Helper in the sky

A woman who runs the largest helicopter flight academy in the Southern Hemisphere and regularly volunteers to help Tanzanian midwives save the lives of newborn babies has claimed the title of University of Sunshine Coast’s (USC’s) Outstanding Alumnus for 2017.
Becker Helicopters Group CEO Captain Jan Becker of Yandina Creek received the award last Thursday at a special function at the University.
Captain Becker and her husband, Mike, founded the Marcoola company in 1996 and now have a fleet of 18 Bell 206 turbine helicopters and a fixed-wing Duchess aircraft that they use to provide 15,000 to 18,000 hours of pilot training a year to an annual cohort of about 120 students.
Their students are both civil and military pilots, and the training available extends right up to the most advanced night vision goggles specialisation.
Captain Becker’s innovation and business leadership with Becker Helicopters have earned her numerous honours, including the Telstra Business Women’s Queensland Business Owner Award, the Telstra Australian Medium Business Award, and the Queensland Premier’s Innovation Export Award.
As well as being a commercial helicopter pilot, the 2009 USC Nursing Science graduate works as a midwife locally and founded the non-profit organisation Midwife Vision to offer education and support to midwives in some of the most under-resourced areas of the world.
As part of this, she volunteers two to three times a year in a labour ward in Tanzania – which delivers up to 100 babies a day – where she helps train midwives in neo-natal resuscitation.
“It’s such an honour to receive this award from USC,” Captain Becker said.
“This helps put the midwives of Tanzania on the map.
“Tanzania has the worst statistics for neo-natal baby and mother survival in the world. The work (in resuscitating babies that don’t breathe on birth) is raw and it’s real and it’s happening on the same planet that we live on here.”
Her experiences in Tanzania prompted Captain Becker to recently begin a Higher Degree by Research at USC focusing on “The silent voices of the midwives of sub-Saharan Africa – managing neo-natal resuscitation and very early neo-natal death”.
The talented graduate is also Chair of the Cherish Foundation, supporting gynaecological cancer research, and a board member of the Prince Charles Hospital Foundation.