Ground-Level Skills
Qualifying for a commercial helicopter pilot’s licence is not an ending; it’s a beginning. As a CPL(H), pilots are entitled to fly and get paid for doing so, but helicopters are far more versatile than a simple commercial licence allows. For a pilot to take advantage of the full value of a helicopter, they need further training that will enable them to fly low, herd cattle, winch from the ground, carry sling loads, spray crops and a litany of other tasks. It’s that extra capability that makes a commercial helicopter pilot a more employable prospect.
But those added extras usually come with added risks. Many of the jobs that helicopters are deployed to do put them in close proximity to the ground, structures, natural pinnacles, ever-dangerous powerlines, trees and every type of thing that sticks up from the earth. Solid endorsement training is needed to ensure that pilots not only mitigate the risks, but also know how to use their aircraft to maximum effect without putting themselves, their machine and other people in danger. That puts the onus on training organisations to train well and produce pilots that are valuable to the industry.
That need is not lost on Caboolture-based Airwork Helicopters, which has spent more than three decades training pilots for real-world aviation, rather than just to pass a CASA flight test.
Whereas there are any number of fixed-wing academies offering vocational training supported by goverment loans, Airwork is
