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25/08/2024 -
Avalon Pilot's Plastic Mission

Jeremy Rowsell

Avalon aviator Jeremy Rowsell describes himself as a ‘pretty normal bloke’, but soon the insurance-broker-by-day will fly solo from Sydney to London and back in a single-engine plane fuelled with recycled plastic trash. Vanessa Watson reports.

With take off set for October, 41-year-old Jeremy Rowsell aims to showcase a cutting-edge, plastic-derived diesel aircraft fuel to highlight the possibility of using available technology pragmatically to live in more sustainable ways.

“We’re turning waste into a usable form,” says Mr Rowsell, whose efforts form part of a three-person project together with fellow Northern Beaches locals, Tony Loughran of Avalon and Narraweena’s Tarsha Burn.

“You take the plastic, put it through a process, which then produces diesel. You then further refine that base diesel into a diesel that an aircraft engine can take,” Mr Rowsell explains.

When asked what drives him, Mr Rowsell says the best place to start is with his previous flights over the Pacific Ocean, which retraced routes flown by pioneering pilots of the past, including one he took last year with fellow pilot Jim Hazelton to raise funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

“I’ve flown about 25,000 kilometres over the water. One of the beautiful things about flying over the Pacific, it’s almost like you see Mother Nature at her best. You get a glimpse of the fishbowl of the world; you see things other people don’t. She’s allowed me to fly over her so many times, now it’s my turn to give back,” he says.

“Kingsford Smith, Johnson and Hinkler all flew it. It’s very much a re-enactment of those, but we’re doing it with a real modern twist. We’re using modern technology to show we can use what we’ve got in a more sustainable way.

“We’re raising awareness, we’re not entering the debate. We’re not scientists, we’re pilots.

”On a planet with increasingly fewer sites for landfill and with oceans that are accumulating visible islands of discarded plastic, he says it’s becoming ever more important that we find pragmatic ways to be sustainable while we wait for the rollout of greener technologies and fuels.

“You hear stories that there’s so much waste in Sydney Harbour. So until we can find a truly clean fuel, is there a solution in taking the waste we generate and using it to create fuel?

”The labour of love will not be without its risks. Mr Rowsell will fly solo in a single-engine Cessna 182 in up to 17-hour stints at a time, over some hostile terrain and unpredictable weather.

“If you’re hand flying a plane, whatever weather you have, you have to go through it. After a certain point there’s no point turning around because you won’t have the fuel,” he explains.

To prepare for the adventure, the commercially-trained pilot took part in survival training from July 15 with ex-military men, including former British Special Forces member and risk expert Tony Loughran, to prepare for some worst-case scenarios.

The training included survival skills, critical decision-making and even dealing with kidnapping scenarios in hostile territory.

Once he departs, he’ll fly thousands of nautical miles over water and land from Sydney to London, first across Australia, then Indonesia, south Asia, up across the Middle East and into Europe.

“Take off is going to be heavy,” he anticipates. “You always have butterflies in your stomach; you always have that burst of adrenalin flowing through your veins.”

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