"I'm [Queen] of the world!"

The rookies started the week with tower training in Altona. The recently built tower was created to aid rappelers in bridging the gap of graduating to rappelling off a live helicopter. The mock helicopter platform was built to the specs of a Bell 212 and allowed approximately 50-60ft of rappel. There was also a lower platform at 30-40ft for rappelers to practice their skills if they needed the extra attention. The day started off with the basics of learning hand signals from the dispatchers (i.e. descend down the rope vs. return to the inside of the helicopter), rotating off the skids and controlling descents and landings. Once the instructors felt we were proficient at these basic skills we moved onto the main platform and continued our training from there. We continued practicing the basics from the higher platform with the added new component that couldn't be practiced on the scaffolding or the lower platform. In Canada members of the rappel crew are deployed one at a time, out of the left side of the helicopter, inside of the skid. In Australia, two members of the rappel crew are deployed on the outside of the skid, at the same time, from both sides the helicopter.

When we are rappeling, the helicopter remains in a hover. This is not a easy feat for a helicopter to maintain on its own to begin with. It then becomes harder for the helicopter maintain a hover when it has two rappelers hanging off the side of it. If you imagine a helicopter as a pendulum, the fuselage (or the body of the helicopter) would be the weight suspended below the pivot point of the rotors, therefore becoming a balancing act for the pilot. Now add in a second pendulum of rappelers below the helicopter and it becomes a balancing act like no other. If one rappeler moves unequally from their partner it disrupts the balance and makes it harder on the pilot to maintain the helicopter's position. It takes skill for two rappelers to leave the skids at the same time, descend at the same speed, and land at the same time.
For me, I found the hardest part was the mutli-tasking of looking at your partner, looking at the "canopy", and looking for your landing spot. Each time you took your eyes of something you ran a risk of losing your partner (either you descend past them, slow above them or accidentally run into them), becoming entangled in the canopy or having a bad landing which could lead to damage or injury. It didn't help that each one of us was inexperienced at this, therefore making it difficult at times to coordinate between the pairing. 

The tower training progressed over the course of two days. Our days were long and fatigue set in early in the evenings after dinner. We continued through the training, refining our basic rappelling skills before moving into emergency procedures including tie-offs. By this time I was quite comfortable with them and wasn't having the issues I was having previously back in Heyfield. Though not perfect, by the end of tower training on the second day the instructors felt we were safe enough to proceed to live helicopter rappels. 

Wednesday morning the rookies made their way to Avalon airport. After our safety briefing and mock-ups on the Bell 212 we were ready to fly . Even though we had good weather (very little wind) and started at a low height (60-100ft), it was still our first live rappels and there were mistakes bound to happen. For myself, I had to work out a few kinks of stepping out onto the skids, but I managed to get off the skids each time without much problem. I did however seem to always get the rope that was prone to pigtails and struggled with my slack pulling once again. After lunch we continued our rappels, continually creeping higher and higher in altitude. Prior to our later afternoon coffee break I was feeling quite confident in my rappels. Things were starting to feel natural and I wasn't having issues with getting off the skids, matching my partner, or landing. A little part of me started to feel a bit cocky thinking that I completely proficient, and that the rest of training would be a breeze. I was quickly humbled after our break and felt like I had been sent back to square one. After our break we went to our highest altitude between 250-300ft (our ropes are 100m/300ft in length). Immediately discovered my smaller size was a hinderance at this height. The weight of the rope almost outweighed me and thus, acted as a brake. Each time I attempted to leave the skid I would awkwardly fall off the skid, narrowly missing connecting my face with the helicopter, then having to "stoke" the rope to catch up to my partner. By the end of the day I didn't get off the skids once efficiently at this high altitude and again began to worry if I would be able to complete training. 

Thursday began a new day. The returnees joined us at the airport and we, the rookies, were partnered up with a mentor to aid us through the day. I was partnered up with Emily, my roommate, who is an amazing rappeler, and is currently being trained as a dispatcher. I liked that I was partnered up with her not only because of her skill, but because we are close in size and therefore if she was able to rappel successfully, that meant I could as well. Even with two helicopters now on site, the large number of rappelers created a bit of a line up and I was only able to get in two rappels before lunch. Both times I struggled to get off the skid. Emily, and many of the other experienced rapplers, tried give me pointers on what. But try as I might, I just couldn't do it.

After lunch Emily returned to dispatcher training and I was partnered with my other roommate Shannon. With a bit of rejuvenated energy I attempted to will myself off the skid properly. Sadly I once again pathetically flailed around and to no avail was I able successfully rappel from the skids. At this point I was ready to beg to be taken back to the tower. I had made no progress and felt I was actually getting worse at it. I gave myself one last chance to get it right. When I got onto the skids the next time I prepared myself to use everything I had left in me. As the dispatcher's hands dropped I threw the rope up with all I could and bailed backwards off the skids. I met evenly with my parter. It was the first time I managed at height to match my partner. Once on the ground my partner asked me how it went. I respond that it was the first time I managed to match my partner but was unsure if my actions had created movement on the helicopter. The dispatcher said that there was no movement and that the rappel was fine. So I repeated the process the next flight and was able to get off the skid again. I felt much better knowing I could finally rappel off the helicopter without being a spastic case. I also felt better that I wasn't completely shaming the rappel program back home. We finished off the day with tie-offs and which I was able to complete each one. 

Friday morning we met again at the airport for a short morning session. It was quite windy that morning which gave us new challenges to deal with. I learned quickly rappelling from the right side of the helicopter the wind cause the rope to brake you, thus making you have to work harder at the rappel. On the other hand, rappelling from the left side made it harder for tie-offs because the wind took your rope away from you. I had to awkwardly wrap my legs around the rope to keep it near me so that I could put in my knots. At the end of the morning session, all but one got the clearance to move into canopy rappels the next week at Neerim. We drove back to Heyfield and returned to our homes for the evening. As of now my weekend is dedicated to catching up on sleep and prepping for the next week of training. I will also be indulging in some much need Australian wine and continuing reading my book (currently reading Chickenhawk. Awesome autobiography of a pilot's time in the Vietnam war). Hope all is well back home and would love to hear from you. Take care and much love xo