Young Perth entrepreneur David Gray has high hopes for his new tourism venture, Classic Wings, offering scenic flights over the city and South West in a 63-year-old DC 3 aircraft he recently bought for $500,000.
The same plane is steeped in both history and infamy, being the same plane Mr Gray’s great-uncle flew over New Guinea during World War II, and the very one that Australian country crooner John Williamson sang of in his early tune, Papa Whiskey November.
Now dubbed ‘Catherine’, named after a close friend of Mr Gray’s, she completed her first scenic tour over Perth on September 2 and is now available for evening dinner flights, Margaret River winery tour flights and private charter tours.
Mr Gray, who is also the plane’s co-pilot, told WA Business News he had seen other successful scenic flight operations in Melbourne and Sydney using DC 3s and realised Perth did not have a similar operation.
He found the plane for sale in a magazine advertisement and set about securing finance.
“My friends suggested I take a loan out on a house instead, but flying is my passion and I’ve been doing this since I was 16…It’s a disease that gets in your blood,” he said.
He and his father, Bill Gray, a former Virgin Blue pilot, have crunched the numbers and both believe the venture has great potential.
Mr Gray said he had to clear mountains of red tape and paper-work to have the plane ferried from New Zealand to Australia, where it was used for joy flights since 1993.
The trip from Bankstown in New South Wales over to Perth was equally epic, with the plane making nine stops over four days to complete the trip.
The plane is currently housed at Perth’s Domestic Airport, and regular maintenance services are carried out at Jandakot Airport.
The biggest challenges ahead are costs associated with buying fuel, airport landing fees and conducting regular maintenance, but Mr Gray is under no illusions.
After every 5,000 flying hours, he said, every working part in the plane must be overhauled and checked.
“I’m pro-active in this area, and I think as long as you keep ahead of it and know how to handle it, everything will run smoothly.”
Mr Gray said the plane’s price tag was a bargain, considering its previous owners had spent 6,000 hours and thousands of dollars to refurbish the cabin in a classic pre-war style.
If the business takes off, Classic Wings hopes to expand its DC 3 fleet to two next year, which would take the number of DC 3s flying in Australia to 12.
