A grounded Aer Lingus pilot has taken his head out of the clouds during the pandemic to pursue a sideline in agricultural contracting.
Kieran O’Regan (41) from Ladysbridge, Co. Cork, has swapped the cockpit for the tractor cab during lockdown as he works for agricultural contractor John Flavin, a childhood friend.
“I don’t come from a farming background but I grew up around farms and helped out on local farms, especially dairy farms. I was eight or nine when I started. Back then, a lot of farmers were growing potatoes so I did a lot of picking and grading potatoes,” said Kieran.
“I always had a love of machinery and I was driving machines from an early age, doing trailer work, drawing back spuds to yards and rotavating.”
After his Leaving Cert, he went to Waterford IT where he studied electrical engineering, followed by applied physics and instrumentation at Cork Institute of Technology.
Fulfilled Dream
Aviation was his passion and he first flew solo at Cork airport at the age of 16. He pursued his dream to become a pilot by relocating to Australia where he combined working full-time with flight training at Bankstown, Sydney.
After converting his Australian pilot’s licence to its European equivalent, he got a job with Aer Arann, now Stobart Air, in 2013. He moved to Aer Lingus in 2016. “That was the dream. I always wanted to fly a jet whereas with Aer Arann, it was ATR turbo props.”
Kieran who hasn’t flown since December 21 last, said that being grounded for a second summer is devastating for all involved who have invested approximately €100,000 in their training. Having worked for John Flavin’s father in the past, he has pivoted to agricultural contracting.
“Right now we are ploughing and tilling, setting corn and maize. I enjoy farming and there’s a lot of science behind it these days. There’s a big difference in the machinery used now; its efficiency and the ground it can cover compared to when I first started working on farms. You’ve got tri-axle trailers now that are 24ft long whereas 20 years ago they were 16 to 18ft long.
“There has been a lot of advances in measuring grass, different fertilisers and organic farming. It’s all very interesting,” said Kieran.
Not a typical pilot
While the high-flying job of pilot is associated with glamour, Kieran doesn’t see himself as a ‘typical’ pilot.
“I’m just a normal guy from the country who enjoys flying. I go from being a pilot to agricultural contracting and it doesn’t faze me. While both jobs are vastly different in some ways, there are also similarities. Both farming and aviation can be hard work, with long hours.
“Farming is a lifestyle. For a lot of the dairy farmers around here, farming is part of their life and they don’t want to do anything else. In both walks of life, you have to be good at problem solving and machinery repairs. You have to be independent and willing to involve people in your work sometimes,” said Kieran.
While he enjoys life on the land, he is anxious to get back in the air and he sees the restrictions in this country as making it very difficult for those in the aviation sector.
“Pilots require frequent training and ‘recency’ – three landings and three take-offs in 90 days – to be able to fly. We aren’t able to keep up with our required flying hours because of the lack of available flights,” he said.
“Government restrictions are making it more difficult. We thought there would be resumption in the spring but January just turned out more restrictions and last week, a number of other countries, including the US, have been added to the mandatory quarantine list. This is reducing the 5% capacity by a further 80%.
“This is going to make it impossible for people to travel and conduct business. Myself and my colleagues don’t see any government support for the aviation industry going forward and I think we will be here for quite a while. Airlines are moving planes out of Ireland because of the restrictions and once they’re gone, they’re gone,” he added.
“We have to follow the work – we can’t wait around for the government to realise the aviation industry needs to reopen. I’m probably going to have to emigrate,” said Kieran.
Potential to fly
The EU, Kieran said, has proposed a Digital Green Certificate that people could have on their mobile phones to facilitate safe free movement inside the EU during the pandemic.
It would be proof that a person has been vaccinated against Covid-19, received a negative test result or recovered from Covid-19. “It would allow Europe to reopen safely, but the Irish government isn’t interested. While other countries have plans to open up, we’re shutting down even further,” he contended.
“Yet there are 30,000 cars over and back across the border every day as we are talking about containing Covid in a hotel and zero Covid. It’s not going to happen.
“There are 143,000 jobs in aviation and the industry supports hospitality, tourism and foreign investment. If the connectivity isn’t there, it’s all over,” he concluded.