Turkey’s first female attack helicopter pilot: Commissioner of the sky
Last week, we were about to start studying again from the fire from Marmaris, but this time it was all our preparations; The Gendarmerie from the General Directorate of Security works in a coordinated manner formed by all aid organizations and the fire was controlled. This can be purchased from the General Aviation Directorate of Security by helicopter, and the observers were among those named Özge Karabulut Coşan. It was written that she was ‘Turkey’s first female attack helicopter pilot’… So we got curious and searched.
*What kind of class do you have as a helicopter pilot?
I’m flying a Bell 429 surveillance helicopter and an attack helicopter. We also have Sikorsky helicopters. We monitor our transportation with these planes, with surveillance and transmission missions and with VIP vehicles. We organize joint operations with smuggling, public order, narotic crimes and terrorist marketing. For example, we have routine check-ups. Three days a week… We do Aerial Traffic control. Images with high cameras. With these cameras, we can understand whether he is wearing a seat belt and whether he is talking on the phone. In fact, the helicopter that belongs to us is a tested phone with a view to the video. This system of plate detection.
*What role did you undertake in forest fires?
To spy, to direct the image. Send by air. A mobile in Marmaris District Police Department
We set up a station, up to 100 km… To provide viewing from this area. Children with fire. The other departure was Sikorsky by helicopter.
*What is it like to use an attack helicopter? Is it dangerous?
of course. First of all, since this is an attack helicopter, the first pilot and the second pilot do not sit side by side like the others. You can intervene against you side by side. Atak’s cockpit design is tandem (front-rear). Pilots need to be very strong from front to back and inside the cockpit. It requires a lot of attention. We eat our crews on the ground. The helicopter was designed exactly accordingly. Mobility is very high, there is no limit. It’s so powerful, it’s a great feeling to fly. I really love my job.
*Is there a place for sentimentality while doing this?
I am not a very emotional woman. I have been with the organization for 5 years. We have great responsibilities. Maybe she changed me a little too, she. I am actually very different. Maybe you wouldn’t recognize it if you saw it. I’m tougher in uniform. I’m one of seven to live your life. The chassis is on the ground, I leave everything on the ground while I take flight, someone else passes by. My only focus is on the nature of the task and how it can be leveraged. In fact, the number of women today is increasing day by day. Very good pilots. I hope it will be normalized permanently.
*Will it be given as a gift for the woman, have they met with the body?
I’ve never experienced anything like this. Where a vehicle is currently located, the pickup truck is being delivered fairly. Women do not suffer from positive discrimination either. I’m just as old as a male pilot is a tattoo. Nothing about people from my superiors like “You’re a woman, don’t go on that mission”. If that were the case, I would forgive the pilot.
‘A pilot must be calm, manage the cockpit well’
* When and how did you decide to not be a police officer?
Soldier or police has been my passion since I was little. There are many soldiers in my father’s family. That’s why my father’s hot weather. After graduating from university, I passed the exam of Police Chiefs Training Center in 2016 and graduated in 2017. He started to be employed as a commissioner in Ankara Police Department.
*Then you became a pilot…
He was seen when he was examined at the Aviation Department of Ankara Police Department. I looked at the conditions, there was no clause saying ‘Can only apply for application’. I won the ‘Basic Pilotage Exam’. I took basic piloting for a year.
*Is the exam process difficult?
Our heads of departments, our assistants, and the pilots are determined by the junior ones. Those who successfully pass the English exam come to the ‘Pilot Selection Exam’ (PSS). Here, too, you enter certain tests in the simulator. Your reading comprehension and reflexes are shown. Wearing hands and feet does not decide… If you want to benefit from a certain training. You need to integrate. You also have the right to enter the PSS only once. If you are eliminated, you will never be able to enter again.
*Why?
Because if I start one year from that exam, how do I come from education? Watching doesn’t turn into a love affair that doesn’t matter. In this way, the perception ability of the pilot is enhanced. Then we take the exam. Passengers are made to fly in a Sikorsky helicopter. It’s called ‘Flight Test’. You are afraid, your panic, you are cold-blooded, you are being looked after.
* It was a very difficult process…
of course. Then a museum is built. Because a pilot must manage the cockpit well. He must be cool. In this application, verbal narration… The self-expression characteristic and essence of the pilots in this process are expressed. From those reviewed from all these reviews. followed by the education process…I passed the exam in 2018. 2019 has always passed with education. In 2020, he started to be started as a pilot commissioner in the air at the General Directorate of Security.
Source: Hürriyet Pazar / Melis Çalapkulu