IACE AUSTRALIA 2017 Edward Forsey, Switzerland Here is my take on IACE 2017, where I was lucky to be one of the 2 Swiss cadets sent to Australia! My college for this trip is Tobias, the left arrow, a glider pilot based in Bern. I myself am a power pilot from La Chaux-de-Fonds, in the Jura mountains. I hope that you will find the tale of my unique experience with air cadets from 10 countries around the world, as we all meet for two weeks Down Under!
International Air Cadet Exchange (IACE) 2017 : Australia After all the planning and preparation, it is finally time to go! All that is left now is the travel to Australia! Our first flight to Hong Kong was almost 12 hours long, and during the flight, we were able to visit the flight deck of the Boeing 777! We arrived in Hong Kong, and after a windy landing, we made our way through Hong Kong airport to catch our flight to Sydney. Due to the weather, it was delayed, but we eventually got back in the air. 9 hours later we touched down in Sydney, and we caught our final flight up to Brisbane. We were the second to last team to arrive. An Australian staff member met us at the airport, and took us directly to a shopping mall, where we got to meet the other cadets from the Netherlands, Canada, USA, United Kingdom, Belgium, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, and New Zealand. We spent the afternoon window shopping in the mall, and then headed out for dinner and got to our base in Redcliffe, where we got some well awaited rest. Day 1: Our first whole day in Australia! After a nice cooked breakfast, we went off to meet the AFC and RAAF Association in Pine Rivers. After some lovely cakes and morning tea, we visited a nearby SES site, a voluntary organisation that provides help in case of flooding, search and rescue operations, and more. They explained how they function and then showed us their vehicles and other equipment. We then got a fantastic barbecue lunch organised by the local Lions Club branch. In the afternoon, we headed into the city of Brisbane to the river. We got on one of the city s fast transit boats and headed up the river where we enjoyed the views of the city. After the boat ride, we headed back out for dinner in the same base as the previous day, and then back to the Redcliffe for some rest, as we had a very full day coming up! Day 2: This is the day when we get to visit the RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) base in Amberley. We got up early for the drive, and when we arrived in Amberley, we started by visiting the heritage museum where we saw planes including a PC6 Porter, and an F111. Then, we went off to the dog training course, and watched some demonstrations of how the dogs work with their handlers, and some puppies, one of the best parts of the day! We went to lunch in the base s Mess hall, and in the afternoon we visited the C17 training facilities. We saw the full motion simulator for pilots, a functional mockup of the cockpit for training ground crew, and a full size replica of the cargo bay for training purpouses. The RAAF use these facilities to train pilots and ground crew from all over the country, before letting them out on the real aircraft. After that we went to see the KC30 aircraft, a military version of the Airbus a330-200 used for transportation, cargo, and air to air refuelling. We got to visit the outside of the aircraft, as well as the cabin and the cockpit!
We also went to see the Boeing C17, an aircraft with the capacity of transporting very large cargo equipment, even off of dirt runways. We ended the day at the base by going to see the firefighter equipment, where we were able to go in the trucks, as well as getting a demonstration of the different water cannons on the trucks. We then went off for dinner before heading back to the barracks in Redcliffe. Day 3: Today is the much anticipated visit Boeing Defence Australia. After a brief introduction, we got some presentations about the software developed for tactical simulations, how they go about developing projects with universities and companies they collaborate with, and a presentation from Insitu, a company that uses radio controlled aerial vehicles for helping firefighters, soldiers, and more by providing an eye in the sky with a high endurance, which operates with no runways. The sophisticated cameras allow all sorts of uses for the clients. After a bite to eat we went to walk round a park in Brisbane, then went to Newstead House in Brisbane, the oldest house in Queensland! We discovered the house and its grounds, and had some afternoon tea and scones. We then travelled to kangaroo point, in the city near the river, where we walked down the cliff and along the river to Southbank to have dinner. As we arrived a bit early, we had some free time to walk around and discover a bit of Southbank and it s surroundings. We had a great burger for dinner at Grill d, it was a great way to finish up the busy and interesting day we had had! Day 4: This day had a bit of a lighter programme, so we got to sleep a bit longer, which I believe everybody needed! We got on the bus and drove to Mt Coot-Tha, a mountain which gives and breath-taking view over the whole city of Brisbane! When we returned to base, we played frisbee while waiting for our barbecue lunch. In the afternoon, we would spend some time with 212 Squadron and 224 Squadron of Australian Air Force Cadets some of who are based where we were staying. We got a demonstration of a drill from them, and also from Canada, America, United Kingdom, New Zealand,
