I think, its not possible for anyone to determine and name the best helicopterpilot in the world. One essential point is, that nobody knows all of our worldwide collegues and there are many pilots, which are doing a very good job in their respective field. But who is the best overall?

I think, HeliEngs opinion about the combination of skills is absolutely correct.

skadi

Best Pilot...
 

Well, i have to say, i can't come to a conclusion about who is best, but i have had the privilige of flying with some great pilots out there.

Steve76, 407Driver, Kissmysquirrel, Flingingwings, Flying Pencil, Decimal & Murray Cheslock-HTSC (Ca)

These people to me are inspirational, because they are thoroughly decent people and they are pilots of a noticble quality. It isn't because they have many thousands of hours or because they have flown the world round a few times setting world records, but because of their genuiness as people.

Thanks to you all and safe flying :D

MD :ok:

I don't go along with the idea that making a mistake disqualifes someone. If it did that's gonna make it a short list. Anyways, even if the guy did screw up, he still got himself and the co-joe out of it alive. And he got back in the saddle and did it right the next time. Maybe its a cultural thing but Brits just love to focus on failure instead of success.

"because of their genuiness as people"?
Maybe that's an idea for another thread.

Anyways, maybe some folk are taking the question far too literal. Of course no one person can say who is 'the best' helicopter pilot in the world because no one person has flown with all the helo pilots in the world and even if they had maybe their not be qualified to judge.
There's no harm in asking if there's one pilot you've flown with who stands out as the best you've known. He or she may not literally be the best in the world but the best in the world that you know of.
Funny thing is while some folk are are criticizing suggestions and others are fussing about what the test should be, the guy here who's got the reputation of being one of the best helicopter pilots in the world modestly suggests the name of other pilots he's learnt from in his career. I reckon that's the right spirit to approach the question.

Floyd Carlson

the Sultan

Bronx,

I have learned from Instructors, Captains, Co-pilots, and Students. Sometimes it was to see how to do something, how to do something better, and in some cases on how never to do something.

Thus using "learning from others" as a criteria for them being the "best" might not cover all the bases.;)

I find it safest to keep on reminding myself it's NOT me! ;)

I am always shy before posting on pprune since my experience in aviation is limited to ultra lights and 2 flights on helis, but this question I can answer with no doubt...
The best pilot ever is Madame Valérie André, the first doctor to become a general in the French military, the first helicopter pilot too to become a general, and this being a lady...the first lady lieutenant general of course...
She started as a doctor during the Indochina war and because she had a bit of experience in fixed wing (I guess just a PPL and some gliding time...), she was designated to fly one of the first 2 helicopters delivered to the French military, a Hiller 360 on which she qualified in 1950.
She flew countless missions in Laos, Vietnam to rescue the wounded, sometimes she even parachuted from a DC3 in the middle of war zone.
She then flew Alouette 2, 3, Bell47, Djinn, Sikorsky 58 on which she was shot down during the Algerian war.
When I met her in 2000 at Le Bourget I was 15, she introduced herself as a retired military doctor and then gave me her book.
My dream then was to fly with Air France even though I was not too smart at school.
After reading all her stories written with such a humble style it's impossible to discern the danger, the fear, the doubts, my mind focused on just one thing: 1 day, fly helicopters for a living.
It's not because of all her achievements that she is the greatest but because she lighted that fire...

Elena,

Can you provide us the information on the book so that we might buy one....it would be interesting reading I bet. Makes one wonder if she crossed paths with Alan Bristow during his days with the French.

Here is PDF that mentions her
 

http://www.hiller.org/files/docs/2000Q2.pdf

I found references to her in "A Street Without Joy", but no books specifically about her. Too bad, she sounds like someone we should know more about.

Glad to see my post created some interest, Madame Andre really deserves it...
SASLESS have a look there:
http://www.au.af.mil/au/goe/eaglebio...os/andre00.htm

She wrote 2 books, only in French unfortunatly:

"Ici ventilateur" in 1954, mostly about the Indochina war.
"Madame Le Général" in 1988 about all her life.

Both out of print...

