Hey guys it’s hty Sher with the helicopter podcast here I am like asking my poor guest questions as it’s counting down from five uh so Travis I apologize uh for that uh we’re so excited uh my my good buddy Adam Huff who’s a pilot at Halo flight and you may be familiar with
His name because I did a podcast with him earlier this year reached out and said Hy you got to talk to the new CEO of Halo flight his name is Travis Patterson and he uh has an extensive military career uh including time at Marine one uh which is the presidential
Helicopter so just completely honored uh to be talking to someone like Travis uh before we get into it of course special thanks to Vertical helic cast for making this podcast possible if you haven’t checked out vertical helicast yet it’s put on by mhm the same folks that do vertical magazine Sky magazine pretty
Much like the aviation juggernauts for you know content things like that so uh the helicopter podcast myself we’re so blessed and honored to be part of vertical helicast and of course special thanks to Bell helicopters which uh Halo flight operates uh I know the 407 the
429 so uh thank you to Bell helicopters as well for making the podcast possible Mr Patterson welcome to the helicopter podcast how are you good good thank you very much I appreciate it I’m I’m I’m happy to have you here I think this is going to be a really fun conversation
You have uh quite the resume as I was telling you before we record it you don’t look quite old enough for for the extensive resume what when did you start your career in the military I enlisted when I was 17 so fresh out of high
School I went to boot camp uh then you know started started from there so in 1994 and is that uh is that something that you always knew that you wanted to do or is it a family thing what what kind of Drew you towards the military a
Little bit of both um I always wanted to be a pilot that’s one of those kids who was very lucky to know what what he wanted to do when he was a kid um and you know my father was in the Marine Corps and when I was in high school you
Know he told me hey Travis if you’re really interested in being a pilot in the Marine Corps why don’t you go talk to a recruiter and he like whatever you do don’t sign anything I said okay Dad and I went down and talked to the
Recruiter I came home I was like Dad you got to call Mom you have to go sign some paperwork because I go to boot camp in June um so that’s how I started didn’t really think it through too much never int I never really intended to stay for
29 years it just kind of worked out that way it seems like it it worked out for sure before we get too far into the career you’re at Halo flight now I’m so excited to talk about Halo I lived in Texas for about 10 years just mov back
To Oregon um which is my you know home state um um but I love Texas I I miss Texas so I’m very familiar I flew air Medical in Texas not for Halo but for Air Evac the guys flying I’ve had buddies including Adam at Halo and a nonprofit organization that does
Wonderful things for uh Texas specifically South Texas but I think kind of all over of course so I’m excited to talk about that are you you live in Corpus now then I do yeah I do are you a Texas native yep I grew up in
Houston both my wife and I grew up in Houston um then we uh you know my last set of orders was to Naval Air Station Corpus Christie yep I saw that to be a flight instructor here and flying stuck wi right it was T both T6 and t44 yeah
Yeah I’m curious to talk about that too so much to talk about Travis this is be crazy uh now before we get into helicopters you live in Corpus Christie it’s one of my favorite places because I love kiteboarding please tell me that you please tell me that you kiteboard I have
Not done it yet no but I intend to one of these days you need to yeah so Oso Bay if you’re familiar with where 10 minutes away from the house yeah oh I would I was driving six hours round trip twice a week oh yeah years 10 minutes
From the house right by A&M Corpus right yep exactly and I did hear that maybe there’s some issues there now like we’re not they’re not supposed to use that area because it’s part of like the church for the launch and what I don’t know if that got fixed Oho B to me was
Like the coolest spot it’s it’s like two to three feet deep pretty much as far out as you can go and that’s nice for kiteboarding because if you’re trying new skills and you fall it’s just you can stand up and you know grab your board up here in Oregon in the Columbia
River you fall you lose your board the current’s pulling it one way and the wind’s taking you the other way the so you have to kind of maneuver yourself and it gets a little more stressful I did have a a stingray encounter in Corpus oh yeah they’re they’re out there
Yeah so I got a bit of a tattoo um from that on my left thigh little battle wound per se but uh I’m just yeah you have to uh next spring next summer there’s a ton of places out there that teach do it it’s like take do this 10
Hours worth of lessons because you’re G to take every bit of it but honestly like for me kiteboarding is it’s very much like being a pilot it’s it’s about understanding the capabil abilities of not just yourself but the equipment that you have yeah so I think pilots make
Really good kiteboarders not that I’m really good try it yeah but I think uh you know you you can you kind of get the sense of the aerodynamics sure and you and you understand the risk right and being able to mitigate the risk and using your training to help you mitigate
That so to me it’s kind of like ying yang with being a pilot so yeah uh I digress sorry you got a cbard let me know when you do and and I’ll come down and be your kiteboarding buddy um and a lot of good guys down there in Corpus so
Um so you start 17 your dad says hey don’t sign the papers oops Yeah sign the papers oops uh it happens what what was um so you know you started enlisted you know obviously correct me if I’m wrong but that beginning route obviously would
Not put you as a pilot in no in the Marine Corps now what I did um was I enlisted in the reserve so basically you could directly enlist into the Marine Corps Reserve and that’s what I did so I went to boot camp I went to my MOS
School and then I came home and I went to college and while I was at school you know one week in a month two weeks every summer was my my reserved Duty and then my intention was to graduate from A&M and get a commission in the Marine Corp
And go to flight school so that’s kind of it’s kind of how it what you did yep you did your undergrad at &m cor I did y okay not going to hold it against s TR but it’s a family tradition my dad did too G yeah um I’m an Oregon Duck you
Know and I think okay I think Aggies and Ducks are kind of similar in the sense that like we love ourselves a lot very proud our outside yeah there’s a lot of Pride which I think is fine but then from the outside people are like oh but
Um I have a lot of good um a lot of good buddies obviously living in Texas for a while that we’re Aggies and yeah I never made it to College Station for a game but it’s definitely worth it if you get the chance quite an experience a total
Riot for sure yeah uh so you you uh you go to college you get your degree political science if I recall yep and your whole intention of that is hey look I’m going to get my college degree and then I’m G to commission into the Marine
Corps yeah that was kind of the plan all along and you know that that you don’t need an aerospace engineering degree to go to Flight School uh in in the Marine Corps specifically at the time you just needed a college degree um and there was a period of time before that where if
You didn’t have a engineering degree in very good grades you weren’t you weren’t even going to get a chance but then you know needs of the Marine Corps shift back and forth and all of a sudden they needed a whole bunch more pilots and
That was it I took a I think they called it that that Aviation aptitude battery a ASB or something like that I took it I passed it yeah asbat um I took it I passed it and I got my flight contract that was it that’s awesome I um yeah I
