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Imagine the flying experience, tips and tricks that you would pick up in a helicopter career spanning 5 decades. Pete Gillies has just retired from full time work in the industry and in this episode he talks about his first experiences of learning to fly a helicopter in the 1960s and passing his commercial helicopter flight test.
Pete Gillies has been a long time Chief Pilot at Western Helicopters in California, USA. He is also a regular contributor to the industry’s leading helicopter publications and a distinguished speaker at events for airborne law enforcers, professional helicopter pilots and the industry at large. He is sought after as an expert witness and for challenging wire pulling, external load and mountain flying operations.
A big thank you to Douglas Williams for recording the audio that you hear in this episode and helping with the setup and photos you see here. Doug trained at Western Helicopters and obtained his PPL/Rotorcraft-Helicopter certificate in December of 2013. Western pushed him to also complete the certificate for Advanced Ground Instructor. Douglas is a past president of EAA Chapter 845 in Redlands, CA where he continues to serve as ground instructor for the Young Eagles events. Douglas is also currently building a Rotorway Jet Exec (turbine conversion) experimental helicopter, and hopes to be flying the skies soon!
Despite his Dad being the Vice-President of Flight Test Engineering at Grumman Aircraft and his Mother being a WASP[Women Airforce Service Pilots], Pete was more interested in a career in electronics initially. He did pick up fixed wing licences but it was 15 years as a technician before Pete showed any interest in helicopters.
The interview in this episode is the story that Pete tells of his first helicopter flight and the start of a distinguished career in the rotary wing world.
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Links from this week’s episode:
Western Helicopters
Marc Philipp Veenendaal’s Instagram account with aviation drawings
Diploma in Leadership and Management
Video – Pete Gillies in an MD500 conducting a longline hookup
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You can also find some more interview articles with Pete here(JustHelicopters) and here(VerticalMag).
In this episode we also mention the hobby Instagram account of aviation artist Marc Veenendaal. It is well worth checking out his drawings on his account. Leave a comment on this blog post to go into the random draw to win for your own custom image from Marc.
Do you know Pete or have flown with him? Use the comments below to leave a public tribute or thank you to Pete Gillies. Also don’t forget our competition for this week – leave a short story or comment about *your* first helicopter experience to win a custom drawing by Marc Veenendaal.
Competition closes Tuesday 23 Feb 2016 0000UTC
Hey Mick, great show. Hope we get to hear more, I love these first hand stories. I remember my first helicopter flight clearly. Fall of 1980, I had recently signed up with the Minnesota Army National Guard. At one of my early drill weekends, before I had gone to basic, we were going to do assault insertion maneuvers. We had a flight of about 6-8 Uh-1H Huey’s fly in. What a sound. I remembered strapping in, and liftoff. What a experience. My first flight of any kind, and it was in off all things a Huey. A boyhood dream come true!
Nice one Lee. That’s doing it in style for sure.
Hey mick! Love the show! My name is Matthew and I am 18 Years old. I just got my commercial rotorcraft license in the US. I have a passion for flying and love aviation with everything I have. I also have followed Mark’s instagram for a long time and I am a huge fan. My first helicopter experience was in a R22. I began my flight training at the age of 12-13 by taking my first flight lesson. I worked hard on my training and prepared for my first solo. My first solo was on a cool October evening. I was 16 at the time and I will never forget the moment those skids left the ground.I proceeded to get my private on my 17th birthday, which is the youngest one can achieve a rotorcraft license in the US. After my private I worked toward my commercial and it at the age of 18. I am now working on my instrument and my ultimate goal is to fly heli ski. Hope to won one of Marks awesome drawings!
Again, Love the show! Tailwinds!
Matthew
That’s awesome Matt! Great to hear from you.
reat to see the comments…keep them coming!
