Passion for precision behind heart-pounding excitement at Fully Charged
30 April 2025
While they make a living from doing heart-in-your mouth manoeuvres, it’s their passion for precision – along with putting on a show – that drive Matt Hall and Tommy Fynn.
And whether it’s Matt’s aerobatics or Tommy on his skateboard, their limit-pushing abilities will be on full display at Fully Charged, the marquee event for Planes Trains and Autos festival at Queensland Museum Rail Workshops in North Ipswich on Saturday, 3 May.
Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding said Planes, Trains and Autos would again bring adrenaline-fuelled fun as the festival marks its fifth year.
“What I love so much about Planes, Tains and Autos every year is walking around events like Fully Charged and seeing the looks of awe on the faces of children as they see their heroes in action and their favourite vehicles up close,” Mayor Harding said.
“Matt is a real-life top gun and Tommy is at the top of the skateboarding game, so they are definitely not to be missed.”
Economic and Cultural Development Committee Chairperson Councillor Pye Augustine said Planes, Trains and Autos has gone from strength to strength over the past five years.
“We are really stepping up our game this year, with Matt and Tommy putting on their breathtaking shows among a huge range of other attractions at Fully Charged, including race cars, military and emergency services vehicles, garbage trucks, trains, and even a hot air balloon,” Cr Augustine said.
Matt, from Matt Hall Racing, will join fellow Royal Australian Air Force-trained pilot Kris Sieczkowski in lighting up the skies over Ipswich when they perform individual and formation aerial displays throughout the day during Fully Charged.
“We'll be putting the aircraft through their limits,” Matt said of the displays he and Kris will be performing in their MXS-R Solo and Extra 300L light planes.
“I'll be at times up around 500km/h, pulling 12G, making the plane tumble end over end and go backwards in fact.
“In the formation displays, we'll be basically in a tight formation doing loops and rolls and some tumbles.
“I still get a kick out of being able to do these manoeuvres as precisely as possible. Controlling the aircraft precisely in the atmosphere, it’s a euphoric feeling.”
As well as showing off the skills that he has honed as a pro skateboarder with demonstrations, Tommy will also be revelling in another of his passions – coaching – as he leads workshops for children aged two and older.
It’s a pursuit that took him all the way to Paris as a mentor for Australia’s skateboarding team at the most recent Olympic games.
“I'll be doing a lot of 360 kickflips, a lot of backside kickflips. We’re going to have a bit of a set up there with some ramps and rails and stuff, so I'll be doing some grinds, I'll be doing some tricks off the ramps,” Tommy said.
“Just gonna to be there, enjoy the moment, definitely. And then also helping people jump on the skateboard and get their balance and help them get a feel for it.
“I'm all about it. I'm looking forward to giving my knowledge and giving back. I really enjoy doing it.
“I love passing down my knowledge. I love skating with them, getting that same excitement, that same passion comes out with coaching.”
Both Matt and Tommy’s interest in their professions started when they were young children.
Matt flew planes with his father before joining the RAAF as a teenager where he was enlisted for 18 years, spending time learning the skills which now make up his aerobatics displays.
“I've been doing competition aerobatics for about 25 years. You learn manoeuvres and ultimately you sit down at the table and you draw up what you think will be an entertaining display and go ahead and do it,” he said.
He has also competed in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship, which he won in 2019.
“I was doing aerobatics on weekends and doing some displays here and there, but still enjoying my job in the Air Force,” Matt said.
“When the Red Bull Air Race came along, that was a full-time job, so I had to, quite reluctantly, finish my career in the Air Force so I could make time for racing in the Red Bull Air Race.
“It was a reasonably fluid transition. There's always going to be new stuff to learning. I'm never raced planes around pylons before. There was some learning in that.
“But the general concept of planning and preparation, your sports psychology, your mind control has really been developed from defence force psychology.
“So the transition, while there were new things to learn, in general, the psychology was the same.”
Tommy said his passion is “thinking of a trick to accomplish and making it a reality”.
“When you're trying something new, something scary, your heart rate usually goes up and you start getting your head a lot and your mind starts racing,” he said.
“You have to work on trying to be calm – as calm as you can be – because you're more likely to land the trick and be safer when you're calm.
“If you're worried and your heart rate's racing, you're more likely to hurt yourself.”
Both Matt and Tommy are excited to return to Ipswich for Planes, Trains and Autos, with Matt having fond memories of time he spent at RAAF Amberley Base.
“I've spent a bit of time at Amberley. I was never posted at Amberley, but we did exercises out at Amberley quite a bit,” he said.
Brisbane-based Tommy said Ipswich’s skate scene is on the rise, particularly after the opening of the Ipswich City Council-funded Redbank Plains Recreation Reserve Skate and Youth Area in 2022.
“Redbank Plains is really good. It’s one of the better skate parks we have (in South East Queensland). I go there a lot – maybe once or twice a week,” he said.
“When I was younger, I didn’t see too much of a skateboarding scene in Ipswich. But with Redbank Plains, I’m definitely seeing a bunch of kids getting better and better, and performing at a higher level.”
Fully Charged is one of a number of events held across the 3-5 May long weekend for Planes, Trains and Autos.
To purchase tickets and for more information, visit the Planes, Trains and Autos page at IpswichFestivals.com.au