Old scholars journey from blackfriars to boeing and beyond

Grant Price well remembers sitting in his Year 8 Japanese classroom, watching the planes fly overhead.

He never did learn how to speak Japanese, but going to school under a flight path played a huge role in shaping his future.

Mr Price (BPS’94) is a pilot, currently working for airline giant Boeing. He is responsible for, among other things, delivering training on Boeing products and flying brand new planes from their manufacturing base. Just last week, he returned from a stint in Mongolia.

Grant Price (BPS’94) with his son Hugo, now a Year 8 student at Blackfriars.

Speaking on Blackfriars’ podcast The Torch – Old School, Mr Price told host Hudson Cosgrove (BPS’23) how his aviation journey had taken him from Blackfriars to the Northern Territory, Queensland, Melbourne, Dubai and, ultimately, back to Blackfriars.

Mr Price’s son, Hugo, is a Year 8 student at the school and co-hosted this episode of The Torch – Old School podcast (listen to the full interview via the link below).

His earliest foray into the aviation industry was far from glamorous.

“I was working for Qantas down at the (Adelaide) airport, and I was cleaning planes. So, I would go down there after uni, the aeroplanes would come in about 7, 8(pm) and we would clean them and finish about 1 in the morning,” Mr Price said.

Grant Price, third from left, with his debating teammates in 1994.

After completing his Bachelor of Applied Science (Civil Aviation) at the University of South Australia, he started to look for flying work.

“I rang up the airport manager up in Darwin and said, ‘I’ve finished uni and I’m looking for a job’ … and luckily enough they had a position up there. So, I went up to Darwin … and managed to get a job flying light aeroplanes around the Territory. And that was great.”

Landing his first job at an airline was a matter of right place, right time. Ansett had just collapsed and Virgin Blue (now Virgin Australia) had launched. The new airline was looking for pilots and Mr Price had just enough flying hours to fit the brief.

“I had a friend who got into Virgin … and he put in my name … and that was it. I think the minimum to get into Virgin when I got in was 1500 hours (of flying time) and I got in at 1550!”

But his dream, cemented in that Year 8 Japanese classroom, was to fly the 777s – “I didn’t care the paint job, didn’t care the airline” – eventually scoring a role with Emirates in Dubai. It was in Dubai his two children were born and the family lived there for more than a decade.

Just over two years ago, they decided to return to Adelaide and, for Mr Price, a return of sorts to Blackfriars. He is an active member of the school community, often lending a hand at events alongside his wife, Narita, who is a member of the Parents & Friends Association.

Grant Price, third row, far right, with the First XVIII Football team.

And more than 30 years after graduating from the school, Mr Price still counts many of his classmates among his friends.

“I know, all of my friends, I can go years without talking to them … and I know that I can always call on them.

“The integrity of a Blacks boys is one of the things I have found, as I get older, you look and go, ‘ actually, that’s really important’.”

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