helicopters!'s topics - tribe.net

Silver State Helicopter Students Think Now!

Ripped Off — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 07:32:11 GMT

For any of you out there that has been taken by this Silver State scheme. You need to look into an on going lawsuit that has been in play since Sept 2005. It was filed in Florida and is referenced as Bergen vs. Key Bank. This isn't the first school failure and it is not limited to helicopters or aviation for that matter. What you that have been defrauded have come to focus on is the crook up close (the schools and they are crooks) but you haven't seen the bigger crook behind the scenes. Even the lawyers floating around Silver State have not made the connection to the real bandits. THE BANKS ARE THE ENABLERS! Don't believe me? Do a search on how many vocational schools have failed just since 2000 that include everything from aviation, computer tech, and nursing. In each instance, look for the similarity in the same banks as lender. The student is used as the credit risk. They could care less if the school is fly by night because they feel that they are protected by you having "your" neck on the line not the school. They "The Banks" know that if the school goes under they probably won't recoup their money from them anyway but YOU on the other hand are their ace in the hole. They insulate themselves by being able to come after the student for the money and get most of them to pay. They'll never get money out of the school that's why they really don't care about the schools credit worthiness or accreditation. The history of this practice bears out the fact that THE BANKS continued to lend to shady schools, school failure after school failure. The devil in the fraud is the bank. Did you ever see the $?... or did the bank just send it straight to the school as I'm sure they did. Don't you think the bank then is in business with the school and vice versa? The only innocent person left holding the bag is you. Get your attorneys to look at that case in Florida. It is the way to victory and justice.

posted in helicopters! - 1 reply

Silver State...Fuck You... Or Not!

flying_elvis — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 18:50:21 GMT

You know nothing gives me the red ass more than someone who tries to use/abuse the legal system to cover up their own bullshit and incompetents.

Niall's last subject posted this:
I'm quoting this from the Myspace heli group.---- groups.myspace.com/helicopterpilots

" The owner of a Nevada based 'flight academy' has threatened a popular helicopter community forum with legal action, prompting the owner of the forum to delete various forum threads dealing with his company's financial practices and quality of instruction.

If you are against people threatening to sue, so that they can quash the voices of dissent, please inform everyone you know in the helicopter community that

Jerry Airola of Silver State Helicopters has threatened legal action against Vertical Reference Helicopter Forums unless VR ceases allowing posts of derogatory views/opinions on their site.
-Richard August "

It's true, I went and could find NO mention of Silver State anywhere. F.S.S.H.

When I clicked over to the myspace posting on this, some jerk off said that SS has the right to use the law. In this case, what he is referring to is slander. To publicly say something negative that is NOT true is called slander and I agree that it is something that should bear legal recourse. But, if your publicly saying something negative that IS true then it is not slander and that person should suffer for being an asshole and screwing people over.

So I'm gonna create a post in big friendly letters here for anyone to add their thoughts, experiences, dealings, training or anything else. If you write something that is just your opinion, say it's your opinion. If you write something that is a fact from an actual experience then say it's from an actual experience. As long as what we say, we say is either our opinion or a factual experience, then he has no legal recourse to do jack shit.

So I’m going to exercise my first amendment rights on this forum and cast the first stone. It is my opinion that Silver State business practices are unethical, immoral and does not serve the best interest of our community or the consumer at large.

And this is why.

The following was a letter I wrote to Niall who mentioned he was signed up to go to Silver State. He told me a little about what he heard and offered him my experiences and opinions based on things people told me, things I heard and things that actually happened. Soon after he withdrew and started with Hillsboro and I think he’s been happy there.

A big part of my job at Rotor aside from teaching is answering phone calls and responding to inquires via email about training, how you should go about it, what it should cost and how long it should take. I have received many calls from people training at Silver State. I have attended their "free employment seminar". They opened up an office in Long Beach and I have witnessed and delt with their pilots and CFI's in the air and over the radio. I have also read every NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) accident report involving R22’s R44’s and Schweizers over 2003, 2004, 2005.

I wish big egos were the only negative thing about them.

I want you to know that in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM am I trying to sell you anything! You live in Oregon, I would recommend you go to Hillsboro before anywhere else. They’re in your state, have a good reputation and I have never heard anything negative about them. Our prices are fairly average for around here. In SoCal, you get a difference of +/- $10 an hour, some places more. Nationwide they are below average, mainly because of our weather. In other parts of the country the weather is not as consistent, therefore those schools cannot fly as many days a month as we can, therefore their prices have to be higher so they can stay in business. With us and most others, to get your ppl, instrument, cpl, CFI, CFII, R44 transition, and 27 hours in a Jetranger with a transition, it’s will cost about $47K and if you were to go for it, more or less full time, it would take you about 10 months and then you could be teaching. I’m not exactly sure what they are advertising, I thought it was around $55k or so. SS used to have financing with Key Bank. When you signed up and you were approved, you were also approved for a loan from Key Bank. Key Bank no longer gives loans for SS. I think too many people were unhappy with SS and quit, demanding their money back so Key Banks dropped them and ruined it for everyone else because Key Bank will no longer give helicopter training loans to anyone period. I also thought that if you did want to quit SS, you will get your loan money back but they get to keep $5000. I’m pretty sure that SS contract says that they can take up to 2 years to give you your CFI.

In the last 2 years I’ve gotten several phone calls from people already enrolled in SS program. All have had major complaints. One guy actually came over and had a flight with us. He said “I can’t believe I’ve been in a flight school for 4 months and I have to go to another flight school to actually fly in a helicopter.” Another guy told me he was unhappy because “there are 100 students here and only 2 helicopters so getting air time is a real bitch so I don’t get to fly very often.” Someone else told me that he and some other students were considering filing a class action suit against them.

