Flying Straight

 Transcript 00:00:00 Billy And they said you need to come with me right now and I said, I don't even know you. The head of the Pilot Assistance Program for the APA, which is American Airlines pilot and the other guy, was the chief pilot for my airline and this guy, Dave. He had a phony handed phones me he said this is your crew scheduling. Tell them that you're sick and I said I'm not sick. I said I'm. What are we doing? I'm not saying you said listen, tell him that you're sick that's all you have to say is I'm sick they know that you're going to be talking to him. Tell him that you're sick. Or if you don't, you're gonna end up on the news because the news vans are already looking for it. So you know. I mean, I'm a rational person and I was, you know, coming off a major Bender. But I knew that there was something wrong with that situation, so I just said, yeah, I'm sick and they said, OK, we're moving from your schedule and I think happiness is not even the right word. I think what I'm really looking for is peace is peace and serenity. That's why I'm I want to look in a mirror. And then I'll be happy with what I'm looking at. And sometimes it's. I've got to be selfless to do that. You know, I've got to help others to really be happy with myself. And that's totally cool. We closed, you know, anytime you know my can be just as negative and pessimistic as as the next guy. But when I'm doing something to help somebody else, so when I'm listening to someone else, I'm not thinking of my own problem. I'm not focused on me, when I'm helping someone else, you know, and I think that is such a massive lesson that I've learned. 00:01:35 intro You're listening to flying straight and aviators guide to navigating through a life of sobriety. People in the flying industry and other walks of life will share their experiences of living a life free of alcohol and other drugs. You will also hear from experts in the world of addiction and self-improvement.  Join Andrew O'Meally, Airline pilot, an non practicing alcoholic as he takes you on a journey, discovering how a sober life can lead to a deeper level of happiness. 00:02:11 Andrew Hi folks and welcome to this 5th episode of Flying Straight piloting a sober life. My name is Andrew O'Meally. Your host and I hope you're doing OK. Well on today's episode I speak with someone from over the other side of the world in Manhattan, Captain Billy Peterson. He was born and bred in that New York area and as I said, he's living in Manhattan today. This interview is little longer than the others, but I tell you, after recording them playing it back, there is not one word I could cut out. It's such a powerful account of his life. I find it hard to summarize it now, but what I will say is that his story with plenty of differences to mine, has more similarities and I have a feeling that there are heaps of people who will be listening to this today. Will feel the same as I have. This guy has so many liars, his honesty and acceptance of himself as something that I have the deepest admiration for. Enough said by me. Here is the story. 00:03:21 Andrew I really appreciate this time you've taken to talk with me today and considering that's something we have in common, and that's the ability to miscalculate the time zones. I'm really glad this is happening now! Last time I spoke, or we spoke. You just got back from Puerto Rico and you've recovered from that. 00:03:44 Billy I did, I did, and since then I I went in another trip, another work trip down there to San Juan and just came back a few hours ago. Just flew up this afternoon. 00:03:54 Andrew Alright, did you? Was that an overnight or? 00:03:57 Billy Yeah, it was. Actually, it was just it. Was a simple three day trip one leg down to Puerto Rico Day one with a Dominican Republic turn the next day, and then another Dominican Republic turn this morning. And then dead -Head back up to New York. 00:04:15 Andrew Alright, anytime for any surfing or was just a very quick layover? 00:04:20 Billy Yeah. One very quick layover in another longer wet layover, but there was no waves and the water was kind of dirty, kind of dirty -seaweed Sometimes, and one of those times I hung out by the pool and read a book and got some food. And you know, typical overnight. 00:04:37 Andrew Yeah, it sounds terrible. 00:04:38 Billy Horrible, horrible. 00:04:40 Andrew I'm glad you made it from that ordeal, so that's pretty good. So yeah, we spoke fairly recently because I had heard your just the abbreviated story of your life at HIMS conference. And I've Absolutely fascinating. So we sat down not so long ago and you told me the unedited version, and I thought it's such an amazing story. Maybe we should record it this time. So here we are. 00:05:14 Billy Right, OK, I don't know about amazing story, but yeah, sure let's do it. 00:05:19 Andrew It is what it is, yeah, so I guess if we start from the early days, you're born and raised in the New York City area, is that right? 