High Risk Flying

HIGH RISK FLYING

I often get asked by students what in my opinion is the ultimate helicopter job. Firstly to fly and have fun in a helicopter needn’t always have to be a job. In next month’s newsletter my plan is to look at a couple of helicopter “jobs” and compare them with each other but for now in order to answer the afore mentioned question I am going to look at one factor only and that is what some people will call “high risk flying”.

For a start I suppose any flight for that matter will have a certain amount of risk so it is the amount of risk that we as pilots are exposed to at any given time that surely matters. Let’s look at a couple of factors that contributes to the risk that we are exposed to; weather, temperature, environment, altitude, type of helicopter we operate, personal circumstances, working conditions and hundreds more.

Let’s compare a corporate helicopter pilot that flies top company executives in a twin engine helicopter to a power line maintenance pilot in a single engine helicopter hovering next to high tension wires. The corporate pilot might say their risk lies in negotiating adverse weather and having the added responsibility of the top executives entrusting their lives in the pilot’s hands and how boring can it be hovering the whole day next to a power line. The power line maintenance pilot might say the smallest mistake or lack of concentration can lead to loss of lives and equipment not to mention the fact that the whole day is spent hovering in the avoid area of the height velocity diagram and how boring must it be to fly every day from point A to B waiting for management to finish their meetings.

How much risk you are prepared to take and how you manage that risk will be one of the factors to consider when deciding what type of helicopter flying will suit you. So to get back to the original question, I think every person will have to decide for themselves what the ultimate flying job is. Obviously factors like remuneration play a role in making a choice. I don’t want to generalize but I think the higher the risk involved the more skill is required and the greater the job satisfaction. Like they say in the classics: “different strokes for different folks”.



Happy Flying
HARRY HELICOPTER
info@askharryhelicopter.com





© Harry Helicopter Training Syllabus 2008