Law Enforcement, EMS Flying & a Life-Saving Mission with Steve C. Powell

00:00:00:

00:00:27: The views shared in this podcast are personal and for informational purposes only.

00:00:31: They do not reflect any employer or aviation authority and nothing discussed here should be considered flight training or regulatory guidance.

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00:00:46: Hello and welcome!

00:00:47: This is AviationQuestCC Our weekly aviation & flight simming podcast.

00:00:54: My name is Stefan.

00:00:55: I'm one of your hosts.

00:00:57: I'm the pilot here, but luckily we have one guy who's a professional podcaster and also mental coach for pilots.

00:01:06: So he is basically the one that runs everything and knows what's going on.

00:01:10: He just shows up to tell me how it works.

00:01:13: so you again nice to be back!

00:01:15: It has been awhile since we've spoken last time.

00:01:18: glad

00:01:21: For all the new listeners, we are a growing channel.

00:01:25: Stefan is an A-Street-Twenty pilot and flies for a lot of tourists still to destinations they dream about all year long.

00:01:37: And my name is Jürgen Reis and I coach as Stefan already mentioned pilots in mental performance with special focus on assessments simulator sessions and training environments.

00:01:51: And we are already at episode fifty one, what a journey!

00:01:58: We make our way through the episodes also thanks to great guests

00:02:06: Absolutely.

00:02:07: So this podcast would not be possible without the wonderful people that agree to come on and talk about their lives, stories, background.

00:02:19: of course aviation because it's all about flight simming although we struggle a bit to find enough people from the flight siming community.

00:02:31: so if you're listening If you have any suggestions or if you know anyone who think would be a cool guest, then please let us now.

00:02:42: Absolutely.

00:02:43: You're right Stefan We should really mention.

00:02:46: the easiest way to get in contact with us is our Email address.

00:02:51: you can directly find on Our home page Or I cannot read it out here its aviation at aviation.

00:03:01: By the way, all emails are received by me personally.

00:03:06: And another easy way to contact with me, it's something that evolved so-to say into the unofficial professional social media outlet is LinkedIn.

00:03:20: So LinkedIn my name Jürgen Reis.

00:03:22: you will find there I think also maybe from your network a lot of mutual connections and the reason being is I accept every invitation from outside.

00:03:37: Just click, click, now also today i receive a lot messages.

00:03:42: It's really it became...I think its straight forward way to message nowadays more convenient than e-mails.

00:03:49: And as I said link in channel works great for getting touch with us Or with me first, then it's us.

00:03:57: And also if you think that are a guest or want to be featured on the show wherever in aviation please just write me in and the direct link to LinkedIn is also on show notes.

00:04:11: The show notes are at very end below teaser of today's episode.

00:04:16: but Stefan, speaking about flight siming you're not only quote unquote a real-world pilot.

00:04:22: You have great FlightSIMP pilot on YouTube best known by your famous FS Clips long term project channel But also running a sidechannel this aviation dash quest podcast and there is a youtube version of the audio cast with some great flying creative players stefan simflying created by stefan going on.

00:04:46: And yeah what is going on today stefan?

00:04:51: Yeah so if you watch this on youtube, you already know because it's always says at the beginning what we're gonna do.

00:04:57: uh last time you may remember And I really like the A-three forty three hundred.

00:05:06: It's an aircraft actually used to work on many, many years ago and so i thought let's take it out again do a more standard flight.

00:05:15: that is still happening today.

00:05:17: there are not many three forties left but this one i see once in awhile.

00:05:22: its operated by Edelweiss.

00:05:24: they fly from Zurich to Palma de Mallorca with the A Three Forty usually on Sundays which going to do today?

00:05:33: a nice holiday flight with probably well over three hundred people on board all coming

00:05:56: And it's really impressive, forty six minutes and worth watching.

00:06:09: Impressive!

00:06:10: I've never seen... Really?

00:06:12: I have read about flying into Antarctica at FlightSim but seeing its real so to say in real FlightSim world life was impressive.

00:06:24: a very nice adventure.

00:06:26: also for you.

00:06:28: everything is unusual.

00:06:30: Yeah, it was cool.

00:06:31: Very great adventure like you said and I just prepared as best as i could but they didn't actually do the flight before started filming.

