not everyone applies the lessons and the amount of synergy determines how good the week is. Luckily most colleagues are decent people and communicate well, but there are also exceptions unfortunately. The ugly I think the industry is very inspiring and brings together a lot of people who are fun, adventurous and ambitious. I have met some of the best people through the helicopter community. But a downside to ambition is competition, and it seems that sometimes the highly competitive side of some people takes over their hu- man side. This is a no-go for me person- ally and it is something that we should work on to improve. I often hear people say that we should be kind to each other because the helicopter industry is small, but I would rather have people who are intrinsically kind. Something I wish I had known before I started… Financial situations are what is stopping most people from pursuing their flight training. Lånekassen made all the differ- ence for me. What I wish I had known be- fore I started was that you can apply for Lånekassen loans as a non-Norwegian when you meet certain requirements, for example being an EU citizen and working 10h per week or more. If I had known this earlier, I would have started earlier. Note that you should have some extra money saved up too, as Lånekassen does not cover everything. I was working two parttime jobs while doing my full- time training at EHC (not recommended, it’s better to have your finances in order before you start). Something I didn’t pay attention to was how much interest we pay on our Lånekassen loan. It wouldn’t have changed the outcome for me, but it does make me motivated to pay it off as fast as I can and paying more than the calcu- lated monthly installments as soon as I am able to, so I pay less on interest.
and back home (depending on where you live and where the helicopter is), you may be requested to fly on weekends when there are scenic flights and your working days can be very long. The good What I love about the job is the challeng- ing nature of the flying. I can’t compare it to other types of flying, as it is my first job, but it was quite a steep learning curve. Flying low and fast while making steep turns with precision so you stay exactly on the pipeline track, all while keeping situational awareness of traffic, and communicating with airfields in the area and in RMZs and CTRs. Oh, and of course monitor the situation on ground around the pipeline. Pipeline inspections are conducted with two people; one pilot and one observer who documents the findings on a tablet. The observer can also be a pilot, in which case roles are reversed with each leg, or they do not fly, in which case you end up flying up to 8 hours a day – which is both nice as well as exhausting. Having a permanent fulltime contract is also an advantage. The bad We fly with all kinds of weather, which is both good and bad. However, the fine line between still flyable weather and no longer flyable weather can happen quickly and some people will push to fly beyond what is flyable and you have to say no. It’s not a good combination to be flying low with bad visibility. The days can be really long and ex- hausting. I have to make sure to sleep enough and rest well in my spare time. Working culture and conditions are slightly different from what I was used to from before. And while we have CRM training once a year, in reality «The industry is very inspiring and brings together a lot of people who are fun, adventurous and ambitious.»
With the expectation that I would not find a job for some time after school, or maybe ever, it came to a big surprise that I was offered a job after school to fly pipeline surveillance flights in and around Germany. It’s funny that I never even heard of pipeline flying before I started school, and it ended up being my first pilot job. “My advice would be to make the most out of the timeslot and freedom you’re given!” So, what is it? There is a big network of oil and gas pipelines all over Europe. They are buried underground, but we follow the pipelines at about 200-400ft AGL to make sure that nothing compromises their security. Should we find some- thing above or near the pipeline that is a potential hazard, the most common case being construction work, then we have to land near it and make sure they are authorised to do their work. You can imagine how daunting it was in the beginning, not only to fly pipeline surveillance flights, but to also walk up to people and ask them in basic German about their papers. What does it require? In Germany, this is a very common first pilot job for someone straight after school. Flights are flown on the R44, so having started at EHC on R44s was perfect. It does require a lot of (personal) flexi- bility. I was asked to also work in CAMO, which I accepted. I had to move to a small town in Eastern Germany, where it took me 8 months to find an apartment, so I was living in a spare room in the office until then. I had to go from basic German to fluent (radio communications at small airfields are in German only and even when someone communicates in English, they continue in German, so I had to adapt). Other than that, you may have to travel up to 10 hours to get to the helicopter
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