And she did only what any grandma would do - make a cup of tea and a cake and enjoy a good talk with her boy.

Mr Owens, who is serving with the Royal Australian Air Force, was back in Port Pirie on a two-week break from a six-month tour of Afghanistan and Iraq.

He visited his family on a flying visit before resuming his duties as a Squadron Leader – Air Traffic Controller with the air force back in Afghanistan.

His team is involved in civil air space reconstruction and helping redevelop aviation industries in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We are working with local governments to develop aviation procedures and rules,” he said.

The enthusiastic airman loves his work and said that the scenery of Afghanistan was sparse and flat with the humidity reaching 100 percent and with the temperatures rising to about 50C.

“It is great to see that we are making an impact in building aviation from the start,” he said.

While he hasn’t had much interaction with much of the people of these countries, he has found the ones he has met to be very friendly.

“On the aviation side, they are great people to work with and are eager and I love the chance of working with people to get it right,” he said.

This is not the first time that Mr Owens has been overseas with his job. He did some time in Timor in Comro near Dili as an air traffic controller and spent time in Banda Aceh, again as an air traffic controller helping the relief helicopters to land.

Before the Tsunami, the airport at Aceh only received two planes a day.

Later during his posting it was about 10 a day so the air traffic controller was overwhelmed.