On March 11 Sweden got a new helicopter pilot, a pilot who passed his skill test at the age of 76. Mr Erik Öinert, a former fighter pilot, gained his private helicopter license (PPL-H) after training with flight instructor Svein Martinsen in Helicopter Assistance’s R44 SE-JOE.

As implied, Erik is not new to flying. In fact, Erik has over 20,000 hours of airborne time logged since the age of fifteen, and he has been doing a lot. He is a retired fighter pilot from the Swedish Air Force, where he flew J28 Vampire, J29 Tunnan, J32B Lansen, J35 Draken and SK60. After eight years as an employee in the military Erik started working for at Scandinavian Airlines flying Caravelle, Metropolitan, DC-8, DC-9, Boeing 747 and MD-80 to all corners of the globe.

After his retirement from SAS Erik started flying gilders until 2006. Flying gliders was in fact how it all started prior to his military career. After 2006 he thought that his flying days had come to an end, until he took a trial lesson at a flight school in Stockholm. Like many others, he was hooked.

Erik followed his dreams and realized that age is no limit. He hopes that his story will aspire more people to take the chance and start flying, no matter at what age. “As soon as you get the hang of how to hover, it’s not as hard as you might think” he says.

After his successful skill test Erik is now looking forward to many happy hours with friends and family members in the skies above Stockholm and its beautiful archipelago.

Reproduced from Nordic Rotors with permission. Copyright and full responsibility for the content of this article remains with Nordic Rotors