00:06:40: so It was a new experience not just for the audience But also from me.

00:06:46: good!

00:06:47: I guess its time to move on to our guest today.

00:06:51: So always you can conduct at the interview.

00:06:56: Well, not always but most of the time and I usually then listen to it afterwards.

00:07:01: So Jürgen since you were the one conducting an interview why don't you introduce us our guest today?

00:07:08: Yeah for today's episode we are heading to Texas to meet Steve C. Powell on ATP helicopter pilot with more than five decades in aviation over ten thousand flight hours.

00:07:22: his career spans law enforcement New helicopter operations and many years in air medically flying.

00:07:30: And as we'll hear, one particular mission became a story he I think would never forget.

00:07:38: it's really yeah.

00:07:40: It was for me a fascinating interview.

00:07:43: Yeah I loved it, I love to talk with him and he is really also you.

00:07:49: We had a little private chat as always before we started recording Stefan.

00:07:56: i think its an interview that's fun to listen maybe even worse listening at

00:08:06: least twice.

00:08:07: really cool interview because you can tell he's super enthusiastic, very motivated.

00:08:14: He loves the fact that he can go flying and helping people at the same time which is of course flying something he absolutely loves And I mean helping people.

00:08:26: saving lives must be an incredible feeling.

00:08:29: being able to do both You can tell, you will hear when he talks about his career and also his day-to-day life.

00:08:42: And the things is experienced as a medivac pilot... ...you'll hear there's a lot of passion and enthusiasm coming through.

00:08:54: Wow!

00:08:55: Yeah I think i just agree.

00:09:00: Is there anything you want to say in this intro?

00:09:03: I should say, I leave you.

00:09:05: You are the original FS Clips intro so-to-say!

00:09:11: So...I can't do it as you.

00:09:14: just open the show please Stefan.

00:09:16: Okay

00:09:17: we'll jump into an interview now and Jürgen & I will be back afterwards with some more thoughts.

00:09:23: but without further ado let's get started with the interview.

00:09:27: enjoy

00:09:30: Steve, welcome to the show.

00:09:32: It's a great honor to have you with us and I mean more than fifty years in aviation And over ten thousand flight hours certainly make for an incredible journey and i'm looking forward To hear some of the highlights today.

00:09:46: Thank You For Joining Us.

00:09:48: Well thank you Jürgen.

00:09:49: it is my honor to be here to chat With You In And Share Some Experiences

00:10:00: Just to get us started, for the listeners who are just getting to know you.

00:10:05: Can you walk through major chapters of your career?

00:10:09: Maybe in a summary little bit...

00:10:12: Well sure!

00:10:14: I'll kind go back into that.

00:10:17: very beginning after graduating from high school i was interested in electronics and things like.

00:10:29: that actually started a college career in electronic engineering technology at the University of Dallas, Texas.

00:10:41: As I studied there i developed very distinct interest in aviation as an eighteen-year old And I started looking pilot training looking into the world of avionics.

00:11:01: I was very interested in that and i thought well if i'm going to go into avionic,s um...I should probably get a pilot license.

00:11:09: so at the age of twenty ,i started my aviation career training And in November of nineteen seventy-four, I obtained my FAA private pilot license for airplane single engine and it took off from there.

00:11:38: At that point shortly after i developed a distinct interest.

00:11:42: law enforcement and law enforcement aviation.

00:11:45: specifically My interests changed from avionics to law enforcement aviation and eventually joined the Texas State Police, known as The Texas Department of Public Safety.

00:12:03: Became a trooper there actually worked on the Highway Patrol for approximately ten years And then was able to get into the Aviation Division and spent eighteen years flying airplanes in helicopters and did a twenty-nine year career with what we call the Texas DPS.

00:12:34: In my last eighteen years I was a pilot there, retired as the assistant chief pilot And applauded retiring from state police.

00:12:44: in two thousand six i went straight into flying air medical missions For a nationwide company here, and I am coming up on my twentieth year of flying air medical Flying helicopters there.

00:13:01: So i have just had A wonderful fifty two years of flying And Just looking forward to Kapping that off maybe after the first of the Year in Relaxing.

00:13:17: So that's pretty much fifty-two years in a nutshell there.

