A quick glance at my logbook tells me I was lucky enough to receive 21.8 hours of instruction from Graham in a variety of aeroplanes, and I am sure many many more hours of tuition and advice on the ground as well. He taught me the majority of my instructor rating, and I was then lucky enough to work under him as a grade 3 instructor at Bankstown in the late 90’s.
During this period I lost my medical for six months, and reverted to being the flying school’s paper-pusher. On the afternoon that I found out my medical was reinstated, Graham drove me out to Hoxton Park where he had access to a Beech Sundowner for mates rates. We flew 1.2 hours of stalls, steep turns and circuits well into the calm air of that spring evening. You can imagine how ecstatic I was. After putting the plane to bed Graham drove me back to Bankstown and steadfastly refused to accept any money from me towards the cost of the flight.
Graham was a wealth of knowledge on aeroplanes and instructing techniques. Throughout my career we kept in touch, and he was only ever a phone call away, always happy to talk aeroplanes and provide advice. I am very grateful for the opportunity to have known Graham, to have benefited from his advice and knowledge, and I will miss crossing paths with him at airshows and fly-ins in the years to come.