90 AUSTRALIAN AVIATION
R
oyal Australian Air Force classic
and Super Hornet displays
commonly seen at major
sporting and cultural events
around the country are probably one
of the most effective ADF recruitment
tools.
The sights and sounds of an F/A-18
manoeuvring at low level is enough
to get the adrenaline flowing for all
but the most hardened among us,
and more than one child has gazed
skyward at these displays in awe and
wished they could be in the cockpit.
One such child was a young eight-
year-old Matthew Trayling who, while
attending the Australian Formula 1
Grand Prix in Adelaide in the early-
1990s, was mesmerised by one of the
RAAF’s Edinburgh-based Hornets
performing a display over the famed
street circuit.
“You can just imagine the sound
through the buildings and just seeing
them cruise around through the city
going really fast, that’s what drove
my desire to want to do that one day,”
Trayling told Australian Aviation.
“Pretty much all I wanted to do was fly
jets, ever since I can remember. It was
initially sparked when I was playingsoccer when I was about eight and a
Hornet flew over. One of my mates’
dad was a Hornet driver, and the
dream was cemented when I saw the
display at the Grand Prix.”
Twenty years on, the now Flight
Lieutenant Matthew ‘Traylz’ Trayling
has more than realised his dreams,
and is now the RAAF’s classic Hornet
display pilot.
“I grew up in the Adelaide Hills,”
he said. “I spent the first 18 years of
my life there before moving down to
Golden Grove where I finished year 12.
I had tried to join straight out of high
school but never got that, so I did
labouring for about a year and a half
in Adelaide before I reapplied. I must
have given them the impression that
I was still motivated and pretty keen,
so I went through the recruitment
process again and was accepted after
that.”
Traylz attended the Australian
Defence Force Academy (ADFA) in
Canberra, graduating with a Bachelor
of Aviation Technology in 2008.
“I didn’t know anyone else when I
joined up, and it was literally my first
time moving out of the state and first
time living away from home,” he said.“So, at 20 I was living away from home
for the first time doing a university
degree at the same time as my military
training.”
After graduating Traylz attended
the Basic Flying Training School
(BFTS) at Tamworth, learning to fly
on the CT-4B.
“Prior to that flying in the CT-4,
all I’d really done was gliding at the
Gawler gliding club in South Australia,
that was really my only aviation
experience prior to joining. I initially
joined up through the Woodside
Cadets in South Australia, so that’s
how I got into the gliding.”
After his time on the CT-4, Traylz
progressed to the PC-9/A advanced
trainer at 2FTS at RAAF Pearce near
Perth, being awarded his ‘Wings’
before being selected to fly fast jets
and progressing to 76 and 79SQNs to
fly the Hawk lead-in fighter trainer.
“After Hawk I had a bit of down
time because they weren’t ready for me
on OPCON (the Hornet operational
conversion course),” Traylz said. “So,
I went and did a tour on Heron UAVs
for about a nine-month period which
took me out of the fighter scene for
a while, and then after that wentStepping to the jet – the ability
to block out other work and life
factors in the days and hours
before a display is an important
trait for a display pilot.MARK JESSOP‘All I wanted
to do was fly
jets.’
FLTLT MATTHEW TRAYLING