Day 1 of My Quest to be a Whirly Girl

2009-09-14T19:52:00.007-04:00

Today was orientation day at Bristow Academy in Titusville, Florida. I am one of 12 students in the professional pilot course class of September 2009. I wish I had gotten a picture of all the books, manuals, and paperwork at each of our seats when we entered the classroom. Overwhelming is an understatement.

The 12 students include:

4 men from China
2 men and 1 woman from Norway
1 man from Trinidad / Tobago
2 men and 2 women (myself included) from the USA

It is quite ironic that Bristow has 3 females in this class of 12. Typically, there is only 1 female student every other month, so to have 3 female students all in the same class is very rare.

Promptly at 0800 hrs, Alan Olden, Chief Ground Instructor, took us through most of our orientation day from 8 - 11 am, with additional segments presented by:

Francois Ganswyk, Chief Flight Instructor (VFR)

Nick Mayhew, General Mgr & JAA Examiner

Anisha Hopkinson, Student Services Manager

Gregory Popp, Business Development Manager

Mike Stettner, Assistant Chief Flight Instructor

Key themes for the day were:

Target Zero: Safety is the number one priority for students, staff, customers, and anyone on site.
Unlike college where you can usually forget what you learned last semester and still do well the following semester, everything we learn from minute one on site is critical to our future success as a helicopter pilot. These building blocks are the foundation for our entire career, and we should remember all that is taught and continue to build on that knowledge each day.
Never stop learning.
Be courageous and speak out if you see anything remotely unsafe.
My full time job is to LEARN, LEARN, LEARN... and then, LEARN some more.
Look for the fun to get through the hard work.
Be the BEST you can be!

After the first 3 hours of orientation and safety information, the flight instructors came in to have us complete some more paperwork. The 3 of us ladies are assigned to flight instructor Philipp Wynands, originally from Germany. Once we completed our paperwork, we were dismissed for an hour for lunch, then we were to meet back at Flight Operations at 1300 hrs.

In our paperwork, we had a list of required books which were waiting for us on arrival with an additional list of recommended books. In addition to the expected tuition of $15,340 for the Professional Pilot course, I spent about $260 in the Bristow flight store on recommended books and supplies.

Another big ticket item I still have yet to acquire is an aviation headset which will last for my entire flight career. The one many pilots recommend is the Bose Aviation Headset X which runs about $995. I am a huge fan of Bose products, and as a very satisfied customer of their noise canceling stereo headphones, I expect great things from the Bose Aviation Headset X as well.

At 1300 hrs, the 3 ladies met Philipp at Flight Operations for a tour of the facility, some more paperwork, and a more private get to know each other ground session. Since all of us expect to work our way through to the Commercial Flight Instructor with Instrument rating, we will be together for the next 9-11 months.

Somehow, one aspect of training that I completely misunderstood was in relation to when we would begin flying. I understood that we would have 7 full weeks of ground school before we could begin the flight portion of our instruction. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that, as soon as Bristow gets our student accounts opened, we can begin flying, possibly as early as tomorrow. Wow - that is such great news!

My schedule for weeks 1 through 4 will be ground school from 0800-1200 hrs. Weeks 5 through 7 will be from 1200-1600 hrs. Tests will be on September 30, October 8, and October 28 with a final written test on November 2.

Week one consists of systems and components coursework, approximately 9 chapters in 4 days / 16 hours of ground school. As it stands, I may not fly tomorrow, but it is still a possibility. Apparently, the first 5 flights or so will feel very overwhelming before we finally relax and feel like we are retaining the overload of information being thrown at us so quickly.

It is rewarding to learn that an education at Bristow is by far the best possible helicopter education in the USA. Students come from far and wide to train at this school, and I am honored to have been selected to be part of this class. I know these 9-11 months will go by very quickly.

For those that have connected on Facebook, pictures from today are posted at:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=110666&id=661278493&l=616257c591

Stay safe!

