Up high in the sky

09 Dec 2015

Eighty-nine year old Probus member Bonnie Quintal shares her story of her life as a former pilot on Norfolk Island. 

When Probus member Bonnie Quintal was 30 years old, a pilot came to visit her hometown of Norfolk Island and offered the residents a joyride. Bonnie flew with him and it was while soaring up into the sky that she wanted to learn how to fly herself. But when she asked the pilot to teach her, his response was: “I don’t like women – definitely not!”

Thankfully, after a few more flights together and Bonnie’s persistent requests, the pilot changed his mind, taught her the basics and after receiving her qualifications from the Royal Newcastle Aero Club, Bonnie spent the next 25 years flying solo around Australia. She even once made a magical trip across the Grand Canyon in America 

During those years, Bonnie made several trips sponsored by a local bank, which eventually led to her raising money to help launch the St John Ambulance on Norfolk Island, where she worked as a matron teaching First Aid.

However, one of Bonnie’s most memorable flights was when she landed in Newcastle for a Rotary event that night, while several members watched from below. Unfortunately, it was a bad landing and the members saw her bounce several times down the runway.

“I told them I was practicing to get the best kangaroo landing,” says Bonnie, who is now 89. “But I wanted to get out of the aircraft, crawl across the ground and get into a car!”

According to Bonnie, it was “a bit nerve-wracking” being one of the few female pilots at the time, as she often felt the need to do everything “absolutely correctly”. However, her male counterparts were amiable and willing to help, if needed.

Bonnie’s plane was a four-seater Cessna.

“If the fuel was up and you checked the oil, and looked after it, it’d look after you,” she says.

Bonnie credits her husband, George ‘Kik’ Ross, for being so supportive of her career.

“My husband came flying with me once and thought it was boring. I’d say, ‘Look at that lovely lake’ and he’d reply, ‘I’ve been looking at it for10 minutes and we still haven’t crossed it!’” she laughs. “But if it hadn’t been for him, I wouldn’t have been able to fly so much. He was happy to stay home with the children. The kids loved it when I went off too, because he spoilt them rotten!”