00:05:32 Billy Yeah, yeah, that's correct. So I'm like third generation. Irish American and my whole family. I'm on both sides came over from Northwestern Island over to Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY. Back in, you know, with age. You know my family just kind of - we stayed here, you know we I have no family anywhere else in the country but in York and I grew up on the islands about. About 30 minutes from 30 miles or I guess in kilometres over that beyond 50 kilometers maybe. 00:06:04 Andrew Yeah yeah 50 yeah yeah. 00:06:06 Billy From Manhattan, from New York, from the city, and I grew up out there in a very working class, working class neighborhood. 00:06:16 Andrew Yeah, OK, alright and so grew up there and then. I guess you were sort of keen on flying but I remember you telling me that that wasn't the first career that you had - it was a teacher. Yeah, so what I did is when, you know there's a whole bunch of different things I always wanted to do, and I was always kind of told that I couldn't do them. I wasn't smart enough, wasn't quick enough, wasn't good enough. That kind of thing. You know, we hear that a lot in these rooms. I didn't really get the -all of the support I guess I needed to, you know to be free really, so I ended up what I was always told was just get a job with good benefits and good health insurance. You know something we need in the states, and you know, So I went to college to be a teacher, a technology education teacher which is. It's otherwise known as industrial arts like so I was teaching at the high school level. I had an architectural drawing class. I had a transportation class, you know where we basically taught the kids how to rotate tires and change oil on cars. And you know how an airplane flies that basic kind of thing, but. But  Yeah, so that that was my first career. That was my first career. Was teaching an all throughout college and. All my 20s rose I bartended also I was a -and you know it wasn't really a side job cause now, in places like New York, it's  such a high paying job who, you know, to be a bartender that it took up took up a lot of time. 00:07:51 Andrew Yeah, right 00:07:52 Billy And as a budding alcoholic, I enjoyed that much more than the teaching, and I excelled at it and I had friends and I had to go to different ba...

TranscriptHylton (00:00):I had a lot going on and there was the stress levels were probably way over the top. A couple of things happened very quickly. And then that resulted in me doing what would normally fix it, which would of course, be drinking more. I got to a point where it wasn't working anymore, was losing things that I cared deeply about. And it all happened very quickly. For me, flying is something that I really love. The fact that I was in a position with the amount of alcohol I was drinking that I may not ever fly again, was probably the biggest cursor for me to know that I was in a really bad spot, you know, to say that I didn't make me nervous to be around a lot of people that the whole world was drinking, it did, but, it was uncomfortable. And you had that feeling of not fitting in initially at first, but look it soon goes, and there's always somebody there. And strangely enough, a lot more than you think that aren't actually drinking as well.Intro (00:59):You're listening to flying straight, an aviators guide to navigating through a life of sobriety. People in the flying industry, and other walks of life, will share their experiences of living a life free of alcohol and other drugs. You will also hear from experts in the world of addiction and self-improvement join Andrew O'Meally, airline, pilot, and non-practicing alcoholic. As he takes you on a journey discovering how a sober life can lead to a deeper level of happiness.Andrew (01:35):Hello, everyone. Welcome to this fourth episode of Flying Straight -piloting a sober life. I'm your host, Andrew O'Meally talking to you from the sunny Coast, Queensland, Australia, although I'll be heading down to Sydney tomorrow to do ground school and two simulator sessions. It's the first time in almost a year that I've had to do this due to COVID. The airline has sprung this on with not a lot of notice. So I'm feeling just a little bit anxious about doing this. My mind has been so far out of the cockpit for so long that I've changed my mindset from airline pilot mode to that of a full time university student, completely different worlds. The good news is, from what I've heard, that it all comes back pretty quickly. Anyway, my guest today is Hilton Ward, and I have no doubt that his story will resonate with quite a few of you, especially if you've worked in out of the way, places. Hilton calls, Winton Queensland home, and he's the owner-operator of a successful charter business. And with that business, he manages both fixed wing aircraft and helicopters. I consider him a remote area expert. He flies both in the desert