Name: Hyla Breese
Age:30
Date of Birth: 20th February 1976
Place of Birth: Perth, Western Australia
Lives: Florida USA
Weight: 149 lbs
Height: 68"

History: Hyla was born and raised in Western Australia. A large portion of his growing up was done in the bush- from living on a 300,000+ acre sheep station in Australia's north west, to a banana plantation in Canarvon and then to large farm in the south of W.A where eventually, he and his family settled in the suburbs of Perth.

Hyla started his schooling via two-way radio on the sheep station- with the nearest school about 4 hours drive away, it was not practical to go to a school everyday.
Hyla completed his secondary education in Perth before setting out on a path most people only dream of.

That path was motorsport. Hyla raced in Go-karts for a number of years before traveling to the United Kingdom in 1996 to pursue his career as a Formula 1 racing driver. Hyla received great success racing in the UK, winning a championship which helped push him up the motor racing ladder. After 9 years living in the UK Hyla made a great impression on the motor sport scene, with promise of greater things to come. Unfortunately motorsport is an industry which devours money in an enormous quantity- talent alone is not a guarantee of success. Hyla was not from a wealthy family that would have made a large difference to his career. Despite this, he struggled and fought, raising sponsorship to race in the Autobytel Lotus Sport Championship in 2001, racing throughout the UK and in mainland Europe. This led to the securing of a brief British Touring car drive based on his racing abilities alone.

While not racing or finding sponsorship Hyla worked for a number of years as a racing driver instructor- teaching people the techniques and skills required to not only drive a car fast on a track but to be better drivers generally. Hyla worked for many track event companies during his time in the UK but none were as memorable as his years at the Lotus Cars factory.
Hyla was regarded as one of the best drivers in the company and spent his days training members of the public in the Lotus Elise sports cars, covering everything from car dynamics training to corporate track events.
Time was also spent testing for the factory at circuits across the English channel in Europe- circuits such as Spa in Belgium to Zandvoort near Amsterdam and Dijon in France.

Hyla always had a fascination with helicopters from an early age. If racing hadn't been the stronger pull as a kid, he would have joined the Australian Navy to be a helicopter pilot. With the encouragement of an ex sponsor who owned 2 helicopters in the UK, Hyla completed his private helicopter licence at Bigign Hill near London. After rapid progress through that course Hyla then set the long hard process of studying for the JAA ATPL(H) licence. 12 months later with the exams complete Hyla set off for Florida to start his training.

Arriving at HAI (Helicopter Adventures Inc) on March 30th 2005 Hyla started his Instrument Rating April 4th 2005. Two months later he had completed the IR and set about getting the CPL (commercial) certificate done. One and a half months later that was complete. The next on the list was the CFI (Certified Flight Instructor) which was completed on the 17th October 2005.

The next on Hyla's list is to finish off his JAA ATPL(H) which will involve just the flight training as the 14 exams are complete.

Hyla has a 2 year visa to remain and work as a flight instructor in the US. His intention is to see out that visa, gaining the valuable hours as an instructor needed to progress in the helicopter industry, then returning to the UK to pursue a career flying to the oil rigs on the North Sea- a challenging role for a helicopter pilot. But as you may have gathered, Hyla is not put off by challenges- his gritty Australian attitude and determination is always evident in everything he does.