00:13:23: And I

00:13:26: was just smiling because i'm born in nineteen nineteen seventy six and when I got this right, it must have been around the time where you already started flying helicopters professionally.

00:13:41: Yes!

00:13:44: Yeah, I started flying in nineteen seventy four.

00:13:48: And the year you were born actually got married to my wife.

00:13:52: we've been married fifty or fifty years this uh... This year.

00:13:57: and so You made me feel old

00:14:00: and started flying as a police pilot.

00:14:03: Maybe it was around this time?

00:14:05: I did!

00:14:06: And i love that.

00:14:07: flying..I loved flying in law enforcement but you know what I found.

00:14:24: But

00:14:37: what do you remember, maybe specifically from your years as a police pilot Steve?

00:14:43: Well, we did a lot of different missions as a police pilot And and I saw a lot changes in our particular department.

00:14:51: but a lot other things We did were searches for lost people.

00:14:58: I found numerous lost people some Of them still intact But unfortunately many of them deceased.

00:15:09: We did a lot of manhuts looking for wanted criminals.

00:15:17: A lot of that, anytime we had a jailbreak or prison break... ...we were always called to those and sometimes would be there for several days searching for escaped prisoners.

00:15:30: And I enjoy telling my friends i have actually spent some some bites in prison.

00:15:37: After a man hunts, we'd sit down and they give us the place to sleep there in officers' quarters.

00:15:43: And feed us and take good care of it so that we can get back up for the morning... ...and get back on the search again.

00:15:49: but uh.... We did a lot photography missions A lot surveillance missions Surveying known criminals with narcotics investigations or theft investigations That sort-of thing.

00:16:04: In a lot of prisoner transports, I've flown all over the country flying prisoners back to Texas that had fled the state.

00:16:15: That had arrest warrants out for them and those were usually serious crimes like homicide or things like that.

00:16:25: but i've flown... Like you said started in airplanes single-engine aeroplanes and helicopters in nineteen eighty eight and then also got a multi-engine airplane license.

00:16:42: Our department actually flew a twin turboprop Gulfstream Commander one thousand.

00:16:50: that was our nation wide airplane.

00:16:53: we would fly over the country looking at picking up prisoners or attending functions, meetings whatever.

00:17:01: But it's been great.

00:17:03: I love to hear every single minute of and is just spend a lot of opportunity.

00:17:10: What were the biggest lessons?

00:17:11: Sorry, It's a big question but maybe also here.

00:17:14: summary from law enforcement aviation.

00:17:17: And i think...it could be also make little bit yeah..a call out.

00:17:26: I think it's a career path that could be really interesting for people who are looking for professional flying and be, so to say part of the law enforcement team as well.

00:17:39: Yeah!

00:17:40: So you know...I developed my interest in aviation and law enforcement.

00:17:48: Law enforcement interests came just little bit after the aviation interest.

00:17:55: I had a great interest in law enforcement.

00:17:58: and you know today, when i see people driving absolutely crazy In places And we've got some crazy drivers at Texas that you know.

00:18:15: I miss the work working the road.

00:18:18: That was just a great thing for me to Improved safety on the highways and that sort of thing.

00:18:27: but also learn I love to fly, of course But i learned a lot doing that.

00:18:33: I learned That um you know Of course some law enforcement.

00:18:39: There are people who Totally disrespect laws and disrespect safety?

00:18:44: I learned that uh there are pilots.

00:18:47: Uh The same way not that any that I've worked with but I saw pilots that took chances.

00:18:55: And so I learned from those experiences, one of the things I learn probably the most premier thing i learned was That every flight you make no matter how simple or complex it is See what?

00:19:13: You can learn From that flight because there is something to learn from each and every time you depart the earth.

00:19:23: I still have that attitude today, and i still learn something new every flight.

00:19:31: Every time i land from a mission an air medical mission today...I sit back and think what did i just learn?

00:19:39: And in ninety percent of the time..i learned something new.

00:19:43: you know either uh operation of the equipment in the aircraft or what to look out for or altitudes that I should have flowed, whatever it is.

00:19:58: There's always something to learn and i share that passion today!

00:20:05: And I try to pass along what I've learned to younger guys than I work with...and uh..it's just very rewarding to be able to do that.

00:20:15: This passion is in your voice yeah?