Introductory Post for My Quest to be a Whirly Girl

2009-09-13T23:37:00.000-04:00

Welcome to my blog which will be my online journal to keep family, friends, and anyone else who may be interested up to speed on my quest to be a Whirly Girl, aka International Women Helicopter Pilots.

One of the questions I am most frequently asked is, "Why did you decide to pursue a career as a helicopter pilot?"

I am not one of those people who dreamed of flying helicopters from an early age. My parents were fortunate enough to have me traveling quite a bit as a youngster, and I always loved going to the airport and riding on planes. If I had a dream of flying planes, I probably shrugged the thought away due to my very poor vision. I had glasses the size of coke bottles from at least first grade.

As I made my way through high school, I really wasn't sure what kind of career or education I wanted to pursue. I dabbled at college off and on over the years, never really finding the niche that I was both good at and enjoyed doing on a regular basis. After several secretarial jobs, I landed with Harrah's Entertainment where I worked my way up through various casino jobs from slot attendant to dealer to slot supervisor and slot revenue manager with a few other positions in between. During my 12-year tenure with Harrah's, I earned my BS in Business Management in 2001 and my MBA in 2003. When the economy began to suffer, so did the casino business, and my position was one of hundreds eliminated in early 2007. I had really loved working in the casino business when I was younger, but now that I was 12 years older, I wanted a career with a more normal schedule and more variety in my day to day work.

I spent many months soul searching, taking career assessments, and writing resumes and cover letters. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to travel after my layoff from the casino, so I was not forced into rushing to choose a new career path. On the way to one of my trips in the summer of 2008, I had just finished a quick fast food lunch and had never suspected I was too tired to drive. Nevertheless, I fell asleep while driving my car on I-75 north with the cruise control set to 75 mph. I woke up when the car went into the grass on the right side of the road, and I swerved left in time to avoid a tree as the car barreled on up the embankment of the exit ramp I had just driven past.

The car crashed into the guard rail at the top of the embankment, and the hood crushed in and hooked over the top of the guardrail. I knew something was wrong when I couldn't move my left leg to get out of the car, but I was in such shock, I don't recall feeling any pain at that point. Several hours later, I learned that a vertebrae in my back was broken and would require surgery which couldn't be done at the small community hospital where I had been taken.

I was transferred to a larger hospital on the west coast of Michigan where I had back surgery followed a few days later by wrist surgery to repair a broken left wrist. I had never broken a bone before in my life, but when I did, I decided to go all out and break my back. I was in the hospital for 8 days of recovery before I was released with a walker. I had a turtle shell back brace which I had to wear all day for the next 6 months, and I required wrist therapy 3 times a week for 5 months to get my wrist back to normal strength and range of motion.

I have always heard that a near death experience changes people, and I can say that was very true for me. I am so grateful to have survived the accident with the ability to breathe on my own and walk without assistance. It is a miracle that I survived and that I didn't hurt anyone other than myself when I drove my car off the road.

With another 6 months of reflection during the post-accident recovery period, I knew that I really did not want to work in business. I am a free-spirit who loves travel, people, challenge, relocation and variety. I get bored easily when my work is too easy or too routine. I was faced with the big question, now what? When the whole world is your oyster in terms of a new career, it can be quite a challenge to narrow down what kind of career may bring true fulfillment and a desire to jump out of bed to start the day. Those of you who know me well know I have never been much of a morning person.

As my recovery period had ended in late December 2008, and unemployment was climbing each month, I happened upon a career article in early 2009. The article had originally been published in May 2008, but it showed up as a recommended article on Yahoo! due to the thousands of us who had been laid off from a variety of industries and where wondering, what now?

From Outside Magazine's May 2008 issue, the article titled Best Jobs 2008 started with: "Help Wanted: Seeking ambitious individuals hungry for life-affirming employment in emergent industries. A firm understanding of the need to balance work and play is preferred. Ideal candidates think big, enjoy travel, and are plagued by a voice that keeps repeating, You can do better than this." *Article link below.

