When he walked in for his job interview in 1995, carrying a borrowed briefcase and wearing a suit he had just bought, Richard Jones could not have imagined that a quarter of a century later, he would be still at the controls of the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service in northern NSW.
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"Don't know where it's gone," said Mr Jones of the time. "But the challenges have been there, there's been growth and success, and there have been bigger, faster aircraft.
"I really do think about the enormity of it all. When I started, the budget was $3.5 million and 20 full-time staff. Now we've got nearly as many as that working in the engineering department."
On Friday, Richard Jones will have clocked up 25 years with the service.
Like the service itself, Mr Jones has changed in that time, from the former rugby league player and keen surfer to the CEO of a service that has an operating budget of more than $40 million, saving lives in almost 1500 missions flown annually across the north and west of the state.
"I probably have a lot more empathy," Mr Jones said of how the job had changed him. "I've learnt that there's always hard conversations, and how to work with different people."
Among the biggest challenges, Mr Jones recalled, were the negotiations in 2014 to secure the government contract to operate aeromedical services in northern NSW, and dealing with two helicopter crash landings, in 1993 near Barrington House and in 2007 near Warialda.
"Everyone walked away, thank God," Mr Jones said.
The CEO said some of his proudest moments had occurred this year, with "how we've handled COVID as an organisation". While missions had gone on regardless, the service had to come up with new ways in a pandemic to raise funds to help keep the helicopters in the air.
Which is why he is also proud of, and loves working with, communities, large and small. Mr Jones described those communities that supported the service as "the bedrock".
Before the pandemic, one of Mr Jones' key roles was driving long distances to visit towns and participate in fund-raising activities. During those journeys, he met thousands whose lives had been saved or directly affected in some way by the helicopter service.
But not every story has a happy ending, and it is one of those that is etched in Richard Jones' memory.
He was at a fund-raising function at a hotel in Denman, with "the people in the pub patting us on the back", when a colleague summoned him outside to meet a family. They were from a nearby farm, and the helicopter had flown there when their little boy had been crushed by a boulder. The boy didn't survive. However, the family wanted to say to Richard Jones and the service, "Thanks for giving us a chance".
"That was the sobering reality; not every mission has a good outcome," Mr Jones said, still moved by that moment almost 20 years on.
But it is the pursuit of the good outcome, giving people a chance, that has Richard Jones pushing on. He may be in his late 50s, but Mr Jones is not contemplating giving up any time soon.
On Friday, it is business as usual. There will be no big 25-year celebration; instead, he is having lunch with sponsors, to thank them for their support. And that's fine by Richard Jones.
As he explained, "I love what I do."
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