As I said in my previous posting, I sympathise with those who are obliged to ride in the back of any helicopter to and from work. But I also despair at the irrational hostility which has been whipped up. I/we drivers have known for years that most of you are afraid to a greater or lesser extent.
On Monday morning dozens of my fellow pilots attended a briefing by our management and plenty of well-thought-out views were expressed. But none of them were against the Super Puma family, nor against EC and other agencies. The greatest concern was at the sheer lies and rumours which have been spread without a shred of evidence.
All of us want to feel as safe as humanly possible and we work diligently each day to bring ourselves and you home to our - and your families. We were asked by management if any of us have any qualms and, please believe me, we're completely unafraid to tell them if we think that anyone or anything is wrong.
Not one of the attending pilots of Super Pumas, S92s, EC225s, S76s or AW139s expressed any doubts about our operational or engineering standards, or any reservations about other agencies. You say that we're above-averagely intelligent (I'd like to think so, but nobody will tell me to my face) and I've already said that some of my colleagues would call our management tw_ts to their faces.
Please give us credit for knowing what we're doing and you should only start to get militant against a helicopter type when you learn that we have "concerns". We're not gung-ho "ace" types of pilots. We don't have death wishes. We are chosen from a segment of the pilot world which generally doesn't include "chancers". Historically there were a couple, but they're gone.