Actually did the RC program for a year in college my one year of college I’m I’m a scholar um and I took the ASVAB um and actually was given the opportunity for a scholarship at the school but it was through a ground contract um uh or something along those lines it’s been
About 15 years and so I kind of was like man I really want to be a pilot I don’t know if I want to you know what to do and so I ended up kind of going the civilian route uh and and kind of stumbled into helicopters accidentally
But it is kind of like this regret that I have because it’s like man what if I would have stuck it out maybe I could have got into flight you know I had buddies on Facebook that I went to college with and they’re flying f18s
Some of them are not most of them are not but some are um and so I definitely think about that so for for our listeners out there because we have uh a younger listening audience kind of getting in into deciding what routes they want to go uh not that you’re a
Recruiter obviously sorry to put you on the spot but what are what are some of the ways that young men and women um can think about skinning the cat of joining the military and using that as their path into Aviation uh because it’s it’s a great path great training you get to
Fly the most amazing airra fantastic training best aircraft um obviously it it’s you know if you’re trying to do it on your own in the civilian Market it’s very expensive um and if you come to I’ll speak specifically to the Navy and the Marine Corps because that’s what I
Know um you can go into the Marine Corps on a flight contract so if you’re a if you’re a college student you have to be a you have to be a college graduate to be an officer in the Navy or Marine Corps you can go into those services on
A flight contract it’s been a while since I went through the process obviously but at the time when I did it I went to An Officer recruiting officer and said hey I want to go to flight school what do I need to do um and you
Take a couple of tests take a flight physical you take that your your Aviation aptitude test um then you go to office for candidate School in the Marine Corps in quano Virginia at the time was 10 weeks I think it’s still the same or you
Can there’s other ways you can do it two six week sessions over two summers however it works and then if you go into the Marine Corps as an officer you have three options one is um ground the other is air and the other one is law so if
You go in with a air contract when you finish the basic school you go to penscola for flight school um that’s the way I did it uh the Navy is a little bit different you know if you come out of a service Academy the Annapolis the Naval
Academy that’s another route you can get an air contract in the Navy or Marine Corps out of um Annapolis as well yeah there’s definitely ways to do it I’ve always kind of thought I think the the way if I could rewind time and I could do it again I would maybe consider going
To like AIG business school for me personally because I’m interested in business but if you’re interested in marketing or whatever go you know figure out what you want to study and study it yeah and maybe Donnie you know you could be a part of the RC program uh it’s a
Good way to kind of get used to the structure and lifestyle of the military and kind of how that flow works or you don’t have to you know you can yeah I think that’s advantage of RC in some schools you do it for four years you
Decide it’s not for you then that’s it that’s true yeah and I think the way that Ry did at EMB riddle where I went for my one year was you do your junior year or between your sophomore junior year you do six weeks at OCS I think
They called it like Junior like OCS and then you between your junior senior year so actually as a senior you start your year as a commissioned officer um because you finish your second stent at OES uh or yeah oh am I saying it right we call it OCS officer yeah yeah duh OES
Is a uh a school up here in Oregon uh okay that yeah it’s like a private school that’s really good at lacrosse anyway so uh you know different routes to do it and again the military Superior Equipment you’re flying the coolest stuff uh really good training very regimented very different than say what
I experienced yeah it’s very and very specific yeah what was that like for you as a young person going into that type of Flight School environment because I’m to understand it’s it’s a bit of a pressure cooker going military route yeah I mean if you consider once you finish the initial
Marine Corps entry training and then you get to flight school um you have a period of about six weeks of a ground school where you do rerry aerodynamics some water survival um engines and things like that just to General Aviation overview and then you go to primary Flight Training
Primary Flight Training what I went through was a t34 now it’s a T6 um and that’s I mean it’s challenging it’s uh everything you do is graded every Ground School course every test every flight you do is graded and you’re you know you’re compared and rated against your peers um it’s a
Competitive process and it’s challenging I mean it’s it’s challenging but it’s also a lot of fun I I was fortunate to spend my last three years here in Corpus as a primary flight instructor to a certain degree uh and I got to you know see it firsthand from the other side you
Know I did it as a student 20 plus years ago and got to come back and do it as an instructor for my last three um but I will say it’s very challenging but it’s also a lot of fun I mean I used to tell students when they checked in like this
Is going to be hard it’s harder than College it’s probably harder than anything you’ve ever done but if you put the effort in you will see the payback it’s one of those things where if you work hard you see the return um and you know I mean the T6 is like a little
Rocket ship I mean it you know cruises around at 240 knots 7 and a half GS ejection seats and class cockpits the whole thing it’s it is a fun aircraft to fly once you kind of get the hang of it you know it really is and that’s the
Best advice I could give it’s really hard but it’s also really rewarding yeah I mean most things that are worth it right come a challenge you know and if you put your head down and and work hard at it you should hopefully be able to be successful you know
Obviously things can happen with the medical both on the military side civilian side um and yeah you know you may start school and see that maybe Aviation learning is not for you you know it’s not a thing that I mean I know folks that went to college and said I I
Have to be an aerospace engineer if I want to go to flight school and many of them ended up with political science degrees and went to flight school anyway you know yeah yeah it’s the flying that’s the the fun part yeah you know as a pilot you’re kind of like you know I’m
Sure it helps to have like an Aeronautical Engineering degree I guess right I mean that’s a very high level of knowledge but you know as a pilot you don’t need really need to know that kind of stuff you’re building airplan or designing it you’re just flying it yeah
You’re just like you know when I fly a helicopter I’m like who are the smart dudes that made this thing you know like I still don’t I’ve been doing it for 20 years and I’m not sure exactly how it works how does this work yeah no it’s
It’s crazy and actually there’s so many things coming out right now in helicopters and new simulations this past uh you know this this episode will release on a little bit of a different time so wasn’t this past week but previously I’ve had uh you know we just had Robinson
Helicopters on and oh yeah they’ve done all this simulation recently and they found out that low G uh Mass bumping and more specifically the role that’s created that we all kind of were taught is the tail roader it’s not the tail rotor it’s actually the design of their horizontal
