He’s seen it all.
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The royal visitors. The emergencies. The effect of bird flu on passenger numbers.
The pilots dispute. The collapse of Ansett.
The pea soup fogs and the heat waves off the tarmac.
He knows the mysteries behind the screening process, the sniffer dogs, and even what happens to luggage when it disappears behind the curtain.
And if there’s a mechanical problem at Launceston Airport and Geoff Bailey can’t fix it then it probably can’t be fixed.
Geoff is the airport’s longest-serving member of staff, having started his mechanics apprenticeship there straight out of high school at age 16.
That was 45 years ago, when the facility was in Commonwealth Government hands, and he was trained to work on anything from fire trucks to air conditioning units.
He still works on air conditioning, but the motor mechanics side of things is more about sweepers and tractors and a large part of his role is maintaining the multiple large-scale power generators - just in case the main power goes off.
“That has happened a few times,” he said.
“And we have to know that all the essential services, such as runway lights and the control tower and the terminal, have quick and reliable back-up.”
There’s a great team of 10 of us covering grounds, mechanical and electrical maintenance, and we back each other up without even thinking about it.
- Geoff Bailey
In fact Geoff is tested on just how quickly he can get the generators fully operational in the event of a power failure - imagine a plane coming in to land in bad weather suddenly having no runway lights!
For Geoff accepting the apprenticeship at the airport was an easy choice from the four jobs he had offered at the time.
The self-confessed lover of planes said his childhood was spent making model aircraft, and he couldn’t get out to the airport quick enough.
Not only can he identify every plane that lands at the airport, he knows them by their sound.
“It really has been the perfect place to work for me,” he said.
“There’s a great team of 10 of us covering grounds, mechanical and electrical maintenance, and we back each other up without even thinking about it.
“Seeing travellers come and go, looking so happy and oblivious to all that goes on in the background to make their journey safe and enjoyable is our job satisfaction.”