VERTICAL VOICES: Destiny
When did you know that you were a rotorhead?
When I was 5, in 1994, a Hughes 369D lifted an air- conditioning unit on my parents’ house. My dad and I watched the perfectly done sling job, and we both fell in love with helicopters. Years later, he was my flight instructor and mentor.
– Christoph Oberhumer
In 1976, while with Aviation Power Supply, I had just completed a turbine change for a Bell 206B-2 when the pilot asked me to join him on a checkride. I thanked him, and he said, “Son, don’t thank me. If you don’t want to get in it and fly, I sure don’t want to fly it.” It was then I knew what a responsibility I had just accepted as a helicopter maintenance tech and what a cool job I have. I have been a rotorhead ever since!
– Mike Broderick
My first helicopter flight in the US Navy flight school. I could vertically levitate at will—what a feeling!
– Susan Cadwallader IAN STENHOUSE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO 165
When I was a child, my father took me for walks around the airport, and one day I asked him about helicopters. He told me, “They are super flying machines only supermen can fly.” From there, I knew I had to be a helicopter pilot.
– Moises
When I was 15, I was working on a cattle station in the Australian Outback. A Bell 47 was brought in to muster cattle, and I was asked to accompany the pilot to show where to go and act as a spotter. I instantly fell in love with flying and decided that flying as a career would be much better than riding a horse.
– John Caldwell
In high school. My family would move out of my way as I ran through the house to get outside to see a helicopter that was flying over. I still do that to this day.
– Michael Giovannini
I was working as support staff for an operator when the owner asked if anyone wanted to go for a ride. I ran to the hangar as quickly as I could. I was hooked from the moment we left the ground.
– Kristen McDaniel
Whirlwind helicopter rescuing someone from a cliff inWales.
– Phil Alldridge
MARK BENNETT PHOTO
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