LifeFlight First Officer Amanda Deed must be ready to fly at the drop of a hat.
The 29-year-old’s career in aviation has taken her into aeromedicine as a First Officer onboard the LifeFlight Brisbane-based Challenger 604 jet.
Every day can take her across the world or to some of the most rural and remote parts of Australia.
“You have to be flexible in this job. When you’re on call, the phone can ring at any time. You’re given the lowdown of where you’re going, put your uniform on and then head to the airport to get the plane ready,” she said.
“The other night, we were called out to Horn Island to go and pick a patient up. We landed at the Island at midnight and got back at 3am.”
Amanda was recently involved in a milestone flight with a record distance covered for LifeFlight
“I was very lucky to be part of the team that flew the Dubai to Switzerland return trip of the flight,” she said.
“We managed to see glimpses of the Suez Canal and the Pyramids of Giza on our way across the Middle East. We saw the changing landscape flying across Italy and into Switzerland, including seeing the Matterhorn.
“It was a magical flight to be a part of.”
Amanda’s love of aviation started when she was a kid.
Hailing from South East Melbourne, she grew up with her siblings on 15 acres of land.
“I started to be interested in aviation from a very young age,” she said.
“My dad is a pilot and I’ve grown up very fortunately flying around Australia, visiting all the outback places and towns in a small aircraft.
“Dad started his flight training when I was a baby. He caught the aviation bug and wanted to share that with his family.
“My favourite places to visit were Flinders Island to go camping with fold up push bikes and Coffs Harbour to see my grandpa.
“That’s where it kicked off. I think initially for me the inspiration was to become a private pilot and do the same thing, because that was the way I grew up.
“Once my hands touched the controls on my introductory flight and I started flying, I knew I’d caught the same aviation bug as my dad. I really couldn’t see myself doing anything else.”
Amanda has licenses to fly both fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft.
She attended Lilydale Flying School, a family-owned business located in the Yarra Valley Victoria.
She received her fixed wing Private Pilots License (PPL) in December 2019 and Commercial Pilots License (CPL) in March 2021.
For helicopters, she gained her PPL in August 2020 and CPL in April 2021.
With a commercial license to fly both types of aircraft, she set off to Uluru to fly tourists around the spinifex studded desert until November 2022.
Along with three other pilots, she took on a challenge to fly and land a Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft in every state and mainland territory in Australia to raise funds to support other female aviators
“It’s a competition over in the United Kingdom called the Dusk to Dawn Challenge, and the objective is to complete a notable feat of aviation between those hours. Within a day, basically,” she said.
“Myself and one of the other ladies, Theresa, talked about doing it. She was my instructor at Lilydale for quite a while and does incredible work helping other women in aviation.
“We came up with the idea to enter this competition and we thought why not raise funds to put towards one of the scholarships for the Australian Women Pilots Association?”
The team started the journey at Flinder​​s Island in Tasmania, at “stupid o’clock” in the morning, after a night of excitement and final checks of the plan.
“We took off and flew to Mallacoota in Victoria, and then off to Canberra,” she said.
The crew stopped in at Cootamundra New South Wales to refuel, and again at White Cliffs before heading to Moomba South Australia.
“We stopped at Birdsville in Queensland for more fuel and then across to Uluru for the Northern Territory,” she said.
They then flew to their final destination at Forrest, Western Australia.
“I think we landed 20 minutes before last light, just before dusk,” Amanda said.
“We were very excited to make it. Big smiles all around.”
The team amassed 13 hours of flying and travelled 1,905 nautical miles.
They won second place in the Dawn to Dusk Challenge and also clinched the award for longest distance​, presented in London in January 2024​.
“We ended up raising ​ ​$6,000 for the Australian Women Pilot’s Association scholarship. It assists in helping any woman in aviation to achieve the next goal in their career,” she said.
“We were able to spread the funds to support doubling the scholarship for a few years.”
Amanda’s career at LifeFlight has taken her far and wide across the sky, including her first international flight from Sydney to Singapore.
Along with an enviable view of the heavens, one of her journeys put her in the ideal spot to see a comet streak across the sky during a trip from Hawaii to Melbourne.
​“I absolutely love looking out the window at night at all the stars,” she said.
Whatever mission comes next, it’s safe to say Amanda is more than up to the challenge.
