From first solo flight to HEMS: Vašek Hloušek continues his helicopter pilot training
How do you become a professional helicopter pilot and perhaps one day fly for the helicopter emergency medical service? It is a journey that takes several years and thousands of flying hours. But our student Vašek Hloušek has now completed another important step – his first solo navigation flight in a Guimbal Cabri G2.
And the helicopter emergency medical service is exactly where he would one day like his flying career to take him.
Vašek is already closely connected to this field. He works as a paramedic, so he knows the world of emergency medicine, the work of the emergency services and the environment in which HEMS helicopters operate every day. He is now gradually adding a second area of expertise – flying.
His journey towards professional flying is taking him through LION Helicopters in Hradec Králové, where he is completing his helicopter pilot training.
First solo navigation flight
A solo navigation flight is one of the key milestones in training for a PPL(H) – Private Pilot Licence (Helicopter).
Unlike the first solo flight in the aerodrome circuit, the student now sets off alone in the helicopter on a navigation flight. There is no instructor beside them to offer advice or take control.
The pilot must independently manage the preparation and conduct of the flight, navigation, radio communication, situational awareness, in-flight decision-making and, of course, a safe take-off and landing.
Vašek handled his first solo navigation flight brilliantly. Congratulations! 👏🚁
For the PPL(H), this is another item completed in the training syllabus. For a future professional pilot, however, it is also one of the first steps on a much longer journey.
How do you become a HEMS helicopter pilot?
This is a question we receive fairly often from prospective students.
A PPL(H) allows you to become a helicopter pilot, but not yet a professional pilot. Anyone who wants to earn a living from flying will need further training, a professional CPL(H), additional ratings and, above all, practical experience and flying hours.
Building the first few hundred hours is often one of the most difficult parts of starting a career as a professional helicopter pilot.
The cockpit of a helicopter emergency medical service aircraft is therefore still a considerable way off. HEMS pilots must hold the appropriate licences and ratings and have substantial real-world operational experience. There is no shortcut that takes someone straight from a training helicopter into a HEMS cockpit.
But there is a path.
A pilot’s first helicopter job can begin where their training started
At LION Helicopters, we aim to see training as more than just a route to gaining a pilot’s licence. We are also interested in what comes next.
Many of the pilots you now see in the right-hand seat as instructors were sitting on the other side just a few years ago.
They started with us as students.
They gradually gained further experience and ratings, completed their FI(H) instructor training and were given the opportunity at LION Helicopters to continue into their first job as helicopter pilots.
Training other students allowed them to build the additional experience and flying hours required for the next stages of their careers.
As a result, our current students learn from pilots who know first-hand the journey from the first solo flight through a professional licence to their first flying job.
Guimbal Cabri G2: from the first hours to professional experience
The foundation of our training is the Guimbal Cabri G2 – a modern two-seat helicopter designed with a strong emphasis on training, safety and modern engineering.
Our students complete their first hours, first solo flights and navigation training on the Cabri G2.
And for some of them, their story with the Cabri does not end when they gain their licence.
After obtaining the required ratings, they can return to the same type as instructors and begin building their first professional experience on it.
We consider this continuity between the individual stages to be an important part of training. From the first flight through PPL(H), CPL(H) and FI(H), all the way to the first few hundred hours of professional flying.
Vašek’s journey continues
Vašek still has some way to go before reaching his dream seat in the cockpit of a helicopter emergency medical service aircraft.
But he already has one major advantage. He knows the emergency medical service from the other side and understands exactly why he wants to pursue this path.
Now he is gradually adding experience as a pilot.
First take-off with an instructor. First solo. First solo navigation flight. Licence. Further training. First professional experience. And then more and more hours.
Every helicopter pilot you see in a HEMS cockpit today had to start somewhere.
Vašek, congratulations on your first solo navigation flight, and we wish you many more safe flying hours. 🚁
Perhaps one day this very flight will be one of the first entries in the logbook that took you all the way to the cockpit of a helicopter emergency medical service aircraft.