Introducing Wing Commander (ret) Matt Hall. 

(Interviewer Gareth McCray OAM)

“Since he was old enough to notice planes, Matt Hall wanted to be a pilot. Flying with his dad in a glider, making models at home and meeting officers of the Air Force fuelled his ambition. So when he was accepted for RAAF pilot training, a dream come true.

From the rigours of his first job in aviation as an F/A-18 Hornet pilot, to combat over Iraq in the Battle of Baghdad to his post Air Force career as a professional air racer, Matt has survived near-fatal situations.

Graduated as a RAAF pilot in Jul 92

Posted to Fighters:   77 Sqn and 3 Sqn.

Completed FCI course and graduated Dux

Posted to instruct at No 2 Operational Conversion Unit

Posted to USA on F15E exchange duties, including combat operations in Iraq.

Posted back to 2 OCU for chief instructor for Fighter Combat Instructors Course

Then posted as 3 Sqn Executive Officer.

Retired in Jan 2009 to start racing and became the first Australian ever to compete in the Red Bull Air Race World Championships, the fastest motorsport series on the planet, and finished the season third overall to become the first rookie in history to end his debut season on the podium.   Matt has since won seven rounds of the race and finished runner-up in the world title standings three times.   Last year he trumped all of that when he became Australia’s first and only Red Bull Air Race World Champion.

While he is taking a break from racing, he has started a Corporate Aviation business, and an Aircraft Maintenance business, based out of his own airfield at Lake Macquarie.

He’s also the author of the biography The Sky Is Not The Limit.