and around Island,Andrew (03:00):Scattered across the top of Australia. His schedule is always changing. So I'm really grateful that things have worked out and his plans to visit the Sunshine Coast have eventuated. So we chat amongst other things about living a life free of alcohol in isolated areas where strong drinking culture is often the norm. Okay Hilton, It's good to see you. I have finally caught you here on the Sunshine Coast Queensland. You're a hard man to catch. You could be in Winton Queensland where you're based or the next day I could find you flying up in the Torres Strait at the tip of Australia, flying helicopters around there. But at the moment, you've come to the big smoke to- well, the Sunshine Coast Isn't exactly the big smoke, but, you're here for some kind of meeting. What's that all about?Hylton (03:51):Thank you, Andrew. And good to be here. Tourism expo this evening. From lunchtime almost today. Just spreading the word, getting the word out there. We do, well, that's how our thing out at Winton, we try and show the Outback of Australia to the rest of Australia and, when the time is right, the rest of the worldAndrew (04:12):Yeah. And beautiful part of the world out there. Yeah, absolutely. So you've brought your fiance along. she's come along on a free holiday?Hylton (04:21):Is actually my near enough, my opposition. She has her own business with four wheel drive buses and i'm aviation obviously. And, we're going to spread the word together tonight, so have all a collaborative approach to the outback and we're looking forward to it.Andrew (04:35):Oh, that's nice. Yeah. I look forward to getting out there. Have you found that there's many more, well it's only domestic tourism at the moment has suffered because of COVID or is actually booming a little bit because of the whole rising caravaning and Australians holidaying in their own backyard.Hylton (04:55):Exactly. And that's your answer. That's exactly what's happening, and it's great. And then they're going home and spreading the word and, of course it's got an on flow effect, the end of last year and by all indications this year looking amazing. So we're very, very happy, good luck. So if you want a good, good story. That's a good story.Andrew (05:14):Yeah, yeah, yeah. Excellent. So you're a successful owner operator of a charter business at Elite Aviation. How long has that been running for?Hylton (05:27):Uh, in it's 5th year this year. So, we operate a setback from above, but it's, to be honest. It's a fantastic lifestyle. It's love, absolutely love what I do. So that's all part of the journey.Andrew (05:42):Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Excellent. Yeah. I assume your company website, at least some of the destinations that you have to offer, and it goes on from the great barrier reef to the Whitsunday islands, Whitehaven beach, Gilberton Outback retreat, and Wollaman falls. And you also run dinosaur tours and movie experiences, and that's just scratching the surface there. One of the things I saw on the website was Orpheus Island. And when I saw that and I know to get out to Orpheus, that's in a sea plane, you did a fair bit of sea plane stuff. FlyingHylton (06:20):Used to be sea planes. And actually i it was me that instigated using helicopters. So I'm gonna put the helicopter on the IOC, but that used to be in a previous life. I was out there every day. So that was part of it. But these days and another operator, utilize that and yeah, it's going well. So that's good to see. Yeah, It was,, previously sea plane operation and that was great too, let's see. But the helicopters is always been my thing and tend to sway that way a bit.Andrew (06:52):Yeah. That seaplane gig That's my dream job. I remember that, you know, living somewhere in North Queensland and just flying out to those islands, I think that would just be magnificent.. Yeah, You've done some enviable flying stuff all around remote areas. And we could go on all day talking about your adventures out there, but as tempting as that is. I'd like to get into the adventure of drinking and sobriety. So how about we go back to the start? You were born in Chinchilla and I've never been to Chinchilla, but I know it's the Mellon capital of the world. And before our thoughts stray too far that's watermelons. Yeah. Okay, good. So you grew up there and is that where you had your first drinking experience?Hylton (07:44):No. No. In actual fact, I lived with my grandparents. My grandparents were very involved in the community there and I spent part of my young life with them. They bought me up part of it and, yeah. And that's why I was born there and, spend a bit of time there when I was younger. But no, I didn't start drinking really till I was about 21.Andrew (08:07):Oh, okay. Cause I just thought that sort of country, culture that drinking was probably a big, big part of that to socialize with the local dances in the local halls and that ...