My business partner and I went to their seminar last fall. The place was filled with average Joe’s hoping for a better life, being gloriously deluded and signing up in droves. First of all, there is nothing practical about going through the entire ground school and taking all the written tests before you fly, which by the way won’t be until around 6 months after you start attending classes. Nothing could be more reinforcing than reading about something, then going out right after and experiencing it in real life.
They said that you could only do 2 sessions a week. Why? If you have the money and the time, you should be able to train as often as YOU like/can. Consistency and frequency are the best, cheapest, fastest and most effective way to get through your training.
The seminar also mentioned that after you do get your CFI, they will not hire you until you have a 2 year associate’s degree in Aviation Sciences. I can tell you right now that I have never met a pilot with such a degree. I have never heard of any company besides SS hiring a pilot requiring that they have such a degree. Far be it for me to tell anyone that additional knowledge is a bad thing. When asked if the individual could get the degree while they were training with SS the answer was that they discourage that for reasons that I could quite understand. It is mine and other’s belief and opinion that SS is trying to “put off” their students as long as they can, which fit’s into their business model. They get 100 students to sign up at once all paying up front. With that money they buy the heli’s outright so they have no bank or lease payments. They can’t buy enough for everyone to fly when they want so they only let you train once or twice a week, which is a lousy way to go about it. After you and all the other people get their CFI they now have 100 students and 100 CFI’s with not enough work to go around so they tell you to get an irrelevant degree so that the last batch of CFI’s starts to work. In the end, they have eventually fulfilled their contract and have collected their money. It is also the opinion of myself and others that it’s not “if” this business if going to collapse but “when”.

As far as their pilots go, I think they are hacks. I giggle every time I hear the control tower bitch their pilots out for constantly doing the wrong thing. Airports have letters of agreements with helicopters operators as to specifically what procedures we will use getting in or out of the airport and I have found myself on a head on collision course with SS pilots because they were not following the rules. The tower has also called my office to ask if this heli was one of mine, which happened to be SS. When the tower calls you looking for the operator of an aircraft, it’s almost always cause someone fucked up.

In the last month I read all the accidents from the NTSB for R22’s, R44’s and Schweizers for a project I am working on. I have since mandated it that all my CFI’s read at least a years worth because even at my time (which is not so huge) I found that to be the best learning experience as a CFI that I’ve had in years. Most of the accidents were stated to have been caused by the CFI failure to correct something in time. In 2005 SS had 5 or 6 accidents that I am aware of because SS was named as the operator of the aircraft in the accident report. Not all accident reports list who the company operating was so there could have been more. At the seminar he brought up that issue from the start blamed it mostly of the high density altitude in Nevada, which is in fact an issue, to a degree. Density altitude was not an issue when their pilot was ferrying an R44 back to Nevada and didn’t want to wait for the weather to improve. He crashed in the desert and was killed.

Ok, I may have freaked you out by now. Or maybe you might think I’m just another SS hater who’s full of shit. Either way, I hope I’ve at least given you some questions to ask that you may not have thought to ask before. Don’t think for a minute that you are totally committed and have no choice any more. They may still have a fee for quitting. It may be a hard decision to eat that fee. Weigh it against the cheaper cost of another school and years of your time and frustration. Don’t forget that your time is worth something, not just theirs.

If you want to discuss anything I’ve said here, great. If you ask SS some questions, I’d love to know what answer they give you. If I’m gonna trash something I would like to at least be accurate and fair.

So there are my thoughts on Silver State. We all gotta cover each others back. Feel free to comment on what I’ve said or add your own thoughts. This is America and we can say whatever we want as long as we are not being reckless, irresponsible or untruthful.

And to Silver State, about this post,
COME AND GET ME MOTHER FUCKER!!!!

posted in helicopters! - 26 replies

Silver State Helicopters locks all the doors !!!!

Dave — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:53:30 GMT

SSH has locked the doors. As of Monday Feb. 4th. I know it don't come as a big surprise. Jerry EMAILED, all of the employes and terminated them. Says they are trying to "restructure" how funny is that? As for the students they will notify the students once a final decision is made. In other words we are all SCREWED. This all sucks....

posted in helicopters! - 7 replies

unsubscribed

wondergalaxy — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 05:05:50 GMT

does anyone find it odd that people join this tribe, post a bunch of wierd stuff and then leave?

have you checked out the recent photos left by our last drop out?

posted in helicopters! - 2 replies

Aquila Aviation Helicopter School, doing it right!

Neil — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 01:33:06 GMT

Just wanted to let everyone know about my flight school. I read about SS below and it really ticks me off! They basically lie to people to get them to sign up. As everyone knows who has become a pilot, it is not easy! But it is worth it! I offer a different approach to training. My students fly 1-2 flights a day, 1-3+ hours a day. They complete the program in 3-6 months most of the time. It really depends on how much the student wants to study on their own. You come in on the first day and do about 2 hours of ground, the SFAR and so forth, and then you go fly for the first time. Everyday is like that. No one wants to go throught montsh of ground training without flying! My students love it and really enjoy flying here. Give us a try if you need or someone you know needs some training. We are FAA 141, VA, TSA, and SEVIS approved. We offer financing from Sallie Mae and others. NO gimicks!

www.866flyrite.com

Neil R Brooks

posted in helicopters! - 0 replies

Space helicopter

PANZalt — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 19:56:29 GMT

what would be involved in designing a crossbreed helicopter for flight to earth orbit?
What problems to fix? What problems to solve? How high can you go on rotors? How much extra energy would you need to make up as rocket thrust? Can we rig up rotar blades as robot arms and have them fully retractible?

posted in helicopters! - 26 replies

Radio Failure/Stuck Mic Inbound to LGB

Richard — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 20:17:17 GMT

Friday, i had just lifted off and departed TOA after a LONG flight... I called for a Freq Change and my xmit button busted and stuck on xmit!!! To which i said oh "oh shit...stuck mic"!!! I continued to LGB quickly tuning in 120.50 for the west wardlow and squawed 7600 and shut off the radio. When i got to the 405 and the river i switched on the radio and made a call in the blind that i had a stuck mic wanted the west wardlow and was sguawking 7600 and shut off the radio. I expected Light Gun signals but none ever came so i transmitted one more time. As i approached a mile from the airport i noticed that everyone was holding so i figured they heard my call so i made my approach and landed... Never having seen any light signals. I called the tower after i landed and they said "oh yeah you had a stuck mic no big deal."

