Helijet International Inc. has announced the appointment of Michael Potter as chief pilot, rotary-wing; and Phil Sevensma as assistant chief pilot, rotary-wing, effective Aug. 1, 2017. Together, the men have more than 44 years of flying experience, 29 of them with Helijet.
As chief pilot, Potter will report to the director of flight operations and be responsible for the day-to-day management of flight training and operating standards for Helijet’s scheduled, air medical, and charter helicopter services. Potter is ideally suited to assume this leadership role at Helijet, having flown with the company from 1993 to 2003, and throughout 2010.
For the past year and half, he has also served as a captain (Sikorsky S-76) for Helijet, while continuing to work with Calgary-based STARS Air Ambulance, which he joined in 2006. Potter brings extensive knowledge and depth in night vision imaging system (NVIS) flight operations as he has been involved with STARS’s NVIS program.
Potter’s 25 years of flying experience includes multi-engine/multi-crew air ambulance captain conducting night vision goggle (NVG) operations, airborne law enforcement, IFR commuter service, utility helicopter operations encompassing such tasks as water bucketing, oil-and-gas support, power line patrol and aerial photography. His certification includes ATPL-Helicopter Unrestricted (on Robinson Helicopters R22 models, Bell Helicopter 47 and 206 models, MD Helicopters MD 520N models, Airbus Helicopters EC120 and AS355, and Sikorsky S-76, BK 117, and Leonardo AW139 helicopters), as well as commercial multi-engine aeroplane and Group 3 Instrument rating.
Reporting to the chief pilot, Helijet’s new assistant chief pilot, Sevensma, has more than 20 years of experience as a captain in air ambulance, offshore and other multi-engine, multi-crew operations. In addition to serving Helijet as a company pilot, training captain and safety officer, he has also served as a pilot and instructor for CHC Global, Chinook Helicopters, and Thai Aviation Services.
Sevensma’s certifications include Canadian Airline Transport Pilot-Helicopter (Group 4 Instrument Rating and night rating), and being endorsed on the Bell Helicopter 47 and 206 models; Robinson R22 and R44 models, Sikorsky S-76 and S-61 models, and Airbus Helicopters AS332.
“We’re very pleased to announce the appointments of Michael Potter and Phil Sevensma,” said Helijet’s director of flight operations, Brendan McCormick. “In addition to both being very experienced pilots, with more than 7,000 hours of rotary-wing flight time each, they’ve also demonstrated an unwavering commitment to safety, knowledge sharing and professional development during their time at Helijet and other leading helicopter firms. It’s especially gratifying to make this addition to our leadership team from within our own ranks and it speaks volumes about our commitment to the ongoing professional development of our employees.”
Helijet International is a Canadian-owned company and the world’s largest helicopter airline, carrying well over two million passengers in the past 30 years. In addition to its scheduled helicopter services, Helijet is British Columbia’s longest standing and largest service provider of dedicated medically-equipped helicopters.
Helijet provides exclusive use helicopters and turbojet fixed-wing services to world renowned sport fishing resorts, public service and energy companies and Insurance companies, throughout the West Coast of British Columbia, North America, and Asia.
