What surprises me, is that this kind of event doesn't happen more often when flying single pilot for these "private, so called VIPs" customers. You have to deal by your own with too often whimsy, capricious almost bipolar organizers and/or passengers. The induced stress may rise in a matter of minutes all comes together; phone calls,text messages, destination changes, unexpected volume of bags, timing, slots at airport, catering, weather.... Being "private" (NCC) no real operation department to assist you, sometimes with the help of a non qualified "safety pilot" (who can be anyone wearing a white shirt with shoulder stripes)
The workload may quickly become unbearable and make you forget your priorities management. I can't count the times that I've seen experienced pilots texting an ETA or a departure message sms on their one or two of their cellphones when taking-off! This kind of behaving can easily make you forget a power line you already know. When you talk about Class performances and take off profiles, the best you can get is a polite smile.
I've flown many different type of helicopter flights in my career, from crop spraying, long line to offshore ....but "private VIP"(in oppostion to a proper CAT/AOC operator) is without doubt, to me, a "brute job"
I hear you and I would not work as a private pilot for an owner of a helicopter to fly him exclusively. Too much pressure and things I have no control about but am supposed to deal with and sort out last minute. Lord Ballyedmond springs to mind.
In the case of the crashed 109 it was a proper AOC company, operating commercially for charter, mostly twins as far as I know.
I fly for a company that is hardly perfect by any means. But we have an OPS department with experienced people, my boss has backed me up several times when I refused to take luggage that would have left me over MTOM and or there was no space to stow it safely. I left it behind and it went by boat overnight. Also we are not flying to 2 helipads (not official ones, just build by clueless hotel owners) anymore because the winds are so bad that even in a 407 or B3 you sometimes barely outperform the downdrafts/ turbulence in those places.
It's true that you are on the cellphone often during flights (on the ground!) cause of changing takeoff times but luckily I don't have to deal with slots cause we mainly go to private, surveyed landing sites, helipads or smaller airports with no ATC. Also all our machines have Spidertracks so OPS knows where you are without bothering you on the phone too much. Slots and parking space at the busy airports in the Greek summer are a nightmare, so at least the problem is off my back.
Weather is not really a factor, wind allways is. Daily winds of 30-35 Kts, Gusting higher, lot's of turbulence at your take off and landing sites, those are the issues you have to deal with here. Also you're often at the weight limits and temps do go over 35 C. The B3 is ok, the 407 temps out earlier and the 120 is just the 120
The issues I have with my company are mainly smaller things that drive you up the wall. Usual Southern European stuff a la "instead of properly planning and organizing things we freak out when things go tits up and expect people to improvise a lot". Cleaning equipment for the machines, a ladder for the preflight checks, updates for the ipads, basic tools for the AC (filling up engine oil in the 407 in very windy conditions, wiithout a proper funnel and gloves, drives you nuts
). Those kind of things.
Well, another 2 or 3 weeks and it's all over for this year anyway