Reflecting on it, as it was my first problem in flight, i am glad the training took right over i knew exactly what to do and did it!! Although it did give me an uneasy feeling!!

Anyone else ever have an experience?? Whats up with no light gun?? Anyone hear me on the radio?? Some US Customs guys were on approach whenit happened and heard me said i handled it pretty good!!

Well catch you on .02

posted in helicopters! - 1 reply

Portland Airshow crash

NiallDavids — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 01:46:51 GMT

I just got back from the airshow out at the Hillsboro Airport where I go to flight school and witnessed a British jet called the Hawker Hunter crash into a neighborhood. The actual impact was just behind some trees, which I’m a bit thankful for ‘cause I could tell he was going to crash and that he was too low to eject, and even seeing what I could was very upsetting. They obviously stopped the airshow, and after the initial shock pasted I just came home and had a shot of scotch, a double in fact. I fly tomorrow and will fly over the crash site, I’m sure it will be a somber experience As a pilot I know crashing is always a risk, and even a fact of flight, but I had never seen one in person before, I have to say I will forever think a little differently flying now.
Enjoy life!

posted in helicopters! - 2 replies

Censor State Helicopters

NiallDavids — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 03:09:20 GMT

I'm quoting this from the Myspace heli group.---- http://groups.myspace.com/helicopterpilots

" The owner of a Nevada based 'flight academy' has threatened a popular helicopter community forum with legal action, prompting the owner of the forum to delete various forum threads dealing with his company's financial practices and quality of instruction.

If you are against people threatening to sue, so that they can quash the voices of dissent, please inform everyone you know in the helicopter community that

Jerry Airola of Silver State Helicopters has threatened legal action against Vertical Reference Helicopter Forums unless VR ceases allowing posts of derogatory views/opinions on their site.
-Richard August "

It's true, I went and could find NO mention of Silver State anywhere. F.S.S.H.

posted in helicopters! - 0 replies

Air show demo rescue canceled for a real one

GibsonPearl — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 04:43:47 GMT

Thought y'all would find this interesting...

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/17/MNGUJJG4T35.DTL

posted in helicopters! - 0 replies

Elvis is sort of leaving the building

flying_elvis — Sun, 21 May 2006 18:00:59 GMT

Hey Folks,
I just wanted to share some good news with you all. Elvis is goin' to Las Vegas. I got a job flying tours of the Grand Canyon. I start training at the end of this month in Vegas but I'll actually be working out of the South Rim near Flagstaff AZ. It's a good company, good equiptment, maintainence and saftey record. You can check them out at www.maverickhelicopter.com. The work schedule is 8 days on and 6 days off. A week vacation every other week could be nice. No way in hell am I relocating completely and giving up my place in Venice. The pay is good and supposibly so are the tips. They also give you an IPod and let you pick your own music. Sweet. Hope those tourist like Crystal Method cause that's my favorite music to fly to. I may continue to teach on my days off but we'll see. The helicopters Maverick flys are almost brand new. EC 130's. here's a pic http://www.aerospace-technology.com/projects/eurocopter_ec130/images/ec130_7.jpg
Going to be quite a change from the R22, but I think I'll adjust to comfy seats, glass panels and A/C. Building the turbine time will also be a plus. I'd like to eventually work full time here in LA and it seems I'll need about 500hrs of turbine for that to happen.
I'll let you all know how it goes.
I also hope I can get off for Burningman.

posted in helicopters! - 8 replies

hello to all

jerry — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 02:41:57 GMT

new to training on heli's. came across this site and thought i would say hello!