I felt as though the author wrote this article just for me. As I began reading through the "Emancipation Occupations: Ten ascendant careers to free you from the cubicle" section, I quickly noticed the last career was a helicopter pilot. I was very intrigued, but I waited and read the other 9 job descriptions before I read the helicopter pilot page. The whole time, my body was tingling in anticipation. Could this be the one for me? What about my vision or my age? So many questions, and so few answers at that point.

When I read the description, I had a deep feeling this could be the job for me. Yet, after working my way up in the business world for over 10 years and pursuing 2 college degrees, what would everyone think about my choice? Would my parents approve and be supportive, or would they think I had been sampling the libations from the liquor cabinet? Did it matter what anyone thought?

I spent a good deal of time researching online, and all the while, regardless of any negative information I came across, such as the high price of school, low pay fresh out of school, and so on, I became more and more intrigued by the idea of becoming a female helicopter pilot. It took a few weeks to build up the courage to say it out loud to my Mom, but when I finally did, I was so relieved that her response, after a brief stunned pause, was, "Yeah, I can see you doing that." Dad had a similar reaction when he heard the news of my next career choice. Hurray! Their blessing and support gave me the boost of strength to move forward.

Even though I had done a good bit of research, I still had not determined how to choose the best school. Vertical magazine for helicopter pilots had been in circulation for many years, but it was January 2009 when the first issue would be available at a retail outlet to non-subscribers. The stars must have been in alignment because when I went to Barnes & Noble to buy the February 2009 issue, the store still had January 2009 on the shelf which included a booklet listing all helicopter pilot schools in North America.

That little booklet helped me a long way. Out of the many, many schools, only 2 in the USA had a significant helicopter fleet, a sizable staff, and a course offering that covered all possible endorsements. One of the schools was in Oregon, where the cool climate sounded appealing to get away from the New Orleans heat and humidity, but Mom and Dad really would prefer somewhere closer to their home. The other school is Bristow Academy in Titusville, Florida near Kennedy Space Center. How ironic that our next trip was to be South Florida and the Orlando area in March 2009?!

The stars were aligned once again when I contacted Bristow to schedule a demo flight with an instructor, and they were able to put me on the schedule for the day I was available for the flight. I was so excited the night before, I could barely sleep (no, I know that isn't good given my recent car accident). Adrenalin is an amazing thing when the mind and body are excited. I had a wonderful demo flight with a nice gentleman from New Zealand. He showed me what each of the 3 controls would do, then he would allow me to take 1 of the 3 controls to see how it felt. It was surreal to feel in control of such a powerful machine. As soon as the demo flight was finished, I headed straight back to student services to find out what I needed to do to enroll in the helicopter pilot training program.

During my tour of the campus and flight facility, I saw many women working in administration and even at flight dispatch, but I didn't see any women students or flight instructors. I inquired about where are all of the female students, and I was advised that not a lot of women approach the school to learn to be a helicopter pilot. Interesting. I did not plan to pursue something that few women do, but hey, that just makes my experience all the more special.

The school only takes 12-16 students per course with new courses starting each month; however, all paperwork, including financing and medical certification, has to be submitted at least 3 months prior to starting a course. As soon as I got back to New Orleans, I was quick to get my paperwork in to the school. I was hoping to be admitted to the course starting in September 2009 with a female student from Norway.

In late April, I learned that I would be accepted as a helicopter pilot student at Bristow Academy in the courses starting on Monday, September 14th, 2009. Lucky me! I am so blessed to have this wonderful opportunity.

Here it is, the night before day 1 of my new school, and I can not sleep again. The adrenalin is flowing, and I can't wait to start the learning process. Many people I have met over the past few months have checked in to inquire: has school started yet, how is it going so far, when can you take me up for a flight, and so on.

I hope this diary of my school experience on My Quest to be a Whirly Girl will help refresh my memory along the way and allow you to join me on this wild ride I am about to embark upon. I am grateful to all of you who have shown your support. Let's get this party started!

The list for interested parties to sign up for a helicopter ride starts here...

* Outside Magazine's May 2008 article titled Best Jobs 2008 article can be accessed at: http://outside.away.com/outside/culture/200805/best-jobs.html