Performance to make Mother’s Heart Soar with Pride

Kellie Wood was volunteering at Pacific Airshow Gold Coast when RAAF fighter pilot Squadron Leader Scott Wood split the sky and silenced the crowd with the roar of his F/A-18F Super Hornet jet.

“That’s my Top Gun son!” she wanted to shout, thrilled along with hundreds of thousands of people looking skyward at the spectacular flying display. 

“I had such mixed emotions watching him fly - I was very nervous – watching him go so far into the sky that he just vanished!” Kellie said, describing last year’s Pacific Airshow.

“Watching your son perform, and especially when the flares came out of the back of the jet, as much as I know how talented he is, you still have anxiety when you’re the mum.

“It was the highlight of the day - everyone was waiting. It gave me chills to see everybody stop and watch. I was standing there thinking ‘that’s my son’.”

For SQNLDR Wood, of 1 Squadron at RAAF Base Amberley, it was his first performance of the Super Hornet handling display for the Gold Coast public. The Pacific Airshow crowd watched as he flew fast and low - up to 1100 kilometres per hour, and down to 50 metres over water, pulling up to 7Gs.

Kellie has always been a proud mum, but she had no idea Scott would be a headline act when she volunteered to spend three days working at the airshow.

“When I told him I was volunteering at Pacific Airshow Gold Coast he said to me ‘well I’m flying in the airshow’. 

She said seeing her son fly in the airshow, was for her another highlight in his career that flourished with the Australian Navy Cadets and then continued with his entry into the Australian Defence Force Academy, ultimately becoming an Air Force pilot.

“It wasn’t unusual for me to be putting my hand up for Pacific Airshow, as I do a lot of voluntary work like the Commonwealth Games, Queensland Police Service, also the Supercars. I love it!”

Pacific Airshow Gold Coast has announced the return of the Super Hornet in another spectacular RAAF F/A-18 handling display this year. 

Will Kellie be watching this year? 

“Yes! I’ve already volunteered to help for five days this time,” she said. 

“Not only do you get to be part of the team, you get to watch the airshow as well which is such an amazing experience I highly recommend it.”