posted in helicopters! - 0 replies

My first week in the Canyon

flying_elvis — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 21:26:28 GMT

Wow,
The first week, and change, is done and I’m alive (much to my surprise). I started training on Monday, Memorial day, in Las Vegas with Maverick Helicopters. The first 2 days were AVSTAR computer training. 12 hours a day of staring at a computer screen going over general aviation stuff, part 135 rules and operation stuff for the Astar and EC130. All the pilots have to do it once a year and we all agree that we’d rather pass a kidney stone that do AVSTAR. Monday we did ground school with the flight training manual for the EC130. A 200 page cure for insomnia with rote facts and limitations that I was supposed to have committed to memory after the first pass. To make matters even more fun, a guy from the FAA came by to evaluate my instructor as we were doing this. I knew a friend of his who flew with him in Viet Nam which helped create a more relaxing tone. He was a nice guy and all FAA guys love to gossip and shoot the shit but it still added another level of anxiety.
Thursday morning I had to take my drug test. One of the other pilots said the thing he hated most was going in there in the morning and not being able to piss cause that was the first thing you did after you woke up. To avoid that I drank a liter and a half of water on my way to work at 6:30am. They sent me to a testing facility but warned me that it was usually crowded and if it was go to this other one on the other side of town. The place was packed and when I got to the other place at 7am I discovered that it didn’t open till 8am. By 7:15 I started doing a little peepee dance. I didn’t get in there till 8:30, writhing in pain with my back teeth floating. After the test (and feeling MUCH better) we finished the EC130 ground school and started flying. The first half hour I was terrible. Getting used to a clockwise turning rotor, adjusting to the opposite pedal input and not over correcting was a bitch. It wasn’t till we started doing autorotations that it started to come together. He had confessed to me that until then he wasn’t sure if I was gonna cut it. After a few more hour of flying I passed my part 135 checkide and we finished at around 7:30pm. He then told me to be at the South Rim in Arizona (a 5 ½ hour drive from Vegas) at 7am. When I got back to where I was staying I called him and told him there was not way I was going to make it there and be functional at 7am. He understood a told me to get there when I could. Plus the guys at the place I was staying were making BBQ ribs and all I wanted to when I got home after that day was eat ribs and drink whiskey.
At 5:30am Friday morn I set out and drove to the South Rim and rolled in to the airport around 11am. As soon as I got there we started doing ground school on the Astar, another 200 page tome. After going over the differences between the 130 and the Astar we flew the Astar for a few hours. We went over the route mandated by the FAA for flying over the Grand Canyon and flew that twice. I finally finished at around 8pm and when home to where I was to stay. The Shiteau. A 3 bedroom double wide trailer in the middle of the desert housing a mechanic and 3 other pilots on duty.
Saturday morning we flew the routes in the 130 and by 11:30 we started taking up customers. Even though there were still dual controls in the Astar I was still nervous. There’s a portion of the flight where you head for the North Rim and you have to climb from 7500 feet to 9000 feet to get over the cliff. So with a full heli we’re headed toward the canyon wall, I’m pulling max power, slowing down to 60kts and this bitch doesn’t want to climb. That freaked the shit out of me. He could tell I was squirming in my seat and told me to hug the wall and there would be an updraft there to use. And with much relief (and needing a change of shorts) we climbed over the rim. The fourth tour with passengers he sat in the back and I had all the controls. He also told me to narrate the tour. I told him he must be kidding. So I pulled out a few facts I remembered him saying and BS the rest. At 7:30pm I went home to the Shiteau and drank more whiskey.
By Sunday morning I was overwhelmed, exhausted and terrified and they threw me to the wolves. I did 7 tours and had 2 kids throw up in my helicopter. Monday went better but I got mildly superstitious on Tuesday being that it was 6.6.06. A tourist told me they saw a California Condor earlier that morning. They said it had white under there wings. The third tour I went out with a group of Brits. About a mile short of the rim 3 birds flew up in front of me. They had white under their wings and I felt a thud in my rotors. The passengers were startled but weren’t sure if I hit it or not and asked what that bird was. I said it was a crow. They asked if it was still a crow and I told them we just missed it. Meanwhile I’m thinking ‘holy shit I just killed a condor’ and what’s more, should I even keep flying. As I felt no vibrations or change in flight control I continued. When I landed I inspected the blades. Yup, blood all over the rotor. Turns out it was a Turkey Vulture and not a condor. Sorry bird, but something had to go on that day and I glad it wasn’t me.
Wednesday I had my video recorder go down and a door open light come in flight so that wasn’t so bad. Thursday I got caught in a lightning and hail storm and had to set it down in a field with a group of Australians. There were 3 other helis sitting in the same field so it wasn’t so bad and the aussies were just fine with it. After work I went back the Shitea and pack and headed back to LA at 8:30 pm. I stopped in Kingsman and crashed in a hotel for the night and drove the rest of the way on Friday morning. I got home and drank some more whiskey.
So what did learn these past days? The GC is big. It’s amazing what you can absorb when your life depends on it. There is not such thing as an atheist pilot who flys in the GC. I like whiskey.

posted in helicopters! - 2 replies

myspace helicopters group

wondergalaxy — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 20:12:05 GMT

Group URL: http://groups.myspace.com/helicopterpilots

myspace isn't so bad i guess.

posted in helicopters! - 12 replies

Thanks to Elvis…

Roch — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 01:16:45 GMT

Thanks to Elvis…

Thank you Elvis for having be my instructor…
With patience you slowly showed me the rudiments.
Helped me to go over obstacles through my first solo then more again until my check ride end of March …
First step of a flying life.

When an alien trains into flying…

Thanks man, continue to teach people. Your good at it !!!

Roch

posted in helicopters! - 0 replies

More Plodding, trudging, grueling

Mark G — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 18:50:56 GMT

So I finally ran out of money, but my next loan came through for $25k. Sheesh. I'm being bent over a table on the interest too. Thanks SS for screwing us out of keybank. I thought they had high interest.

I took a weekday off work and flew almost 3 hours solo in the pattern at the airport. The school has a requirement for that, and I had to get it out of the damn way because the wind and weather has been conspiring against me.

My next training is going to be a VOR flight, and I'm getting a new instructor. My current instructor has to go back to Norway in a few weeks anyway, and he's bummed because this is a great time for new pilots. Everyone is looking for heli pilots, it seems.

I'm having a hard time learning flight planning, getting the weather sources together, finding way points on the sectional charts, calculating pressure altitude, wind correction angle, and ground speed. I'll be glad when I can trade in that mechanical computer for a digital one. Pro pilots such as off shore oil platform shuttlers have a ground support crew that does all the weight and balance, fuel calcs, etc for the pilots. What a luxury.

posted in helicopters! - 4 replies

helicopter news story

Mark G — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 18:55:12 GMT

An older Bell 206 on a trailer was being delivered to the airport last weekend just as I got there. I spoke to the driver and he just said he was doing some contract work. I told him I was training, and he said his company is looking for pilots. There's a shortage, he said. Then a couple of days later I saw the exact helicopter on the news. Here's the article.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/breaking_news/13862189.htm

Then as I was spinning up for solo work, I radioed ground control for permission to hover taxi to a helipad. Control told me to wait one minute while a truck pulling a trailer crossed the taxiway with the same Bell helicopter on the trailer. Fun.

posted in helicopters! - 0 replies

Milestone baby!