Stabilizer um now and aircraft like what you flew in the Cobra or a huey yeah with a higher mounted tail rotor then that actually is causing that rolling moment but just like these crazy new you know simulations coming out that uh these smart people are being able to
Kind of use this new technology to make our industry safer yeah which is pretty cool um so yeah if you haven’t listened to the uh podcast that I did some time ago with uh with Dave over at Robinson is’s the VP of operations uh former Bell guy uh we talk
All about uh the new design it’s pretty cool and the simulation involved again a little bit over my head sometimes you know this uh very smart people doing very smart things I think the common misconception is like when I tell people I’m a pilot they’re like oh you must be
Real good at physics and math nope and I’m like not particularly not really actually like you know I was like the senior in the you know the sophomore level math class you know I just yeah it’s uh you have to have a basic knowledge and understanding of a lot of
Things uh but you’re really not an expert um so you you finish your flight school um from flight school is that is that where you get put into the unit that’s flying the Cobra yeah so the way it works and it still does today um you go to primary Flight Training and for
The Marine Corps at the time when you finished you had three options one was Jets one was c130s and the other one was helicopters and full disclosure when I went to flight school I wanted to be an F18 pilot um that’s what I wanted uh the
Best thing that never happened to me if I could go back and pick I would pick to do exactly what I did I wouldn’t change a thing um so I got helicopters and then from there you go to Pensacola Florida you go through we call ht’s helicopter
Training school that takes about it took me about eight months uh to get through it get your wings and then you select for the Marine Corps then it was cobras Hues 53s and 46s those were the four options I wanted cobras I was lucky in
That uh I don’t remember how many of us there were there were like 12 of us that that winged my week I was number two um the guy in front of me wanted cobers but he wanted to go to the east coast I wanted cobras and I wanted to go to the
West Coast so he was the number one guy he got cobr East and I was number two I got cobr West and then yeah I went to the um called at the time the F FRS the fleet replacement Squadron where you learn how to fly a cobra man yeah I um
For our listeners out there I think everyone even non-aviation people know what a cobra is I think so yeah they may get it confused with an Apache every now and then they they get it confused with the Apache I’ve seen a cobra up close a few times um one thing that’s striking
To me is just the width of the rotor blade yeah it’s about 48 feet tip path plane 48 if I remember correctly the whiskey was about 48 feet yeah just crazy and you know it looks like this the the the rotor blade itself looks like the same size as like a Cessna 152
W almost it’s about 24 and 1 half ft one rotor blade and uh if I remember correctly it’s 2 feet n in in in width it’s it’s big it’s very big uh and you can you can hear it too that W noise that’s what that’s what makes that
Yeah so kind of from like a higher level of understanding the Cobra what are some cool things about the cobra ra that that probably someone like myself doesn’t really even know about the Cobra yeah it’s very reliable uh very durable could take a beating um you know that uh it
Had um some pretty good Munitions on it you know unguided rockets and and 20 millimeter also could carry laser guided missiles the Hellfire and wire guided missiles the toe you also put an air to a missile on it you can carry a side Winder um it was very very reliable like
I said very very good for the Iraq and Afghanistan conflict you know low altitude get dirty it could it could do all those things uh pretty well and and could take a beating so as like an attack helicopter that primary mission is like low low and kind of supporting ground
Troops kind of close air support um Convoy escort you know kavac escort we would that that was the primary role in those specific conflicts anyway um yeah altitude you the tactics would vary from year to year um occasionally you know eventually we got much better survivability equipment on it and uh we
Would start to fly at higher altitudes with the theory that we would you know if someone shot a heat seeking missile at it you would allow the system the opportunity to work whereas if you were down low your chances of getting hit by Small Arms fire were a lot greater so
You stay high you stay out of that and you let the system work in the event that something else gets shot at you that was kind of idea wild that’s uh I would like to I would I want the system to work for me for sure yeah yeah give
It the opportunity I would give myself a little altitude hey Travis we’re just going to take a quick break for a brief sponsor call Bill is proud to sponsor vertical helicast and their Vision to hold meaningful Mission safety and best practice conversations in the helicopter industry the lessons learned from these
Conversations will undoubtedly shape the future of both new and Veteran helicopter operators yeah I mean that’s you know from a civilian uh background you know this idea of you know flying a helicopter in combat flying it combat Maneuvers things like that I mean it’s a completely different ball of wax yeah
And that’s kind of the flying that you’re you that you know that you train for right it’s kind of just a different style flying and I’m curious now and I always ask my military friends and and colleagues this question as you transfer into this civilian world I know that
You’ve now transferred into the executive role as the chief executive officer at Halo so I don’t actually know how much flying you’re doing but not as much as I’d like yeah have you had an opportunity to do some postm military civilian flying and what has that kind
Of been like for you uh yeah transitioning out of the military because I know that can be challenging I’ve done some um when I first started here I went to Bell the bell training academy get to go through the 407 course uh and then I still have to complete
Halo specific training which has been challenging just based on my schedule um and our director of operations and chief Pilots schedule because you know they they still have to fly the line um and you know I I am me compared to our line Pilots my training is not the priority
Right so they’re the ones flying the line every day I am more of an administrative role but my intention is to get it completed um so I can you know in the event that someone is sick or I can fill fill holes here and there because our Pilots are paid by the hour
And I can’t if I take their shift I’m taking somebody’s paycheck so um but you know the the uh the civilian flying is different um I’ve done a little periodically throughout the year just on my spare time like flying CES 152s or 172s things like that uh but it’s I mean
It’s very different um here it’s a little more similar because it’s mission oriented right you have a mission and your mission is you know helicopter EMS as opposed to just learning how to fly a Cessna or something like a civilian flight school sure yeah it’s always interesting you know for our listeners
Out there that are maybe finishing up a military career and flying I’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot of colleagues that kind of had that route specifically going into air medical that seems to be like a very popular path I think because of the kind of the mission
Orientation yeah appeals to a lot people focused on you know actually going out and accomplishing something and obviously you can do that in utility and other other avenues right a mission’s a mission but the air medical Mission specifically what Halo is doing as a nonprofit uh you know providing Critical
Care access to rural rural communities you know is pretty yeah a great admirable thing to do and flying obviously nice equipment the gxi uh the 429 uh so you get to fly some super cool things at Halo what is your kind of you know your Broad in military career obviously very
