Beau Basson

It’s been over 30 minutes since the pilot began refueling his helicopter, and the wait is making him a bit anxious. He finally hears the familiar sound of the fuel pump and his colleague signals the chopper is full and ready for dispatch. Relieved, the pilot turns on the rotors and begins double-checking his flight instruments one by one, keeping his eyes and ears open for potential issues with his bird. He finds none. He puts on his night vision goggles and checks the visibility. Satisfied with the visibility, he begins a slow lift-off, he signals his departure to tower control, and then hurries northbound into the dark night...

Beau Basson is from south Africa, and he’s been involved in aviation since 1983; initially he flew jets for the military, but for the last ten years Beau has been flying helicopters for Starlite Aviation – the company that provides EULEX Mission Helicopter services. From 14th September onwards, Beau’s team has almost doubled their flight times to northern Kosovo.

Karl-Heinz Schimpf, the EULEX Rotary Wing Support Coordinator says “Helicopters have many advantages, they’re very fast and flexible, and at the moment to go to the north you have no other choice."

 “I think that as a child everybody wants to fly, and it’s always been a passion in my life and I always wanted to be in the air,” says Beau. He likes the challenges of flying and the good that can come from it.  “You touch so many people, you’re the one giving the food, you’re the one helping the sick person,… you’re very involved!”  
Beau is married and has 3 little children back in South Africa, but he gets to see them quite often as his team works on a six week rotation. “The little ones show interest in flying, but let’s see if it lasts, the girl wants to do fashion but the boys are very interested in flying,” says Beau.
To the risk of flying helicopters in Kosovo, he has one thing to say: “I’m not afraid,” says Beau, “I am very realistic about it - things can go wrong! But I think Kosovo people in general are friendly, and we haven’t seen any major aggression towards helicopters. We are not involved in the conflict. We only try to help people,” says Beau.
He likes to keep busy, so Beau does a lot of mountain biking and cycling in in Kosovo, especially at the Germia park. He has always been involved in lots of sports - squash, rugby, etc. “I’ve always had a busy life and I enjoy that,” says Beau.