Tom Brooks Is Base Manager Of Canadian Helicopters Ltd.
HAI recently announced the 2009 Pilot of the Year Award
recipient, Tom Brooks; Base Manager, Canadian Helicopters Ltd.
(CHL), Smithers, British Columbia, Canada.
Brooks has been flying helicopters for more than 30 years,
during which time he has amassed over 23,500 flying hours. He began
his initial flight training in 1975 with Agro-Copters, an
Alberta-based company formed by his father Bill Brooks, where he
was involved in pipeline construction, mineral exploration, animal
inventory count, seeding, and spraying.. In 1976, he gained his
commercial rotary wing license, initially endorsed on the Bell 47
and Hiller 12 E type aircraft.
Brooks has been working for CHL since 1984. In 1988 he became
Base Manager and flight instructor in CHL's flight school, where he
took twenty 100-hour pilots through a rigorous series of exercises,
including a full mountain course, and prepared them for operations
in Western Canada. In spite of its rugged terrain and harsh
weather, the Smithers base is often chosen by CHL as a place to
assign entry level pilots. Brooks always finds time to mentor
“low time pilots,” and has helped numerous "low timers"
graduate to the rank of "Experienced Pilot."
Brooks is an accomplished long line
pilot, an expert in the use of the drip torch, and an authority on
aerial cone collection – the challenging technique of
hovering at tree top level to collect cones for reforestation. He
was one of the first pilots in Western Canada to use the "net
capture gun" to capture mountain caribou for tagging and collaring.
Brooks is a recipient of the HAI Pilot Safety Award for achieving
20,000 consecutive accident and violation-free flight hours, and
CHL has not experienced a pilot at fault accident in North Western
British Columbia since Brooks became Base Manager.
Whether it is in search and rescue, moving a diamond drill on
the side of a steep mountain, power line repair, or fighting a
forest fire in an old growth forest, Brooks can be relied on to do
the job right. His exceptional ability and good judgment, provision
of outstanding service to others, and high standards of safety
embodies the skills that the Pilot of the Year Award was designed
to recognize.
All winners will be recognized at Heli-Expo 2009's annual
"Salute to Excellence" Awards Banquet on February 23, 2009 at 8:00
pm in Anaheim, CA.