Extensive and again I’m excited to talk more about that but uh as we talk about Halo here for a little bit kind of what has been your objectives coming into this role for Halo well the you know the number one thing that I always when I whenever the employees or the pilots and
I are all together the one thing I always harp on is safety safety safety safety I mean you know it’s an inherently dangerous business there is risk associated with it there is no way to get rid of all the risk you just have to mitigate it as best you can so risk
Mitigation safe operations those things are always the number one priority the way I I kind of put it is the safety of our crew our patients and our aircraft every decision you make has to take those things into account first like you know crew um patient aircraft that that
Those are always a number one priority sure we’re very fortunate here at Halo we’ve had a very long very good safety and operational record um so those things you know your number one priority has to be able to keep those the the the my thought process at Halo over the last
Six months since I’ve started has been okay we’re doing pretty good now but you need to look at the organization is where do you want to be in five years and where do you want to be in 10 years are we going to be flying the same
Aircraft five years from now probably in 10 years I don’t know you know my biggest concern is as we we move forward five years from now um what I don’t want to have happen is all of a sudden we have to get we have to replace aircraft
Or move on to some new model and we don’t have a plan for it so that’s that’s one you know kind of always making sure one of the CH being a nonprofit has its advantages it has its challenges too but one of the advantages is you can kind of fundraise and focus
Your efforts in specific areas and my kind of my priority is to provide to our community the best trained pilots the best trained mechanics the the best trained clinical staff operating the most professionally maintained aircraft and those are the things that keep you safe and keep you operationally
Successful so that’s that’s kind of my focus and from your perspective and I’m sure obviously your director director of operations Chief pilot are probably kind of more responsible for the the interview process and and bringing on Pilots but I’m sure there’s some marching orders coming from the top of
You know expectations and things like that for the guys and gals that are listening to this podcast right now that are hitting that time requirement to start looking at air medical and being able to be uh get you know land their first air medical job what is what is
Halo looking for in a pilot so we’ve got our basic minimums you know 2 200 hours things like that we we have those minimums U but we also have we’re a very small company there’s only 51 of us 13 Pilots everybody knows everybody else real well there’s a real kind of team
Family atmosphere here one of the intangibles I think we look for is somebody who can work really well with a crew um I I still have yet to do it I haven’t actually flown a mission yet but you know you’re working with a medical crew that knows a little bit about
Aviation but they’re in the aircraft with you you know they they have just as much to say as the pilot and command does as to the safety and operation of the aircraft so that’s something we look for like you have to be a real team
Player you have to want to do the job um you know I don’t want someone to just show up um kind of um when they’re on shift for their seven hour their 12 hour shift and they get a call like that’s not an interruption right that’s your
Job that’s why you’re here those are the things that we look for the kind of can can you work really well with other people can you work really well with the medical crew and do you understand the importance of what we do here um and do
You really want to really want to do it because you know we’ve had one or two folks that have come in and interviewed and looked around and they decided it was wasn’t for them um so that I mean you have to really want to do a job like
This especially this day and age when I mean we’re not directly competing but we are kind of competing with the airlines for Pilots you know even helicopter guys are going Airlines so it’s it’s challenging yeah yeah that’s a that’s a whole other ball wax at the uh rotor
Wing transition you I have thoughts on it I I actually applied I got hired at Envoy back in the day did and I thought that was going to be my route and you know ultimately covid happened and I was selling helicopters on the side and said
H I’m just going to try to sell helicopters full-time and see if that works and be an airline pilot as my fallback your back up and luckily selling helicopters has been effective way for me to provide uh thus far so I’ve you know kind of I feel like I
Dodged the bullet a little bit um I don’t think the grass is necessarily greener on the on the fix wi side I would say that you know the one the the competition of the airlines I think is been good for uh pilot pay across the bo
Oh yeah pilot pay pilot quality of life all of those things yeah and I think can’t pay what the airlines pay but I can compete in other ways you know certainly and you know I’ve seen a lot of air medical companies change benefit packages and you know quality of life
And schedule yeah you know there’s something to be said you know about uh I don’t know is Halo a traditional kind of seven on seven off off 14 on 14 off we do seven on seven off um traditionally we have guys that are you know live
Farther away and maybe want to do a 144 which we we can work with but the standard is seven sevens or seven on seven off yeah I mean it’s it’s hard to beat a a full-time salary and working half the year yeah U you know I always I
Always had that appeal air medical for me I did it for a couple years the challenging part for me was the nights um yeah and and being able to um you know some some guys and gals choose to kind of switch their entire schedule um their sleep schedule and and
That’s probably the most effective way but for me it didn’t work it just it it because I was getting like almost like this jet lag effect at the end of my hitch at the beginning and at the end and it was kind of just like uh you know
What I’m just going to keep a normal schedule it’s hard to live your life on the back side of the clock yeah I get woken up so that was certainly a challenge you know and I definitely tell everyone that’s looking into air medical you know think about that uh think about
How your body reacts and things like that uh because that’s definitely kind of one um that’s that was hard for me I think it’s hard for a lot of people it is your body is not designed to do that yeah but at that same token you’re doing some pretty cool operations right like
Uh you know I was uh I was flying you know nice helicopters well equipped night vision goggles I was doing a lot of things that a lot of Civilian Pilots don’t ever get to experence don’t get the chance to do sure uh you know landing on I35 or you know 37 Landing in
Somebody’s field somewhere yeah you know and that kind of thing is pretty incredible so you know just like any job there’s there’s pros there’s cons and I think if you’re thinking about flying air medical kind of weighing that out and also picking the organization that
You want to be a part of those 51 people uh some of the small we’re like a family everybody knows some of the other larger operations we’re talking about thousands of people spread out all over multiple States yeah and you know I worked for a conglomerate it was it was amgh and then
It turned into gmr when I was leaving and I was lucky I had great management and I never really felt like I was encompassed in this big machine you know I don’t know how it’s been since gmr took over but I think that there’s something probably special about going
