24 ON THE JOB
to the site as possible because of the bulky equipment they have to carry in. This is not always possible, however, and sometimes they have to walk a fair distance from the nearest safe landing area. The survey pools are often tucked into tangled creek beds surrounded by tall trees and thick bush and, although some sites can be in the open and easy to get to, many hold a few surprises near the ground even when they appear straightforward from the air. The ferry from Newman to our first site at Skull Springs pool was just over 100 nautical miles (185.2 kilometres) – more than an hour of flying – which turned out to be useful because the burned off fuel reduced the aircraft weight. We had air-conditioning in the AS350, and it was amazing how much this took the edge off the 42-degree heat outside, although the sun still burned through the plexiglass and scorched our clothes and exposed skin. The survey pool at Skull Springs was hidden beneath a dark green line of trees that followed a curve in the Davis River. The trees and greenery seemed out of place in the desert, and the river appeared to labour its course through the hot sand. When we arrived overhead, a scattering of vehicles and tents dotted between the trees just where we intended to land seemed to be even more out of place. “Oh my gosh!” exclaimed one of the women. “There are people down there!” As if there shouldn’t be. I circled around looking for somewhere to put the helicopter down, and away from the people, but AUTUMN.2015
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I couldn’t find an open place between the trees. There was a small clearing at the base of a low hill upstream of the site and I headed for it, then did a circling aerial reconnaissance. It looked straightforward. Easy access into wind over the trees and then straight down. Sun’s glare to one side of the approach. Large enough to easily fit the aircraft. White sand that looked like river sand and therefore probably not dusty. Well-grazed grass cover dotted with cattle scats. No cattle in sight. Escape to the right along a shallow creek course over some low trees. Standard exit up over the trees again to get out. No noticeable slope. Power in hand, but hot, high and heavy, so a gentle descent, watching power. No significant turbulence over the trees or downdraft risk. Go around point noted. I marked a touchdown point in my mind, identifying a point for the right skid to be placed. All good and I set up for the approach. Coming over the top, I settled into a hover above the trees slightly to the left of the touchdown point, so that I could study the landing area. It seemed like a clear and flat area, albeit a little sandy, and I eased right and started descending through the canopy. We had used some fuel on the ferry, but were still heavy. It was 42 degrees Celsius outside and I had four crew with lots of equipment, plus plenty of extra water, but there was power in hand going into the descent. Just as I was passing my commit point I realised this was not going to be as easy as it looked. In my peripheral vision I saw an angry dust cloud boiling up behind me, www.helinews.com.au
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25 FLIGHT ONSCHOOLS THE JOB
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attention on the importance of pre-flight planning in the safe conduct of low-level operations. BACK IN THE SADDLE With a few years having passed since I did any serious low-level flying, I wanted to remind myself of what it was like to be inside the curve. It was hard to forget the intensity of the low-flying I’d done during my training many years ago – the white-knuckle grip I’d had on the controls denoting my lack of experience, not to mention the high value I placed on my own life. Cognisant of the risks inherent in this type of flying and of how quickly the pilot’s skills can erode without frequent experience, I was acutely aware of the need to be shepherded back into this zone with the assistance of an instructor. Sitting in one of the training rooms at Bankstown Helicopters, I mapped out a refresher training plan with instructor Sean Behringer. “As it’s been a while since you’ve done any low flying, we’ll do this training in two sections,” he advised, considering the training syllabus. “First, we’ll get you used to being close to the ground again and then we’ll apply your learning in some different low flying scenarios.” We headed for nearby Camden Airport, which provided us with a good training area in the form of a nice, quiet glider strip. “The training we’ll do at Camden is all about regaining confidence and familiarity in handling the R22 close to the ground,” Behringer explained. “We’ll start with quick stops and some torque and pedal turns. Depending on how you go with them, we’ll see if we can get you back into wingovers and pirouettes as well.” Down near the ground, with an open grass area to play in, I followed him through each manoeuvre before trying my hand at it. It was remarkable how my skills and my thinking in this type of flying had diminished without constant practice and experience. What used to be second nature, I now had to turn into a series of wellplanned, carefully considered handling exercises. I had
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What used to be second nature, I now had to turn into a series of well-planned, carefully considered handling exercises.
to think through my control inputs one by one and in the right order to get the result I needed. I got it wrong several times before I got it right. After revisiting each manoeuvre a few times, I gradually became more comfortable in the saddle. The ground rush coming out of torque and pedal turns became less of a distraction and I was getting better at anticipating my control inputs to get the right result from the R22. It was all coming back to me. PUTTING LEARNING INTO PRACTICE After a thorough reintroduction to the ‘dusty end of the flying spectrum’, we departed Camden as Behringer guided me to an open area of ground in the bush to the north-west. It was an abandoned mining site situated a good distance from urban and industrial build-up. As he identified the area, I flew an orbit to acquaint myself with the area. Watching my airspeed and height, I did my SWAT (surface, size, slope, wind, wires, area, terrain, termination) checks. I also made sure I held a steady 500 feet AGL and 50 knots – an essential aspect of the art of low flying is avoiding it when you can. While our target area provided plenty of space for the little R22, the open area was peppered with obstacles – metal star pickets, a radio tower, shrubs and small trees, and long grass tussocks. I would need to keep a close eye on wind direction to ensure I was heading into it on approach, on the perimeter to clear the treetops, on my termination point to ensure I didn’t under/overshoot, and on obstacles to maintain separation from them.
