search.noResults

search.searching

saml.title
dataCollection.invalidEmail
note.createNoteMessage

search.noResults

search.searching

orderForm.title

orderForm.productCode
orderForm.description
orderForm.quantity
orderForm.itemPrice
orderForm.price
orderForm.totalPrice
orderForm.deliveryDetails.billingAddress
orderForm.deliveryDetails.deliveryAddress
orderForm.noItems
CHARLIE ROWLES PHOTO


Randy Rowles: Moving Forward


World-class instructor and aviation leader steps up to guide HAI. By Paul Koscak


WATCH


Randy Rowles on Preflighting


O


N JUL. 1, 2021, RANDY ROWLES BECAME the new chairman of HAI’s board of direc- tors. Being elected by your peers to lead an industry trade association is a huge achievement, but it’s an even greater feat


considering that Randy quit high school in his first year and started a family as a teenager. He ultimately earned an MBA and now operates an internationally renowned helicopter flight-training school. But to appreciate how Randy reached the summit of the helicopter community, let’s start from the beginning.


Early Challenges Randy’s father ignited an aviation spark in his son that quickly blazed when they visited an air show near West Palm Beach, Florida, where Randy grew up. Just 14 at the time, Randy took a ride in a Bell 47J Ranger. He liked it so much, he took another ride—all on his father’s dime, of course. “Something struck me about it,” he recalls. “I just knew I


wanted to fly.” His first challenge wasn’t learning to master the aircraft


but, rather, how to pay for the training. Bernoulli’s principle may give helicopters their lift, but students know money keeps them in the air. “My father told me, ‘I’ll pay for the first lesson, but you’ll need to figure out how to pay for the rest.’ ” Fortunately, the senior Rowles had some good advice


about where Randy could accomplish that, telling his son to hang out where he could learn more about flying—at the airport. So Randy pedaled his bike after school and on weekends to Palm Beach County Park Airport (KLNA). He roamed the ramps, getting to know people and doing odd jobs, such as washing airplanes and cleaning hangars, and then trading his sweat equity for flight time. Tat approach eventually paid off, earning the aspiring aviator his airplane private pilot certificate at the age of 17. Randy was riveted on making it in aviation—but in school,


not so much. He hated high school so much that he dropped out in his first year. To add to his challenges, he and Samantha Hoban, his girlfriend, whom he met in seventh grade, married


and became parents at 18. Luckily, a local pilot and community college aviation


instructor took an interest in the teenager and insisted he take the GED (General Educational Development Test). He passed, earning a high school equivalency diploma, and his mentor invited Randy to take aviation courses at the com- munity college. Tere, Randy met many aviation professionals, leading to


his first aviation job as a fueler for Aircraft Service International Group at Palm Beach International Airport (KPBI). Although only 17, Randy claimed he was 18 to get the job. “I was fueling for Delta Air Lines, driving a 10,000-gallon fuel truck,” he recalls. “I had several jobs to pay the bills.” Randy credits the management of another company,


Aircoastal Helicopters, for working out the deal of a lifetime, which enabled him to realize his dream of working with rotorcraft. “I didn’t like working with airplanes, and a worker at Aircoastal didn’t like working with helicopters, so the companies swapped us,” he says. “Tat single trade of employ- ees really changed my life.” At Aircoastal, Randy got his first taste of the helicopter


industry, at times tagging along on company flights. But he still needed training to move ahead. Sweeping floors and fueling helicopters didn’t bring in enough money to fly them. His next big break happened in that same hangar. Palm


Beach Helicopters leased space from Aircoastal and ran a flight school. Wisely, Randy added the flight school’s office to his cleaning routine, eventually becoming friends with the owner. “I asked him if he knew any students willing to help pay for my flight lessons. He had a lot of high-end students—doctors and lawyers.” His timing couldn’t have been better. Te owner of Palm Beach Helicopters was willing to invest


in Randy’s aviation training in exchange for his help in establishing a crop-dusting company in Georgia. Randy earned his helicopter commercial certificate and one week later was applying the low-altitude, aerobatic yank-and-bank skills of crop-dusting. Now 19 years old with some flying experience, Randy


SEPTEMBER 2021 ROTOR 25


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76