To somewhere like Halo where it’s a little bit of a small not a little bit it’s a lot smaller and like you said you know it’s a probably more of a family atmosphere probably at uh at air methods or at gmr I’m sure you don’t have access
To the CEO like you might have there at Halo flight um yeah which is pretty cool actually you know so I and I like that obviously the nonprofit aspect you know I could go on about air medical and and thoughts on that I won’t but you know I
Think I think it’s important I think it’s a uh it serves a critical thing for these communities yeah that it may not be profitable for larger corporations to operate in some of the areas that we do not that we’re not I mean not that we’re not covering operational costs it’s just
You know it’s it is a concern but it’s not our chief concern it’s different it’s you know you guys approach it differently and I I think uh I know friends that would only go and fly for for an organization like Halo that’s not for profit you know there’s other
Organizations around the United States and so you know I think it’s a really cool Mission not to mention you guys are flying some amazing equipment if if yeah we do have some I’m correct it’s gxi which is you know the latest greatest uh 407 and then also the 429 am I missing
Anything no we have 3 gxi 429 then we do have a legacy 407 um that we fly as well but our primary Fleet consists of gxi yeah yeah I haven’t uh been fortunate enough to to be in the gxi yet but everything that I’ve been told uh the capabilities the redundancies of the
Systems are you guys flying IFR in the gxi we are um right now of our 13 Pilots only two of them are fully full up round IFR but our goal is by this time next year to have all of our Pilots fully IFR I mean they have instrument ratings
Obviously um but they’re not complete with our internal training yet and the goal is by this time next year to have everyone up and up and do an IFR yeah I mean that’s incredible if you can go to a program and and fly IFR or have the opportunity if that’s something that you
Want to do that’s something you I mean it’s in my opinion you know IFR we’re not doing IFR scene flights obviously but if we’re doing patient transfers you know we should be doing it IFR either way if you can because it’s just safer you know you get traffic avoidance you
Get there if you’re not familiar with South Texas you should you are little um from from here if we fly down to the valley south of Corpus chrisy to the valley there is nothing there is no weather reporting I mean it’s just a bunch of empty space and so you could
You know you could leave Corpus the weather’s great heading for Haren the weather’s great you get to Baff and Bay and you got to turn around that’s what we’re trying to eliminate with our IFR program yeah no it’s smart you know it’s and that’s a nice it’s a nice uh it’s
Nice to have that tool in the knowing that you can for us you know I was in a VFR program but we had you know a two AIS autopilot partial glass cockpit and it was nice knowing because you know you’re right South Texas weather can change really quickly yeah
And I think air medical Pilots get pretty good at knowing their region you know and understanding the weather patterns are like and absolutely like for me I could get a call at 1: in the morning and look at the spread okay it’s clear right now but man we’re 3 degrees
I know the second that that dupoint temperature hit it’s it’s just going to fog up it’s just like and you know so you you might have to decline a flight when it’s you know 10 miles clear yeah yeah you know that’s hard to do um but you know air medical companies and I’m
Sure Halo’s following suit uh are really supporting Pilots now you have to decision Force someone to make a decision that I think like I’m not there they’re you know that you have to um you have to be supportive of of your pilot’s decisions yeah yeah and
Give them give them the the uh support to make them right you got to let them you know tell them what the what the limits are and let them make the right decision yeah absolutely that’s why you hire them you hire them to make those decisions yeah I I think that there’s
Been three changes in air medical um I can’t speak for him because I wasn’t flying air medical you know 20 plus years ago but my I guess my outside interpretation is one of the things that you said resonated with me is the the crew you know I think back in the day
There used to be kind of this concept of you know I think the term was self-loading baggage uh and this mentality that they had no say in the safe operation of the flight yeah when in fact actually if you include them in as much as you can as a pilot yeah uh
They can actually save you’re bacon I’ve I’ve had crew members say hey I think I see a power line you know that I didn’t see hey do you see that Tower that’s unlit that we’re seeming to be un true story you know that’s those things are important I mean
Our do says he says it to me regularly he says it’s it’s three to go and one to say no you know I mean you have to do it as a crew because if you don’t yeah you’re not going to keep your Crews and I think as a pilot the best thing that
You can do at least what I tried to do was make them know that hey you guys are a part of this helicopter crew yeah we’re in this together um the 51% you know three to go one not to go um for me
As a pilot I kind of look at it like I shouldn’t get 51% because we should be having the conversation everybody should be all in yeah we should you know there should be no doubt right and so um you know I I I think incorporating that’s
Been a big change I know a lot of air medical companies are pushing towards This Crew Resource Management working together and I think that’s a big positive change oh yeah if I mean I’m new to it but we do it here and it’s yeah you couldn’t do it any other way
Yeah it’s it’s I think that’s it’s a big one uh and then the other two is technology uh the technology of these aircraft have become incredible yeah uh specifically in the gxi and specifically in the 429 I mean you guys are flying amazingly equipped aircraft yeah uh with so much capability so much
Redundancy uh which you know that you know 20 years 30 years ago they you know they’re flying air medical missions with a 420 GPS you know it’s like yeah our first aircraft at Halo was a 206 like you know so yeah you know you know it’s just things change right so technology
And then third is pilot support and and supporting pilots and allow them to make good pilot decisions yeah and not questioning I think those are the top three things that we’ve seen within the industry that have made helicopter air ambulance you know traditionally a long
Time ago is very very scary uh and very dangerous and it’s just not the case anymore it’s it’s getting so much better and it’s such a a pleasant industry to be a part of it’s yeah so yeah it is you know I hope uh I hope that our listeners
Out there that are thinking about air medical like I said for me the nights were were challenging and so that was something I don’t think I could have done long term but for so many people it’s the right fit and it’s such a rewarding career helping people uh getting to fly really
Cool missions yeah Landing there’s no better feeling than shutting down a highway you know it sucks to be the car you know God damn you know you’re you see a helicopter landing on a highway you’re going to be stuck for a while but to be the actual guy up front that’s
Putting the helicopter on the highway just an incredible uh experience so you know I love air medical uh you guys service most of South Texas correct I mean is there any other service areas well I mean if you were to draw a line from Corpus to you know San Antonio out
To Laredo and down to the valley that’s about what we we cover um we have three bases one up in one in Alice one up in beille and then we keep an aircraft at Corp International for a y direct use of a children’s hospital local Corpus Christie Children’s Hospital for patient
