Youthful Helicopter Pilot, Akeem Stoll, is a Special Person

Jul 09, 2017 News, http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....is-a-special-person/

“I always had a taste for adventure. I enjoyed going fishing and farming as part of my adventures, but lots of times I would go to the [airplane] runway (at Matthew’s Ridge) to just to see an airplane land and depart.”

By Sharmain Grainger
He may only be 25 years old, but Akeem Stoll has accomplished in less than 10 years what some people may only be able to dream about their entire lifetime. He can easily be placed in a category of an elite few within the aviation sector who have the capabilities to manoeuvre a helicopter.

Although he makes flying this, mostly metal, air-vehicle look effortless, Stoll was required to undergo a great deal of training, which he mastered, in order to get to where he is today. He is currently employed as a helicopter pilot attached to Air Services Limited [ASL], qualified to fly the Robinson R44 Raven II and the Bell 206 L4 Long Ranger helicopters.

Operating out of the Ogle, East Coast Demerara Eugene F. Correia International Airport, with a fleet of over 25 aircraft, including helicopters, ASL boasts of providing a safe and reliable service for over half a century.

Understandably, Stoll is one of the company’s youngest pilots and one of about five pilots capable of handling the helicopters within the company’s fleet. Needless to say, he is perhaps the country’s youngest helicopter pilot, which required him gaining specialised training to become competent.

Interesting enough, Stoll acquired his early pilot knowledge at the ASL’s Flight School before he went on to advance his piloting skills overseas.

PIPE DREAM
Ever since he was a young boy growing up in Matthew’s Ridge in the North West District of Guyana, Stoll was enthused by the idea of becoming a pilot. However, he, like so many others at the time, only saw it as a ‘pipe dream’.

He remembers Matthew’s Ridge as a little farming village with shops that catered mainly to gold miners, and ever so often he would see the little planes, piloted by “the guys with the gold stripes on their shoulders” gliding to a smooth stop, and then briskly taking to the skies again. Stoll saw piloting as an adventure and he badly wanted to explore.

“I always had a taste for adventure. I enjoyed going fishing and farming as part of my adventures, but lots of times I would go to the [airplane] runway to just to see an airplane land and depart,” Stoll reflected.

But life was pretty straightforward for the ambitious lad, who grew up with his businessman father, Egbert Burnham Wellington Stoll, and housewife mother, Avril Duncan. He was born to the couple on January 6, 1992.

After attending primary school in Matthew’s Ridge, Stoll moved to the city to attend North Georgetown Secondary. But according to him, the dream of becoming a pilot remained with him throughout his school days and even afterwards. However, he still didn’t see how it could materialise, and so he delved into business, much like his father, after completing secondary school.

=To be Continued=

FLIGHT TRAINING
Three years into his business venture in the interior, Stoll was in receipt of information about the ASL Flight Training School at Ogle. He wasted no time in applying.

A pilot with a knack for finding a scenic view.

He commenced training in 2010 which he completed one and a half years later – skilled enough to fly the Cessna 172 and the Cessna 206 aircraft.

He has been able to fly to many parts of Guyana, but most memorable for him have been the occasions that he’d flown to his home village of Matthew’s Ridge.

“About 20 – 30 people would come out and when they see you are from the village, they are always filled with jubilation,” recalled Stoll, who has also flown to many other interior locations.

According to Stoll, “completing flight training for me was indeed a dream come true”.

Although he was able to secure certification to fly the single engine planes within the ASL fleet, little did he know that things were just beginning to unfold for him, regarding his piloting profession.

It might have been because of his evident passion for the profession that the administrators of ASL decided to furnish Stoll with a scholarship to travel overseas to advance his skills as a helicopter pilot. He attended the West Palm Beach Helicopter School in Florida, United States, where he underwent an intense four-month training programme.

Explaining the difference between flying an airplane and a helicopter, Stoll noted that while an airplane has in place mechanisms to ensure its stability, the helicopter at all times requires the pilot to have hands-on control.

At the ASL Hangar with the Bell 206 L4 Long Ranger in the background.