Many thanks for giving the opportunity to hear from the most fantastic flight instructor I’ve had the privilege to fly with. From the reading of “Purely Pete”‘s column from the much missed Autorotate Mag to my flight training at Western Ops in 2011, 2013 and 2014, every minute spent with this incredible pilot, teacher, and now mentor was inestimable for my flying skills and deep understanding of “real world” rotary wing science. If you’re lucky enough to be anywhere near this great man, visiting and chatting with “Yoda Pete” is a must for every helicopter pilot !
Hi Mick,
Great show and it’s so refreshing to hear so many helicopter stories from around the globe. I’m a CH47 instructor in the RAF and the topics in your podcasts fuel a lot of crew room discussions on everything from performance to long lining tuna with a chinook!! From my first familiarisation flight in a gazelle to frontline Afghanistan Ops in the chinook, the rotary world is a truly unique one in aviation. The passion for knowledge and experience is constantly updated when I hear the guest interviews and watch the associated videos.
Excellent work and look forward to future shows!
Andy Waldron 28Sqn OCU
Another great episode Mick,
Wanted to share my helicopter experience. My father is a CFI in both Rotors and fixed wing. He has taken myself and my 2 brothers flying since we were young kids. He always talked about owning a helicopter when I was young. He worked his whole life to make that dream happen and bought a Hiller C model, then a Hughes 269 and recently he bought an R44 Raven II. The day he brough the Hiller home he took each of us flying and asked us if we wanted to fly, then told all 3 of us having the helicopter was only a piece of his bigger dream of being able to teach his kids to fly. As of today my brothers are both rotor pilots and Ill be joining them as a rotor pilot very soon. We are all 3 now working on our fixed wing rating with him as well. During the process we lost the Hughes due to a mechanical failure, but by the grace of God everyone on board walked away. We were all a little shaken by the event but got right back in the cockpit and didn’t let it stop any of us. He now owns Legacy Helicopters and all of us work together to keep it going. Along with his kids, my father has inspired our kids to fly and has taken both of his older grandkids up many times and started them on their way to continuing the Legacy of Flight in our family.
Thanks for sharing Kayla, great inspiring story!
My dream of flight began, as with many of us, as a child.
On the occasion of my seventh birthday, my father took me to one of the most historically important helicopter agencies, National Helicopter (now based at KVNY) in Glendale CA. This was my birthday present.
There sat a gleaming Bell 47G. The pilot, whose name I never did know, asked, “Doors-on or off?”
My father, aware of my own preferences, also added his spirit of adventure to the mix and replied knowingly, “Off.” He got it right from the get-go.
I, in the middle seat, looked up through that snow-globe of a bubble and saw the rotors begin to turn, and right there, it got in my blood and never left.
There was no talking during that 20-minute flight. In those days, headsets were for pilots, not passengers, and ANR was yet to come.. The noise was wonderful anyway, in the manner that Jet A exhaust fumes can be enjoyed, however incomprehensible it is to non-aviators
No talking, but plenty of looks and smiles. I remember leaning forward and stretching around my father’s chest to see outside of the helicopter. Sitting in the right seat, my father would get the thrill and rush of that door being removed. And although I was having as much fun as a seven year old could have at being airborne for the first time, there was something missing. As great as it was, I felt I was being deprived of something magnificent, something regal. It did not take long to hit upon what it was.
Safely bracketed by two adults as I sat in that squeezy middle seat, I noticed that the dual cyclic controls were on either side, not in the middle. I did not get one.
The grail quest of getting to the outside seat, with no door, hanging in midair, and in control, became crystallized at that moment.
It has been 50-year quest.
Finishing my private, IFR and commercial certificate is the culmination of that quest and the satisfaction of that one goal accomplished is as meaningful to me as any peak that is conquered by a climber.
I am living proof that if you never give up, regardless of all the adversity in your way, you can eventually be successful. I am very proud of my accomplishments and passed my check ride at the age of 59, 52 years after that first ride with my father. I wish he were here to see it.
I fly on the outside now, with the door off, with a cyclic in my hand.
Never quit. Take breaks, recover. Lick your wounds. But never quit.
