully clothed tourist wandering into the “no swimming” section of North Bondi Beach, he knows it’s going to be one of those days.
“We get a lot of international tourists down at Bondi from countries which are landlocked or where they don’t have the same Australian culture of swimming at surf beaches,” Tim explains.
“You get tourists who don’t know necessarily what the flags mean, it’s their first time at a beach and they’re not really reading the signs, they’re just looking at the water.
“I’ve had people walk straight in front of us, past the ‘No swimming’ sign, wearing jeans – and they just walk straight into the water, and straight into a rip. And you just go, wow! It seems silly and we laugh, but they have no idea, they don’t know how dangerous this is.”
As a Qantas second officer who flies through Asia and other parts of the world, Tim c an see the irony in his two roles – he flies tourists here and then saves them from the surf as a volunteer at the beach.
A surf lifesaver since he earliest days as a nipper at North Bondi, Tim can see clear parallels between the two roles – they’re both obsessed with safety.
“I think the link between Qantas and surf lifesaving is very strong. Qantas pilots and cabin crew and engineers – the frontline staff interact with the passengers, who have always seen Qantas’s highest regard for safety and trust. And it’s the same deal with surf lifesaving.
“Surf lifesaving is obviously a very important part of the Australian culture.
“When I’m on patrol at the beach, people see me in my lifesaving uniform and they come up to you and ask for help, they ask for information about surf conditions.
“I think it’s the same at Qantas as well, people see the uniform and they trust you. That’s quite nice.”
Tim sees Qantas’s major sponsorship of Surf Life Saving Australia as a great example of what the Back Australia campaign in all about.
As part of the arrangements, Qantas sponsors Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) to promote water safety through the Beach Passport, a free online training tool, and other initiatives such as branding on patrol shirts. Everyone who completes the passport training receives 150 Qantas points – and 37,000 Aussies have already taken up the challenge.
SLSA has more than 300 clubs throughout Australia with Qantas’s support extending to all.
“Without the funding from sponsors like Qantas, we wouldn’t have the equipment to teach kids in Nippers about surfcraft, safety, the clubhouses – all the things that go into it,” says Tim.
“If you don’t get the kids into it early, it makes it more difficult to get a wider knowledge of safety at the beach.”
This article is part of the Back Australia series, which is supported by Australian Made, Harvey Norman, Westpac, Bunnings, Coles, TechnologyOne, REA Group, Cadbury, R.M.Williams, Qantas, Vodafone and BHP.
