Helicopter Pilot
What the work is
Flies helicopters to transport passengers, mail or freight, or provide agricultural, aviation, emergency medical or aerial surveillance services.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Controls the speed and angle of rotor blades to determine the elevation, velocity and direction of helicopters
- Takes off and lands helicopters on clear, level surfaces, including helipads and platforms
- Performs precise manoeuvres such as spot landings and low-level flights, in various weather conditions
- Communicates with air traffic control, ground crew and other pilots to ensure safe and coordinated flight operations
- Performs pre-flight inspections, and records and adjusts flight plans as necessary to ensure passenger and crew safety
- Performs emergency procedures and manoeuvres in response to in-flight emergencies or equipment malfunctions of the helicopter
- May perform search and rescue missions, aerial photography, or transport critically ill or injured patients to hospital
- May inform passengers of safety procedures, assist passengers to board and disembark the helicopter, and load belongings or freight on and off helicopters
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a regional airline and a flight school operating from a small country airport. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A smooth landing in poor weather, and passengers who clap without knowing why
- A student who was terrified at their first lesson flies solo for the first time
- A controller's shift where every aircraft sits exactly where it should
Hard days
- A weather change that cancels your flight, with a full plane of cross passengers
- Early starts, late finishes and body clocks that never settle
- A call that is right for safety and wrong for everyone's schedule
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 299134, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.