00:20:20: You really loved what you're doing, and still loving it.

00:20:23: But one of the next stages were news helicopters?

00:20:30: What was that experience like?

00:20:33: Oh yeah!

00:20:34: That's a fun thing to do.

00:20:37: So I had been in the Texas DPS aviation section for probably about six or seven years.

00:20:51: I had moved up to the Dallas area as a supervisor, supervising group an area of state and one night i was on a mission tracking a runaway hot air balloon with no pilot aboard that was going across Dallas And we were up north in the McKinney area.

00:21:18: This runaway balloon was hitting power lines and was Descending but getting caught in towers and power lines, so we were tracking it.

00:21:27: And I ran into a local news helicopter pilot there.

00:21:33: We visited for a minute at refuel spot.

00:21:37: He called me up and asked me hey would you like to fly back up from me?

00:21:41: I said sure that Would be a great experience.

00:21:44: i'd love to do that.

00:21:46: And so for seven years, I was his backup pilot.

00:21:49: It was one of the local news stations in Dallas and had a great time.

00:21:55: I learned a lot.

00:21:56: it was flying a Bell two oh six L model and I didn't have a lot of bell helicopter time at that time where I had mostly A star timer AS three fifty times.

00:22:12: So that is a great experience.

00:22:16: I learned that a lot of their news missions corresponded to law enforcement missions, of course.

00:22:25: A lot of those coincided.

00:22:28: so i actually started carrying one my police radios with me and was on the few occasions able update my police dispatch via handheld radio while actually fly news missions and we were getting news media at the same time.

00:22:47: So that was a great experience, but mainly it gave me a lot of experience flying the Bell to a six L because when I retired from law enforcement It went straight into air medical.

00:23:00: i went straight in to flying a bell two or six l helicopters.

00:23:05: so When i started that great experience.

00:23:08: I think i flew five hundred hours or so in the new helicopter over seven years and that was just a great experience.

00:23:17: there

00:23:18: you just said, You went straight into air medically flying.

00:23:22: how did air medical flying specifically enter the picture?

00:23:26: Was their specific event of...was it through

00:23:35: networking?

00:23:37: friends who had Retired from the law enforcement agency I was with and had gone into flying for a particular company And so networking with them they all encouraged me to give that a try, and it's what did it?

00:23:55: That Was A great Experience.

00:23:57: It Was Great Training and Great Safety attitude that we had with this new company I went and it was just a great experience.

00:24:07: So mainly through networking, with previous acquaintances and co-workers.

00:24:13: Against networking overall is definitely crucial when it comes to aviation careers isn't?

00:24:20: I mean LinkedIn also brought us together for the interview.

00:24:25: Yes absolutely!

00:24:27: And networking Running into you in linkedin is just a phenomenal great thing and that's been wonderful.

00:24:37: And then you have the perspective that interests me, uh...and so networking isn't very advantageous in aviation not only for training or learning getting new perspectives You know, a lot of people use that for employment purposes.

00:24:59: That's

00:25:00: great!

00:25:00: Third year improvement?

00:25:03: Yes absolutely and I'm the type of person who always likes to look in various aspects... ...to improve myself give me better perspective on aviation.

00:25:19: But yeah let's get from LinkedIn back into the air and air medically flying.

00:25:25: What makes EMS flying different from other helicopter operations, Steve?

00:25:56: type situations such as heart attacks or strokes, but it also includes trauma.

00:26:04: Such is traffic crashes or just you know other types of trauma and we actually fly what we call scene flights where we fly out to scenes.

00:26:19: I land in the middle of highways that have been blocked off by law enforcement.

00:26:25: A patient had a traffic crash.

00:26:30: I've flown people, you know, motorcyclists and people in automobiles.

00:26:36: I have flown pedestrians who have been struck by vehicles.

00:26:44: People that have fallen off roofs can be very traumatic A lot of times that's broken backs or broken legs, whatever.

00:26:58: In addition to all the medical things such as strokes and heart attacks in that sort of thing.

00:27:04: so it has been very rewarding for me to be able help people in need.

00:27:16: It is just a different perspective on aviation from law enforcement and I thought that you know when i went straight into air medical,I would really miss the law enforcement but I don't.

00:27:31: I love what I do now with the Air Medical.

