Three’s company for this ENGO

By Corporal Simone Liebelt

38SQN Engineering Officer, FLTLT Dave Batic, has a long association with the Caribou, having worked with them previously as both an aircraft technician and a flight engineer.

Photo by CPL Shane Gidall

NOT many people would know the Caribou aircraft better than Flight Lieutenant Dave Batic.

After all, he’s fixed them as an aircraft technician, flown them as a flight engineer and managed them as an engineering officer. That comes from having three different Air Force careers in 24 years.

“I’ve had an unusually long association with the Caribou over my service career, going from techo to aircrew to ENGO,” he said. “Unfortunately, we also share the same age.”

Joining in 1981 as an engine fitter, Flight Lieutenant Batic worked on Caribous for seven years before remustering to flight engineer.

Rising through the ranks to warrant officer, he became one of the most experienced flight engineers in the Air Force, accumulating more than 6000 flying hours in Caribou and C-130 aircraft and Chinook and Squirrel helicopters.

He has served at seven different squadrons – including No. 38 Squadron three times – and his travels around the world have included New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Indonesia, East Timor, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, USA, Canada and Mexico.

He said his favourite destinations were “PNG for the challenging flying, and USA for challenging shopping”.
When it came to his favourite aircraft, it was “Caribou for the challenging flying and C-130 for the shopping”.
Flight Lieutenant Batic said after a very satisfying and rewarding flying career, he opted for a whole new challenge.

“I achieved the pinnacle in the flight engineer mustering, so commissioning provided the opportunity to further my career in an area other than flying,” he said.

“Coincidentally, my first appointment was on Caribou aircraft. The opportunity to return to No. 38 Squadron as the ENGO has proved advantageous from a capability perspective, mainly because of my previous experience.

“I am able to communicate with aircrew in ‘aircrew language’ and at the same time, communicate to the maintenance workforce in ‘techo language’. This has helped return the aircraft to an airworthy condition earlier than anticipated.”

He said the transition to officer wasn’t as difficult or as daunting as people may think, and recommended other members consider the prospect of commissioning.

“The opportunity to proceed down a number of different career path specialisations [as an officer] is very appealing, so the future can hold anything,” he said.

“Don’t consider leaving the Air Force if you believe you can’t progress any further in your current field of expertise. Change your direction and face a new challenge. This will provide job satisfaction through variation.

“Please don’t think ‘that’s easy for you to say’ without looking into the options Defence has to offer.”

For information on different career options, including commissioning, visit People Central or contact your career manager at DP-AF.

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