Group Captain Scott Woodland

Air and Space Advisor Royal Australian Air Force

GPCAPT Scott ‘Woody’ Woodland enlisted into the Air Force on 06 February 1986 as direct entry aircrew, graduating from No. 140 Pilot’s course in June 1987. Following Macchi Introductory Fighter Course and No. 5 F/A-18 Hornet Operational Conversion Course in 1988, Scott completed a tour with 77SQN before completing No. 23 Fighter Combat Instructor (FCI) course in December 1992. He then remained instructing at 2OCU before electing to leave Air Force in October 1995 to pursue work as a contract flying instructor with BAE Systems Australia in Saudi Arabia, flying BAC-167 Strikemaster, PC-9 and Hawk aircraft, as well as a short tour with PelAir Aviation flying Westwind aircraft on the Defence support contract. Upon returning to Australia in 2007, Scott conducted contract F/A-18 Hornet simulator instruction with MILSKIL for one year before re-enlisting in Air Force in October 2008. He then completed two Training Flight Commander tours on both 76SQN (Hawk 127) and 2OCU (F/A-18 Hornet) at RAAF Williamtown. Scott was posted as Executive Officer 77SQN in 2013-14 before completing Australian Command and Staff College in 2015. Scott was promoted to WGCDR and worked as Deputy Director F-35 Transition Team in 2016, from where he was selected to command 2OCU from January 2017. He completed his command tour in December 2019 having overseen the first two FCI courses under the new Air Warfare Instructor Course (AWIC) construct, the final four Classic Hornet operational conversion courses and closed out 2OCU Classic Hornet operations as the unit transitioned to F-35A in January 2020. Scott was selected for promotion to GPCAPT and posted to Headquarters Joint Operations Command as J53G Director Global Plans in 2020. Upon completion of this position, he opted for posting to VCDF Group, Force Design Division, as Director Force Design Assurance, where he was also responsible for Capability Program Architecture Implementation across Defence. In 2022, Scott was selected to be the Air and Space Advisor – London, from January 2023. Scott has over 6000 hours military flying experience, including 2735 hours on the F/A-18 Hornet. He has completed Senior Air Component Leadership course and the US Combined Air and Space Operations Senior Staff Course. Scott has also completed Flying Display Director course and was selected as the ADF Flying Display Director for the Avalon International Airshow 2021. Scott is married to Megan who is a foster care assessor and mother to their beautiful 11-year old daughter, Ava. Scott also has a 25-year old daughter, Charlotte, living in Sydney who is a Doctor, currently specialising in Pathology. Scott is passionate about spending time with his family and enjoys good food and red wine, travelling, swimming and the occasional computer game.