Outback Pilots

Fearless and focused the flying men and women of the outback rule the skies over the vast wilderness of rural Australia. Modern-day guns for hire, the pilots of the outback play a vital role in this ‘do-or-die’ frontier world, from fire control to fertiliser spreading, from rounding up cattle to providing essential medical care to isolated communities.

Flying at death-defying heights, dodging killer weather and battling everything that the extreme environment of outback Australia can throw at them, this is some of the most challenging and exhilarating aerial work in the world.

Outback Pilots takes to the air with these daredevil pilots to discover more about the crucial work they tackle and the daily dangers, dramas and challenges they come up against.

We’ll join the Rescue 510 pilots as they tackle everything from deadly snakebites to off shore emergency patient transport in remote and inaccessible parts of Australia. We’ll take to the air with the daredevil ‘power line’ pilots who keep the energy flowing, they spend their days hovering hair-raisingly close to deadly high voltage power lines. We’ll meet the acrobatic sky cowboys and crop dusters along with the faithful Flying Padre who service the needs of the vast farming stations. And we’ll ride in the police cars of the sky on drug busts and prisoner transfers on a massive beat.

In one of the toughest places on the planet, Outback Pilots offers a dramatic insight into the daily adventures of the pilots of the Australian Outback.

2017 - Broadcaster: SBS