“The small plane has a control that you can use to have it pretty much fly itself, but with the helicopter you have to be constantly working the control, since it is inherently unstable…the helicopter is really a bigger workload,” confided Stoll.

For the past two years, Stoll, as an ASL helicopter pilot, has been fulfilling his boyhood dream and then some.

“At times I would say to myself, ‘imagine I am being paid to do this’; this [flying] is something that I really love, but even though it is love for the job, the salary does not disappoint but motivates me to do the job even more…it’s quite rewarding,” said a blushing Stoll.

=To be Continued=

WORST ENEMY
Although he wouldn’t trade his career for any other, Stoll confided that there are days when he is confronted with some challenges as he performs his flying duties. In fact, he related that perhaps the worst enemy of a pilot is the weather changing for the worse.

“Our biggest thing out there is the weather, because it can change at the click of a finger. One minute you might have bright sunshine and the next you have heavy rain. So lots of times you would go out there and fly into a black cloud…Sometimes we would push ourselves thinking we can do it, but lots of times we find ourselves in the Instrument Meteorological Conditions [IMC],” related Stoll.

IMC is an aviation flight condition that describes weather conditions that require pilots to fly primarily by reference to instruments and therefore under instrument flight rules rather than by outside visual references under visual flight rules.

“At this point we are over the treetops and just pushing it to get the job done,” Stoll explained. As a helicopter pilot for ASL, he is often tasked with flying mainly into mining camp areas to transport passengers, cargo and equipment. He was also recently tasked with embarking on a flood relief mission.

By far his worst experience is when he is aiming to make use of favourable weather and a scheduled passenger turns up late, thus placing added pressure on his piloting skills to reach to the intended destination and return safely.

WORK HARD
Stoll noted that although his dream of becoming a pilot has come true, in order to fulfil this dream he had to be determined and worked tirelessly to make it a reality. His advice to youths who may be desirous of following in his footsteps or some other path is, “whatever your goal may be, work hard, believe in yourself and you will achieve whatever your heart desires, or whatever your dream may be. I assure you that once you persevere and work diligently, you are going to find yourself where you need to be. It’s all about working hard and never giving up”.

But according to Stoll, while it is important to believe in yourself, there are occasions when someone else believing in you too can be very instrumental.

During his initial helicopter flying days, he was lucky to find this level of support in Buddy Chance, an American Helicopter Pilot/Instructor who has been working with ASL over the years. Stoll holds Chance as his piloting mentor and friend.

“He showed me the ropes and taught me things such as how to anticipate the weather, and basically how to be safe…He was there pushing me all the time; he believed in me,” said Stoll of his mentor.

In his counsel to young people, Stoll acknowledged that although some may be at a disadvantage at times, this should never be a reason to accept defeat. He moreover charged “whoever you are, wherever you are from, no one warns us about the impediments life presents at times, and this can leave you feeling discouraged and you may feel incompetent, but it is at this critical point you need to maintain a positive attitude, strength and courage and strive for what you believe in. Life eventually gets better by simply believing and maintaining a positive determination; even nature shows us after it storms, it calms,” said a thoughtful Stoll.

Although he is happy for the hand he has been dealt, Stoll noted that there are a lot of young people who are unable to evolve, simply because they are not given the opportunity to put their talent to good use. He is convinced that the availability of more scholarship programmes will definitely help to bridge that gap.

=To be Continued=

FUTURE ENDEAVOUR
Although appreciative of the support he has received and the man he has become as a result, Stoll said he is not prepared to simply sit back and relax. He hopes to one day be able to work for Bristow Helicopters and be responsible for flying an AgustaWestland 139 helicopter that caters to offshore oil rigs.

Bristow Helicopters Limited, he explained, can be found throughout the world, and “the helicopters they have are well equipped with auto pilot and even equipped so that you can see through the weather”.

But for now, Stoll is contended with what he has been blessed with, including a family that loves him unconditionally and employers that fully support him and push him to become a better pilot. Things of this nature are what Akeem Stoll ponders upon for hours when he spends time engaged in his other pastime – tending to his organic garden at his Sophia, Georgetown home.

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