Transfers very cool yeah I’ve only actually I only flew into Corpus I think twice when I was flying air medical you know down there Halo had such a big presence you know it’s usually they were getting the call and then yeah we’re very protective of our territory yeah I
Would be you know I get it uh I think we’re only called down there just because availability you know probably flying that’s usually what happens yeah which I was fine with because I was at times in a 206 actually for a Evac um 407 a lot of the time but sometimes a
206 and I was a South Texas jingtai trucks pass you you know on 37 you’re like H I’m never going to get there never gonna get there yeah it’s very cool you know I think it’s um I love the fact I like when companies uh have pilots in executive
Roles uh yeah specifically you know uh Aviation companies I think it’s really important uh we work with a company called LifeLight Network up here in the Pacific Northwest on uh sales and Acquisitions and you know their CEO who is also on my podcast Ben Clayton yeah
He’s a Marine 53 pilot if I exactly yeah he was a marine guy as well um I think you know for me having pilots in a position um I think is is crucial I think that it it adds an extra layer of understanding you know between upper high-end management and and line pilot
Yeah there’s kind of that that Brotherhood of kind of understanding what it’s like to be a pilot I’m not so sure sure and I’m sure it happens and and you could be a very good CEO and not necessarily have a pilot background in this business but yeah you know I think
Having someone that’s you know comes in say with a finance degree and is really good at you know proor and and whatever which I’m sure you’re probably pretty obviously a very smart guy but working on it you know sometimes you know companies pick like the you know the
Accounting guys the bean counters and that’s yeah counterproductive you know doesn’t always work out so I applaud Halo uh um for bringing on for bringing on a pilot and obviously they got a good they got a good guy uh I hope so your your resume I was telling my wife I was
Reading the resume where I was like man look at this you know look this guy’s he’s done it all you know and uh quite the career and and I and we have to talk about it it’s I’m obliged to to talk about it but before we get into your
Your experience flying Marine one which is the presidential helicopter we do have to take one more quick break uh for a sponsor call as always a special thanks to celic opter for producing this podcast specializing in helicopter evaluations faster sales and superb service celic opter is the go-to agency
For clients expecting immediate results celic opter team of helicopter professionals are the best in the business using their Aviation expertise a nationwide Network and a proprietary 76 step listing strategy celic opter will convert your list in from Mayday to Payday ready to get started text helicopter to 1855 celic opter that’s helicopter
21855 735 5226 and a helicopter pilot agent will reach out celic opter list it sell it done all right so something that certainly caught my eye on your resume and something that Adam brought up to me when he when he called uh is the fact
That uh I think was it from 2016 to 2020 you were uh part of the unit that was flying Marine one that’s correct yeah helicopter uh hmx1 is a helicopter Marine test is what it stands for used to be an operational test sadr a long time ago that’s it was original founding
Uh but since the late 50s it’s been the primary helicopter transportation for the president of the United States y that’s incredible and in that capacity you were in two airframes was vh3 vh3 is like a SE King yeah yeah it is it’s uh 1950s technology I guess 60s
Maybe um and then the age 60 you know a Seahawk Blackhawk we called it the White Hawk just because of the white top on it but um yeah we flew both of those aircraft it wasn’t uncommon to fly both of them in the same day really that’s
Cool I love that um I I got I did a business course uh lecture one time I didn’t do it I was I was listening and it was a gentleman that had flow in uh the Sea King in the Navy okay and for sub for I I believe for sub kind of a
Sub Hunter yeah uh type deal they hover above the water stick the and stuff like that yeah and it was a business lecture and it was about being an effective member of your team and it was the coolest lecture I’ve ever been a part of because um I was an aviation guy and
This guy was the pilot and he talks about an experience where they were actually hovering had an engine fire ended up into into the ocean and long story short 45 minutes passes and they’re actually able to fly the helicopter off the water yeah and back onto the onto the the
Ship um and the story is you know he goes into depth of you know how everyone knew their role that was kind of the moral of the story of right and and tying it into business how everyone should know their role within a business organization and he brought that so um
You know pretty pretty cool story and and I kind of find it wild that that’s the helicopter that’s being flown for the president still being kind of an older it’s older um it’s obviously very wellmaintained I mean you know it’s a there are 12 of them there now that when
I left in 2020 the Squadron was in the process of switching to the VH 92 I’m not sure where that is at this point I kind of was out of it um but it’s been doing that mission since the 1970s obviously not the same aircraft but that model has been doing
It since the 1970s uh it’s phenomenally capable it’s big it’s quiet in the back um it’s comfortable you know and we took it all over the world that’s crazy and and so you were literally flying the president of the United States that’s correct yes wow yeah yeah that’s uh how does one get
Into that position what do you have to do within you know if we have listeners out there right now that are in the Marine Corps right now or thinking about doing Aviation the Marine Corps and maybe have this goal of flying in that unit what what is what does it take to
Get there because to me that’s like that’s like same level is like a Blue Angel right it’s like that’s like the the you got to be like Top Dog it’s a competitive application process so you know let’s say you get your wings you go to a tour as a helicopter pilot in a
Squadron and you have a good successful tour you have a good reputation you have some qualifications you know you have some hours um and then every year the Marine Corps will send out a message to all helicopter and we actually have there are v-22s there as well um send
Out an application message right so if anybody’s interested in coming to hmx1 submit your application by this date um so you put your application in and that application goes into a pile of applications at hmx and we have what’s called a pilot selection panel board so a handful of pilots from the Squadron
Will sit there and they’ll go through every single application they rack and stack them uh and it’s you know you’re you’re compared against everybody else who applies I mean flight hours are important qualification is important uh equally important is your reputation are you a good team player are you a good
Addition to the ready room can you you know from a guy who was there my perspective if I’m on a road trip with you for 10 days can I stand living with you in a hotel room for a week you know all of those things are important
Um you know and basically the way that panel works is we pick our 12 Pilots for that year and we submit our recommendation to the commanding officer who’s the one who has the final Authority um you know and it it is um timing matters
Um you know I I’m hes there used to be a minimum flight hour requirement there no longer is obviously we want ours you know that’s important um but one of the unique things things about the Marine helicopter Community is it’s pretty small right so everybody knows everybody or if they
Don’t know you personally they know someone who does so when your application comes to hmx you may not know everybody in the RO room but somebody’s going to know you or somebody’s going to be at least tangentially acqu acquainted with you and can speak on your behalf oh yeah