00:27:35: it has just been wonderful is so rewarding.

00:27:41: What does a typical EMS shift look today?

00:27:44: Maybe also question or an answer on your side for all young listeners looking forward in this field?

00:27:52: Well, sure.

00:27:54: So the air medical perspective What I've seen in the two companies?

00:28:00: I'm actually flown for The.

00:28:04: each base has a helicopter or an or a fixed wing.

00:28:09: if i've just flown the helicopter bases We typically have four Registered nurses we have four paramedics and we had four pilots.

00:28:22: And then in addition to those twelve people, we have a program director and one or two mechanics.

00:28:30: In my case I had two mechanics at my base that specifically maintain our aircraft space there.

00:28:39: So the pilots from a pilot perspective The four pilots work seven straight days on twelve hour shifts.

00:28:49: So, one of the two pilots working for seven days will work day.

00:28:54: The other won't work nights.

00:28:56: in our case it's seven thirty a.m to seven thirty p.m.

00:29:00: To seven thirty am.

00:29:02: so twelve hour shifts or seven days.

00:29:07: and then after seven days we swap places And the two pilot coming off hitch are now all seven days And the two pilots that were offered now on-hedge for seven days.

00:29:20: So, That works out really good.

00:29:23: Typically if everything's running normally We're off every other week which is great and I like that aspect of it too.

00:29:32: It has been wonderful.

00:29:34: you can play in a trip or work around house Or whatever You know?

00:29:41: For Seven Days Every Other Week.

00:29:42: Thats Just A Good Part Of It!

00:29:45: A typical shift, like I say it's twelve hours.

00:29:51: The FAA allows us to actually work up to fourteen hours maximum.

00:29:58: we can go two hours over our twelve hour shifts and that happens occasionally.

00:30:02: where you get a late flight request That you could complete within the fourteen hours We're allowed do with an extension But typically, twelve hours.

00:30:16: So we go to the base and stand by.

00:30:20: We have our aircraft outside Filled up Pre-flighted Equipped Ready To Go.

00:30:29: When you get a flight request You can get that over the radio with tones And they will give us submission Over The Radio.

00:30:37: We either accept or decline based on Weather Mainly.

00:30:43: Take A Look At Weather If there's any question, we take a really close look at that.

00:30:49: And actually involved the medical crew with the pilot is to looking it weather in.

00:30:56: all three of us have to agree That We should be able to complete that flight safely before we accept and once we except the flight they They prefer that were airborne within about seven or eight minutes?

00:31:13: whether it's a medical transfer from a rural hospital to an urban hospital, or if its a scene flight involving traffic crash.

00:31:24: We try and be ready.

00:31:28: I

00:31:32: came across a remarkable story, Steve.

00:31:36: We might be able to put the direct link into the teaser but yeah... The story has involved a critically ill baby and also with the weather it was challenging in a polite way or an easy way But can you take us back that given day or night?

00:32:00: Yes, yes.

00:32:01: That's a great story.

00:32:03: you're gonna and I appreciate bringing that up.

00:32:05: so this This occurred several years ago.

00:32:07: i'm currently flying an EC- one thirty five helicopter.

00:32:14: I believe in todays world Airbus terms that the H-one Thirty Five.

00:32:21: And So our aircraft is single pilot IFR certified, which is great.

00:32:27: It's got all the equipment.

00:32:29: we fly single pilot.

00:32:31: so at night especially when weather goes down and we get really busy because We were able to fly IFR in most of our other bases or VFR only.

00:32:41: they flight Bell four oh sevens are EC one thirties or bell two oh six else.

00:32:52: Typically, at our base we fly a transport team from one of the local healthcare systems that is specialized in flying pediatric patients or neonatal patients.

00:33:09: So this particular night it was about three four AM local.

00:33:18: I was on the night shift.

00:33:20: We got a request to go to a rural hospital south of where we're based in Texas and pick up a newborn baby who is in distress A lot times.

00:33:34: those new born babies are severely premature or they may have severe respiratory issues, whatever the case We go pick them up, we take an isolate that actually secures into the back of the aircraft and will pickup a specialty team.

00:33:56: That deal with those.

00:33:57: so uh...that was typical on this side-we flew to the rural hospital where there's VFR but I noticed that weather appeared to be coming down.