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Within the first few years of operation, Davey had expanded his helicopter fleet, built a pontoon at the reef and put some infrastructure in place around the islands, such as heliports at Hayman and Daydream Islands. Eventually the company was able to start its own flying school and Davey sent Zwynenburg off to get an instructor rating with Graeme Gillies at Blue Tongue Helicopter Services. “Zwynenburg was an excellent pilot. He was an air work pilot, a charter pilot, he had a lot of experience in 500s and Squirrels and he was a great CFI (chief flying instructor) and chief pilot. He did a great job,” says Davey. In 1997, Davey obtained his commercial helicopter licence; it took him about a year. He did one-on-one training with Zwynenburg and Mike Roberts from Kosciusko Helicopters. “Roberts is a 20,000-hour fixed-wing and rotarywing guru and an excellent teacher with amazing teaching skills,” he says. After conducting his first joy flight, Davey says, “I thrust myself in the Bell 47 for my first commercial joy flight and managed to get everyone safely back on the ground, and it all went from there.” Also in 1997 Davey became a Robinson dealer and progressed with the tourism and charter operations. “We ended up selling the business to John Weymouth (Heli-Muster) and I stayed on to run the show for him,” says Davey. After a year or two, he got back into the helicopter sales, training and maintenance side of the business. In 2002, the company became Helibiz, which is now the Robinson dealer for Australia. It deals primarily in sales of new and used helicopters, flight training, maintenance parts and, more recently, safaris. But next on the ‘to do’ list for Davey was his instructor rating. He believes this was a natural progression for him AUTUMN.2015
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and gave him more independence. “Pilots are nomads and move on to bigger and better or different things,” he says. “When you’re a business owner and the chief pilot or only instructor leaves, the business stops overnight. That’s when I decided I needed to fulfil both of those positions myself, so I didn’t have to worry about that ever again.” Davey describes his instructor rating as “a little bit like our advanced training course”. “It takes you back to basics and, because you have to explain it to everyone else, you have to really understand it. It gave me the feeling of really knowing what I was doing and the great thing about being an instructor is that it keeps you finely-tuned, probably to the point that you recognise what needs to be fine-tuned in other people’s flying.” The ability to fulfil multiple roles can be both a blessing and a curse though. “I suppose what’s challenging for anyone who runs a helicopter business, and doubles up on the role of chief flying instructor and businessman, is that you’ve got to be careful not to wear too many hats, because it can get challenging,” he says. It was the passion for flying that drove Davey, not the business. “The business was just a requirement to allow me to fly and own a helicopter. It wasn’t a hard business to get up and running, because I just couldn’t get out of bed fast enough to go and help get the helicopter ready,” he says, adding that he believes the business grew because of the enthusiasm of everyone involved and this was noted by the passengers. He became an ATO (authorised training officer) in 2011. His aim is to fulfil the niche for the 0-to 1000hour pilot. “I particularly want to help people from the www.helinews.com.au
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I suppose what’s challenging for anyone who runs a helicopter business, and doubles up on the role of chief flying instructor and businessman, is that you’ve got to be careful not to wear too many hats, because it can get challenging.
beginning through to 1000 hours,” he says. A stickler for thorough training and flying procedures, Davey instils in his clients discipline and a thorough understanding of the aircraft. “If something goes wrong with the helicopter and you don’t know what to do, it will be the worst day of your life. It will be the worst feeling you will ever experience, because you don’t know what to do and it will be something that you should have known,” he advises. Davey believes that pilots should always be striving to be better. “When you progress in aviation, you have to challenge yourself,” he says. “You need to study to become a PPL/CPL (private pilot’s licence/commercial pilot’s licence holder), you have to study to become a flight instructor, you have to study to become an ATO, and [undertake the] renewal of grade one and ATO and this is pretty intense,” he says. Davey also has a private fixed-wing licence and owns a Barron aeroplane that he uses to visit clients. “If someone in Katherine wants to buy a helicopter, I’d prefer to fly up and meet them and go through the requirements – whether it be training or purchasing or whatever, I like to build a face to face relationship,” he says. Almost 2000 of Davey’s 5500 flying hours have been spent instructing, with the rest charter and air work. Davey loves the Whitsundays region and says, “I intend to live here for the rest of my life.” Helibiz has just expanded its helicopters into the region – covering Mackay, Hamilton and Hayman Islands, an area that he describes as a “helicopter haven”. The company covers quite a lot in the helicopter spectrum from R22s to IFR (instrument flight rules) twins and everything in between. In a full circle turn of events, Helibiz has now purchased HeliReef back again and acquired Hamilton Island Aviation. HeliReef and Hamilton Island Aviation are two independent helicopter charter businesses that offer tourism helicopters for the Whitsundays. HeliReef is rotary only and Hamilton Island Air is both fixed-wing and rotary, but primarily the latter. HeliReef operates www.helinews.com.au
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