But actually of course it was visionary to establish Aviation and Aviation is hugely important to Australia and always will be. The cohort of graduates that your School has produced make an enormous contribution to the Industry and the professional networks they have provide trust and confidence that help us to have such a fine aviation sector.

I began at UNSW in 2010 as Dean of Science. I want to give you a perspective of changing perceptions and issues that your School has had to navigate.

When I joined UNSW Science in 2010 the Faculty was in some level of strife.

There had been several short term Deans, and there had also been a number of mergers with Faculties of Life and Physical Sciences merging to be one Faculty and bits of the Industrial Science Faculty falling either in or out. There was a Dean who was reported to be drunk some of the time – at his best moments – and his successor who apparently threatened staff members with a screw driver and threw someone’s car keys down a drain for parking in his Dean’s only parking spot. Then another Dean who was a great leader but had so many ideas that the Faculty was always overspent.

Compared to these folk I looked a fairly safe sort of Dean and received a very warm welcome. 

But there was work to do. The university was fully stretched financially and a very good review of the Faculty of Science had suggested that money could be saved – basically by closing it, or part of it, down.

The idea of closing Aviation down cropped up at this time but basically Jason explained that it was stable and excellent and he proved that by action. The School just did well. Its teaching was good, its research was good, and the community was respected. The graduates got jobs. Being excellent is the best way to survive in a university.

So we closed down Risk and Safety Science instead and the Injury Risk Management Research Centre. The day I did that I got a fax from one of our partners saying they’d see me in court. The VC suggested I avoid court if I could so we negotiated and the Transport And Road Safety unit led by Anne Williamson was formed, absorbing the key parts of the former Injury Risk Management Research Centre. That all happened because of Jason’s can do attitude and Anne’s leadership. It turned out so well.

In those days I used to have monthly meetings with Jason. I would read the rules to him – he could only have 4 aeroplanes – he accepted that. The other rule was that he could never have less than 4. He mustn’t lose any aeroplanes. 

Jason kept to the rules. He did occasionally telephone me though to say that an aeroplane had been slightly scratched or dented in a minor accident. The phone would ring, I’d see Jason’s name pop up, I’d have butterflies in my stomach and his voice would sound out – It’s all OK but I thought I should let you know that one of our planes has landed in a field near Penrith – or something like that. 

Jason was very good at keeping track of his aeroplanes. Much better than the folk in BEES and their boats. They once left one in the Antarctic. Chris Turney texted me on Christmas day saying his boat was stuck in the Antarctic and they’d abandoned it. I texted back – is there anything I can do to help? I provided advice by text – but it was the French, then the Americans, and then ultimately the Chinese that rescued him.  
 
Jason has never needed rescuing.

The main thing Jason used to do in my meetings with him was complain about the budget. Jason is a mathematician and he would blind me with numbers and explain that BEES had more money than students, and that Aviation should have BEES money. I would then take Jason’s arguments to the Head of BEES, who was at that time David Cohen, who would laughingly disagree, and so I would be stuck and would do nothing. But I would always support Aviation if it needed one of investments and it did occasionally seem to need new propellors, or new planes, or just new engines. 

A third thing I remember Jason doing was devising a complicated scheme whereby students could pay their flying fees via HECS. The mathematics was bewildering but it did mean more people could realise their dreams of flying which I think is very important.

And in research Jason was always active. He always seemed to have a new camera on order – some sort of a LIDAR device that he was going to map Australia’s coastline with in collaboration with Ian Turner in Engineering. I explained that Matthew Flinders had mapped the entire Australian coast in 1799. Jason conceded this point but explained that Flinders had not used a LIDAR device and then Jason went ahead and I believe he sawed a circular hole in the bottom of one of his planes so that the LIDAR could look down and photograph the coast. I’m not sure how that turned out. 

I also remember Jason getting excited about drones before I even knew what a drone was. Drones seem to be the main military capability in the world today and I can see that knowing about drones is very important to Australia.

Our School of Aviation fits in perfectly with UNSW’s motto – Corde, Manu, et Mente – by Heart, by Hand, and by Mind. Aviation is a hands on but intellectual endeavour and the community, represented by Corde counts hugely. There is a magic in aviation communities, as note by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the author of the Little Prince and others. Your community has always been excellent. 

The other thing is that there are no short cuts in Aviation. I once suggested the motto – near enough is good enough, because UNSW does have this value – progress not perfection, and usually that is a good motto. But in your School perfection is important. You are respected for that. 

I always use Aviation as an example when talking about teaching and learning. I explain that your students tend not to cheat because the assessments involve solo flights and it is worth doing the preparation properly. I also say that a pass mark of 50% doesn’t mean that students in Aviation can learn either how to take off or how to land, nor does it mean they land safely every second time. Our pass marks may be 50% but in Aviation and in other courses our standards are much, much higher and we train professionals to world class standards. I know that is precisely what you do now and what you have done from the outset. 

You guys demonstrate vision, passion, dedication, and excellent. You have created a School that is respected in Australia and across the world. You have enabled communication and transport across Australia and the world. You have high academic standards, high standards of conduct, and high standards of expertise.

I want to thank Jason, Brett, and all staff and students and to wish you every success in the future.