Jeremy Anderson Whanganui's flight school's new operations director

Jeremy Anderson checks out his new workplace, the New Zealand International Commercial Pilot Academy. Photo / Stuart Munro

At a time when everyone seemed to be running around scrabbling together Christmas gifts and prepping for the festive madness, Jeremy Anderson got a call.

It was the New Zealand International Commercial Pilot Academy (NZICPA) chief executive, Phillip Bedford, from Whanganui.

Anderson, who had been living in Motueka for the last 13 years, was offered a job as NZICPA's operations director. The 41-year-old said moving back to Whanganui had always been at the back of his mind but finding a piloting job in his area was difficult.

"When Phill called, my wife and I had to make some big decisions pretty quickly. Conveniently we were visiting Whanganui over Christmas so we came and spent the whole two weeks thinking about Whanganui as coming home - and it felt right."

He had only spoken to Bedford a handful of times but had heard good things about Whanganui's new flight school and was keen to get on board.

"I still had close ties to Whanganui. I first learnt to fly at the Wanganui Aero Club and still have heaps of friends and family here."

Nearly four months later the A-category pilot landed in Whanganui with his wife and 8-year-old son expected to join him shortly.

Anderson stepped into his new role on April 3. He said it was early days but he was pleasantly surprised with how professional the school was.

His role will bounce between overseeing the flying operation with Bedford and helping Ray Nelson, the chief flying instructor.

"I am sort of like the middle man I guess," Anderson said.

He is also an official flight examiner which means he will be doing all the testing and checking.

"In the past the school did this externally."

Anderson has worked in a number of roles - from digging graves at Whanganui's cemetery part-time to owning a freight company in Whanganui - before he became a chief flying instructor at Nelson Aviation College.

In the end flying trumped all.

"Until I get out of bed in the morning and think 'I don't want to go to work', why would I change it?"