FLIGHT PATH QUICK FACTS
US Coast Guard, Ret.
Guest Lecturer and West Point Alumni Association Outreach Manager
CURRENT JOB I’m a retired US Coast Guard
officer and aviator. I served 24 years on active duty, including 14 years amassing 3,200-plus hours in the HH-65 Dolphin
helicopter, mostly in search-and- rescue. My current involvement in the helicopter community is primarily as a guest lecturer. My other job is with the West Point Association of Graduates at the US Military Academy at West Point. I serve as an outreach manager for alumni and their families.
FIRST HELICOPTER AVIATION JOB
I was a junior officer and newly minted pilot in the HH-65 at Coast Guard Air Station
Borinquen, Puerto Rico. Our job was mostly search-and-rescue, but we also did a lot of drug interdiction missions throughout the Caribbean.
FAVORITE HELICOPTER Well, this one is easy! The
HH-65 Dolphin, US Coast Guard variant.
How did you decide helicopter aviation was the career for you? The idea of hovering captured my imagination. Coming from a fixed-wing mindset, I gradually came to discover that although fixed-wing air- craft propel themselves through the air, they don’t really “fly” in the spirit of nature’s original pilots (birds). But helicopters? They may not have wings, but they fly!
My pursuit of a career in helicopters was a combination of pure fascination with the air- craft and a love of the Coast Guard mission.
How did you get to your present position?
I began speaking and presenting on aviation safety while I was on active duty and flying. I traveled to numer- ous aviation units to perform training, and folks seemed to find great value in it. I still receive invitations to speak—basically through word-of- mouth chatter in the community.
Brian Wetzler and his wife, Elizabeth, in front of a Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin.
64 ROTOR MARCH 2023
What are your career goals? In the aviation realm, I plan to con- tinue speaking whenever and wher- ever I’m invited to do so. Much of my speaking is about how my crew and I survived a catastrophic helicop- ter mishap when we shouldn’t have. My presentations tell the story of the mishap flight, our hours in a life raft awaiting rescue, and the many lessons we learned. Even though my personal flying
experience gets older each year, the human factors I discuss in my training do not. As tech- nology seems to take on more and more responsibility in the cockpit, I believe it’s important to remember that flying remains pri- marily a human undertaking.
What advice would you give someone pursuing your career path? If “pursuing my path” means flying helicopters for the Coast Guard, my first bit of advice would be to believe the hype. Coast Guard
Brian Wetzler, VIEW the Nov. 17, 2022,
HAI@Work webinar to hear how Brian survived a catastrophic crash
Cmdr.
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