High-flying doctor's feet firmly on the ground

The only thing flighty about Flying Doctor Dave Baldwin is his beloved plane. The man will tell you that himself and may turn the air a paler shade of blue in the telling.
''I grew up near Porirua and didn't know I wanted to be a doctor until I went to Massey [University]. Then I joined the Air Force. Now I'm living my dream. ''But you could say my upbringing kept my feet very much on the ground. I mean I feel real and that helps when you're dealing with pilots who, I have to say, know what it means to be alive.''
The best-selling author and co-owner of the Bulls Flying Doctor Service is a natural showman and colourful linguist who has instructed tae kwon do and took up hunting as a young man ''because I was a loud-mouthed joker and a bit too ugly'' for teenage romance.
Dr Dave, who is also director of the Bulls Medical Centre, flew into Masterton last week for his monthly round of health checks for Wairarapa pilots. The Flying Doctor company he runs alongside son, Marc, has 1800 helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft pilots on its books and covers a geographical area running from Southland to Taupo.
The company is unique in the world, according to its website, in its provision of an aviation medical service ''to pilots at their remote airstrips located in rural New Zealand'' that also includes checking the fitness of air traffic controllers and commercial, private, and recreational pilots.
He said rules regarding fitness to fly were more flexible today as conditions like cancer, heart disease or diabetes were now more readily controlled and monitored to allow those with such conditions to fly.
He goes to an 80-year-old retired pilot and GP in Tauranga to have his own fitness to fly certified and said illnesses that would ground a prospective pilot included epilepsy, certain types of brain surgery, drug addiction and schizophrenia.
Dr Dave's regular visit to Masterton comes before his engagement as key dinner speaker during the Wairarapa leg of the 2010 New Zealand Air Safari that lands in Masterton on Friday.
He is ''in negotiations'' to star in a television show highlighting his character and career, and believes his speaking skills were honed last year after his first book, Healthy Bastards, hit the best-seller lists and he hit the promotion circuit. He said the work was originally self-published for his pilot patients as Fitness to Fly for Healthy Bastards.
He included a chapter for women but rewrote the book for the Kiwi male as ''messages have to be drilled into the scones of 'real blokes', because the statistics showed that they were dying much earlier than everyone else''.
Dr Dave Baldwin will be guest speaker at the Copthorne Hotel and Resort Solway Park in Masterton at the Air Safari dinner on Saturday.