International Pilots Day 2024 

To mark International Pilots Day, and to acknowledge all of the brilliant pilots, aviators and engineers who we are proud to work alongside each day, we caught up with Captain Steve Norris, the longest-serving EAAA pilot, who flies Anglia One (Norwich) missions out of Helimed House. 

When did you start flying with EAAA? 

I started flying Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) missions in 2006, following a career in the army. I spent eight years on tanks, followed by 15 years on helicopters. In my opinion, flying HEMS missions is the closest to military flying you can get as it’s dynamic and you never know where you will be tasked. 

What’s the best thing about flying HEMS missions? 

It’s nice to go home knowing how much you could have helped somebody. Thanks to the advanced skills, equipment and medicine that EAAA brings to the scene, more people have the best chance of survival. Certain tasks and patients really standout in my memory – so patient visits, where they return with their loved ones to visit an EAAA base and the crew after their incident, are incredibly special. 

What’s the best thing about the H145 helicopter? 

For me, it’s the extra range and extra lift provided by the five-bladed rotor. We can easily fly for two hours and still have capacity to transfer a patient by air. It’s a great helicopter and in my opinion, the best for the role we do.  

What’s your favourite function on the H145 helicopter? 

It has to be the autopilot function – it’s amazing! It makes life so much easier for pilots.  IT gives us more bandwidth to focus on other things, such as discussing potential safe landing sites and how the clinicians on board will reach the patient from the chosen site. 

If money was no object, I’d love to have a ‘Head Up’ display, which projects height and speed onto the windscreen in front. Some cars have it (and I’m very much into cars) and a few other helicopters too, but it’s very expensive! 

Where is the most interesting place you’ve landed? 

I’ve landed on major roads before, and even on top of the Orwell Bridge in Suffolk, after the police have closed the road to facilitate a safe landing. 

I would love to land a helicopter on Ed Sheeran’s land - just because he’s a local celebrity. EAAA has landed at Norwich City Football Club, but I wasn’t on-shift. That would be another interesting location for me – even though I’m not really a football fan.  

What’s the highest you’ve flown? 

The highest I’ve flown (not with EAAA) was 10,000ft. Any higher than that and you need oxygen. The highest I’ve flown in the EAAA H145 is 5,000ft. When on HEMS missions, we normally fly between 1,200ft and 1,500ft. We fly higher if instructed to by Air Traffic Control (ATC). For example, we may be flying through cloud and ATC will instruct us to increase our altitude to avoid other air traffic in the area.  

Is there a famous person you would like to fly with? 

Tom Cruise – I hear he’s into cars, just like me, and he’s a good pilot, too. I would want to talk to him about his fantastic collection of cars, but he’d probably want to talk about aviation. 

What makes a good pilot, and do you have any advice for young people considering a career in aviation? 

Good coordination is needed for when you’re in the cockpit operating multiple controls, sticks and foot pedals while at the same time safely manoeuvring the aircraft. 

The military can be a good entry route for a career in aviation, that’s the route I took, but there are other routes, too. It’s a great career to get into. Certainly, working in HEMS is incredibly rewarding.    

On this International Pilots Day, thank you to Captain Steve and all of the pilots, aviators and engineers who help to save lives across Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.