'Flying a helicopter lets me leave my worries on the ground'

A pilot who is building up her experience at the controls of a helicopter has said taking to the skies above the Isle of Man gives her the chance "to just park all my worries on the ground".

Olivia Watson's love of flying was ignited when she sat in alongside her father, Nigel, in his helicopter at the age 18.

She said he bought the aircraft after recovering from cancer in a "life's too short kind of moment", after spending "more time managing helicopters than flying them" in his career.

A pilot himself for more than 20 years, he offered his family the chance to learn to fly by going up with him and for Olivia "it stuck a bit more".

After a hiatus during the coronavirus pandemic, she took the decision not to go to university and instead started working alongside her father at local firm Yellow Helicopters.

"That was also where the flight training really progressed and I was able to start a private pilot's licence, the PPLH," she explained.

She said learning to control a helicopter was like managing a "wild creature" at first.

"I like to describe helicopters as a bit like a wild horse, like it's a beast in its own right," she said.

"And the job of a helicopter pilot is to stop it doing what it wants to do… to put it in the most stable position."

Starting off on the island, where she undertook about 20 hours of training, she moved to Majorca and then England to continue her training.

As well as having a UK private pilot's licence, which allows her to fly privately in the island, she recently qualified as a commercial helicopter pilot, specifically for Europe.

Keen to continue building up her experience, the 25-year-old recently put out an appeal for places on the island she could have permission to land.

The online plea was "just a shot in the dark", she said, but the response from the community had been "really heartwarming".

"The airport is really great and they're always very accommodating," she explained.

"But the area is very big, so it doesn't really give you the greatest practice when trying to land into somewhere a bit tighter like a football pitch, or somebody's back garden, or a big field."

Reflecting on her love of helicopters she said there was "so much going on with flying that it was just a really great way for me to just park all my worries on the ground and just be really present in the moment".

"It gave me a break from anything else, and it just gave me half an hour to an hour just to enjoy the scenery."

She said "my favourite bit for sure" was the initial take off.

"You spend all your time on the ground and then you get to gently climb up and then you just see the scenery.

"And every time it just takes my breath away.

"I sort of like to joke that I feel more comfortable in the sky because you're away from everybody and it's just you and the machine… I can breathe in a strange way again."

Olivia said her "dream careers" would be to work for the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service, or in a search and rescue or firefighting role.

"I've always felt that flying helicopters is such a privilege and it's a very niche world," she said.

"Having the opportunity to do that and being able to do it commercially, I just think that very unique skill is best used to help the community.

"It's one thing flying the rich and the famous in the VIP sector. But for me, I want to do right by the people and the public.

"But those are 10 or 20 years down the line for me at this point, so right now it's just trying to get the experience."

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