FLIGHT PATH QUICK FACTS
Harley Bloecher
Rainbow Helicopters, Honolulu, Hawaii CURRENT JOB
I’m a helicopter tour pilot. I fly aerial tours of the island of
Oahu as well as the occasional charter flight to off-airport landing sites around the island.
FIRST AVIATION JOB My first helicopter job was
working as a CFII at the school I trained at, American Helicopters Inc. I taught on the Robinson R22 and R44. I worked part- time at the flight school in
tandem with a normal 9-to-5 desk job. I typically taught lessons on the weekends and sometimes after work during the week.
FAVORITE HELICOPTER
The MD 500, for its iconic look and sound and the variety of missions it can perform: police, fire, utility, and military applications. It’s small but
mighty. A close second is the UH-1—another true classic— and its variants.
WATCH
Harley go through his preflight checklist
How did you decide helicopter aviation was the career for you? I was a high school student unsure of what I wanted to do, and one day I truly noticed the air ambulance helicopter that would regularly fly over my neighborhood. I thought, “There’s a person flying that helicopter for a full-time job. I wonder how you even control a helicop- ter.” That night, I Googled “helicopter flight controls” and started reading about how these aircraft fly. My fascination took off from there.
How did you get to your present position? I built some flight time as an instructor before deciding to try flying tours. Although I didn’t instruct all the way to the 1,000-hour
48 ROTOR DECEMBER 2022
bench mark, I know that teaching for a few hundred hours was vital for my own growth as a young pilot. Rainbow Helicopters is a Part 135 operator, and the hiring minimum for a 135 VFR pilot is 500 hours. I had around 530 hours when I applied, along with about 80 hours in the R44.
What are your career goals? It’s hard to imagine I’d want to be anywhere but flying tours in Hawaii. This is an awesome job and the most beautiful flying I’ll ever get to do. That said, I ultimately want to get into a more “mission-oriented” style of flying, be it air ambulance, search-and-rescue, law enforce- ment, fire suppression, or government contract work.
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