Shark patrols find life's a beach at 500ft

WHEN spearfishing enthusiast Dean Brougham was bitten by a shark in November at Wirrina Cove, about 90km south of Adelaide, the state government decided to launch its summer shark patrol flight service immediately.

WHEN spearfishing enthusiast Dean Brougham was bitten by a shark in November at Wirrina Cove, about 90km south of Adelaide, the state government decided to launch its summer shark patrol flight service immediately.

For University of South Australia's aviation academy graduate Talia Sheppard and her colleagues, shark patrol provides a welcome opportunity to boost their flying hours in a single-engine Cessna 172.

"In the past two years the shark-spotting season has started on the first day of December, but last year we started early because of the heatwave and the attack," she says. The university is supplying a three-man crew for the four daily flights, consisting of a pilot, an observer and a communicator, who notifies police if a shark is spotted too close to a beach.

"The good thing about Adelaide is there aren't many big waves that push up a lot of sand, so there are a lot of days when visibility is good."

At 500ft it is not only easy to spot sharks, says academy head Stephen Phillips, but the low altitude also provides excellent aviation training. "At that height, [pilots] get into the worst air for mechanical turbulence. That's a real part of every flight they do."

The university has about 150 students in its three-year degree in bachelor of applied science (civil aviation), but Phillips is concerned fewer than 5 per cent are women. "There aren't enough role models, [women] don't think of becoming pilots," he says.

Generally, the main disincentive for would-be pilots is the poor starting salary, especially given the debt incurred to complete both the degree and learning to fly. "You have to pay up to $80,000 above your degree costs to learn to fly and starting salaries are about $30,000 to $40,000."

But the rewards can be great for those who make it to the large commercial airlines: a second officer with two years' experience operating a Boeing 747 on the Sydney to San Francisco run could earn $120,000.

Thanks to the shark patrol flights and other experience, Sheppard already has 400 hours, a respectable total if she wants to apply to Australian regional airlines. To gain the coveted air transport licence she needs to progress towards captaincy of a large commercial airliner, the magic number is 1500 hours, most of it on multi-engine aircraft.

She says people at the start of their flying careers clock up hours by taking on instructing roles, or by heading to northern Australia to work for charter companies. "I would like to do some work for the Royal Flying Doctor Service for 10 to 15 years," she says.