Some links relevant to this episode:Dr Mike Atherton, The Sydney Clinic, Bronte, Australia: https://thesydneyclinic.com.auProfessor Stephen Jurd: https://www.thesydneyretreat.org.au/our-peopleOsher Gunsberg's Podcast, 'Better than Yesterday' https://oshergunsberg.comRobert Bor, Centre for Aviation Psychology: https://www.centreforaviationpsychology.com/aboutBirds of a Feather:  boaf.orgAusHIMS:  AusHIMS.org.auTranscriptMike (00:00:01):The antidote of addiction is connection. And I certainly got the, the motivation to start or to try and start a Birds of a Feather group through my understanding of a Doctors in Recovery group, which runs in Sydney and has been running for a number of years. Yeah. There's nothing better than seeing, you know, people who are getting their jobs back, getting their lives back and just talking to somebody about what may or might not be appropriate, but addiction is not the end of your career. You know, it may be actually the start of the best part of your life.intro (00:00:40):You listening to flying straight and aviators guide to navigating through a life of sobriety. People in the flying industry, and other walks of life, will share their experiences of living a life free of alcohol and other drugs. You will also hear from experts in the world of addiction and self-improvement. Join Andrew O'Meally, airline, pilot, and non-practicing alcoholic, as he takes you on a journey discovering how a sober life can lead to a deeper level of happiness.Andrew (00:01:16):Hi everyone, and welcome to this episode of Flying Straight, Piloting a Sober Life. My name is Andrew O'Meally airline pilo,t alcoholic, and your host talking to you from the Sunshine Coast or the 'Sunny Coast' as us locals call it here in Queensland, Australia. It's certainly nice to be here at the moment as we approach the tail end of summer. And if you're into the outdoors, especially surfing, this is a great place to be. And speaking of surfing, my guest today is Dr. Mike Atherton. Now besides being a keen surfer, Mike is a psychiatrist, addiction specialist and has been awarded a fellowship of the Australasian Chapter of Addiction Medicine a FAChAM. Mike has also spent time in the U S gaining a qualifications as a HIMS, Federal Aviation Administration, certified addiction specialist. And he's one of the only ones in this part of the world with that qualification. He's one of the founding members of HIMS in Australia.Andrew (00:02:20):And when he's not practicing as a psychiatrist, you might find it hard, pressed finding him as he often travels to secret places all over the globe, looking for that perfect wave. He's involvement in the aviation industry as a psychiatrist has contributed to many Australian pilots getting back in the air and living a better life.New Speaker (00:02:43):Hey Mike, thanks for taking time to talk with us here today. It's really good to, to have you here. Now. I understand that you may not know that I know this, but you're a pretty good guitar player and you're a keen gardener. The thing that particularly caught my attention is that you're a bit of an adventurer. So you've been up to New Guinea surfing in remote areas there. And in fact, I remember once, we couldn't catch up, I think it was for Birds meeting because you damaged your knee while you were surfing. What happened there?Mike (00:03:20):Yeah. I, uh, tore my cartilage on the second day of surfing in Vanimo in Northern Papua New Guinea up near the Indonesian border. And, yeah, that was, a bit lucky I was, still able to surf although it got worse and worse through the week. There was a part of me thought maybe I should have stopped and fly home, but, you know, when you only get away every year or so then, I just sort of carried on and took it easy and it sort of held up for the week. And, eventually I had to have surgery on it, and its back okay now, but yeah, one of the guys fractured a couple of vertabrae when we were out there he got airlifted out, so that wasn't particularly good, but, yeah, it was pretty rudimentary, medical services up there.Andrew (00:04:16):Right. Okay. Yeah. Well, what were you doing up there?Mike (00:04:21):Ah, just surfing, we, we have a group of doctors that we go away with intermittently we, that I was surfing and then every afternoon a group of the doctors would go into the town of Vanimo, and meet up with the local medical service and, provide some support services, education, procedures, policy sort of stuff.Andrew (00:04:49):All right. And is that something you do regularly? It's a