Of all the different facets of the helicopter CFI job, meeting wonderful people is the most enjoyable. With the day-to-day flying between the Boston and Southern New Hampshire area, I have the opportunity to fly with and meet great people. But every once in a while, you happen upon someone that personifies the professional pilot - skill, determination, vision, and a great attitude were all very evident from the moment Pascal walked into the flight school.
Pascal came to our Boston area helicopter flight school with a goal - a Private pilot add-on in the R-44. Now Pascal isnt your average pilot. With decades of experience and over 14,000 hours in fixed wing aircraft (including many jets), he personifies professionalism in flying. From the first flight at the beginning of August I knew this was going to be a great time. Although he was only here a few weeks, he was not in a hurry. He wanted to learn everything possible about helicopters during his time here at the school. This was more than noticeable as he spent almost every single day at the school flying and studying every book we could give him.
Pascal Solos the R-44
Within 10 days, Pascal had completed many hours of rigorous training and had completed his first solo. He even had time to fit in a venture to Osh-Kosh with his wife Isabella. Pacal had done wonderfully during the hot summer days training here at the school. His skill and finesse were noticeable after just a few hours in the helicopter. It was easy to tell he was a professional pilot - on his way to becoming a professional helicopter pilot.
There were still many flight to complete - most of the solo requirements still had to be met, but his vacation time was at an end. We scheduled his return trip, and bid him and Isabella farewell until next time.
On the return trip, the training would be even more intense than last time! Pascal quickly dove into the books and completed all the solo requirements before heading off to Hawker training in Kansas - imagine that - from Robinson R-44 to Hawker 900, back to R-44 in less than a week!
With a few days left, we spent more hours together training in anticipation of the checkride on Saturday. We put together our school checklist of all required maneuvers, reviewed the training folder to make sure all the requirements had been met, and checked the weather for the final few days before the checkride. As usual, it looked like the prog charts were going to throw us a curve - but we had a plan! Since the weather was coming down the day before the checkride, we decided to head up to Concord to do a thorough review and leave the helicopter overnight. This would ensure Pascal would get his checkride in before leaving for Paris that afternoon. On Friday, we headed up to Concord and trained most of the day (it started raining just as the TAFs had predicted). Joe came up to get us in his car, and we headed back to Lawrence to complete the paperwork.
Sure enough, Saturday at 6AM and the weather all around was IFR. No way we would have made it to CON in time for the checkride. As we drove up to the airport to meet the examiner, we knew the reposition the night before was an excellent move. The weather started to clear after the oral examination, but we would not have made it for the 0800 time slot. It was a perfect case of a decision that would have a huge payoff. The extra effort ensured Pascal could take his checkride and be on the flight home to Paris that evening.
Pascal passes the checkride!
Pascal did an excellent job on his checkride, as we all knew he would. The examiner was impressed with his professionalism and training. We train to the highest standards possible, all the time and every time. With the checkride behind us both, we took off for a nice flight home.
The nice flight home to Lawrence
On the ramp at Lawrence - another successful checkride!
There was one more event left before Pascal headed home. All the instructors came together and mentioned to him the custom of taking the instructors to lunch after a checkride. He trained in the States before, so he knew better, but he took us to lunch anyway. And we’re sure glad he did - he has an amazing impression of Eminem. Pascal sure can rap!
It was great training with you Pascal, we look forward to having you back at our school for the commercial add-on.
Private pilot add-on in a total of 20 days. Now that’s flying!