Mark G — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 01:11:41 GMT

I finally did my first solo flight today and I'm walking with my head in the clouds still. I felt surprisingly comfortable. The weather was absolutely perfect, (finally, after like 13 cancellations due to rain, fog, re-training due to being rusty).
Clear sky from horizon to horizon, light air traffic, and only a slight breeze.

I even nailed my first approach textbook. The second one I came in a bit too fast I thought but just called a go-around and did it again just fine. I started with a practice hover, pick up and set down facing in all 4 directions. Completely alone. Then I radioed air traffic and took off into the closed traffic pattern. I did it for 25 minutes.

Now I have a kind of adrenaline recession even though it was a few hours ago. I didn't notice my hands shaking until afterwards when I landed back at the airport of origin, and my instructor extended his hand for a congratulatory handshake. It's just a milestone in my training, a significant one, but I fulfilled part of a life dream, so it's kind of a big deal. I was actually relaxed and calm enough as I was flying alone cruising along, scanning for other air traffic, scanning the instruments, watching the guages, flying the outside picture. I thought to myself, you've dreamt about this moment off and on since you were 7 yrs old.

In short it was really cool. I'm thrilled today.

posted in helicopters! - 8 replies

plodding along in training

Mark G — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 21:02:12 GMT

Hey Kim,

During half of November and all of December was nothing but bad luck with weather and scheduling. Just can't get frustrated though. I'm about 2/3 of the way to ppl going part time 3x per week. It took me about 6 hours of extra training for me to get comfortable with normal and shallow approaches because the margin of error is slim and it can be dangerous.

So I just got my endorsement to go solo (yahoo!) and I was supposed to take some baby steps, like hovering and maybe a pattern or two on Wednesday, but solo students have a 12 knot wind limitation and the wind was gusting to 16 knots. So instead of wasting another $250 on a lesson, we're hoping to do that Saturday. BUT is supposed to be rainy and windy then too. So then it will be Sunday. Fucking winter. Every other lesson has been cancelled at least these days. Ah well.

Anyway, I'm super excited. It's just starting to get fun. I started basically right after burning man so it's only been about 2 1/2 months part time due to my lame December. Also if you have a lot of delays in your training you have to re-learn some things.

I still make errors and will for a long time. There's just so much to remember. The tower instructed me to make a 360 turn around a hotel when I was on a final approach last time. So I obeyed, but my instructor corrected me -- you should not turn downwind if you are under 500 feet. Safety margin. The tower should not have asked me to do that. Things like that.

My takeoffs and landings are gradually improving, and i'm pretty sure I could do an autorotation if I had engine failure. I may break the skids but I'll liv and walk away. Good feeling.

This is a long process, especially if you are part time. One could go to the Florida main facility in Titusville, fly and train full time, and be done in 11 months. But I'd have to borrow $70,000, quit my job, move, etc. Then I have to try to get a job that can pay the $800 per month loan payment. yikes.

The guy just got his CFI and I may get him as an instructor. It took him 2 1/2 years going part time, and he took a summer off to go to Florida for his instrument. He is not a double i though (CFII). Very cool guy.

I am absolutely thrilled though -- I talk to guys that have awesome pilot jobs after being an instructor for 1000 hrs. One guy's company is 45 pilots short. Fantastic.

Anyway, thanks for the cheering. What is going on with your training? Have you started, part time or full time?

Keybank won't loan for flight training anymore so i had to apply for a higher interest loan with Sallie Mae. Some other options are in the works too.

posted in helicopters! - 4 replies

Video Clips

Mark G — Sun, 25 Sep 2005 01:56:09 GMT

For fun take a look at some of these clips. One curious one is a guy flying the schweizer helicopter he just bought without any lessons.

http://www.verticalreference.com/vertical_reference_videos.htm

posted in helicopters! - 5 replies

Xmas Trees

Sat, 03 Dec 2005 18:00:25 GMT

I posted 3 pic's of one of those exciting jobs in the Helicopter world...... which you wanna be/goin be pilots may end up doing at some point. Flying Xmas Trees! We send three B models up to Oregon and do this for about 4 weeks. They fly pretty much 7 days a week and the pilots are flying 8-9 hours a day, head hangin, door off, rain, snow........ ha ha...fun or what....

posted in helicopters! - 2 replies

Pic's

Mon, 19 Sep 2005 23:08:24 GMT

Here's some good pic's to motivate you guys......

posted in helicopters! - 10 replies

listen to air traffic

Mark G — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 03:45:14 GMT

there's a website called www.liveatc.net where you can hear streamed air traffic control from assorted airports. It's helpful to get used to how to talk and what to listen for.

I'm ok with routine stuff but I tend to go blank when the tower says stuff like "2024 zulu clear for landing, cross midfield, stay at or above 500 ft until past the 1000 ft markers, make a left 270 around the numbers 32 for final, watch for Reach traffic departing at 180..."

posted in helicopters! - 1 reply

Almost going solo

Mark G — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 03:45:59 GMT

I can't believe it but apparently I'm almost ready to fly solo. I'm a little uncomfortable in certain maneuvers, namely normal approaches but I guess I can do it well enough to be reasonably safe if not exactly pretty.

I'm going to have one more dual flight to an uncontrolled airport and fly some patterns, then one more flight with a second instructor for a 2nd opinion on my abilities. Then it's on to supervised solos in the pattern with the instructor on the ground. Then I start doing cross country solo trips less than 25 naut miles. Whew.

