From the sea to the stars

Will Banks’ career began with the Royal Navy, now he flies for the film industry, with a career that has seen him responsible for capturing some of Tom Cruise’s most hair-raising stunts.

“In February 1997, I was on the HMS Monmouth when the ship turned across the sea, and we snapped our lashings and rolled off the back of the ship, upside down into the water,” explains Will Banks, Manager of GB Helicopters. “It brought my career in the navy to an abrupt end, understandably.”

Banks became an airline pilot for around eight years before returning to helicopters through corporate aviation – a move which saw him acquire the former Empire Test Pilots School H125 and establish Cheshire Helicopters, later rebranded as GB Helicopters to reflect its international reach. He also co-founded The Aerial Film Company with aerial DP and partner Phil Arntz, building an international aerial cinematography operation that provides helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, Shotover systems and specialist crews to film and television productions worldwide.

H125: a scene stealer

For his work with the film industry, Banks wanted to create a holistic operation to respond to film production companies’ need for flexibility when dates and plans can change at a moment’s notice. “For the film world, we basically created a one-stop shop,” explains Banks. “We have all the accessories to be able to control the entire support for a production, which becomes very important when dates change. We can facilitate everything from the ground support to every aircraft accessory along with fully qualified personnel from all disciplines.”

While GB Helicopters has a range of aircraft in its fleet, Banks is effusive in his praise for one Airbus helicopter in particular, without which, making movies would be significantly harder. “The maneuverability of the H125 is realistically unrivalled by anything else, both the twin-engine and the single,” he states. “Obviously, the single is the absolute epitome and it’s just a superb machine. There’s very little you can really do to improve it: the versatility of it, including the sheer number of accessories that are available to facilitate the tasks that we need to do are unrivalled. If we’re filming remotely, it’s serviceability and reduced in field maintenance requirement means it keeps flying with little intervention from any support team. You’ve got equipment baskets for moving kit, physical frames available to carry the large Shotover... There is no other aircraft that can film with the large K1. It does it all.”

Mission: Improbable

One of Banks’ most recent highlights was working on a blockbuster featuring stunts like no other. “We’ve done the last two Mission: Impossible movies in just about their entirety, which is a massive achievement,” enthuses Banks. “We had around four and a half months in Africa, over two trips. It was high-energy, intense filming in very close proximity to fixed-wing aircraft, shooting wide-angle lenses on canyon runs to fill the screen with the biplane and still get the canyons in. We were exceedingly close at high speed in confined areas. It was fantastic...”

In terms of next steps, like any actor, Banks would love a shot at a classic British franchise. “Obviously, the Bond films are iconic. Guy Ritchie would also be a great one. I love that genre.”

Across a lifetime in aviation that has spanned both fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, commercial airlines, and high-profile cinema, one thing is certain: Banks won’t be abandoning helicopters anytime soon.

“I love the helicopter world, I love what you can achieve, and the different roles that we can carry out, from load-lifting poles to filming high-action movies,” Banks says. “Every day is different.”