China, Hong Kong. Following this, we played some more frisbee, and got to know some of the Australian Cadets, and see how their cadet program functions. In the afternoon, a reptile handler came by and showed us all sorts of animals indigenous to Australia, from lizards to birds, and even a wombat. It was great to be able to see the animals up close, and even touch some of them. When that finished, we got to try out the cadets flight simulator, which was great fun! We spent the rest of the evening playing frisbee, and after getting it stuck on the roof a couple of times, we went to have dinner. Following that, the Australian Cadets left, and we had a competition to see who had the best Australian accent and slang. Team Switzerland was victorious, and we walked away with some Timtams and a jar of vegemite. Day 5: Today was the follow up to the introduction to Aussie animals we got yesterday, it s the visit to Australia Zoo! We arrived just as it opened, and were free to roam in the zoo. We saw lots of different animals, including, kangaroos and wallabies, to which we could get up close to for photos. Some of us got to carry some koalas as well! We ended our trip to the zoo by watching a demonstration of feeding a very big crocodile. We then headed to the Queensland air museum, where we spent the afternoon looking the collection of aircraft, including an F-111 which is in great condition. We got an interesting guided tour of a few of the planes in the museum, and then got to roam around for a bit. For the final event of the afternoon we got to visit the Surf Life Saving club, a group of volunteers which exists all around Australia. They use helicopters to go and help people who get stranded in the ocean after getting caught by a riptide, or helping in search and rescue operations on land. After that visit, we headed back to base for dinner, and clean our rooms in preparation for the trip to Canberra the following day. Day 6: We were up early and after a quick breakfast and despite a missing bed sheet incident causing a slight delay, we were soon on our way to RAAF Amberley. We got into the terminal and dropped our bags, and watched the safety briefing for the aircraft, a C130 Hercules, and waited. However, after a bit, we got news of some technical problems with the plane, and that the flight was delayed to the afternoon. We would have to get lunch in Amberley, which wasn t planned. After lunch, we heard the C130 was definitely out, but that we would get a KC30 down to Sydney instead and drive to Canberra in a bus. The ride in the KC30 was great fun! It can carry more than 200 people, but there were only 40 of us on board, so there was a lot of room for everyone in the cabin! We also got to go and see the flight deck, and enjoy the stunning views of Sydney on the approach to the airport. After we landed, we got our bus ride down to Mejora training grounds where we would be staying for the next few days. Day 7: On our first day in Canberra, we got to try out the over water obstacle course! The course is in ADFA, the Australian Defence Force Academy. When we arrived, we suited up with khakis and saw the obstacle course, feeling confident. Before doing the course, we had to do a swim and climb test. Swimming and climbing with camo pants is a lot harder than we thought, but most of us passed the test successfully. Then we got to go on the course, with climbing and
swinging, all over the swimming pool, it was pretty intense as well as fun! We all had a great time, headed for lunch, rather exhausted after the morning activity. In the afternoon, we got a visit of the ADFA campus. We got back to the camp in the afternoon, and it was time to shower and suit up for the most important event of the exchange, the dinner with the Chief of Air Force! Everyone made sure to look their best in their IACE suits, and we arrived at the Officers Mess at ADFA for the dinner. We started by chatting to some of the guests, notable for us was the presence of His Excellence the Ambassador of Switzerland to Australia! We then moved to the dining hall of the officers mess to sit down at our allocated seats. I was seated on the main table, which had one cadet from each country, as well as the Chief of Air Force. The dinner went well, we got to have some very interesting conversations with the Chief himself, as well as the other guests we saw. After we had eaten, each country made a small presentation and awarded a gift to the Chief in appreciation of the exchange. We then went back to the first room, where all the cadets and some guests were taking photos of each other together and chatting. Day 8: Team Switzerland, along with the Chief of Air Force, Air Marshall Davies On our final day in Canberra, we got up to find a cold day outside, even by our swiss standards! After breakfast we drove up to Mt Ainsley to enjoy the views over Canberra, with the Australian War Memorial and Parliament House which we would visit later. It was very windy and cold up there, so we hurried to get some photos. We then drove down and through Canberra to Parliament House. It s a very impressive building, which is embedded in the top of a hill in the town. The inside was designed with great attention to detail and materials used in the construction. We were lucky to get a guided tour from a very well informed guide, and we got a very interesting visit of the building. We then had lunch in a shopping mall, which was a nice break from the sandwiches of the other days. After that, it was time to head to the Australian War Memorial, on the other end of the avenue that leads to Parliament House. It is a very big museum, with parts dedicated to all people who gave their life to fight for Australia, in the past and present. The museum has loads of great dioramas, as well as real life military vehicles,
