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How lifesaving Perthshire pilot Russell is facing up to retirement after 1,200 rescue missions

The Scottish Charity Air Ambulance's longest-serving pilot Captain Russell Myles will step away from the cockpit for good in only four months time.

Russell Myles has been flying since he was 17. Image: Scottish Charity Air Ambulance
Russell Myles has been flying since he was 17. Image: Scottish Charity Air Ambulance

No two days are the same for Captain Russell Myles, who is Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance’s longest-serving pilot.

Some days, he jokes, the biggest challenge is not clearing out the biscuit tin while on call at the service’s Perth Airport base.

Other days, it is landing a helicopter on the A9 in a snowstorm to attend a serious car crash.

Russell, 59, works alongside another pilot and six paramedics – a team replicated at the charity’s Aberdeen airbase.

Pictured from left, Rich Garside, Wendy Jubb, John Pritchard, Captain Russell Myles, Gillian Thomson and Ali Daw. Image: Graeme Hart/Perthshire Picture

The dad-of-one, who lives in Wolfhill, says: “You never know what is going to happen when the phone goes – what it is going to be or where you’re going to go.”

He has responded to more than 1,200 incidents since he helped to set up the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service in Perth in 2013.

The variety of jobs ranges massively – from leg injuries in the Cairngorms during ski season to injured motorcyclists on the motorway.

Hospital transfers are also a big part of the team’s remit.

“We took a potential heart transplant patient from the Isle of Bute to Newcastle a couple of years ago,” Russell recalls. “And we won the race and he got the heart.”

Northern Ireland-born Russell, who has lived in Perthshire for 25 years, says his love of flying began as a schoolboy.

Russell has racked up more than 12,000 hours in the sky. Image: SCAA

A flying scholarship from the Royal Air Force helped him attain his pilot’s license at just 17 years old – seeing him fly before he could drive.

He went on to fly the world at the controls of a diverse selection of aircraft, from smaller Fokker F27 passenger turboprops to Boeing 767 jet liners carrying 300-plus passengers.

He has also flown smaller Squirrel and Jet Ranger helicopters to RAF Wessex helicopters in both military support and search and rescue roles.

On a busy day, Russell can attend up to four jobs, while an average year sees him fly around 120 hours with SCAA.

His vigilance doesn’t stop when they reach the emergency scene, however, as he has to ready the aircraft for the onward flight and ensure its security.

“Dangers come in many guises,” he laughs. “I recall landing below the high tide mark on the beach at Cramond Island in the Firth of Forth and counting down the minutes as the tide came in.

“Luckily we got away with our patient before there were too many wet feet.”

‘I don’t think I could do anything else’

And how does Russell spend his free time?

You guessed it.

“I’ve got my own aircraft, a Piper Cub which served in the Battle of Normandy.

“I get up in the morning and if the weather looks good I can head down to Perth Airport and drag the aircraft out and go for a little tootle round the countryside.”

He also owns a two-seater RV6 touring aircraft.

“It’s not a chore”, he says. “I don’t think I could do anything else.”

He was recognised for his achievements in the flying sector last year when he was named “Pilot of the Year” by the Air Ambulances UK Awards of Excellence.

Russell and lead paramedic John Pritchard with the original Bolkow 105 helicopter that launched SCAA in service in 2013. Image: SCAA

“I wasn’t expecting anything,” he said. “It was a bit of a surprise to find out I had even been nominated.

“I was up against two guys down south who were equally deserving, so it was an honour.”

It came as he entered his last year of flying.

At the age of 59, he is required to retire from SCAA when he turns 60 in May.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet, that I only have four months left,” he says.

“I’ll be sad to finish, but that’s the rules.”

He plans to go into pilot instructing when he leaves the service.

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