was studying at a local teahouse when I overheard two aviation students speak ing in that unmistakable ‘aviation’ lingo, and my heart literally skipped a beat. I hadn’t realized how much I missed avia tion, and after finding out that there was an amazing aviation program at the same college I was attending, I knew I’d have to be crazy not to pursue such an exciting opportunity.
RPMN:Where did you get your start flying commercially? MCBRIDE: I left Kodiak, Alaska and moved to Bend, Oregon in order to help out my twin sister’s family. It was here that I discovered the flight pro gram. I am currently still in flight school, and the next step is CFI and then CFII.
RPMN: If you were not in the helicopter industry, what else would you see your self doing? MCBRIDE: If I weren’t flying helicop ters I would want to be writing about them. I would likely pursue an aviation journalism career that would allow me to still be immersed in the excitement of the aviation industry.
RPMN:What do you enjoy doing on your days off? MCBRIDE: When I have a rare free moment, I spend much of it with my four wonderful nieces. When I’m not with them, I love rock climbing, run ning, hiking, camping, swing dancing, playing the Irish penny whistle, singing in my church choir, and reading very long Victorianera novels.
RPMN:What is your greatest career accomplishment to date? MCBRIDE: During my departure cere mony from my eight years in the U.S. Coast Guard, I was awarded the Volunteer Service Medal. The award was given to me based on my many years of serving as an assistant youth director, youth camp volunteer, Sunday school teacher, and leader in the local Special Olympics. It has been a person al goal of mine to give back to others as much as I can. I feel that life is a gift
ter, no matter what.
from God, and that we should use that gift to bring joy, hope, and value to as many people as we are given the opportunity to.
RPMN: Have you ever had an “Oh crap” moment in a helicopter? Can you sum marize what happened? MCBRIDE: Yes, and unluckily, it hap pened during a progress check. It was the beginning of the flight and my examining instructor and I were hold ing short for landing traffic. To save Hobbs time, we knock out a hover auto while we waited. Next, we did a runon landing. When the helicopter came to a stop, for some reason muscle memo ry from earlier took over and I rolled the throttle ‘back’ on…and gave myself an engine overspeed. I was mortified, to put it lightly.
RPMN: If you could give only ONE piece of advice to a new helicopter pilot, what would it be? MCBRIDE: When not IF you make a mistake, admit it, correct it, and move on. It is more important to con tinue flying the aircraft than to scruti nize your mistake in your head. Choosing the latter action leads one to lose focus, get behind the aircraft, and creates greater potential for more mis takes. In my sincerity to strive for per fection when I fly, when I make a mis take it eats me up inside. It is always good to strive for perfection, however, it is critical to not let your mistake dis tract you from the moment at hand, and that is to keep flying the helicop
RPMN: In your view, what is the great est challenge for the helicopter industry at this moment in time? MCBRIDE: Since my experience in the helicopter industry is still limited to the training environment, I’ll pull my view from there. New helicopter pilots poorly understand the term, ‘avoid the flow of fixedwing traffic.’ There seems to be a misconception that helicopters must comply with this rule because air plane pilots think they are superior. After training for my airplane addon, however, I feel the greater reality is that tiny helicopters are just plain hard to see. In addition, they are slower, lower, less predictable, and often make incomprehensible radio calls like, “High right base to final.” I think that it is vital for new helicopter pilots to under stand that we don’t make sense to air plane pilots. In order to create a cul ture of safety in the shared airspace, we must readily and happily communi cate clearly with one another.
EDITORS NOTE: After attending the HeliSuccess Career Development Seminar produced by Rotorcraft Pro Media Network, Heidi felt she had received a wealth of invaluable information. She told me, “All I could think about was how EVERYONE training to be a helicopter pilot NEEDED to hear this stuff. One of the things I heard at HeliSuccess stuck: ‘If you're here, you're smart, if you're not here, you're not smart.’ I realized many students are not at these seminars because they don’t know about them.” Heidi then jumped right into discovering a way to pass this information on. She found out the college she was attending had been given a grant in the form of a Professional Development Fund. She immediately went to work, plowing the way to get as many aviation students to the HeliSuccess Seminar as she could. She had a proposal written and submitted before the college had even written the rules for their new-found money. Her enthusiasm, hours of preparation, and hard work paid off because she was approved for $7,500 to bring 15 students to attend HeliSuccess and HeliExpo this past February 2013.
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