Helicopter training service provider Coptersafety has appointed full-time flight instructor Gerardo Donatelli to support its mission in helping operators enhance safety in their operations. Donatelli has an extensive career as a military, HEMS, offshore and SAR pilot. He also has a Bachelor's degree in Aeronautical Sciences from the Federico II University in Naples.

For the past 22 years, Donatelli has flown different rotorcraft, including the AW139, and he has been a flight instructor in the air force and as a civilian.

“Being a helicopter pilot has been, up to now, the most fantastic adventure that life could gift me with,” he says. “It has taken me from one side of the world to the other; round and round, over and over again. I've been able to get to know so many new and amazing people, who have helped me grow as a human being and as a professional. From every company I worked for and from every person I worked with, I've always managed to learn ever more information. I hope I have left them with the same feeling.”

After joining the Air Force Academy in 1992, Donatelli served in the military for 16 years, where he also worked as a safety officer and operation manager. Then he took what he calls a leap of faith and entered the civil helicopter industry, moving in to SAR operations. Between 2008 and 2015 he was able to gain experience in HEMS and offshore operations around the globe while working for companies such as WestStar Aviation and Abu Dhabi Aviation.

“In 2015 I started as a freelance instructor at Coptersafety. Then in 2016 I found another job flying offshore and training on the AW139 again,” he adds. “I was the only TRI/TRE on the line at the time. Training the pilots was one of the most fulfilling experiences of my flying career. Many of them had been doing their initial training on actual AW139 helicopters, and I was able to apply the training experience I had gained in the simulator at Coptersafety. This duality between sim and real helicopter really brings up the level of teaching. Doing OEIs from an oil rig at night with the real helicopter can be challenging, no matter how many times you have tested it in the sim. After all, you are still playing with somebody's $14 million toy.”

Donatelli will also be supporting the sales department at Coptersafety. He explains: “I have, over the years, been able to spend a bit of time in the office as well. This has taught me a great deal about how to deal with people and how to manage them, to get the best out of everybody so we could reach our targets. Thanks to a long career as a pilot and instructor, I have gained much know-how and experience that I now want to share.”