History of SAR Aviation Medicine

SAR Aviation Medicine was started in 2014, literally out of the boot of Sean’s car.

After attending a few pilots in the first couple of years, by going to their house or place of business and setting up in the rooms, things started to take off.

As the business grew, he moved to working out a home office before having the opportunity to purchase from Dr Phillip Harris, who was working out of Tristar Aviation at Moorabbin Airport in 2014.

Having done some flight training in Shepparton, Sean saw a need to undertake medical assessments there and was also introduced to Echuca Aero Club in late 2016. In 2018 La Trobe Valley started to come on line too.

In 2019, in recognition of Dr Sean’s expertise and excellent service, SAR Aviation Medicine was awarded supplier status for Qantas Group including Qantas, Jetstar, Qantaslink, Jetconnect and Qantas Freight.

In 2025, CASA is bringing onboard Safe Haven, where selected DAME’s have extra authority to manage drug and alcohol and mental health conditions, independent of CASA. Sean was on the inaugural course of 10 DAME’s accepted by CASA to prepare for the Safe Haven Program

Currently, he sees about 800 pilots a year and there isn’t much he hasn’t dealt with now.

Fixing problems for pilots and having people return to flying after thinking their aviation career was over is a specialty for Sean.

With other bases in the pipeline, Sean continues to see pilots across rural Victoria.

If you can get a small handful of pilots together who all need a medical at the same time, Sean will happily travel to your area, and is prepared to do so on a regular basis.

If you have any questions about your medical, please contact us!