Crazy.

We'll see how it goes.

posted in helicopters! - 2 replies

training is coming along

Mark G — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 03:14:29 GMT

I took a break for burning man, but hit it hard upon returning. I've got 10 mixed hours lined up for this week and after Wednesday's flight lesson I feel like I'm making real progress. I was introduced to flying simple patterns, climbing to 300 ft, turning left, then climbing to 600 ft while maintaining constant speed, then leveling out to cruising speed for a while, then another turn while descending... all while maintaining the guages where they need to be. I'm starting to feel comfortable with sharper turns even in the wind. And I am beginning to be able to make the adjustments and corrections while controlling the helo, making ascending/descending turns, checking for other air traffic.

In short it's getting exciting.

posted in helicopters! - 16 replies

Windy landings

Mark G — Sun, 02 Oct 2005 00:11:35 GMT

I've been pretty fortunate to be learning helicopter flying in decent weather. It's been in the 70's F for most of my 11 or 12 flight lessons. All it takes is a 10 knt wind to really throw you for a loop. Literally. I can't imagine what it might be like in a larger bird fighting fires. At least not yet.

I'm doing all the set downs and lift offs these days -- not pretty yet but I can do it. I'm pretty sure that if I had to (my instructor was unconcious or some other emg) I could lift off, take off, fly to a destination, and set it down reasonably well provided the weather was calm. But boy that wind.

I was watching a student today with about twice my hours attempting to set it down with a 13 kt tailwind and he was fighting it.

Made me feel a whole lot better about my struggles with it. But we probably need to be able to set it down with a tailwind on the checkride.

posted in helicopters! - 2 replies

fire fighters

wondergalaxy — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 03:33:18 GMT

these southern california fires are bringing the best pilots from the nation.....

the display of organization and skill is astonishing

i spoke with one of the pilots today on AM radio, just happened to tune in during an interview

asked him to describe some of the dangers they face......besides the heavy air traffic, he said it's like going to war....he was up there wed/thurs and the winds comming off the fire were about 90 knotts

that's just crazy

i also learned that most of the fire pilots start out as firemen who have done extensive ground work, and are extensively trained specific to fire fighting and search & rescue

the los angeles county crew have no less than 10 years of fire piloting experience from working fires in other states

without them, the everything would be a hell of a lot worse

what a job.

posted in helicopters! - 1 reply

More Maneuvers

Mark G — Sun, 25 Sep 2005 01:53:36 GMT

I'm being introduced to new maneuvers without really having a lot of practice on them, but I'm making baby steps every time. Burning money like it's kindling. :)

I did rapid descents with power today. This is necessary if a major warning light comes on, such as a low fuel light and you need to get down pretty quick. I was over a very hilly area so finding a flat spot was tricky. Ideally you would already know what flat spot you would use before the warning light even comes on.

Dropping collective way down (smoothly and not too fast) while maintaining 60 kts, doing a flare up and a set down. Right between two little hills.

I did okay patterns, approaches, take-offs and landings today. They're not always pretty yet but I'm getting much better. I can hover okay even while talking to the ground and tower on the radio. This is a lot harder than it sounds for most newbies. I get elated when I feel even slightly less freaked than my last attempt at something.

Next lesson tomorrow: my first Autorotations.

posted in helicopters! - 0 replies

I can hover

Mark G — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 03:48:01 GMT

Since most of my sessions are taking place in the afternoon or evenings, it gets fairly windy. So I've been practicing patterns and approaches in 10 to 25 knot wind right on the coastline. I could sort of keep stable unless I dipped the nose with a tail wind and then the rotor disc acts like a sail and it pushed the tail up. And trying to do pedal turns constantly keeping the cyclic into the wind is a bit advanced yet. Lots of dancing on the pedals while deftly working that stick.

Anyway, my instructor kept brushing off my frustration saying that if I could do what I did with a stiff wind then I should be able to hover with little problem.

So on Sunday we took off from the airport and he had me hover and do the turns to check for traffic. We then took and went to practice patterns at an unmanned airport inland since it was the weekend, maybe 15 min away.

On my first approach, I came up 30 feet short and kind of freaked out because it looks like my airspeed was too high. It looks way fast even when it's perfect.

But I brought the Schweizer into a hover. I could hold the hover, do pedal turns, hover taxi in one direction and stop, pedal turn 180 degs left and hover taxi back to the pad, then stop. Then I sort of got the hang of taking off from a short hover, moving the cyclic forward a little at a time until the airspeed increases and I start to climb. It's awesome when you hit that sweet spot on the ETL and the machine just takes off.

My approaches still make me freak a tiny bit so I don't trust myself or the helo. I have a tendency like all students to pull too much aft cyclic so I either undershoot the spot or I start to climb. It's that juggling between the collective/throttle/fore cyclic/aft cyclic/and pedals if there's wind.

Again, I have no classmates to compare myself against so it's hard to judge my progress. I have made good progress on every single lesson, and since I've been reading/studying the physics and terminology for a few months we're covering ground lessons in less than half of normal pace.

I should've done this 10 years ago. :)

posted in helicopters! - 4 replies

Thanks to Elvis

Mark G — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 04:40:02 GMT

It was great getting to hang out with you and get your perspective on flying stuff. You've given me a more relaxed view of these crazy unstable machines, and I'm just getting the feeling that I can learn it.

Keep in touch.

