From Finland to Texas: The Bell 505 B1.3 Field Maintenance Scholarship

By Anna Harpila

Prologue: At the Hangar, Finland

It was just another morning at the hangar when my colleague asked if I was planning to apply for a Whirly-Girls scholarship. Of course, I was not planning to since I had not heard about Whirly-Girls at all.

Once I started googling Whirly-Girls, I got really excited. This was just what I had hoped there would be: a community of ladies within the same industry, supporting each other. But I also started to feel blue because all of this was so far away. There was no local community or get-togethers geographically close to me. Nonetheless, I wanted to be involved, so I joined and started to think about applying for a scholarship.

When I got the news that I had been awarded the Bell 505 B1.3 Field Maintenance Scholarship, I was literally jumping for joy. The more I thought about how this would affect my career, the more gratitude I felt towards WG and to Bell Textron. How awesome of them to globally support women in making a big leap in their careers!

Chapter: Bell Training Academy, Texas, USA

I know several skillful technicians who have been working in the industry for years or even decades but for whatever reason had not gained any type certifications or even a license. As I was flying to the USA for the first time ever, excited to gain training for a type certification, I was thinking about them.

At Bell Training Academy, I was impressed by basically everything. I was offered tons of information by an inspiring teacher in a really nice facility. Although I am used to doing some physical work during my workdays, so at times it was quite hard to just be sitting and listening for eight hours in a row. Luckily there were not many days like that. Most of the time we had at least some hands-on training. Plus the coffee was good and served in big portions to keep you energized!

It's great to be studying not just for exams but for yourself. From this training, I gained lots of technical information. I know that is not most people’s passion so I’ll spare you the details. But in general you need to have theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience to be a good mechanic. Thankfully, I was offered lots of that by Bell and gained resources to become a better mechanic and a more valuable part of my working community.

Epilogue: Coptersafety and Local Community, Finland

When I got home, we had a meeting with all of the WG members in Finland at the time: me and WG#2374 Rakel Jefrernoff. We decided that we will work to create an active local group of Whirly-Girls.

Coptersafety was offering mid-season scholarships this year so we contacted them. Luckily they were really nice and willing to host a company visit for us. We decided to visit on the day that the two WG scholarship winners would also be able to join. We had a plan; the only thing missing was other participants.

We started to ask around and found a really inspiring group of pilots and mechanics to join us. We had a really interesting afternoon at Coptersafety with lots of new information and the possibility to fly simulators in the future. Personally, as a mechanic, I found the inner workings of the simulator itself much more interesting than flying with it.

Later on, we headed to dinner together. And so, after the exciting day with simulators, we were sitting as a group of newly made friends, laughing and enjoying life. During the evening, several WG member applications were filled.

Sometimes you are just offered good things in life. Thanks to Bell Textron, I got great training and an upgrade to my license. Coptersafety offered us a nice excuse to meet up and start creating an active community. Thanks to Whirly-Girls, I have gained a professional boost and got to know a really inspiring group of girls to hover with.