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[Paphitis]

No, I don't recognize you anywhere in that photo...

I'll give youy a helping hand and make it easy for you Get Real!

[Paphitis]

I’d always thought you were taller.

Im not that short. From memory, easily as tall as any of the guys in that photo, if not taller, but I was about 20 to 30 metres behind the main party where Shinzo was standing. The Aussie guy at the front was a Chevron Mobil Oil and Gas Executive, and this was a few minutes before Australian PM Tony Abbott was about to land.

Now, Shinzo Abe always made me feel welcome and always m,ade me feel I was one of his guys. I was always hanging around the 4 Secret Service, and was even eating with them all the time, but that evening, I was on Shinzos table eating dinner with his enterage and had a rather long conversation with the man.

[Get Real!]

Oh right… so there’s the old bastard!

I thought you'd be in the foreground telling porkies to the Jap.

[Paphitis]

Oh right… so there’s the old bastard!

I thought you'd be in the foreground telling porkies to the Jap.

No I was in the background. No I wasn't by his side. I was just his pilot.

But yes, I was travelling with the Secret Service, and probably mistaken for one of these guys. I became good friends with them at the time.

I was very impressed with them all. Very classy and wonderful humans. And Shinzo was a great ambassador for Japan. I was waving the Japenese Flag and I was very priviliged for this wonderful experience. It's not everyday you get to do this. So I can in all consciousness with hand on heart tell my kids I was a pilot for a Head of State on VIP Category Flights.

Whenever I took off, my plane, and the Prime Ministers of Australia had Category 1 priority everywhere we went. No speed restrictions, no holding and all aircraft were shoved out of our way.

[Londonrake]

I knew it!

The ears and enigmatic smile were a give away.

[Lordo]

Interesting that we never see any other leader picture being taken in the airport on the airside with the pilot in the background. I guess the uniform is cheap and photoshop is even cheaper.

Normally when the plane lands the pilot has duties to perform not stand around in the background.

[Paphitis]

Interesting that we never see any other leader picture being taken in the airport on the airside with the pilot in the background. I guess the uniform is cheap and photoshop is even cheaper.

Normally when the plane lands the pilot has duties to perform not stand around in the background.

What duties do you think a pilot has? What do you know about our duties?

I had performed my duties long before Shinzo even disembarked. Before he could disembark, one of my last duties was to hand over all the briefcases with guns to the Secret Service. Shinzo would not disembark until his agents were ready for him to disembark.

After that, I was pretty much going wherever Shinzo and his agents were going. Except in West Angelas where I was forced to go to a room for a 3 hour nap to break up my duty. Before departure, I and one of Shinzo's agents were taken to the airport so we can ready the aircraft about 15 minutes before Shinzo arrived. The agents had security sweeps to perform, and also inspect the catering.

Preflights were done in Sydney, the only thing to do before each departure is start up the APU and do a walk around, which takes me 2 minutes. Then, its a coffee.

Nothing photo shopped about that photo. That was a News Limited Photo that was on page one of virtually all of Australia's Newspapers. I love Rupert Murdock, owner of Fox News.

Photo is already in the public domain. So I suppose I should give credit to NewsCorp for the photo. The photo is not my work. And I do not take any credit for the photo. Nor did I have any clue I would end up on Australia's newspapers and on news bulletins all over the world.