Sorry. How could a woman possibly be the best helicopter pilot? (ducks for incoming)



HeliEng is right in what he/she says. To be the best would require multiple skills and qualities. Anyone who has crashed due to pilot error can't possibly be up there with the best of them. IMHO.

Kissmysquirrel

Are you suggesting that a pilot who has been flying for 30 years and has clocked up 1000's of hours on numerous types, but who had a crash due to pilot error in their early years as a pliot couldn't be up there with the best of them:confused:

Surely everyone is entitled to a mistake and it is only a true reflection on a pilots ability if that mistake is repeated???

As for who the best is... well that depends on what 'best' means.

PR

I think the best Helicopter Pilots are guys like Nick Lappos.

Thanks for you replies .But there is a lot more pilots to be placed.

"BEST" we are looking for pilots that are an inspiration to helicopter pilots you may only of flown with a few but one of them will have left you in awe so name him or her.
the pilot i recomend is George Tippler he is so profesional in every aspect he is also very good trainer and teaches to a very high level

So in my tiny world G is the best and i think he deserves a mention.

Levo:D Well done George.

Valérie André, at the top for sure...
But this guy (Michel Anglade) is not bad either:
http://perso.orange.fr/cernicale/cv.htm

Another French...sorry...
But he is the one who found Mark Thatcher (and 18 others lost on that route) after 4 days in the desert, early 80s, Paris-Dakar Rally...

Best Helicopter Pilot
 

I guess that's what happens when Stanley Hiller is your instructor. She was also a neurosurgeon, does that count? When she visited the Hiller museum and gave a talk she described how she flew out to do the helicopter rescue (solo, because of weight restrictions), then flew back with the wounded soldier, then operated on him. I think she retired as Chief Air Surgeon of the French Air Force, with time in every aircraft in their inventory.

Andy Gutteridge, and yes he crashed a few times but a 100% great pilot and wonderful person with whom it was always a great pleasure to fly with.

brootmeenoo.

Rescuing Mark Thatcher may have been a fine demonstation of skill, but it does display a certain lack of judgement.

OA

Well, actually this is what happened: on that faithful day, 18 cars and motorcycles were lost because of the tricky navigation (no GPS then) combined with a sand storm.
So Thierry Sabine asked his chief pilot (Michel Anglade) to stay behind and rescue them, bearing in mind some had very little water and could not last more than 1-2 days.
And it took Anglade 3 days, flying from sunrise to sunset, returning to base to refuel, and up in the air again, to find them all.:D
And about Mark Thatcher, his team mate was a French lady Charlotte Verney.
In the French press at this time, they said if they were lost , there might be some hidden reason;) , but after a couple of days, it became obvious they were in deep trouble.
Anyway, Anglade from his heli could not spot who was on the ground, so his job was first to send a radio call to give their position, then to land to give them some water, and then to take off again to find the rest.
So, it was no lack of good judgment since he did not know who was in the car when he spotted a vehicle at the time of the radio call, plus there was this charming lady to be saved;)

Best Pilot
 

A number of years ago in a bar in Schefferville Quebec a number of hard working helicopter crew were undergoing social re-ajustment when one of the group was heard to say to an attractive lady: " I am one of the best helicopter pilots in Canada! In fact I am rated number six!"
Due to the fact that this "Gift to Aviation" had already planted one 206 on floats upside down in the trees during his short career and had a reputation for doing stupid albiet specactular moves I was quite surprised. He would go on to plant a couple of other machines for unsuspecting operators before leaving the industry.
I turned to the guy next to me - a grizzled old salt who was looking and listening with an amused expression - and said: "Geeze I didn't even know there was a contest!"
The grizzled veteran looked at me and said:"Neither did I. You gotta admit, however, that old number Six over there crashes very well! In fact, if I am not wrong, he is about to crash in flames in this very bar as he screws up his approach to the lovely lady. Too fast and too low, too stupid to overshoot. Same way he FUBARED the 206. The boy wonder just doesn't learn! I await more dispatches about his further exploits with great interest. Your round I think.":E
My point - if there is one - if you think you are a hotshot you probably aren't.:=