HAI Announces Recipient of the 2004

Outstanding Certified Flight Instructor Award
Date: Thursday, December 16 @ 14:46:31 Eastern Standard Time
Topic: Today's News

 Alexandria, Va., December 16, 2004—Randal L. Bechtel, Chief Flight Instructor/Owner, Flight Check Ltd., Fort Worth, Texas, is the recipient of Helicopter Association International’s (HAI) 2004 Outstanding Certified Flight Instructor Award. This award will be presented February 7, 2005, at HELI-EXPO in Anaheim, California, during HAI’s 44th annual “Salute to Excellence” awards ceremony.

Randy distinguished himself in the U.S. Army in Vietnam by earning the Bronze Star and Air Medal. Flying the bush for Transcanada Helicopters and working offshore for Air Logistics, LLC gave him a tremendous experience base to draw on. He gained instructional experience at Bell Helicopter Textron, where he rose to the position of Assistant Chief Flight Instructor and also held the titles of Assistant Chief Pilot for the Part 141 School and Assistant Chief Pilot for the Part 133 External load Certificate. Randy has performed over 50,000 touchdown autorotations and flown more than 13,500 accident- and violation-free hours, including over 4,000 hours of instructor time, training over 3,000 students on at least 12 helicopter types. His instruction includes normal and emergency flight procedures focusing on day and night touchdown engine off maneuvers, and rating training for commercial, airline transport pilot, certified flight instructor, and certified flight instrument instructor. Instrumental in developing a pilot transition training program and course curriculum for the Canadian Military, he developed course training standards, plans, instructor guides and student courseware for transition, maintenance test pilot courses, and instructor pilot courses. As lead instructor pilot, he trained over 200 Canadian military pilots with zero accidents or incidents.

In early 2002, Randy started his own company, Flight Check Ltd., in Fort Worth, Texas. The concept was simple and effective: go onsite to the customer’s location and train them in their own aircraft and flight environment. Flight Check provides consulting and instruction in operational methodology, providing customers with transition or recurrent flight training in all Bell products. Randy conducts a variety of pilot specialty skills such as mountain flying or external load training. In three years, Flight Check Ltd. has grown to where Randy’s training services are constantly in demand and he regularly trains pilots for many top companies in the U.S. and Canada.

Randy gives his all to the students, and his patience and training demeanor brings out the best in everyone. He motivates and inspires students to do their best in everything related to flight operations. He is a professional through and through and is always willing to research answers to technical questions. His pursuit of excellence and his focus on safety are integral parts of the education of his student pilots.