Former Wagga man Adam Smith was one of four pilots in an emergency airlift to bring home 243 Australians trapped in China during the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
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Adam's father Stephen, a retired Wagga cattle and horse breeder, told The Daily Advertiser that his son volunteered to be the First Officer aboard the mercy mission's Qantas Boeing 747.
"The crew are all upstairs in the business class section so they are more-or-less isolated during this trip," he said.
"I don't think he will have to go into quarantine when he gets back. The crew are being tested frequently."
Adam's plane took off from Sydney for the city of Wuhan on Sunday afternoon and flew to Hong Kong on Monday.
The flight will later land at a Royal Australian Air Force Base in Western Australia where the passengers will be taken by military flights to Christmas Island for quarantine.
Adam's mother Valerie said she was not worried but she had been "hoping and praying" that the Wuhan flight would be the one thing her son would not volunteer for.
Stephen said Adam, aged 56, started pilot training as soon as he finished secondary school and joined Qantas when was 21 years old.
The coronavirus is a new strain of respiratory disease that was first identified in China's Hubei province, where more than 14,500 people have been infected and more than 300 people have died.
The federal health department has confirmed 12 cases coronavirus in Australia.