Experience is the best virtue of a pilot. I enjoy meeting long time helicopter pilots and listening to what life was like when everyone was trying to figure out how to make these machines do countless new missions.
It seems that helicopter pilots like astronauts do have “The Right Stuff”
Hi Mick
Thanks for the great show, and a wealth of information. Keep it up.
I’ve been connected with Mark for some time now, he does great work.
The most memorable first experience was, in 2003, going on a tour in Maui – with Blue Hawaiian. I remember the “magic carpet” feeling when we picked up, and hover taxied from a very crowded pad, onto the taxiway for take-off. The feeling of maneuvering backwards, sideways, and forward, left me with the feeling of driving a magic carpet. As an already fixed wing pilot at the time, I added helicopter flying to my learning todo list.
It took me forever to get to my todo list, but when I finally did learn to fly a helicopter last year, the most amazing experience was to be the magic carpet PIC on a very confined rooftop pad operation at the local school at John Wayne Airport – training with Helistream. I really enjoy the off-airport operations into confined wilderness areas. Camp sites, and picnic spots in my local area is a great escape from the everyday corporate life. Wish I can do more of that.
Cheers,
Mick love your show, this was probably my favorite episode so far, Pete is a great story teller. My most memorable helicopter experience occurred not to long ago. I’m a fixed wing pilot by trade and fly several types of GA airplanes pretty often. While i love airplanes i’ve always had an interest in helicopters. Last November i decided to finally check into getting my helicopter rating. I bought an intro flight in an R22 from a local flight school and had no idea the impact it would have. My CFI was a young woman about my age, 28, and was a very confident and experienced pilot. We did all the basic maneuvers and i managed not to kill us as we flew just above the treetops with me on the controls. I was amazed at the altitude, or the lack of it, and then i tried to hover; that’s when the fun began. I call myself being a competent pilot but this was a whole different world. We were on the taxiway as i tried for seconds at time to hold the ship steady, no luck. I would relax, focus on a point and hold it for 2-3 seconds before the ship turned into a amusement ride with no hope of stability. I genuinely thought i was going to kill us, while my instructor laughed. During this chaos something strange happened, i was struggling to hold a hover when i looked up to a white tail deer standing in the taxiway 20ft ahead of the ship. For 10-12 seconds it stared at us while we hovered, during this time, to my amazement i was perfectly steady. After that i greatly improved and managed to taxi us back to the FBO. It seems all i needed was a little distraction. Overall it was an amazing experience that ill never forget and I’ve been hooked ever since. Im currently working towards my PPL then on to my CPL and CFI. I still fly my airplane but its almost “boring” compared to the helicopter. Aviation will never be the same to me.
Mick, I’ve been listening to the podcast for awhile but the episodes with Pete Gillies have been a real treat. Add me to the roster of Rotary Wing Show fans in the greater Los Angeles area.
My first opportunity to manipulate the controls of a helicopter came when I was 10 years old. My father was a TV weatherman in St. Louis, Missouri and his station’s Bell 206 landed at a park near our house for a festival/helicopter fly-in. Sensing an opportunity I introduced myself to the pilot and mentioned that my dad also worked for the station. The pilot kindly offered to fly me, my brother, and my mom back to the TV station to meet my dad.
As the budding aviator of the family I got to sit up front. It was a quick but transformative flight from our suburban community to downtown St. Louis. Along the way the pilot let me control the cyclic, teaching me how to pitch the nose down and up. Honestly, from as early as I could remember I knew I wanted to be a helicopter pilot but that short hop in a 206 truly cemented the concept.
It took another 20 years but I eventually got my helicopter pilot’s license. 6 years later I finally bought my own helicopter, a 1978 Enstrom 280C that was born the same year I was. Yesterday I took my wife and 7-month old daughter out for a short flight in the Enstrom around the port of Los Angeles. With any luck my love of rotary wing flight will trickle down to my daughter. Fingers crossed!