SPINAL NETWORK NEWS

LET FLY!
Let Fly is about a passion for flying and a battle against bureaucracy.
Barry Cardno had always wanted to be a pilot being
inspired by his two boyhood heroes Sir Tim Wallis and
his uncle Peter Plew. Right from a young age he was hellbent
on getting his pilot’s licence as soon as possible after
leaving school and did so after a short stint working at the
Customs Department. Being keen to get his foot in the door
for top-dressing flying he managed to get a job as a loader
driver which was a common way that pilots did their
“apprenticeship”, the low-level aerial man oeuvres of topdressing
piloting appealed to him. He soon found however
in his first two jobs that training and safety standards were
severely compromised due to time constraints and efforts
to maximize profits.
On 8th of May 1995 as a naïve 21-year-old keen to impress
his boss who was away for a few days he had an accident,
his short life as a pilot was shattered. So serious were his
injurie that he was kept in a coma for two weeks, suffering
amongst other injuries, spinal (paraplegia) and a brain
injuries. Investigations after the accident tended to indicate
pilot error as the cause, causing great distress to Barry as
he felt no consideration was given to aircraft maintenance,
safety standards, training or time constraints.
Rehabilitation was slow and arduous but Barry was keen to
get back into life. After about a year he got a part-time job
back at customs following this up with a stint in America
learning to be a disabled flyer, then back in Wanaka he
developed a passion for skiing. His desire to fly again was
undiminished but due to the bureaucratic hoops he had
to go through as a result of the accident he lost motivation
until he came into contact with Sir Archibald McIndoe’s
Guinea Pig Club, a club of pilots seriously injured and
burnt during World War Two.
After years of perseverance on the 6th of August 2006
Barry got medical clearance and got his unrestricted pilots
licence. Since his accident Barry’s battle has been with The Civil
Aviation Authority and the Transport Accident Investigation
Commission. He feels that the investigators into aerial top
dressing accidents continue to ignore fatigue, excessive
pressure to fly, lack of
training and poorly
maintained aircraft.
The book deals well
with Barry’s passion
and obstinace to get
back into the cockpit
but the overriding
theme is his
impression, or lack
thereof of standards
in the aerial top
dressing industry.
Let Fly, written
by Barry Cardno,
published by
Longacre Press 2009
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