Wasn't able to meet with Kim even though her art piece was transported by those in my burning man camp. Hope you were able to get that handled.

posted in helicopters! - 1 reply

Hi from the new guy

Fri, 02 Sep 2005 02:08:04 GMT

Just a quick Hi to the tribe and my fellow hwlicopter avaition geeks from the new guy

posted in helicopters! - 3 replies

Helicopter Pilot Wanna Be

Sat, 09 Apr 2005 02:05:51 GMT

Started flying fixed wings last year; working towards mycommercial, but I truely want to fly helicopters in the islands. The only thing stopping me is time and money. Hopefully by end of next year that will be reality or close to it. If any of you all have advise I am open to it.

posted in helicopters! - 5 replies

studying and flying

Mark G — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 19:21:47 GMT

One of the instructors just got hired part time by the local sheriff's heli dept, and they are paying him and paying FOR him to go to Bell school to train on the Bell 206. I think the cost for that runs about $7000 per week. So he went directly from a shweizer to the Bell206. Should I be encouraged by this or is this a one-in-a-million lucky shot, Elvis?

Okay, I knew there was a lot of material to study but holy cow. Manuals, weather, physics, theory, medical, and regulations and more regulations. Some of it interesting, some of it very dry.

I've been studying very seriously and trying not to get overloaded. There are many charts and diagrams that I don't quite understand but eventually they come to make some sense. The details of the helicopter itself is quite amazing. Even the compass has a deviation chart attached to it to show how much it is affected by the electrical equipment.

The flying part is of course quite thrilling but very foreign, even alien at first. The balance, the sensitivity of the controls, the feeling of being suspended from one point in the air.

I have lessons on both days this weekend with stick time both days. I'm hoping to conquer some of the fear and make some progress in the learning process, adding comfort a little at a time.

posted in helicopters! - 10 replies

My financing came through!!

Mark G — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 01:34:44 GMT

So I pushed some buttons, got some favors and managed to get Keybank to honor my app. I'm probably the absolute last FS loan they granted. Holy cow that money is expensive! For every $10 I borrow I have to pay back $19.40.

When KB first denied my application, I applied at AOPA loan which is basically an MBNA personal line of credit. I got that in the mail at the same time.

I feel pretty confident in HAI because 2 more of their instructors found good jobs. One guy started with the Sheriff's Department, apprenticing on the Bell206. I get goosebumps imagining that.

They want me to start really soon to get the fall schedule in place but I'm wary about starting before Burning man as I don't want to have to re-learn stuff after skipping a week.

posted in helicopters! - 6 replies

field trip

wondergalaxy — Fri, 05 Aug 2005 16:17:45 GMT

who would like to go and visit elvis in long beach? i sure would! what do you say elvis??

posted in helicopters! - 9 replies

Unusual Occurrence

Mark G — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 01:36:52 GMT

Don't mean to be negative but here's a miracle story that happened yesterday in NM.
-----
(08-10) 09:15 PDT Albuquerque, N.M. (AP) --

A sheriff's department helicopter that crash-landed during a burglary
investigation was brought down by gunfire, authorities said.

Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White said authorities have no suspects
but were working with the FBI. Investigators concluded the bullet struck a
control pedal, he said.

Both the civilian pilot and the deputy who were on board when the
helicopter went down early Saturday survived with minor injuries,
including shrapnel wounds. The helicopter came down just 15 feet from a
house.

The pilot and deputy were assisting deputies on the ground who were
investigating a burglary call when the helicopter lost power, White said
Wednesday. The pilot told White he heard a pop before helicopter pitched
and the engine shut down.

"He was trying to do an emergency landing, but it was a crash landing,"
White said.

Investigators examining the wreckage found what appeared to be a small
hole in the cockpit windshield, and a bullet fragment was found in the
deputy's flight suit.

Trajectory tests determined the bullet struck the helicopter's left pedal,
one of two that control the aircraft's right or left motion. If it had
missed the pedal, it would have struck the pilot in the chest, White said.

The pilot and deputy were assisting deputies on the ground who were
investigating a burglary call when the chopper lost power, White said.
Although the rotor continued spinning in what's called autorotation, the
helicopter descended 400 feet to the ground in just four seconds, White
said.

"That's the reason the helicopter is literally in pieces," the sheriff
said.

posted in helicopters! - 1 reply

funding

wondergalaxy — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 17:07:42 GMT

http://www.whirlygirls.org/

once i get my private license i can join the club and apply for a $6000 grant

anyone know of other groups that give money money??

