Benedikt Tebartz van Elst is a 22-year-old commercial helicopter pilot from Germany. Benedikt knew from a very young age that he wanted to be a pilot. The external load training with Volo Mission improved his general flying skills significantly.
“Growing up in Germany and being several times on vacation in the Alps, I started to dream about becoming a commercial helicopter pilot at a very young age. After my first flight in a helicopter, it was clear to me that I really wanted to become a helicopter pilot. I started with the private pilot license at the age of 17 and immediately continued with the commercial license after graduating from school.”
In order to build up the required flying experience for the CPL training, I decided to fly some of these hours in the United States in order to gain valuable experience of flying in a different country.
My flight instructor, who flew in the United States before and already knew Volo Mission, suggested I take part in Volos training course as he knew that it would greatly improve my flying skills and experience. In choosing to go through the Volo Mission training, my aim was to improve my manual flying skills by working and flying with external loads and furthermore to gain experience and insight in the work of a utility pilot.
The best thing about the training with Volo Mission was the focus of the exercises and instruction on the skills and experience of each individual participant. The instructors scaled the training perfectly on each participant by choosing suitable exercises and thoroughly briefing and debriefing each flight.
I definitely recommend the external load training with Volo Mission to other pilots. Even if you are not intending to work in the utility industry, attending this course will greatly enhance your flying skills and experience. I personally was just at the beginning of my pilot training and didn´t feel completely comfortable flying helicopters. Just within a few hours of flying, the external load training with Volo Mission didn´t just enable me to fly external loads comfortably, it improved my general flying skills significantly.
In my opinion, attending the external load training with Volo Mission is a great asset to every pilot – experienced or inexperienced – not just for future employers and applications but also to improve one’s flying skills.