He’s a good guy or I don’t know you know that’s kind of a lot of personality is how it works you can have all the hours on the planet all the qualifications but if you’re not a good addition to the ready room probably not going to
Happen yeah I mean that’s just like what we talked about with hiring air medical yeah you know personality has a goes a long way you know I think if you come into an air medical position and you have the hours the expectation is that you can fly the helicopter sure you know
But do people want to work with you is is equally important and I’m sure that’s the same in this capacity so what does the day in the life look like you said sometimes you fly both frames the same day yeah I mean are you flying the president like three times a week five
Times a weekies right so the way the Squadron works is it’s a four-year tour for a helicopter pilot so your first year is all training right so you we don’t the Marine Corps does not have 60s or h3s anywhere else so if you go there
As a cobra pilot or a huey pilot or a 53 you spend your first year learning how to fly the H3 and the h60 when you’re done with that training your second year is your co-pilot year so when you’re a co-pilot you’re you you were on the Squadron schedule basically that the
Thing we used to say is there’s there’s nothing sacred at hmx you know Christmases anniversaries birthdays n none of that like unless you take a vacation day don’t don’t count on being there so every time the president goes anywhere when he leaves DC the primary method of Transport is always Marine One
Um to fly him from the White House to Andrews there’s a lot of reasons for that safety um obviously at 5:00 in the afternoon in Washington DC you don’t want to close down down the roads for the presidential motorcade right can’t do um so he’s that’s the primary mode of
Transportation all the time so the amount of flying that the amount of times you fly the president is just based on his travel schedule basically like if you’re there during a re-election campaign you might as well kiss your family goodbye and say I’ll be back in seven months um if you’re there
In kind of the off years then it’s a little different um I don’t remember how many times I did it as a co-pilot or as an aircraft Commander I have it in my log book somewhere every time you fly at a stamped presidential in your log book
But your your day in the life is I mean it’s hard to pin it down like you you go to work on Monday and you walk in and hey you need to get ready we’re going to go to Cedar Rapids Iowa oh okay when are
We leaving in about an hour um so you you know you always had a bag in the car you always had your lift uniform in the car um you know the flight schedule would come out every day and if your name wasn’t on it which was rare um then
Maybe you had a day off or you know we we all had work cell phones and the rule of thumb was do not ever miss a call when that thing comes in 24 hours a day seven days a week it doesn’t matter somebody calls you on that phone you
Answer um so you know if you were on the schedule you could be on the schedule for a proficiency flight or every single day we always had a Marine One crew on the schedule just in case if something popped up you know last minute trip you
Know it wasn’t uncommon for uh the White House military office to call and say hey we’re going to go to Camp David tomorrow oh okay so we got to rewrite our entire plan and now we got to put a crew together to go to Camp David so
Those things were this the kind of uncertainty was pretty common the one thing I would when I after i’ been there for two or three years I would tell guys that checked in after me or when I was the opposite of my last year like look
Um you need to be able to thrive on uncertainty because you’re never going to know what’s going to happen the next day and take advantage of every opportunity that you get right every time you get invited to the White House Easter Egg Roll take your kids and go if
You can do it take them and go um you know those those opportunities you’d regret if you didn’t take them so just you know be prepared to thrive on uncertainty be prepared to be on the road about 10 to 12 days maybe 15 days out of every month for four years it’s
Just you get to see the world you get to have a great time but um I mean it’s a it’s a fantastic opportunity yeah and how much interaction do you actually get with the president do you correspond do they know who you are they don’t necessarily know who you are um you know
They would always come up and say Hello thank you for the flight you know have a good day all that all that sort of stuff but you know each year there are five Marine ones right so every year the co is always the commanding officer is
Always one and he gets to pick his other four so you get one year as a marine one and throughout that year you’ll see him more than the other guys will but he’s in and out there generally very quickly but he always he’s always very gracious and flight he always says hello thank
You for the flight but our interactions with him are pretty brief like when he’s on the aircraft if I need to tell the folks in the back something like for example if it’s really windy and it’s going to be bumpy I’m I talk to the mill
Aid like hey man it’s going to be real bumpy so just let everybody know um that that kind of stuff most of our interactions was with the mill AIDS the guy who cares the football yeah okay yeah so is it it just must be kind
Of a crazy it’s a it’s a wild thing for me to think you know you’re you you are flying one of the most powerful men yeah know the and it doesn’t change right I would I would say partially the first time you do it is the the strangest but
It never gets it never gets routine I remember very clearly the first presidential flight I did as a co-pilot it was what we called an out where you take him from Andrews to I’m sorry from the White House to Andrews and so we you
Know we we get to the lawn and I’m you know returning final over the Basin with the Washington Monument on your side and you’re looking at at the White House my God this is weird I’m about to land in the South L of the White House I mean
I’m the co-pilot so I’m not Landing my responsibilities are pretty minimal and we get in and you land and my job as a co-pilot is to talk the pilot onto the pucks those big round discs you got to put all three wheels in them because you
Don’t want to you know you don’t want to put holes in the White House lawn and so once we get on the ground the pilot that I’m sitting with has done this hundreds of times I don’t know how many but a lot right and he says hey there’s a little
Checklist we have to do the little checklist consists of a couple things and say once you finish the checklist and this is my pilot looking at me once you finish the checklist take a breath look out the window and just appreciate where you are um so we finish that
Little checklist and I look and I go there’s the South the Portico of the White House and I I’m it’s hard to believe where you’re sitting even three and a half years later when I did it for the last time it’s kind of hard to believe that that that’s that’s where
You are when the president came out on that first one I was very tempted to smack the pilot and say Hey look it’s the president um because i’ never never seen it before you this was my first my first time doing it yeah and he’s you I
Didn’t do that but he’s of course done it dozens of times um but yeah it was I mean a pretty incredible experience the first time and every time after that it never got old yeah I mean I mean you’re truly part of a very small fraternity of
Of humans that can you know talk about that experience which I think is just to me it’s like one of those experiences that are it’s you know you can almost write a book about it’s just so there have been a couple yeah it’s it’s just such a different U different experience
