Industry Influencer | Angela Garvey

With over 30 years’ experience in general aviation and almost 20 years as a pilot, Angela has done it all – or so we thought. Recently she’s commenced two new ‘adventures’ that make her unique in the industry. Aero Circus investigates what drives this human dynamo

 Jumping for joy

Angela Garvey’s early forays into activities above the treetops started with voluntarily jumping out of perfectly good aircraft. Some might say this is not a reliable indicator of complete sanity, and most pilots that we talk to think the practice is a little unhinged, even those of us that have tried it for themselves. In pure economic terms, one could consider two minutes of freefall a poor return on investment compared to an hour piloting your favourite GA aircraft for around the same cost.
After about 10 years of this nonsense, Angela finally saw the light and graduated from the self-jettisoning cargo end of the aircraft to a somewhat more essential pursuit as a commercial pilot.

A sad backstory

Most Aussie pilots who have been around a while would probably be aware of the shocking fatal accident in 2006 involving a jump plane from the skydiving business part-owned by Angela. Three of her staff and two customers lost their lives when the aircraft lost power just after take-off and crashed into a dam.
This incident affected her profoundly for many years. While such trauma is something one may never fully get over, Angela found outside the airlines and larger organisations there was no support available at all after aviation tragedies in general aviation.