planes and submarines. Our guide was great, and managed to show us a lot of the museum despite us having little time in contrast of the size of the exhibition. At the end of the day, we got to watch the last post ceremony, which honours one of the Australians amongst 40 000 listed who lost their life from the first world war up to today. It was a very emotional moment, and the cadets placed a wreath at the end of the pool of water to commemorate the seamen that was chosen that day. We ended the day by going to see the local cadet squadron. They gave us a presentation on their squadron, explaining their activities and how they function, before we headed into their courtyard where we watched a drill exercise, and ended the evening by chatting to the cadets before heading home. Day 9: It was time to travel to Sydney, the final location of our exchange. We got into the bus and headed to the Three Sisters Park, which is on the way to Sydney in the Blue Mountains. The name derives from the colour given to the forest by the eucalyptus trees. We got some great views from there, and had our lunch before getting back on the bus. We arrived at RAAF Richmond in the late afternoon, where we were greeted by the sight of the best accommodation we had seen so far! We settled into our rooms, and relaxed before dinner. After that, we had the 2 nd edition of the Australian accent competition, which was won by team Belgium this time! Day 11: In the morning, we went back into Sydney to discover a bit of the city near the harbour, before walking along from the Opera House up to Mrs Macquarie s Chair. We had our picnic there, enjoying the view of the harbour and the Opera House, and then got back on the bus to head to Bondi Beach, where we would learn how to surf! We changed into our wetsuits and headed out onto the soft white sand of the beach. After some ground training, we headed out to the water with our boards! It was great fun, and we were lucky to have some great surfing conditions with reasonably sized waves. At the end of the lesson, we were pretty tired and thirsty, so some of us went off to get some ice cream before getting on the bus and heading back to base. Day 10: On our first day in Sydney, we started by taking a tour of Sydney Harbour. We were our own catamaran, where we enjoyed morning tea along with the sights of Sydney harbour, including the unmissable Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. We then went to lunch at a Navy Base in the harbour, which had some great food! In the afternoon, we went shopping in Paddy s Market, which has all you could ever need. On the way back to Richmond we stopped by the harbour bridge where we got some superb views over the city skyline at night.
Day 12: Today we headed back to Sydney to see the Governors House, which is right behind the Opera House in the Royal Botanical Garden. We relaxed a bit in the grass before getting our tour of the house, a residence which much resembles a British house, build in the 1800s, and the tour was very interesting. After the tour, we had some sandwiches in the park, and then headed to the maritime museum. We visited a patrol ship, a submarine, and a destroyer, and many other things before going back to the base for supper. Day 13: Today we woke up to some grey skies, but despite that we headed out to Tobruk sheep station looking forward to the day ahead! When we arrived, we got a brief explanation of how sheep stations function throughout Australia, before getting to eat some delicious damper and tea to warm us up. We got some whip cracking demonstrations, as well as a boomerang one, which we would be able to try out later in the day. We then got to watch how the sheepdogs heard the sheep in different situations, followed by the demonstration of shearing a sheep. We then had a delicious lunch, and got to try to crack a whip and throw a boomerang. Sadly the weather cut the afternoon short, as it started raining pretty hard after a bit. We headed home after that and got to enjoy some free time at the base. Day 14: Today we were able to enjoy a free day in Sydney! Some of us decided to head to Manly, a beach on the eastern coast. We took the boat and after a 30mn ride which was pretty rough because of the waves that day, we arrived in Manly. We strolled down the streets, looking through the many shops there, and then walked along the beach. We spent some time relaxing in the sand and watching the people surfing. For lunch, we got some delicious fish and chips, and then walked round the town some more. After that we took the ferry back to Sydney, where we met up with the other cadets near the Opera House before heading home to pack our bags. In the evening we had a barbecue, and spent the rest of the time before bed talking between us. The exchange was already over, it felt as if it had only been a very short time! I had some amazing experiences, met people I never expected to meet, saw places I never thought I d see, and I had the best time doing all of it! As everyone headed off at the airport, we knew that despite everyone heading home to all corners of the world, we had made friends for life, brought together by our love for all things that fly. I would like to thank everyone part of the organisation of the exchange, be it the team in Switzerland for getting us there, or the team in Australia which gave us the warmest welcome and looked after us during the exchange. I hope that other young cadets will be able to experience this exchange for many years to come, bringing people from everywhere closer, and sharing what countries have to offer for all!