Peters Township residents open Vortex Helicopter Services
Carlos and Jacqueline Cabral operate Vortex Helicopter Services based at Finleyville Airport in Union Township.
Jacqueline and Carlos Cabral with their Robinson R44 helicopter at Finleyville Airport
Jacqueline and the Cabral children at Finleyville Airport
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Inside Vortex Helicopter Services’ Robinson R44, a four-seat aircraft built in Torrance, Calif.
When he was 7, Carlos Cabral watched as a helicopter took off to take his younger sister to get the medical attention she needed.
“It really mystified me that you have a piece of equipment that can literally land in your backyard, pick somebody up and save a life,” he recalled. “From that day onward, I decided I wanted to be a pilot, and more specifically, a helicopter pilot.”
These days, he has plenty of opportunity to fly his rotor-propelled aircraft, and he also is teaching others to do the same.
His wife, Jacqueline, recently founded Vortex Helicopter Services, based at Finleyville Airport in Union Township. Carlos serves as chief pilot and safety manager, bringing more than two decades of aviation experience.
The Peters Township residents offer a variety of flight packages for travel in their air-conditioned Robinson R44 four-seater, from professional activities such as aerial photography or banner towing to taking tours through the sky.
“What we want to do with Vortex is give people experiences, have them do things that they would never think of doing,” Carlos said. “All the trips we have done so far, people have enjoyed tremendously. We’ve even had people who are absolutely terrified of flying, who have afterward thanked us.”
One of the flights was particularly memorable for him.
“We had three generations in the aircraft,” he said. “There was a little boy, a father and the father’s father, and the grandfather had never flown in his life. It was the first time he was airborne.”
Jacqueline spoke of a similar situation involving a woman who took her dad on a helicopter ride as a Father’s Day gift.
“That is just so much more special than buying him another pair of socks,” she said of the excursion.
A native of South Africa, Jacqueline took her own early interest in flight-related adventures.
“I always wanted to skydive, since I was a little kid,” she recalled. “We lived next to an airport. I didn’t care for the airplanes. I just watched the skydivers.”
Since she tried it for herself, Jacqueline has made more than 1,000 jumps out of aircrafts, including the occasion on which she met her future husband.
“I was a skydiver and he was the pilot, and he didn’t want to jump. He said, ‘Well, I’ll just fly the plane.’ And I keep on telling him, ‘If that plane gets in trouble, I’m going to be the one who’s saved, because I’m going to just jump out of here,'” she joked.
For Carlos, who was born in the former Portuguese territory of Mozambique and immigrated to South Africa as a boy, his interest in helicopters goes beyond what the pilot of one did on behalf of his sister.
“I’ve also been fortunate enough to have my life saved twice by MedEvac helicopters,” he said.
“So if it weren’t for MedEvac helicopters, I wouldn’t be here, either.”
He actually got his start in aviation by flying fixed-wing aircraft as a member of the South African Air Force.
“I’m a flight instructor. I’m a test pilot. I fly everything from a small two-seater training aircraft to private jets. But helicopter flying was always something I’ve wanted to do and my passion,” Carlos said.
“At the end of last year, Jacqueline and I got thinking about, maybe it’s time to do the helicopter training, get the instructor’s rating and get all that going.”
The nearest training center turned out to be in Florida, and he earned his certifications in the Sunshine State before returning to Western Pennsylvania with the goal of providing instruction close to home.
“We’re excited to train pilots, and there’s a shortage of pilots worldwide, not just for fixed-wing aircraft but for helicopters,” he said. “Once you’re certified as a pilot, you can then fly for us as a tour pilot, as a banner-towing pilot and gain experience that way, that’ll eventually get you to a point where you become attractive to the remainder of the industry.”
Regarding the comparative lack of helicopter pilots, he gave a historical perspective.
“Vietnam was the first large conflict that required helicopter support all the time,” he said, with the U.S. military training a substantial number of members accordingly.
Changes in approaches to combat, such as the use of drones, have lessened the need for aircraft use, and accordingly, the need for people to learn how to fly them.
“We’re starting to lose that skill, Carlos said. “We’re starting to lose that knowledge.”
He wants to help spur a revival.
“Ultimately, we would like to have three, four helicopters here, a couple of instructors, and really create a nice training center, where it becomes a hub for helicopter training,” he said. “Florida is a really nice place to go for flight training, but it’s all the same. It’s all flat. Here, we have a lot to contend with, so this is a much more ‘real world’ environment, which makes it a very valuable place to train.”
Once certified, pilots have opportunities for careers in a wide array of industries that are supported by helicopters. Along with the medical field, other uses include power line inspection, loading heavy equipment onto tall buildings, preventing crops from freezing, and removing timber from forests in a manner that is far less disruptive than cutting paths for roadways.
“You can leave the forest almost intact,” Carlos said. “It’s also much less disruptive for the wildlife.”
As for the launch of Vortex Helicopter Services, Jacqueline has gotten a warm reception from the folks at Finleyville Airport.
“Here I am, a younger woman coming in and opening up a business. I thought it was going to be hard, but they were so accepting and open,” the mother of three said. “We have a great community. I love living here. But I didn’t expect it to be that welcoming. It’s been a really good experience.”
For more information, visit vortexhelis.com.