Cadet copter pilot in crash landing among graduates
Published on: Sunday, July 17, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: It is more than a year since Fatin Nadeera Mohd Jeffrey had a close call when the helicopter she was air-taxiing prior to take-off from the Kota Kinabalu airfield crash landed on May 28.Fatin, who was then a cadet pilot with the Layang Layang Helicopter Academy, was five to seven feet above the ground when the Bell 206B went down on its side about two kilometres from the company hangar. Fatin, 22, who is the fifth of seven siblings, from Likas, walked away with minor injuries and graduated as a Commercial Helicopter Pilot here on Friday.
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She was among the academy's first batch of four Commercial Helicopter Pilots who completed the Commercial Helicopter Pilot Course and covered 950 hours of classroom and 150 flight hours on the Bell206B Jet Ranger Helicopter and 70 hours in the Flight Training Device. Minister of Special Tasks Datuk Teo Chee Kang pinned the flight wings on the graduating pilots during a ceremony held at the Pacific Sutera Resort here, on Friday. "At first, I was scared but I took it as a valuable lesson, and after that I improved myself. The accident did not break my spirit, it is my dream and it is what I want," said Fatin, whose mother is from Sarawak, and father a Sabahan from Bundu Tuhan."I took it as a valuable lesson to improve myself and I took it as me growing up in the aviation world," she said.
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She said the accident took place six months into her 18-month training programme. "When the incident took place, I blanked out and was traumatised for a few days. I was up in the air and a technical problem occurred.
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"I was still new, I think I had less than 30 flying hours at that time, I did not have experience in handling emergencies. I ended up with minor injuries, some swelling and scratches. "I did not have any major injuries, but it took me a few weeks to recover and still attended ground school and simulator flying within those weeks before I started flying again. "I had some fear during the first few flights, but my instructors told me to overcome that fear and that's why they put me in a simulator to get rid of my anxiety. "I also had tremendous encouragement from family and close friends, as well as engineers here as well as all the staff at the academy. Everyone said I can do it, "she said. Fatin can also fly a Cessna single-engine aircraft after completing an 18-month programme at the All Asia Aviation Academy in the Philippines which she took after secondary school. "I am doing a 12-month on-the-job-training with Layang Layang Helicopter Academy until May next year. I have had offers from other companies, but I prefer staying here for now," she said when asked about her plans for the future. "My parents are retirees. My mother used to travel a lot when she was with Petronas and she took us with her. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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