ADIEU L


THANKS FOR THE TERRIFIC RIDE By Randy Mains


ast March, I informed Lyn Burks, owner and editor-in-chief of this magazine, that this November/


December issue would be my last column for Rotor Pro. Before I fade off into the journalistic sunset, I’d like to share with you how I came to write my column, my motivation to do so, and discuss how, in my view, the industry has changed since I joined this magazine.


The wonderful opportunity to become a columnist for Rotor Pro happened more by unexpected opportunity than by design. In 1982, when I was working full time as chief pilot for UCSD Medical Center’s Life Flight program piloting a Bell 222 single pilot IFR in San Diego, I also attended San Diego State University full time and graduated with a degree in journalism. I could have never imagined I would one day have my own column. My first published article for Rotor and Wing magazine back in 1983 was entitled “Life and Death — an EMS Pilot’s Viewpoint.” In that same year, I was awarded the first Golden Hour Award by the Helicopter Association International (HAI). The now-annual award recognizes a person’s efforts to further the helicopter air ambulance concept in America.


In 1984, I was headhunted from San Diego to set up a countrywide helicopter air ambulance (HAA) program for the Royal Oman Police. While living and working in Oman, in 1985 I began writing my first book, entitled The Golden Hour, to address the carnage I had witnessed in my six years as a helicopter air ambulance pilot in the States. I wrote that fact-based novel for one reason and one reason only: to be a wake-up call for the industry back home. Its alarming message was: if the same attitudes and procedures by management and flight crews were allowed to continue, more people would die. Sadly, over the 26 years that I worked and flew in the Middle East (including Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Abu Dhabi), I watched from afar the HAA industry I


56 Nov/Dec 2022


loved and helped to create become one of the deadliest jobs in America. After every HAA crash I would ask myself, “When will the death toll become so unacceptable that changes must absolutely be made?”


My life would change radically on 31 August 2010 at precisely 10:00 p.m. That’s when I became determined to become a voice for change in the HAA industry back home. On that date, I was working as a flight examiner and Bell 412 simulator instructor in Dubai for Abu Dhabi Aviation. I was training and examining over 20 nationalities of helicopter airline transport pilots (ATPs) when I learned of yet another EMS crash, this one in Arkansas that killed three people. Enraged, I launched myself out of my accommodation to walk and to think, asking myself over and over again, “What can I personally do to try to prevent these accidents from occurring back home?” I felt I had the answer to what, in my mind, were totally preventable accidents. During that walk, I told myself I needed to get on the stage at one of the yearly air medical transport conferences to share what I’d seen while flying abroad: that there indeed was a solution to prevent the awful loss of life – if the industry was willing to make a huge mental and financial commitment.


When I worked with the Royal Oman Police, I witnessed a new paradigm, a much safer way to operate. The 12 pilots I flew with were all British former military pilots who had flown hard IFR on the North Sea. They taught me how to operate in a well-oiled team with two pilots using good crew resource management. It didn’t take long for me to conclude that if that same level of professionalism and procedures were adopted back home by air crews and HAA management, the accident rate would plummet. In Oman we had no pressure to fly. We pilots were treated like professional airline pilots; our judgment was never questioned. No expense was spared for safety either.


We were supplied with the latest aircraft and avionics: two pilots with radar, autopilot, radar-altimeter, etc. As we were all ATPs (a requirement for the job), we had to demonstrate 100% proficiency in instrument flying.


I’d been out of the States and HAA for more than 25 years, so I had no idea of the current politics and I knew no one in the industry. Nevertheless, I quit my job at Abu Dhabi Aviation to go back home to spread my safety message.


Thirteen months after going on that walk in Abu Dhabi, I stood on the stage in front of 700 air medical professionals at the Air Medical Transport Conference (AMTC 2011) in St. Louis. I was about to deliver the speech of my life because so much rested on my urgent message. In preparation to dramatically drive home my point to the audience, I cut out and placed the individual names in separate white envelopes of 358 people who had lost their lives in HAA accidents since I wrote The Golden Hour. As attendees filed into the cavernous conference hall, members of the National EMS Pilots Association and my wife handed out those envelopes to the audience. At the end of my 50-minute keynote speech, I asked those with envelopes to please stand up. Once half the audience got to their feet, I told everyone to look around the room at those standing because that was how many people we lost since I wrote my book. The point was delivered and made.


Another significant incident happened that year that ultimately brought me to you. I met Lyn Burks at HAI Heli-Expo where, after talking with him, he asked me if I’d write an article for his magazine. After seeing that I could string a coherent string of sentences together, he offered me my own column. He said I could write anything I wanted to write about the industry. Over the years, he’s been true to his word.


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