voluntary thing i take it.Mike (00:04:55):That side of things it's voluntary. I mean, its sort of mixing the wonderful and the beautiful with a bit of kind of education and stuff. So they, the group I work with set, a number of different kind of facilities, one in Nias in Indonesia. And there's hope to establish this one in Vanimo where we provide, I suppose, again, education and restocking and kind of a bare emergency sort of equipment emergency room, providing them defibrillators, that sort of thing. We run a small conference, you know, educational conference type thing, and as part of the process. And, there is, you know, as an aside, which runs the, which then, through the proceeds of the conference, everything, we then provide sort of some of these medical equipment and expertise to these small remote, I suppose, communities at one end. And the one in the Maldives is extremely well-established Nias is pretty well established. And there's a few groups, so you can do a three month or six months or shorter. kind of stint on the Island, if you wish to provide medical services and, got some great waves out in the front as well.Andrew (00:06:17):I was just going to say depends on what the surf would be like, how long you stayed there!Mike (00:06:22):Absolutely. Yeah. So, yeah, that's pretty good stuff that goes on, yeah.Andrew (00:06:26):Yeah, that's great. So you've always been interested in becoming a psychiatrist, or what drove you towards that specialty?Mike (00:06:37):Oh, no, I mean, I started medicine, I wasn't ready. I came into medicine quite late in my decision making. I sort of decided relatively late that it was a good, seemed like a good career opportunity. And then I was a bit disillusioned during medical training. Eventually came out and was doing emergency work, emergency training. And then, in order to do that, I had to do either medical surgical or anesthetics, but that was really not very enjoyable when I started to train and I ended up in a psychiatric job as part of a GP training program, but I just absolutely loved the psychiatry rotation I did, and so I just stayed on in psychiatry, worked in the UK, in London for a few years. And then, a friend offered me a job, or told me about a job, in Sydney. And, at that time, my sort of life circumstances were ideally suited, to sort of, traveling over. And so came over to Sydney and, very soon kind of met my future wife and, then stayed here in Sydney, training, I had to go back to the UK to finish off some of the training there. Yeah, basically established myself in Sydney as a psychiatrist and, yeah, I loved every minute of it.Andrew (00:08:10):Yeah. Great. So you spend most of your time practicing out of the Sydney Clinic at Bronte.Mike (00:08:18):Yeah, that's...

Roger (00:01):In the earliest days, living in the UK, I remember reading a newspaper, the headlines about crew member, detained by police, preflight failing a breath test. And I remember reading those things 30 years ago and thinking well, silly him. That wouldn't happen to me and generally being quite unconcerned about it. But the fact was, I'd still read the same sort of headlines periodically. And by the mid two thousands, they would have a different effect on me. I would read those headlines and go, wow, that could be me. That could be me one day. ,addiction is giving up everything for one thing and recovery is giving up one thing for everything because The end point of addiction is people lose a lot. They lose lives and careers and, and, and marriages and relationships and everything. It is just total annihilation for this one thing,New Speaker (00:57):You all listening to flying straight and aviators guide to navigating through a life of sobriety people in the flying industry and other walks of life will share their experiences of living a life free of alcohol and other drugs. You will also hear from experts in the world of addiction and self-improvement join Andrew O'Meally, airline, pilot, and non-practicing alcoholic. As he takes you on a journey discovering how a sober life can lead to a deeper level of happiness.Andrew (01:32):Well, welcome to this third episode of flying straight piloting a sober life. My name is Andrew O'Meally, airline pilot alcoholic, and your host. I'm talking to you from the sunshine coast in Southeast Queensland Australia. It's beautiful here at the moment, balmy days and rain in the afternoons. It's a great combo of fantastic beach weather and the rain keeping that Bush land alive.New Speaker (02:00):Anyway, today's conversation