You missed my point Jackson. I want you to come here and do it for me.

 

Yes I am. But please don't hold it against me lol

 

Does the name Eric Campbell sound familiar? He's been flying since the '80s.

 

No.
I fly mostly kamloops area now. Started flying on the island and some on the small islands and up the coast occasionally a ways north.
Now i rarely leave a box of space with 4 corners of Blue river to NE down to Nelson SE. And Osoyoos SW up to about Williams Lk NW. Some i recognize a face a bit, but suck at names to.
What is home area for him?
Tough on a lot of guys and companies the past few years.
Last year alone 4 more closed rhe doors in BC alone.

 

He's from Quesnel and now lives there again but for the last two decades has been in Langley. He actually just got hired to fly Bell Mediums in Kamloops but I don't know what the man's last name is or what his company is. My dad's flown in the Yukon, BC, Alberta, USA, Australia, Peru, Panama... he's got a lot of stories to tell, I'm sure, but kind of acts like a war vet though in the sense that he doesn't tell me too much about his experiences. Off my memory, he's been with Great Slave, Erickson, Alpine, Conair, Trans-West, and surely others. If you're out in the Kamloops area you'll probably bump into him at some point soon. He was laid off in '08 during the recession when he was flying for Erickson. Being a Canadian working for an American company, he was the first to get laid off. He hasn't flown since. He used the last few years to take care of his parents who are now in their mid-'90s. They're off in a home now so he caught up with the fellow in Kamloops and now he's working on becoming current again.

 

That is pretty interesting.
Want my 2 cents on the not sharing a lot.
With many helicopter pilots the sharing would just worry people.
Its not the safest job in the world.
Telling people what we really do is often considered bad.
Often the days are just routine.....but with those holy **** moments thrown in more often than maybe they should be.
Its a bit of an unspoken rule with many to sort of under play it all.
So we just talk a little and don't really say too much in depth about our days.
My gf and friends ask me daily. Even if i came extremely close to crashing I just mostly say it was an okay day.
Its hard to pretend we are invincible, if we talk about the reality.
I lose a lot of friends to this industry.
Every single night when the last bird home from the days work touches down safely, I thank God!
Briefly i was an RCMP officer....i hated it....but sometimes think at least i had a fairly safe job, not nearly the risks.
Would I trade jobs now....no way...but every morning I take off knowing very well it maybe my last day alive.
Did I just overshare....yes.
But that helps those who do not pilot a helicopter understand why we don't usually share many details.
Its sort of an industry superstition I guess.
Talking about it is bad Karma in a way.

 

Thanks for the insight. That helps me understand. My dad's lost a lot of friends too. He mentioned that it was a dangerous job once but I've never been told any details about his experiences.

 

Hope you remain safe out there Ian and you dad too trozei.

 

Got base coat on today.

Attachment 289064

Attachment 289069

Attachment 289070

 

Looking pretty Jackson ..

 

Thanks John ☺

Jackson its gorgeous man....gorgeous ☺

 

Hey there Ian..

 

Jackson it's about time for some new updated pics wouldn't you say.

 

Hello Chris...

 

Hey you're not Jackson and you don't seem to have any pictures. Oh well.

Hello John.