There is a moment in this latest episode of the Saluting Their Service: Contemporary Voices of Bravery podcast when veteran RAAF pilot Nathan Schubert describes flying a C-17 at night, in body armour, with a thunderstorm painting red across the radar and restricted airspace on both sides. An engine begins to stutter. The crew has minutes to decide whether to continue or turn back. Nathan shares it without drama, but the details speak for themselves.
What becomes clear as the conversation unfolds is that this ability to stay measured in challenging situations did not appear suddenly in the Middle East. It traces back through years of training, decisions and lived experiences that shaped how he approached flying, service and responsibility.
A career built on early clarity
Nathan grew up in Cairns with a steady sense of direction.
‘As far as my memory goes, I had a singular path, and I was lucky enough to be able to follow that,’ he says.
Air Force Cadets gave him his first hands-on experiences, including a Caribou flight where the ramp refused to close mid-air.
‘It didn’t close back up because it had broken.’
At the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA), experiences like this taught him about resilience and innovation. He also found structure and connection; with a friendship circle he describes as ‘unbeatable’.
Training that asked a lot
Nathan’s description of pilot training makes its intensity clear.
‘There was this mentality that the only success you could get from that point was to pass and become a pilot.’
Flying CT-4s and the higher-performance PC-9 allowed him to refine his skills.
‘Fully aerobatically capable, inverted flying, formation, loops, spins.’
He learned that impact mattered to him as much as speed, which shaped his preference for the C-17.
‘How I could potentially have a greater impact on global events and also how to help people.’
The reality of operations
Nathan talks through operational flying in a way that feels precise rather than dramatic. The Baghdad mission stands out: a narrow corridor, rising weather, an engine issue, and no easy options.
‘We were unable to avoid [the thunderstorm] from the airspace restrictions we were dealing with.’
The crew resolved the issues and continued, but the tension of the moment is evident. It was one kind of pressure, shaped by operational constraints and the need for rapid decision-making. Later in his career, Nathan faced a different kind of strain during Australia’s response to MH17.
Nathan is candid about the emotional complexity of the weeks spent on that mission. The crew were moving between quiet days in Europe and high-pressure missions into and out of Ukraine and the Netherlands, repatriating those who’d died, under intense scrutiny from Defence and the public.
‘There’s never, in my experience, been such direct reach-down from this sort of Defence executive command to want to know minute-by-minute updates.’
Nathan notes that this back-and-forth between stillness and intensity became its own challenge, requiring the crew to continually adjust their focus as each new flight approached. What helped most was staying connected with one another.
‘Just to talk, check in, make sure everyone was as okay as they could be.’
Unexpected forms of service
One of Nathan’s most memorable missions happened in Papua New Guinea, supporting a national election by flying ballot papers to remote communities.
‘Locals who had often hiked a week through the jungle to collect ballot papers… so every one of their residents could have a vote.’
Later, flying politicians during an Australian federal election offered a different kind of insight into national life.
The shift beyond uniform
After more than a decade and more than 3,000 hours flying, Nathan began to consider what long-term stability might look like. A project role integrating new capabilities onto the King Air gave him a glimpse of something different.
The idea of leaving took time.
‘The mere concept of leaving didn’t even seem like an option to me.’
Conversations with other veterans helped him understand what he could carry forward. Today, he works in advisory roles on Defence-related projects.
His advice to others considering transition is simple and pragmatic:
‘You define your skills, consider how you could leverage them, and then do it.’
🎧 Listen to episode 7 of Soldier On’s podcast, Saluting Their Service – Voices of Contemporary Bravery, available on Spotify and YouTube.
