My Two Cents Worth
By Randy Mains
Ma’a salama (“Farewell” in Arabic) signaled my final good-
bye to the Middle East on 31 January 2013, ending 28 years of flying in the land of sand. I feel fortunate to have been able to finish up my flying career as a flight simulator instructor and flight examiner in the Bell 412EP, operating from the CAE complex in Dubai where I trained and examined Airline Transport Pilots from more than 20 countries. I felt it was time to go because a little micro switch in my head suddenly tripped signaling, “It’s time to give back.”
I first went to the Middle East in 1976,
becoming a senior instructor for Bell Hel- icopter in Iran teaching pilots the art of flight instruction. I flew in Iran for three years, before we Westerners were uncer- emoniously kicked out during the Islamic Revolution. Returning to America, I flew as a
HEMS pilot for six years, trying to prove the concept until I was headhunted by the Royal Oman Police to set up a country-
8 March 2013
wide HEMS program. I only went for two years, but stayed for thirteen. After that I spent three years as a HEMS pilot, this time for the King of Saudi Arabia, flying a Bell 214ST from his 500’ yacht. These past nine years I’ve been flying for Abu Dhabi Aviation. I’ve had plenty of adventures while fly-
ing in the Middle East, some scary, like having to flee Iran on the last commercial charter out of the country when working
for Bell. I’ve got memories I will cherish always, like scuba diving with my wife, Kaye, in the warm, azure-blue waters of Oman, or the camping trips we used to take with friends and co-workers where we would have barbecues and long walks on pristine, unspoiled white-sand beaches. The flying was some of the most chal-
lenging I have ever done, especially when working for the Royal Oman Police. We did repeater site maintenance at 10,000’ in the rugged Jebel Akhdar. Even more chal- lenging was landing on the stern of the Sultan’s 250’ yacht at night, as it steamed ahead at 20 knots, or perhaps landing on a huge container ship 120 miles offshore at night to pick up an injured crewmember. Every year during the rainy season, we
would be tasked to rescue people who had become stranded in their vehicles caught in a flash flood, or called to winch people to safety from rooftops and trees in towns or villages that had become completely flooded. One night we winched 97 people
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