00:34:11: And just so happens, this rural hospital is right next to a civilian airport where at about uh five thirty AM six o'clock AM we departed the hospital with this baby new born baby and um We had about a thirty minute flight to get back to the hospital.

00:34:34: We wanted The weather has started coming down, so I actually filed an IFR flight plan to depart the hospital.

00:34:45: Actually departing next joint airport and we were IFR headed back base or to the receiving Hospital.

00:34:53: And uh i was able to pick up the Weather.

00:34:57: Agus Channel and ceiling Was being reported as six hundred foot overcast over the entire area.

00:35:07: So I was just about to tell the nurses in the back, hey we're gonna have to fly the approach into the airport.

00:35:14: And y'all are going to have to ground over to The Receiving Hospital by ambulance and uh... Just as i'm about to Tell them that they told me That this baby is crashing As he would say They were doing CPR on This Baby and they said Steve We need to get this baby on the ground as soon as possible and you know I Had a telephone.

00:35:44: I'm sorry, but we're not gonna be able go direct to the hospital or going have to go to the airport first.

00:35:50: And doing CPR in a newborn baby is Is A procedure that's unlike CPR an adult it's done with fingers and this little baby's in a isolate.

00:36:05: So they're actually putting their hands through the little portholes, so it really made my heart sink.

00:36:19: I hated to tell them sorry we are not gonna be able get this baby on the ground as quickly you would like.

00:36:28: We eventually got over the medical center.

00:36:34: As they are vectoring me out for an ILS approach into the airport, we flew over to the Medical Center and i said a quick prayer...I said godless let's get this baby on my ground please!

00:36:49: And as I flew over the Medical center New York there was open spot right over that hospital opening in the clouds it And we were able to cancel our IFR flight plan and descend down in land at the hospital, get that baby there.

00:37:11: That baby survived.

00:37:15: It's a miracle!

00:37:17: Looking back today what does that flight mean for you?

00:37:22: Well it of course gives me great purpose... ...and I am able to serve others by flying, which I dearly love to do.

00:37:42: What other job can you have that you'd like to do where we could actually help people?

00:37:46: It's just the greatest thing.

00:37:48: Flying the air medical, and it gave me great satisfaction knowing how much I helped my little baby.

00:37:59: As far as i understand this is about twelve years old today Doing well, and I just It just gives me great satisfaction.

00:38:11: that had a part in that.

00:38:13: it not.

00:38:13: Just me but the medical crew and air traffic control And i'll look back when I do what?

00:38:21: I told Air Traffic Control cancel life or if got the hospital looks like I think back.

00:38:28: What did I sound Like When I said you know I try to be like a professional pilot and you know how the airline pilots talk, they talk so succinctly and precisely.

00:38:42: And i'm sure it sounded like screaming little girl when I said that!

00:38:47: It's just amusing for me think back at all as talking air traffic control...I was excited being able to land there in say forty five minutes of.

00:39:00: I think it would be... No human could, you know.

00:39:05: I think to be emotional is part of being human in this situation.

00:39:09: Oh absolutely!

00:39:10: Yes It was a great experience.

00:39:14: That's probably one the highlights Of my air medical flight.

00:39:19: Was that right there?

00:39:21: I could imagine You already answered My next question here Because after ten thousand flight hours I could imagine a flight like this.

00:39:30: also, yeah there are reasons that keep you motivated.

00:39:35: Oh yes motivation!

00:39:37: That's great word it does keeps me motivated for sure Jorgen and i look forward to the next flight because i have no idea what my next flight will entail.

00:39:49: whether its new born baby an adult who fell from a roof or You know a crash victim or a stroke victim, whatever it's just.

00:40:03: It's just a lot of anticipation as to what the next mission is going be.

00:40:08: That that really is motivation.

00:40:10: To me for sure.

00:40:13: and Steve Yeah one of my last questions here for all the youngsters maybe already looking up in the sky, who has next helicopter or wondering how to get into cockpit of a helicopter landing on roof of hospital.

00:40:29: What advice would you give young helicopter pilot?

00:40:33: Or somebody wants your shoes so-to say today.

00:40:37: by the way Today is June the twenty fourth where I caught this.

00:40:44: Yes!

00:40:45: So... I struggled with that.

