Finnish flight training organisation Coptersafety has appointed Juha Ahtola as head of quality and safety and Mikko Kallio as head of training and development. Both will report to CEO Mikko Dahlman.

Ahtola succeeds Timo Honkavaara, who in turn has been promoted to chief operating officer to focus on Coptersafety's rapid growth. He will be responsible for all matters relating to the company's safe operations, such as leading Coptersafety's safety management system, and has a background in flight quality and safety operations. He has worked as a technical systems instructor, crew resource management (CRM) instructor, emergency and safety instructor and later as flight safety manager for the ATR-72 aircraft fleet at Finnair Group. In his latest position as an Airbus captain at Finnair he instructed Airbus pilots in simulators. For the past six years, Ahtola has also been consulting to FinnHEMS, ensuring safety and quality of helicopter emergency medical services operations in Finland. He says: “With the latest simulator technology and the great team of professionals we have at Coptersafety I am confident we will genuinely enhance the safety and quality of helicopter operations not only at our company, but all around the world.”

Kallio will be responsible for both Coptersafety's training organisation and development projects, and will be directly responsible for the company's compliance with all EASA-FCL requirements. He has already been working with Coptersafety as head of development and test pilot since May 2018, and has 27 years of aviation experience. After graduating from the Finnish Air Force Academy in 1991 he served as a rotary wing pilot and flight instructor in the Finnish Border Guard but also as an airline pilot, safety, multi-crew coordination, ground and CRM instructor for Finnair. From 2009 to 2017 he worked for the Finnish Border Guard as an operational SAR helicopter pilot and test pilot.

Kallio says: “Due to my experiences both as a rotary wing test pilot and as an airline pilot I have gained much know-how and experience I now want to share. This gives me a great opportunity to further develop the training services at Coptersafety, and there is a lot of new simulator technology coming in so my technical expertise also comes in handy.”