And and so cool you know your passion for wanting to serve in the military to want to being a pilot put you in a position and hard work of course put you in a position to be landing a helicopter on the White House you know South you
Know I think I told you in the beginning when I went to flight school I wanted to be an F-18 pilot and when I got helicopters I decided that something I wanted to do forever I want to go to hmx1 I that’s my that is now my goal I
Want to go be a Marine One Pilot and it took me a while I mean I had a few opportunities earlier on in my career to apply but I decided to do other things and then my last chance was 2015 I’m like all right I’m doing it now if I
Don’t do it now it’s never going to happen I applied and I got accepted and uh it was a pretty phenomenal experience yeah it’d be incredible so like when the when the president travels say like overseas are they stuffing a helicopter in a in a transport plane and you’re
Going over put him in the back of a C7 yeah wow yeah if it’s the H3 you had to I remember correctly H3 you had to take the rotor blades off the 60 you just had to fold you stick them in the back of a C7 with you know each it depending on
What you were doing where you’re were going you know if we were going to I’ll use South Korea for example when we went we took two c17s because the number of aircraft and people we had to take and you you know you leave quanico quano is
A short Runway so you got to go somewhere else to refuel then you go to Alaska then you go to Hawaii then you go to South Korea then offload the aircraft but yeah I mean they would go all over the world in the back of the C7 and in
The states sometimes we would do it too depending on how far you know if you could fly it there in two legs we’d fly it uh went to New York a lot you we’d do a cross country up to New York but if it
Was too far you just put it in the gargo plan and fly it what’s the u i remember I think it was President Obama was like on a talk show and he was talking about like his first exp you know when he was becoming the president essentially and
Learning all the craziness of how your life is as the president sure and he was I guess he had to go like you know 100 yards or a couple hundred yards and he told his security staff like hey I’m just going to I’ll just let’s just walk
You know we’ll just walk over there and they’re like no sir we’re gonna take the helicopter is that is that like a true thing like where you could actually literally just do like a short hop or is that is that just I never did that I
Don’t know not true uh I never did it I’m I’m I do know that a lot of the decisions that are made based on his movements are not his decisions uh sure the Secret Service you know I the Secret Service decides a lot along with hmx1
Like if we’re doing you know if we’re Landing somewhere in a field to to so him he can go give a speech you know before that happens we have rehearsed it we’ve worked with the Secret Service to figure out a whole bunch of the different little details but it’s not
Like the President says I want to land there and walk Secret Service usually I I would imagine that life uh as the president be very frustrating because you may be the most powerful man in the world but the Secret Service won’t let you push the door to open the elevator
You know what I mean like there’s he doesn’t get to make a lot of those decisions like I yeah they don’t even drive a car you know it’s like yeah yeah anywhere he goes he’s gonna be flown or motor cated um and you know I mean I one
Of the challenging things for us at hmx was really the only Aviation challenge you had to deal with was weather right so we had to make a weather call a certain amount of time before the event uh and it’s always better you know you never wanted to be the guy that made a
Good weather call and turned out I was wrong you can’t do it because once you make the good weather call you’re going um you know that was always the challenging part for us but if he was going he was on Marine water in the motor cave or Air Force One that was it
That’s crazy and when you’re flying with him outside of DC obviously I know there’s the the special airspace there in DC but like let’s say you’re in Iowa or something and you’re with the president you you essentially have what a 30 nautical mile think of it like TFR
Yeah TFR that follows you around um you know we would go to New York City a lot um and when you do the rehearsal day in New York City it’s obvious it’s like the Battle of Britain right I mean you fly from JFK to wherever you’re going if
You’re going up the East River uh or the Hudson there’s all the tour helicopters you know the Wall Street and all that there’s tons of traffic but on the day with him you are the only thing flying um it’s it’s actually kind of cool you yeah know I think it’ be amazing where
Did you land in New York mostly Wall Street pad Wall Street yeah I got the opportunity I was doing a podcast there with a tour operator last year and got to experience that whole operation and and that was incredible yeah it’s pretty neat it’s so cool uh what what was I
Gonna say that’s a good question I when you’re um you know obviously yeah we talked about the TFR um yeah I think I had something really amazing to say but it’s slipped my mind which is unfortunate but maybe it will will come back to me but yeah I
Mean I just think this it’ be an incredible you know experience to to be around the president it just seems like a well I mean it was it was pretty neat um just and just to see a small insight into that obviously we’re for lack of a better term or the
Help right but just a small insight into that world like you know I got to take my wife to the White House Christmas party last year we were there things like that you know I mean that that were were pretty cool yeah yeah I mean those are experiences that again very few
People get to have well uh Travis we’re butting against time here problem thank you so much for for coming on and talking about your experience absolutely and your journey in helicopters I feel like a lucky guy uh doing the podcast because it’s I get to talk to all these really amazing people
And kind of get to vicariously live through the experiences of my guests and every guest has something to offer and and what you offered today was really neat um just with your experience in the military congratulations on your transition into the civilian world thank you um and and jumping into uh the CEO
Position there at Halo that’s that’s equally as awesome I think actually as as flying Marine one great great organization of great people yeah so again if you’re listening to the podcast and you haven’t heard of of Halo before uh check them out again a not for profit air medical service specifically kind of
Servicing the South Texas area uh Corpus is an awesome Place uh if you’re into kiteboarding and flying helicopters and Halo Flood is definitely a place that you should consider uh because you can live in one of the best kiteboarding spots uh in the United States in my
Opinion Travis again thank you so much to our listeners thank you for supporting the helicopter podcast uh I say it all the time but I’ll say it again I just started the podcast just because I thought it might be fun and it’s turned into something uh so much
Better uh so extremely excited about our collaboration with mhm publishing in vertical helicast so please make sure that you’re checking out vertical helicast right now it’s the helicopter podcast um hanger Z with John Gray and then the real rescue with Jason Quinn AKA Quinny uh are kind of the three
Primary podcasts on that platform so check all them out uh please like them subscribe and leave reviews let us know how we’re doing it kind of helps us a special thanks to Bell Helicopter as well for sponsoring this podcast and making it possible uh as Halo flight is
A big supporter of Belle I know that you guys can endorse them and me being a pilot with a lot of bell experience I love Bell Helicopter so thank you to them Travis thanks again for joining and we look forward uh to getting to talk in the future
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