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Pilot with a purpose: flying for Grand Canyon

Heather Saur prepares for a mission at the Grand Canyon Helibase. Saur is a Papillon pilot contracted to fly Grand Canyon Helitack missions.
Photo by Loretta James.

Heather Saur prepares for a mission at the Grand Canyon Helibase. Saur is a Papillon pilot contracted to fly Grand Canyon Helitack missions.

GRAND CANYON, Ariz. - It takes patience and purpose to get to the position Grand Canyon Helitack pilot Heather Saur is at in her career. She said it's all about being in the right place at the right time.

Saur is the contracted pilot for the National Park Service's (NPS) Grand Canyon Helitack Crew, which conducts search and rescues, slings utility equipment and personnel into the Canyon, fights wildfires and conducts short haul operations on a daily basis.

After completing her flight training in Texas, Saur attended a Heli Expo in Houston where she was a backup pilot. Papillon Helicopters, who operates tours over the Grand Canyon, pulled Saur's resume and interviewed her for a position at the Canyon.

"I just went to a little mom and pops school in Texas, outside of Houston," she said. "After you finish your flight training, typically you become a flight instructor, which sounds really strange because you just graduated but it works out pretty well because all that stuff is still pretty fresh in your mind."

Most pilots work as flight instructors until they get around 1,000 hours as pilot in command before becoming eligible to work other jobs.

"It just happened that I was in the right place at the right time and talked to the right people and got out here," she said.

Saur started flying tours for Papillon in 2010 and was contracted by Arizona Game and Fish to conduct surveys and she flew one season as a fire contract under the North Las Vegas Fire Contract. The following season Saur flew for the NPS at Grand Canyon under its 90 day fire contract. Earlier this year Saur took a full time flying position for Grand Canyon.

"It's a good spot," she said. "People don't often leave; they hang out because it's an awesome job. So you have to be patient or at the right place at the right time."

One challenge of Saur's job is adapting to a new learning environment.

"They have their way of doing things and they have a routine, it doesn't seem like people leave very often. So me being the new person and trying to pick up on all the nuances, that's been the hardest thing, but other than that it is awesome," she said.

Saur said flying in the Canyon has its own challenges.

"A lot of days we will get winded out," she said. "During the afternoons it is too strong, especially in the Canyon. Temperatures and flying at 9,000 feet and then down to 2,000 feet at the river in the same flight makes it a little challenging."

Additionally, Saur said learning to flying short haul operations is about practice and patience.

"I wouldn't say I'm a super unique person with superpowers, that's not it at all. It's practice and patience and putting your head down and sticking with it," she said.


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