Nick Mayhew, senior program manager of L-3 Link Simulation and Training, will receive the Salute to Excellence W.A. “Dub” Blessing Flight Instructor of the Year Award here at Heli-Expo. Sponsored by Ross Perot, Jr. and the Perot family, the award will be presented at HAI’s Salute to Excellence Awards dinner at the Hilton Anatole Dallas on March 8. Mayhew is receiving the award because he continues to spearhead helicopter pilot safety as he mentors others, advises on FAA best practices and promotes educational videos on a national scale.

Air safety has always been a top priority for Mayhew. After leaving the UK Royal Navy as lieutenant commander with 28 years of accident-free flying, he was part of the team that developed and implemented Bristow’s Target Zero program and served as general manager of Bristow Academy in Titusville, Fla. Mayhew told AIN, “I slowly started to convince those around me that we could all achieve zero accidents; hour by hour, day by day, week by week and year after year.” He was then offered the opportunity to participate with the International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) and U.S. Helicopter Safety Team (USHST).

Mayhew joined the USHST in 2012 as the Training Working Group chair. He continues to advocate for improving pilot performance related to emergency training and autorotations. He also went on to work with the FAA’s Orlando Flight Standards District Office, Bristow Academy and other Florida-based flight school to form the Helicopter Certificated Flight Instructor Special Emphasis Program in May 2014. He continues to promote the program, which emphasizes flight instructors’ safety concerns, on a national level.

One of Mayhew’s biggest accomplishments was establishing “Reel Safety” videos with IHST and USHST in 2014. The library of five-minute videos is designed to help pilots understand topics including risk management, autorotations, emergency procedure training, preflight planning and more. According to HAI, he sponsored the development of more than a dozen educational videos.

Mayhew explained, “The team was initially only a few people but it soon grew to around 15 volunteer helicopter experts from across the industry, all eager to make a difference. We worked well as a team, and over dinner one evening in California when attending Heli-Expo, a few of us came up with the idea that we could reach a wider audience with multimedia presentations; I suggested the name, and ‘Reel Safety’ was born.”

The W.A. “Dub” Blessing Flight Instructor of the Year Award means a lot to this flight instructor. Mayhew told AIN that he sees it as recognition for all the work that the Training Working Group has achieved over the past five years. He also believes it endorses the belief that the aviation industry can achieve zero accidents.

“I am forever hopeful that the good work and safety enhancements we are attacking now within the USHST will continue to drive [down] fatalities and helicopter accidents towards the goal of achieving zero accidents, while still performing the unique and hugely important services that helicopters deliver,” he concluded.