In part two of our series on pilot life, we look at how young flyers can learn to deal with the myriad of pressures that come from commercial helicopter operations.

Flying helicopters for a living is about so much more than the “hands and feet” of it. A pilot’s ability to manage the entire situation is paramount to the successful outcome of any job, regardless of mission, circumstance, helicopter type or safety

system in place.

When you boil it down, our profession is about performance. From passenger applications to production-based long-line work, there is an established standard to which we must perform – customers and employers expect it. It is however, generally up to the pilot alone to ensure the outcome is favorable, and the standard is reached on each and every flight.

In between you and the successful outcome of any mission, are a number of factors seemingly hell bent on preventing even routine flights from being just routine. Weather and terrain, time constraints, load weights and maintenance issues are all obvious concerns. The more subtle, and often-ignored influences of fatigue, living conditions, personal issues, customer and operator pressure, or a pilot’s own self-induced pressure to perform, though, are also significant hurdles to overcome.

All these factors can lead to a variety of acute and chronic stress. How you deal with those issues often determines whether or not the job is completed to the customer’s or your employer’s satisfaction, and how safe and effective you are in performing your role.

Experience and knowledge helps in this performance and greatly eases the underlying and resulting level of stress or anxiety. Unfortunately, we were not born knowing how to conduct our various operations. These are learned skills that take time and require a lifelong commitment to expanding your knowledge and understanding.

Richard Orme is a 1,300-hour pilot from England who trained in the United States and accumulated his first thousand hours by flight instructing for Hillsboro Aviation near Portland, Ore. Orme can certainly identify with the steep learning curve new pilots face in the commercial industry. “Coming from a training world, even as an instructor, this operational flying is so far from anything I had ever seen and experienced before! The initial [company] training was good and gave me a tiny insight [into charter operations], but nothing compared to really what happens.”

For a young pilot, half the battle is identifying these unknowns, and seeking out as much information as possible on how best to prepare for them ahead of time.

Said Orme, “I was now being given a new machine (to me), customers, time constraints, new environments and terrain, and told to go and be back before it gets dark. Here was the [moment] deep down I knew I could do this, but I [had] never tried it!”

Daunting? Certainly. Experienced flyers can all look back on points in our collective careers where we asked ourselves, “What am I doing here, and how am I going pull this off?” It’s not a comforting situation to be in, but it’s also not a necessary one.

The overriding message in almost every safety meeting or pilot decision-making seminar I’ve ever attended, has been, “How can we better mitigate the factors that cause accidents?” The answer is, of course, education: of crews, customers and employers – equally and inclusively.

Unfortunately, with the flat-out pace the industry has been experiencing over past few years, there are often loopholes in the practice of education. Despite many operators’ efforts to the contrary, pilots slip through the cracks, are rushed into service, miss out on valuable lessons and are left, to a certain extent, to fend for themselves.

This, for the most part, is not anyone’s fault, rather a shortage of personnel in mentorship roles. Everyone is simply out working or on days off.

Formal sessions or seminars given by training pilots, chief pilots and safety officers, though, are not the only answer. The slow days standing around the water cooler or coffee pot swapping stories have immense and immeasurable value to newer pilots, or even to experienced folks who are new to a specific area or application. New pilots can also seek out veterans and ask them questions. And, where possible, new pilots might be able to ride along with a veteran and see first-hand how the old pros do it. It may not be a formal apprenticeship program or training, but it will certainly help.

On his first tour to the Queen Charlotte Islands off British Columbia’s northwestern coast, Orme found himself “beaten back by what I thought was low cloud. Upon arriving back at the hangar, the base manager was good and asked me to come out flying with him. . . . to see it wasn’t as bad as I thought.”

Over the years, the aviation industry has changed markedly. Pilots, maintenance personnel, operators, regulatory bodies and customers have all learned valuable lessons – often through trial and error – helping us progress toward an ever safer and less-stressful working culture. Through better technology, machinery, training, working conditions and education, flying in every application has managed to progress.

Adam Morrison, operations manager for Trans North Helicopters in Whitehorse, Yukon, commented on several areas of improvement he’s seen over his 30 years. “One good thing we didn’t have as much of are the programs and courses available to help deal with stress, anxiety and pressures.” Crews now have access to pilot decision-making, cockpit resource management and other training that helps prepare them for the task at hand. “We [now] do as much as possible to make our guys comfortable before they start the season, including tutoring, advising how to deal with the customer extended training in mountain flying, long-line training and bucketing.”

There are also lessons from the past that new pilots can learn from, applying old knowledge to new situations.

Thirty years ago, recalled Morrison, “If you went out on a summer job, you usually stayed until it was done (often three or fourth months, perhaps longer). There were no flight and duty times per se.” It was a situation that, while leaving little room for mentorship, had the added benefit of slowing the pace. “A drill move used to take two days instead of five or six hours. We definitely weren’t in as much of a rush as it seems some jobs

are today.”

Unfortunately, the very nature of our occupation exposes us to a constant stream of critical decisions and the pressure to perform tasks quickly and effectively. Some changes in technology that were supposed to help in these areas have unwittingly created their own pressures and problems.

While the improvement in machinery, camp facilities, weather reporting and especially communications have, in many respects, made the pilot’s life easier and less stressful, this is also where new pressures have arisen. Customers can now keep very close tabs on aircraft movement, accumulated hours and fuel usage. This means they will watch budgets closely – often in real-time via satellite uplink.

When Morrison was starting out, “There were not as many tight schedules, time constraints, budget limitations or pressures directly from the customer on site.” It allowed pilots somewhat more latitude.

Even in situations where no mentors are available or seemingly new pressures exist, there is a ready source of education to help guide you. Consider what most of you probably do nowadays when you travel. You likely don’t just show up at the airport and fly half way around the world to a foreign country without doing a little research first. In the Internet Age, travel tips, testimonials, videos and pictures are available at the click of a mouse. After all, identifying the unknown is perhaps the easiest way to relieve anxiety and stress, and be prepared for what lies ahead.

The same is true for today’s pilots. Chances are, if you’re worried about a trip, stressed out about a new environment or having an issue with a machine, customer or employer, somebody else has had the same problem or concern before. Repeatedly.

Of course, putting yourself in a good situation to start with is probably the best resource to have. Surround yourself with people who have knowledge and expertise. In other words, where possible, be pro-active in choosing companies to target for employment, especially if you are a new pilot.

Sarah de Reeper is a young pilot who, after an extensive job hunt, is starting out in the Alberta oil patch on a Robinson R44. She found an environment at Gemini Helicopters in Grande Prairie, where mentorship and safety are paramount. Said de Reeper: “I was very lucky that the company I work for prioritizes safety above all else. During our training, it was made very clear to us that we need not ever feel the need to push our limits in long lining, flying in bad weather or any other scenario. We were always told that if we weren’t comfortable – don’t do it.”

This kind of freedom from pressure at Gemini also makes a camp mission an exciting one for de Reeper, who now relishes “the rare opportunity of being given a camp, helicopter and all ops gear I could need to just get out and do it. No experienced guy keeping a wary eye over my shoulder as I [figure] out the best way to load the net or the best approach into a certain

lease site.”

Dealing with the myriad of issues, stresses and challenges facing today’s helicopter pilots takes a combination of tools. It begins with effective and practical initial training, and continues with operator support in terms of progressive training and positive company culture. Each pilot also has responsibility in terms of seeking out peer mentorship, having a commitment to identifying potential issues before they arise, and learning to use the available resources as required. It’s a process that’s never-ending, because, as the old adage says, “If you ever stop learning, you’d better get out of flying.”