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Twenty-three years ago, Erin Rounds started her aviation journey in the wash area of Brisbane Airport's flight catering facility...
From the three-point line to the airport security line, Derrick Sanders may have retired from the basketball court but has become the unofficial face of BNE after our Skytrax 2022 World Airport Awards win.
Working at Brisbane Airport for going on 7 years now, Derrick stands tall and proud at the Qantas northern screening point and as the shift supervisor after completing a year-long mentorship program.
Derrick played professional basketball in Chicago and Australia until he retired in 1996 and settled down in Australia to enjoy the more favorable weather, especially the winter months, rather than chilly Chicago. A job at Brisbane Airport appealed to Derrick because of his love of travel and meeting different people.
“I’ve been always a people person through my previous career traveling around the world. So, I get to meet different people from around the world, so that's probably the best part, yep.”
The travel excitement and anticipation that fills the halls of an airport marries up perfectly with Derrick’s love of travel, as he finds working at the airport almost feels as if you could take off and leave on a plane at any moment. Derrick travelled the world for his previous career in basketball, and has also navigated his way all around Australia, exploring most of New South Wales, Victoria, and the Great Barrier Reef. There are still a few corners of the land down under he is yet to explore, and has his eyes set on Darwin, Perth and Uluru as bucket list destinations.
A day-in-the-life of a Security Screening Supervisor at Brisbane Airport requires Derrick and his colleagues to be alert at all times, assisting passengers through screening in a timely, orderly manner, while assuring there are no security breaches. As many people have likely guessed, it can be quite a busy job (especially in the mornings and afternoons), but it certainly keeps you on your toes with some out-of-the-ordinary moments.
“It looked like a real human head inside a box, and it had electrodes inside, so when it went through the x-ray you saw the shape of a skull with all these electrodes coming out...”
Derrick recalls for us a particularly interesting passenger and an unusual carry-on item that one day came through his screening point. The passenger proceeded through security screening with his carry-on luggage passing through the x-ray, showing up as something quite out of the ordinary. The unknowing officer screening the luggage was soon greeted with the shape of a human skull that had electrodes protruding from it. For obvious reasons, the Australian Federal Police were called and they opened the box to find what appeared to be a real severed head. The passenger revealed that he worked in special effects for film and television and that the head was a prop for a science-fiction movie being filmed in Queensland. Crisis averted! The lesson learned here is to declare any items in your carry on that may cause alarm, or at least check the Civil Aviation Authority website to see if it’s okay to pack a science fiction prop. Let’s hope that this passenger received a promotion soon after this incident for clearly doing too good of a job.
Finally, a day-in-the-life of Derrick wouldn’t be complete without talking about the perks, specifically that of Derrick’s new claim-to-fame - being the unofficial face of Brisbane Airport’s Skytrax wins. Derrick said that he has been noticed by passengers from the various screens and signs around the airport to celebrate BNE winning Best Airport and Best Airport Staff in Australia/Pacific.
“It's humbling. It's humbling, it sort of brings back memories of when I was in my professional career... when I was a basketball player.”
Derrick’s charm and charisma is certainly a plus when you meet him in the security line, but we acknowledge that it wasn’t just Derrick that helped BNE win these awards, but the passion and hard work of all our staff at Brisbane Airport. It may be in part the general laid-back and warm attitude that Brisbane is known for, and Derrick agrees that BNE staff have a more relaxed attitude compared to other airports around the world.
"I think we're down to Earth. We're friendly, we’re more conscious of the passengers and make sure they have an enjoyable flight. I think because we're more customer centered, whereas in a lot of other places... everybody’s tense, whereas here they feel a bit more bit more relaxed.”
When you’re not seeing Derrick’s smiling face on the screens around the airport, you’ll certainly see it at the Qantas northern screening point. For anyone who is eager to work with Derrick at Brisbane Airport Security Screening, ISS Facility Services manage the recruitment and training of our security screening staff – and who knows, you may be the next unofficial face of Brisbane Airport.
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