DAVE BELL - NEW ZEALAND

(pic to come soon!)

Finished my license in 2000,sat my commercial test on the 27th november 2000 i think and passedAfter a short trip back to NZ to visit family i headed up to Cloncurry with another student (nick Talbot) and worked on a cattle station,'Brightlands',riding horses mustering cattle while making what seemed like a million phone calls a day to try and find a flying job.

After three months of bouncing around on the back of a horse in the dust me and Nick both moved to another station 'Balfour Downs' near Newman in WA.Nick started to get a small amount of flying but i was onstuck on a motor bike or in a bull catcher.

After about two months I got an offer from another station that sounded a bit more promising so I left Nick there and headed west again and ended up on 'Gogo' station in Fitzroy Crossing WA.As luck would have it i did begin to get some flying,

In the remainder of that year (6 months ) i got 105 hours in the R22 which included a little bit of nustering but mostly just general flying.After a trip back to NZ for a couple of months in the wet season i returned to Gogo and moved up the pilot ladder a bit and began to do more flying,450 hrs for the year,the majority which was mustering.Once again i headed back to NZ for the wet season to escape the dust and flys.I returned to gogo at the start of the following season and was now in the position of being one of the two head pilots and did 750 hrs flying for the season-again mostly mustering.

I had now logged up about 1423 hrs.The station life was good and enjoyable with a good group of guys but was hard work.As pilots we mustered but also did everything else,as pilots tended to be there for a few years we were incharge of alot of went on and often found ourselves running alot of day to day jobs.Days were long with 3.30am breakfasts and 7.30 pm dinners and working all day in the heat and dust.Great experience and great fun which i believe paved a great path and appreciation for the future in the industry.

At the end of that third season i left the station life and headed to Cape York Helicopters in Cairns.I was based on Horn Island,about 15 miles off aussies tip (cape york),flying R44s in general charter operations.Work was mostly over the ocean up to 123nm out to sea,but also included regular work all over the cape.Work varied a bit with some sling work,surveying,filming and even a few search and rescues.After 18 months for cape york i had got about 1000 hrs in the R44 and a total of about 2450 and began to look for a move in to turbine machines,,not having much luck at that i began look at going to Canada for a season but my visa was taking a while to sort out so while waiting for that i moved to emerald and worked for Reid Heliwork,again flying the R44 mostly doing powerline inspection work.

Finally my Canadian visa came through so in May this year I headed to Canada.After about 3 weeks converting my aussie licnse to a canadian one-which meant sitting a full commercial exam and full flight test i guickly got a job for a company called Bailey Helicopters flying a Jet Ranger in the oilfields of BC and Alberta.After about a bit over 2 months i have got about 270 hours up in the jet ranger.

One of my most enjoyable flying experiences was being the pilot for a 2 week job with Steve Urwin ( the crocodile hunter) which involved flying steve around and setting and moving traps by sling load and filming and even the odd bit of lying on the back of crocodiles!!!!

Maybe a not so enjoyable experience was being on a cattle station when one of the ringers walked in to the tail rotor of running R22 that a good friend of mine was flying-luckily he survived pretty much as good as new with only a few scars and my friend is still successfully flying jet rangers and squirrels back in NZ.

Always remember your safety stuff and watch out for passengers -they are always (knowingly or unknowingly!!) trying to make you have a really bad day!!!!!

My advice to new guys out there is if you want it you will get it,always be prepared to do the hard yards for your start and beyond-employers,managers and chief pilots out there are always looking and always asking more established pilots about the new guys that turn up or are seen around, remember that in this EXTREMELY small industry (i have met large amounts of aussie guys over here in canada that worked in the same places as me and know/worked with some of the same guys!!!) your reputations is all you really know you have and it is very valuable in the industry if its good and very distructive if bad.And with fewer pilots seeming to have the hours that some of the bigger companies want there are good oppurtunities for lower time guys if they have the right reputation and attitude.

I remember the days when to work in PNG you needed like 10,000 hrs and it seemed it wasn't even worth trying,if you get a chance have a look on the AFAP jobs web-site,those hours requirements are down to like 3000hours and even less now days!!!

Have the right attitude,work ethic,remain safe and keep your reputation-for good or bad you are always being watched and boss' are always looking for new pilots.And remember all the hard yakka--IT IS SO WORTH IT!!!!!!!!!!!
Safe and happy flying.