00:40:47: You're doing when i was uh you know an eighteen year old wanting to get into aviation and i decided the easiest thing to do would be start and fix wings, so thats what i did in actually in nineteen seventy four trainer airplane for ten dollars per hour.

00:41:13: Ten US dollars an hour.

00:41:15: Oh

00:41:15: wow!

00:41:16: And the instructor was five US dollars and out, so for fifteen dollars an hours.

00:41:21: in nineteen seventy-four I got a dual instruction...and today i have no idea what it cost but its many many times

00:41:31: that.

00:41:31: Other time's other

00:41:32: times?

00:41:33: Yes then I started looking at helicopter training..I thought about Doing helicopter training on my own and I looked at its small Trainers such as a Robinson, and I priced that even back in the late seventies early eighties.

00:41:50: It was like forty thousand US dollars back then And I just didn't have that.

00:41:57: I just so i started thinking it.

00:41:59: and you know?

00:42:00: I got interested of law enforcement.

00:42:03: well When I got into the aviation division in law enforcement, they gave me a helicopter training on-the-job training.

00:42:28: where you might be able to get someone else to help with your training costs such as a law enforcement position.

00:42:38: A lot of law enforcement agencies will train in a specific aircraft, usually the Rotorway In my case.

00:42:49: To apply for this was You must have some sort of FAA.

00:42:56: So I had, of course the single engineer plane license in a few hundred hours.

00:43:02: That got me as an applicant and eventually got in.

00:43:08: A lot of law enforcement agencies don't want you to have any type of aviation experience.

00:43:14: They wanna train from very beginning And that's great opportunity for someone wanting to fly even helicopters.

00:43:22: So there are various ways to do it, but like I did i started in Fixed Wing.

00:43:29: that got my foot at the door where I was eventually wound up and uh... That is a great way to start.

00:43:38: Yeah!

00:43:39: Stevie, toward end of this interview Is there anything we haven't covered?

00:43:45: And you'd like to share with our listeners?

00:43:50: No just want emphasize that safety has to come first.

00:44:00: Everything should be centered around safety, I mean there are times we have to decline an air medical mission because it's not safe to do so usually because of weather.

00:44:14: just always put safety in the forefront you know?

00:44:17: We see a lot aviation accidents.

00:44:20: A lot those are preventable.

00:44:22: A lot of them are not, a lot of they're due to mechanical issues that were just unknown or unavoidable.

00:44:31: But always put safety first in my law enforcement agency.

00:44:39: Put Safety First My Air Medical Companies That I Flow For Always Put Safety first and They Do Not Question Us About Our Decisions about whether maintenance issues or whatever.

00:44:53: just always keep that in mind is safety.

00:44:58: great final advices here from yeah over fifty years in aviation thank you, it was a great honor to have your visa sir and If you allow, as a personal thank-you for joining AviationQuestasy.

00:45:13: I'd like to offer you a lifetime aviation mental performance coaching voucher from my side and obviously your welcome to use it yourself Steve but since its gift You are also welcomed to pass on the younger aviator in your network if feel somebody could benefit from that.

00:45:33: Well thats right Jurgen.

00:45:34: i appreciate that.

00:45:36: Thats very kind Thank you.

00:45:39: Yeah, I'll let you go.

00:45:41: it's morning.

00:45:42: Morning time in Texas.

00:45:43: You have a whole day in front of you and yeah?

00:45:46: I hope its here at summertime anyway And i think if the listeners listen to this in October This is still...yeah!

00:45:57: You gave us an invaluable interview Here.

00:46:01: once again thankyou for joining us and all the best for your upcoming years, hopefully certainly with a lot of time spent in here.

00:46:11: Well thank you Jürgen it was my pleasure to visit with you.

00:46:17: I greatly appreciate this opportunity.

00:46:19: Thank You!

00:46:22: All right then that brings me at the end of our interview.

00:46:25: It's really nice to hear again.

00:46:28: Like I said before we started, you can tell this is a man with a lot of passion and enthusiasm for his job.

00:46:35: And he clearly loves what he's doing.

00:46:38: so it was great to hear again!

00:46:40: Great interview by the way Jürgen, great questions...I had the feeling that he really enjoyed talking to you.

00:46:47: Yeah as i said this interview has many animations.

