AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2023 - 37

A well-trained pilot
Consumed with pursuing flight
BY SHEILA HARRIS
and again served as a flight instructor, where
he taught in the simulator and was designated
a check airman.
Stephen and Heather were married in 2012.
When he received a call from Saudi Arabiabased
Aramco in 2016, asking him if he would
interview with them, he gave it some thought,
but not for long.
" Heather and I were ready for what we
knew would be an adventure, " Rider said.
Rider accepted the offer Aramco extended,
sold the Piper Aztec he'd owned for two years
and prepared to move overseas.
Heather and Stephen Rider have taken his love for aviation and passed it on to
their children.
THE PASSPORTS OF STEPHEN and Heather Rider's children, all three under 10 years
old, are filled with names of destinations most people will never see in a lifetime.
In a family with a foot in two worlds, it's not unexpected.
For his sixteenth birthday, Stephen Rider received an introductory helicopter
flight with Sky Helicopters, near his home in Plano, Texas.
From that first helicopter ride, Rider said, he became consumed with flight.
" I started taking ground school instruction, " Rider said, " and began helicopter
flight lessons in high school, although my goal, then, was to become a commercial
airline pilot. When 9/11 happened after I graduated, I decided to pursue a rotorwing
path instead. "
Rider moved to Titusville, Florida, where he accumulated flight hours with
Helicopter Adventures, then flight instructed for two years at Air Orlando while
obtaining an aeronautics degree from Embry-Riddle in Daytona Beach. While
there, he obtained most of his certificates and type ratings for fixed-wing and
rotary-wing aircraft.
After college, he returned to Texas and taught flight instruction at Summit
Helicopters in Addison, while continuing to accumulate flight hours.
" I liked being a flight instructor, so I had to decide whether to stick with
instruction or go into some other field, " Rider said.
In 2006, he landed a job with the Houston-based Bristow Group, which provides
helicopter support for the Gulf's gas and oil industries.
" At Bristow, I flew the Bell 206, the Bell 407, and the Sikorsky S-76, " Rider said.
During his 10-year stint with Bristow, Rider went back to school for his MBA,
was upgraded to captain of the S-76 (one of the youngest pilots to be so appointed),
Stephen Rider in Saudi Arabia.
The Riders now live in a gated company
compound near Ras Tanura, in the eastern
province of Saudi Arabia.
" It's a city unto itself, " said Rider, although
he and his family often venture into surrounding
areas.
Initially a line pilot for Aramco, Rider
gravitated again into flight instruction, where
he now heads the company's helicopter pilot
training department.
The best asset a company can have is a welltrained
pilot, Rider believes. He's glad he can
help make that happen. Sheila Harris is a
writer from Missouri.
AOPA PILOT / September 2023
37
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2023
