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Blue Sky Helicopters is
the longest established & only locally owned Helicopter Company
based at Sydney Airport... The gateway to the free spirited
continent of Australia.
The owner of Blue Sky
is Chief Pilot/MD, Mark
Fitzsimmons. Mark, started his "flying" career as
an aerial photographer in the United Kingdom, before emigrating
to Australia in 1991.
It was here that he saw the opportunity to take up the "other
seat" and become a helicopter pilot, combining two passions,
aviation and photography.
As at October 2008 Mark has close to 4,000 flight hours (approx 18,000 passengers) logged in a variety of work including Media, aerial photography, corporate charter, tourism & aerial firefighting... He has covered every major event in Sydney over the last decade & half including 15 Sydney to Hobart Yacht races (5 as an aerial photographer and 10 as a media pilot), The Sydney 2000 Olympic Games (Time magazine/Sports Illustrated), the arrival of the very first commercial flight of the Airbus A380 at Sydney Airport (Singapore Airlines/Worldwide media outlets) and as an Air Attack pilot for the Sydney area (tasked by the RFS) to assist in protecting the Sydney basin during the summer bushfire season. Most recently he covered the Pope's visit to Sydney (for The Sydney Morning Herald)... Mark was also the first civilian aerial photographer over Ground Zero in New York after the deverstating events of September 2001...
Timeline...
Blue Sky Helicopters
Pty Ltd was originally established at Bankstown Airport (situated in Sydney's
south-west), and initially specialised in aerial photography
and film work.
In mid 1997, the company
moved operations to Sydney Airport to be nearer
to the City and to develop the charter side of the business. Sydney's
CBD is less than five minutes flight time and the coast is just
two minutes away.
The company aircraft, a supurbly presented B206 BIII Jetranger is meticulously maintained & looked after to the very highest standards... VH-ZMF is without a doubt one of the finest examples of a Jetranger helicopter in the Country. Mark's pride in the Company is reflected in this aircraft...
Casual line pilots Col Greenwood & Simon Brough like Mark, each have around 4000 hours flight experience... (Enough for each of them to fly to the Moon & back at 100kts which coincidently is what the company Jetranger helicopter gets around at!).
When not working for Blue Sky... Col works in Papua New Guinea (Flying a Bell 206 Longranger helicopter in support of mining camps /exploration & long lining (telephone towers/equipment etc) and Simon is an offshore pilot in Western Australia flying a Sikorsky S76 out to the oil platforms in the Indian Ocean…
Putting it all together, when you decide to fly with Blue Sky Helicopters, you are flying with the most experienced tour pilots based at Sydney Airport. A fact that we are very proud of!
Other key personnel include Karen Miranda who is the company's bookkeeper and (most important of all) Mark's wife, Kali Doublet is the passenger coordinator/office manager assisting with the day to day management of the business.
From your initial contact with Blue Sky Helicopters, you will find
an innovative and dynamic company with a friendly welcome and impeccable
service extended to clients from Sydney and from around the World.
Mission
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