is with a super interesting guy, Captain Roger Healey Roger's career path is an enviable one. Soon after school, he joined the Royal Australian air force, flying a diverse range of aircraft, including P three Orions, which is a four engine Anti submarine aircraft, as well as rotary wings. He left the military after 16 years and started flying for a large airline being based in Hong Kong, as well as in the United Kingdom. He currently operates out of Asia flying freight a heavy jet. How good is that? Roger shares with us, his story of the impact alcohol had on his life. It was a slow transition from social drinker fitting in with the other crew members to that realization that something just wasn't quite right and was getting worse. He shares insights on the life as an international airline pilot and expectorate, a father and a recovering alcoholic. And he tells us how sobriety has given him everything alcohol had promised.New Speaker (03:09):Oh yeah. Thanks for doing this mate. This is excellent.Roger (03:12):Mate, this is yeah. Pleasure.Andrew (03:14):Yeah. So your down inthe central coast at the moment, is that right?Roger (03:20):Newcastle. Yeah. So Newcastle. So just South of Newcastle I'm in CharlestownAndrew (03:26):Charlestown. Okay. And just to clarify that's Newcastle Australia. Yeah.Roger (03:33):Newcastle Australia. Yeah. Certainly is.Andrew (03:35):And, that's a pretty rare event for you, isn't it? That being back in Australia,Roger (03:41):Being home hasn't happened, for nearly 12 months, you know, the 11 months, when I was last back, just the way the COVID thing's been rolling and the various, quarantine restrictions, both in Asia and back here.Andrew (03:57):Yeah. It must be good to be home.Roger (04:00):It is, it is. , although as generally a commuter for the last 10 or more years, my need to keep coming back is a bit different from some other folks. My kids are now pretty much grown up they're 20, 24 and 28. So, they're, to a greater extent self-sufficient and they're also geographically dispersed so that if I come back to Newcastle, they're not all here.Andrew (04:26):So, so did your kids spend any time in Hong Kong? We, you were always up there on your own?Roger (04:33):No. So I was married and we split back in 2002, the time that happened, we were all living in the UK. IWas UK based for a while.Andrew (04:47):You spent, a lot of time in Asia. As an expat.Roger (04:53):So, I've been with the company for 23 years. And so, for the period that I was based, which was the first 13 years or so, , my visits, there were a couple of times a month and you'd, just be in a hotel there when you were there,, for a couple of days and then, and then flying out again, back and forth, usually through the middle East, back to all ports in Europe, since I've been based there though, I've got my own little, own little apartment I rent up there and we jet about all over the place, some regional, some long haul.Andrew (05:30):Yeah, so you're, you're flying the 744freighter at the momentRoger (05:36):The mighty freighter, the mighty 74. Yeah.Andrew (05:38):That'd be a pretty cool job at the moment. And particularly with, all the freight booming and so on.Roger (05:46):Yeah. it's the, it's the part of the industry, I think, with the brightest prospects at the moment.Andrew (05:54):All right. Great. S0, I remember you saying once this flying rubber dog shit out of Hong Kong, it's notsuch a bad gig after allRoger (06:02):that's right, is that famous line out of, out of that movie, isn't it, but top gun, top gun it was, seen as athreat to those guys findflying the pointy jets.Andrew (06:16):you mentioned the, pointy.....?Roger (06:18):those pointy jets. Yeah. The, top gun guys.Andrew (06:23):Yeah, What were you flying?.Roger (06:26):Well, I wasn't, no, I was, in the air force for 16 years, but, most of it was, multi-engine on the P-3 doing maritime patrol stuff and a bit of rotary wing for years on helicopters. That was all good fun, but a bit of a young man's game really, but all good fun.Andrew (06:42):How long were you in there for?Roger (06:44):16 years? Yeah. 16 years. 