00:46:51: interviews like this they make my day more than one.

00:46:55: it was really yeah and also so to say from official official big thank you to Steve C. Powell for joining us in sharing the experiences and lessons from such an extraordinary aviation career, especially Steve Thank You!

00:47:12: for taking us inside a life-saving mission that clearly remains very special to you.

00:47:18: So overall it was a great honor, I have an aviation quest to see stories from above and yeah certainly we wish you all the best and hopefully many years in active flying!

00:47:31: Yeah also from my side a big thank you for taking the time.

00:47:35: uh And I say this all the time, thank you not just to today's guests.

00:47:41: To every single person who is willing come on talk with us and take some time out of their busy lives... ...to share stories or thoughts about us.

00:47:51: It's highly appreciated!

00:47:53: The only reason why we can have this podcast running.

00:47:58: We've been able to do it for such a long time.

00:48:02: Yeah almost year, incredible.

00:48:05: I mean more than a year then where i caught it, but its really interesting.

00:48:12: It's great long-term project like this.

00:48:15: and already talked about the show notes.

00:48:19: As I said, if you scroll down the teaser wherever you listen to this podcast, scroll through the end of the teaser text and there are show notes.

00:48:28: And here is our email address, certainly a home page, The Discord Server.

00:48:33: Stefan is running A Discord Server and there's section for the podcast at very-end.

00:48:38: yeah it's hard to miss i think!

00:48:41: This time also my LinkedIn channel And this time there is a special recommendation.

00:48:50: It's the video that we, so Steve and I mentioned in an interview it was on Vimeo and i will put direct link to these videos have seen.

00:49:04: It's really highly professional and shows a little bit or gives you more in-depth what was going on with this really special story, this life saving mission Wow, at night and what was going on there.

00:49:21: This video somehow also made me already... I want to have this interview!

00:49:29: It's so to say that it made me absolutely motivated too.

00:49:35: I just wanted to have the interview and finally it happened.

00:49:38: Thank you Steve!

00:49:40: Yeah, absolutely great stuff!

00:49:46: I think at this point, if it may be so bold.

00:49:49: We should also say a big thank you to all the people like Steve that have dedicated their lives for doing these jobs because they save life every single day and help people in need because this is what they want to do.

00:50:09: This isn't about the money, it's not about prestige – these are simply people that want help from other people and I think we should be very grateful for our communities in

00:50:26: society.".

00:50:34: maybe search and rescue.

00:50:36: And also this whole flying, it's really interesting for me super-interesting.

00:50:41: I was thinking if somebody is listening in the field flying in this field, maybe also firefighting and stuff like this.

00:50:50: Hey when I have interviews like these please write.

00:50:52: we set it up straight forward!

00:50:55: i'm relatively flexible When he comes to the timing.

00:50:59: It's not a big deal just right.

00:51:01: then We prepare everything.

00:51:03: all you have do is You know To talk.

00:51:06: Please Talk to us

00:51:10: Exactly.

00:51:11: yes Okay I guess will wrap it Up Jürgen and I will have some stuff to discuss for the next few podcasts.

00:51:21: So we leave away, it's better to leave away these things that are not good anyway but please like a like maybe also nice comment for Steve.

00:51:34: you don't forget about us.

00:51:37: Please leave a thumbs up for Steve.

00:51:40: whatever you listen this podcast fair enough?

00:51:45: That's a good way to end it all, I think.

00:51:48: Okay well Jürgen!

00:51:50: It was a pleasure talking with you again.

00:51:52: always nice to hear you.

00:51:54: as always we're in different countries but that is just the way.

00:51:57: this and everyone who still listening.

00:52:01: thank you so much for your time.

00:52:04: i hope you enjoyed the interview And of course We would love to have you back next time round.

00:52:10: So All The Best from Jürg and myself and we hope To Have You Back Soon Bye-bye.

00:52:20: Thank you for listening to Aviation Quest

00:52:22: CC

00:52:23: stories

00:52:24: from above.

00:52:25: For more information about this episode and everything we do, visit our homepage aviation-quest.cc.

00:52:34: We appreciate your time and support And if would love to have a back for the next

00:52:39: episode

00:52:40: Until then stay safe Stay curious.

00:52:43: Keep your passion for aviation flying high.