Putin’s body guard mistakenly thought I was trying to steal his brief case& put ag unto my head .. it was a quiet flight after that
Air Ambulance officer on leaving the military for Scottish charity and which two star names are the best passengers he’s had the pleasure of flying
IN HIS career spanning 25 years, helicopter pilot Shaun Rose has saved lives and cheated death.
But the search and rescue officer and air ambulance pilot never thought he’d be the man to almost start World War III.
Shaun, 52, from Blairgowrie, in Perthshire, is one of the life saving heroes of hit BBC series Paramedics on Scene, working with Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance.
The chirpy cockpit star has also worked in the Royal Navy and has specialised in VIP flying, with regular customers such as Bear Grylls and Tom Cruise – two of his favourite passengers.
But his most memorable passenger was Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Shaun was tasked with flying the leader around Northern Ireland during the G8 summit in 2013 and almost sparked an international incident.
He explained: “I nearly started World War III. At the G8 conference in Northern Ireland, Putin flew into Belfast airport in his private jet and it was my job to take him to Lough Erne Resort where the conference was.
“I had Putin, his private bodyguard and an admiral. I greeted them, sat him in, I then got the admiral and I just said to him, ‘Can I take your bags and put them in the boot’, and took the bags off him. As I pulled, one of the bags was handcuffed to his wrist.
“He realised he’d let go so I am now pulling the briefcase.
“Putin realised what was happening, jumped down and went absolutely banzai and shouted and screamed at me, the bodyguard thought I was trying to steal the briefcase so grabbed me and stuck his gun to my head, then all the UK Special Branch guys drew their weapons thinking it was a terrorist attack.
“If I hadn’t let go, I think he’d have shot me. They took it quite seriously.
“It was a quiet flight, they weren’t very chatty after that.”
Shaun said the incident meant he instead flew the German premier.
He said: “They took me off Putin and I ended up flying Angela Merkel instead.
“In the pub that night, I was talking to a US secret service agent and he told me I had picked up the Russian nuclear launch codes.”
Shaun has worked with the SCAA
for a year and has previously worked for Helimed 2 air ambulance, based in Inverness, as well as stints flying around exotic locales like the Seychelles.
Born in England, but having grown up in South Africa, he returned to the UK aged 19 and joined the Royal Navy.
Having earned his commission, he then went on to work on oil rigs and air ambulance flying in Scotland.
He’s also been a freelance pilot, working for VIPs, before going full-time with the SCAA.
And despite his glamorous customers and exciting adventures, Shaun insists his air ambulance work is the best job he’s had.
He said: “We get some adventures, we are there to help and the biggest thing about SCAA is it has that variety.
“We are a team and predominantly I stay with the aircraft but I can also jump in to help with things like CPR. I must have done CPR about 500 times.
“If somebody keels over, if you know what to do and start CPR, by the time they are there, the chance of survival of that person is phenomenally greater.
“People say, ‘Why don’t you be an airline pilot but I’ve done all sort of flying and VIPs but I tell you what, working with SCAA in Scotland means that one minute you are out with a trawler and next doing a transport of someone really ill which is the difference between lifeand death – there’s no better flying job out there.
“When I left the military, a lot of friends went off to the airlines and have made a lot of money and for us, at the end of the day, the end user is a charity. But all the airline guys I stay in touch with are bored.
“For us, everyday is different, sometimes you go home sad if you’ve lost a patient but you also go home happy if you’ve had a good day and think, ‘I’ve made a difference today’.”
He added: “Flying over the west coast of Scotland in summer, its better than the Caribbean and in winter, you have snow showers and a low cloud base.
“Recently, a Spanish woman had fallen off her horse near Skye and fractured her pelvis and broken two ribs. She was in a bad state and only a helicopter could get to her.
“The cloud base was less than 1000ft. We went down a valley west of Fort William and in 25 years of flying it was the bumpiest flight I’ve ever had, I thought it was going to shake itself to death. And then the next day, you fly over Oban and it’s like a postcard.”
But he admits some of his celebrity passengers can be slightly unnerving. He especially loved flying Grylls. Shaun regularly flew the TV adventure star and said the biggest problem was making sure the action man stayed in his seat.
He said: “He just wants to jump out and I’m like, ‘No, just let me land, give me a minute’.”
He was also assigned to ferry about Hollywood star Cruise during filming of the famous aircraft stunt in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.
He added: “They were filming in Lincolshire and I used to fly him from London to the film set and back again. The day he did the incredible stunt climbing on the outside of the plane, it was freezing and I gave him my flying jacket.
“Out of everyone, he and Bear Grylls are the nicest guys I’ve ever flown.” Paramedics On Scene continues BBC Scotland, Sunday, at 9pm.