22 PASSION OR PURPOSE
soon realised there was much fun and flying to be had. After nearly 800 hours in the pilot’s seat, an opening for an instructor became available back at his old training school, PHS. As usual, Rusty rose to the challenge and was eager to try his hand at a new skill. It also helped that he thoroughly enjoyed assisting pilots to learn. He claimed that witnessing a student progress from their first lesson into becoming a working pilot was one of the most enjoyable aspects of his career. It was a successful career move that lasted five years and over 3500 hours, 2000 of which were spent instructing and 1500 in fire work and other contracts. Rusty was a people person with a keen sense of humour. During training, he would often share a laugh or use his famous expression, ‘hard-core!’ as a way to get you to loosen up, because flying is allowed to be fun too! Aside from the personal satisfaction experienced in instructing, Rusty enjoyed the self-improvement aspect: developing accuracy, improved understanding of the aircraft’s behaviour both theoretically and practically, and development of autorotations and other emergencies to a high standard. When called to reflect upon his most enjoyable flying, Rusty mentioned fire-fighting and film work as favourites, because “they require working the helicopter and operating as a team to achieve an outcome”. As for the experiences Rusty had while working on the fires, he said, “There is a really rewarding feeling that goes with doing something positive to help. But this SUMMER.2013
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Rusty and former Helinews editor, Andrew Giles. Photo supplied courtesy of Andrew Giles.
doesn’t go without challenges, such as days flying with low visibility in difficult conditions with wind.” He articulated his passion for film work thus: “Trying to understand creatively what vision the cameraperson has and offering suggestions about how to capture the footage in the best way possible takes flying to a whole new level, particularly jobs combining all of the above and manoeuvring the helicopter very fast. On one occasion, while filming the Southern 80 [water-ski race], the job required flying low level, following ski boats travelling at over 100 miles an hour around bends on the river.” Another adrenaline-fuelled mission Rusty was involved in while working at PHS was parachute drops from a Squirrel and this required refined accuracy. “It is quite demanding getting everything right for them to exit. You need to be at a given spot at a given speed at a given time within a 10-second window.” He nominated the biggest challenge of this job as the weight shifts that occur as the person is stepping out to the skids. “It is important to give a good briefing before flight to not press on the skid before they drop away, for their own safety and the safety of the helicopter.” All experiences considered, it was just a matter of time before the doors would open yet again with another great offer. This time it was down the road at Microflite Helicopters. He often commented on the work environment, “They’re a great bunch of guys working well together and of course I get to fly some very nice Eurocopters!” www.helinews.com.au
22/10/13 10:12 AM