82 to 98.Andrew (06:50):Yeah. Right. Yeah. I've got to ask with the air force. So it was the Royal Australian Air ForceRoger (06:58):Indeed. It was. Yeah.Andrew (07:00):How would you say the drinking culture was there?Roger (07:04):Ah, look, it's a long time ago now becaus, we're talking nearly 40 years ago that I joined and, I think the culture, and society, generally was very different back then. And the air force, was not particularly different. It was different that's for sure things were just more, more permissive. There was that sort of work, hard, play hard sort of culture. There was always the idea of flight safety coming first and, mixing the drinking with the was always very heavily promoted. But I think there were a lot of times where people would, as an example,Friday afternoons, it'd be off to the mess for a bit of socialization after, after a working week. And yeah, some people would just go for a couple of drinks and head off home and other people would stay for a bit longer. I was probably one of the ones that stayed a bit longer and, I was the one who came home late for dinner on a Friday night, was not very popular. And, there are a lot of those sorts of things. And as I say, these are the things that happened, 40 odd years ago.Andrew (08:17):Yeah. Right. So, so did you go straight from the RAAF into an airline?Roger (08:23):I did. I did so, straight from school to the air fo...

Tony (00:00):I couldn't imagine how far I had fallen. The truth be told, like, I couldn't imagine it was happening to me. I thought this has gotta be some kind of a weird dream, but, it was no dream that's for sure. You know, in one of the jobs in there too was, was scrubbing the latrines in individual cells. And as I was doing that, you know, scrubbing out a stainless steel toilet. I was sitting there thinking, man, three months ago, I was flying a triple seven, Captain, eating cheese and fruit on a tray. And now I'm, on my knees scrubbing a toilet out so that maybe I can get back and go flying again.. (00:42):You are listening to flying straight, and aviators guide to navigating through a life of sobriety. People in the flying industry, and other walks of life, will share their experiences of living a life free of alcohol and other drugs. You will also hear from experts in the world of addiction and self-improvement join Andrew O'Meally, airline, pilot, and non-practicing alcoholic, as he takes you on a journey discovering how a sober life can lead to a deeper level of happiness.Andrew (01:20):Hi everyone. My guest today is retired. Airline Captain Tony Driza talking to us all the way from West Olive, Michigan in the United States. Tiny grew up in Muskegon. I hope I've pronounced that right. It's 25 miles or so down the road from where he is right now. And other than a stint in new England, he's always called Michigan home. Throughout his amazing career, Tony flew some pretty nice airplanes, including a range of Boeing's, the seven O seven, the seven two seven, the seven five seven and the seven six, seven. He also operated the DC 10 and the MD80 before getting an airline. He flew a whole lot of light aircraft as well. He completed his career in command of a Boeing triple seven - big wide body operating between Tokyo and Dallas Fort worth. It was a classically beautiful ending to his career. As he taxiied in towards the terminal. You can just imagine on either side of the taxiway, the fire trucks shooting their water cannons in the air and forming an arch for Tony to maneuver past. This is a tradition in aviation to salute, farewell and thank retiring airline captains for a job well done. So it is a big deal and it's something that is earned when he got off the aircraft, his family were waiting for him to celebrate a perfect end to a perfect career. You might think. Well, the perfect end part that's pretty accurate, but as Tony will tell you shortly, the journey was far from perfect. He didn't just start with a company and fly for a few years then walk away. There were a few interesting events along the way. His career path was not one you'd probably expect from such an experienced pilot. You see Tony had a problem with alcohol so much so that when he drank, he would break out in handcuffs, a direct quote from him. Welcome, Tony.Tony (03:23):Thanks, Andrew. Good to be here.Andrew (03:25):Good to see you. How's life in, Michigan sunny, MichiganTony (03:30):Sunny today was sunny. It was just cold, uh, is very cold right now, but not cold enough for ice on the lakes. , just about good weather for, we've got a little snow on the ground, good weather for riding a fat tire bicycle through the woods. dealing with the COVID stuff. Pretty much like everybody around the world is, and our governor is starting to relax things a little bit. Uh, we haven't been able to eat inrestaurants forever and hurting in another 10 days. We're actually going to be able to do limited, um, dining inside and in restaurants with some