Not for profit organisation Little Wings has been operating in Queensland for just over a year, flying sick children in rural areas to hospitals in the city to get the medical care they need. 290 children have been helped thanks to volunteer pilots like Ed Oldenburg.
Little Wings provides air and land transport for children who are seriously ill or have a chronic illness and need a hospital more than three hours’ drive from their home. The service operates in 71 regions in NSW, the ACT, QLD, and parts of the Northern Territory, and it is completely free for those who need it.
Ed has been around planes since 1995 when he had some lessons as a student pilot.
“I couldn’t continue my lessons at the time. I have been part of cabin crew since 2006 so that’s when my aviation career really took off. I did cabin crew part time so I could continue my studies for my pilot licence.
“In 2015 I got my student licence, by 2016 I had my private licence, then I went for my commercial licence and got all of the endorsements I needed to fly.”
Ed started working for Qantas on a casual basis which allowed him time to venture into other things like instructing full-time and building up his hours, which landed him a freight job in February last year.
As you would expect, a flying job has taken Ed everywhere. He grew up in Sydney, was based in Newcastle for a while, then Perth, Melbourne, Perth again, then back to Sydney before moving up to Brisbane two years ago.
Ed said he understands the importance of easy access to essential medical services. Motivated by empathy and a desire to contribute, he believes his spare time and piloting skills are well-suited for supporting families from regional QLD.
“One of my friends was in Sydney flying for Little Wings. He was talking about it one day and then I saw an ad for Little Wings up in Brisbane to say they were going to start flying up there. I thought, I have some spare time, I could fit that in, so I did, and I have been flying with them since July last year.
“I have two little ones myself and my son has been in and out of emergency departments as he gets quite bad lung infections. For us, it’s quite easy to get to the hospital as we live in a big city so the big attraction for me to volunteer for Little Wings was being able to apply my skillset to help families and get them to appointments and make it a little bit easier for them.
“The families I speak to when I pick them up, they’re so grateful. I ask them how long it would take them to drive to Brisbane and for some of them it would take up to 10 hours and I can fly them in one hour so Little Wings makes a huge difference for them.
“There are a couple of families I fly that have babies with cleft palette so for them to be able to go from the bush to see a specialist in the city, it’s massive, because they just wouldn’t have the facilities where they live to help them.
“I mainly fly in southeast Queensland though I have been to Sydney a couple of times. I have helped with the Medical Wings program too, flying specialists out to rural areas to do clinics, in places like Emerald and Chinchilla.
Ed is one of 35 pilots that volunteer their time to Little Wings to help hundreds of families.
For Ed, every flight is a meaningful experience. Each family, every child, leaves a lasting impact on him.
“The opportunity to make a difference and ease the burden for families in need is what makes every day of volunteering with Little Wings special.”