restrictions, but we're moving in the right direction. So that's a good thing.Andrew (04:07):Yeah, that, that sounds like a really good thing. So a Michigan, all your life. And , you got an interest inaviation as a young guy.Tony (04:18):Yeah, I really did. We, I lived pretty close under the flight path for Muskegon County airport. So pretty much from the time I can remember wandering around outside, you know, I'd see aircraft flying overhead and my dad would occasionally take us out to the airport. We'd watch, watch airplanes take off and land. And then when I was about 13 years old, I got my first plane ride with a friend of mine who had just got his private pilot license. And I'll tell you what, that was just pure magic. There was nothing like it. I could not imagine how cool that was to see the earth from that perspective, you know, just watching that shadow of the aircraft get tiny as we, as we took off pure magic. And I knew right then right there that, that was going to be the career for me, for sure.Andrew (05:06):Alright, great. So first solo, how old were you when you, when you flew an airplane on your own?Tony (05:12):I soloed when I was 16, I didn't have a driver's license yet. I rode my bicycle to the airport to actually,, do my first solo. So I, I, I soloed early as early as I could, 16 in the States, got my private license when I was 17. And then I think they felt sorry for me because I was spending so much money on flying lessons. I actually hired me to pump gas at the airport. I started pumping gas and washing airplanes and, you know, whatever they needed doing. I did that. And then by the time I was 18 and graduated from high school, I had my commercial, my, all my ground instructor ratings, instrument instructor, and, uh, basic CFI as well. So had pretty much everything except the ATP, the time I got out of high school.Andrew (05:59):Wow. Oh, that's amazing. And then, uh, high school, what happened then?Tony (06:03):Well, after high school, I went, I spent a couple of years in a community college,, and I was still, I at that time, , I graduated from pumping gas. I actually flight instructing and flying some single engine charter. I didn't have a multi-engine rating yet. So I flew some single engine charters., then I continued college in Lansing. Michigan went to Michigan state university, picked up my multi-engine ATP when I was there. And then started flying, multi-engine charters, um, Beech eighteens, Baron, Cessna, three tens, that sort of stuff. When I was working there, when I got hired by American airlines when I was 24.Andrew (06:40):Well, okay. So, flying has definitely been in your blood for the vast majority of your life. And, one would think that that would, create a pretty sort of stable and motivating type life, but that isn't exactly thecase, How about you wind the clock back a few years and if you can just paint a picture of how your life was, back a number of years ago?Tony (07:08):Well, I, you know, I really thought it was, it was going along pretty well. Um, you know, I got married when I was pretty young children from my first wife. I was actually married three times over the course of my life so far, but three great kids from my first life or wife first life's wife. and, you know, I thought things were going along. Okay. ,I thought I drank pretty normally at that point, but relationships for me were never as easy as, flying an aircraft that seemed to come naturally, anything to do with relationships with spouses that was kind of tough, and you know, the tougher the relationship got, I think the more I tried to solve it by, you know, maybe having another drink, you know, I seemed like that kind of took all of the sting out of things made.Tony (08:00):I thought it made everything great. And in fact, it's, even early on as early as maybe 30 years ago, I could kind of tell that that was my coping mechanism. When a relationship, especially with my partner was starting to go sideways, that I would usually, you know, turn towards alcohol to try and solve it. And it just progressively got worse. I...

Welcome to Flying Straight, an aviator's guide to navigating through a life of sobriety.  People in the flying industry, and other walks of life will share their experiences of living a life free of alcohol and other drugs. You will also hear from experts in the world of addiction and self-improvement. Join Andrew O'Meally, airline pilot and non-practicing alcoholic, as he takes you on a journey, discovering how a sober life can lead to a deeper level of happiness.