posted in helicopters! - 2 replies

Introductions

flying_elvis — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 05:56:22 GMT

Allow myself to introduce…myself,

I moved to Venice in Aug 2001 from NYC where I had worked as a grip in the film biz for 12 years. The hours were long but at least the conditions sucked. Traded in my dreams of making movies to being happy and having a life. It took me 3 years to align the planets to come out here and start training. Driving across country was fun and Burningman was a blast as always until of course when we got back a few planes crashed into my home.
The effects out here were just as bad, couldn’t get jobs cause nobody hiring. Didn’t start training till feb when my folk lent me the money to start as I also managed to fuck up getting a home equity loan on my apt in NYC. What I had hoped would take me 8 or 9 months to get my CFI wound up taking 14. I would fly for several weeks and work for a bit. Went back to NY to work as a grip for a month so I could pay rent and go to back out to Burningman. I did my instrument rating at night (figured you weren’t supposed to see anything anyway) while I was working construction on the ambrose hotel in santa monica. Eventually, I got my CFI. That month I was living on my instructor, Kevin’s couch in the midst of a break up.
Kevin was/is a great guy. His was the 2nd or 3rd school I checked out. A totally relaxed surfer who had the best facility. He had a great vibe and was honest and straight forward. His approach to flying and safety was common sense always came back to having fun. And if you weren’t having fun you were probably doing something dangeouse. For example, worrying about fuel is not fun so land at any other airport and get more rather than try to stretch it back. Sounds simple but you’d be surprised. His demeanor and temperament were also agreeable and that’s very important in an instructor, at least to me. Some instructors wear polo shirts with instructor patches and others wear white shirts with captains bars. Some schools make their students wear flight suites. Go with whatever makes you feel comfortable or inspires confidence. It really means nothing. Kevin and I wear hawaiian shirts, shorts and sandals. I know who I am.
We had a good relationship and developed a trust. He helped me out in ways that went way above and beyond the call. When I got my CFI he offered me the chance to take on more responsibility with the school for profit sharing. Last year I sold my place in NYC, paid back my folks and bought a percentage of the business.
I love Venice. I love NY too but I’m not in a rush to move back. I think the only things I miss are my friends and the food. I also love what I do. I still can’t believe people pay me to do this. Being a CFI doesn’t pay much but I do get a personal sense of satisfaction in teaching. A few months ago we got a photo client who shoots houses and we go up 5 days a week for an hour or so. That’s the most fun flying. The photographer and I have a pisser doing this stuff.
After 4 years, 1200hrs and plenty of frayed nerve endings, I think I’ve been pretty lucky. It was a very stressful period, personally and professionally but I feel pretty good about the things to come.
My friend Jung from NY brought this tribe to my attention. I’d be happy to share what ever I’ve learned with you all.

Elvis

posted in helicopters! - 5 replies

schools in southern california?Kim?

Mark G — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 19:26:32 GMT

What are some names of other schools, preferably part 61, in california that train on the Schweizer 300?

posted in helicopters! - 10 replies

a school in nevada...

wondergalaxy — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 17:37:09 GMT

http://silverstatehelicopters.com/default.htm

posted in helicopters! - 1 reply

crash rash recently

Mark G — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 02:12:53 GMT

There seems to be a wave of helicopters going down lately, which is a bit disconcerting. Two went into the East River in NY last month, and Wednesday a Sacramento Sheriff EC120b went down. Here's the article.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/07/13/state/n223844D51.DTL&hw=helicopter&sn=001&sc=1000

I just happened to find a older photo of the exact bird that was involved.
http://www.helispot.com/photos/03050.html.

And I found out today that my helicopter pilot training financing didn't come through due due to my part 61 school dropped out of the program as of july 5th even though my app was processed 6/28. This gives me way too much time to talk myself out of it.

posted in helicopters! - 1 reply

excellent source for visuals

Mark G — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 02:14:24 GMT

Check out www.helispot.com for great photos well organized and other information.

posted in helicopters! - 0 replies

helicopter show

Mark G — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 03:47:31 GMT

A few weeks ago I attended a rare helicopter show called vertical challenge at the Hiller Museum in Redwood City, CA. I was talking to a agriculture sprayer pilot from Oregon, who was telling me how his 4 yr old boy is named Hiller for the Hiller rotor head design. Then Stan Hiller himself showed up with his nurse -- he must be over 90.

I'll post the pictures I took. Pretty amazing machines, especially the Sikorsky skycrane with water tanks for firefighting. One of the mechanics (who refuses to fly in the bird) said one of the pilots is a 74 yr old woman. Cool.

posted in helicopters! - 0 replies

first flying lesson

Mark G — Mon, 25 Apr 2005 01:09:12 GMT

I was leaving my office the other day, and it was raining with a bit of nearby lightning. I saw through my windshield a helicopter about 400 ft up fishtailing in the wind. He looked like he was going to land but I had to be somewhere so I didn't turn around.

The next day (yesterday) was my first flying lesson -- went up in a Schweizer. The pilot took me through some wooded hills skimming the tree tops and swooping over the hill crests. We hovered in a cattle meadow for a while and I took the controls, pirouetting 360 degrees with pedal control, and taking some tries at the stick, keeping a stable hover. Very tricky and sensitive and of course I could only keep stable for a short time. Flying my model really helped me because it's exactly the same cyclic control only on a bigger scale, and you get to "feel" the machine.

Very thrilling, very terrifying.

So the pilot then tells me he was caught in the rain the previous day and had to land on a model airfield in Richmond, right next to where I work. Same pilot.

Now I have to figure out how to finance $50,000, starting payments in 18 months, get time to fly 3 times a week without quitting my managerial job............ Eeek. Then maybe I can achieve CFI status in 3 years and maybe I can find a scandalously low paying instructor job for an additional 2 years until i have enough hours to get a tour route job or something similar, and then borrow another $7,000 to get trained on a Bell 206... It's extremely intimidating. It seems the learning to fly a helicopter is the easy part.

posted in helicopters! - 1 reply

just received....

wondergalaxy — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 23:35:23 GMT

my darling cousin in flordia sent me two books: principles of helicpter flight and the helicopter pilot's manual

i have been chugging along the first mentioned book, which is sort of a workbook and i'm learning the dynamics of lift......very interesting indeed

posted in helicopters! - 11 replies

fixed v. rotary

vooplah — Fri, 08 Apr 2005 14:13:30 GMT

Just curious. Being that this is a helicopter tribe, there's no doubt a strong attachment. But at upwards of $200 per hour for dual time (higher in Europe), fixed wing is definately a more accessible fix. I got my single engine private license for this reason. Eventually the hours are near similar . . ., that is when you have several hundred hours, flight time is flight time.

Anyway, good to try to get a conversation started.

posted in helicopters! - 2 replies

helicopter pilots

wondergalaxy — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 08:48:41 GMT

so what job as a helicopter pilot do you think about or do?

posted in helicopters! - 2 replies

helicopter love

wondergalaxy — Sat, 05 Feb 2005 18:13:39 GMT

i just love them.....took my first hour lesson last year and flew over hollywood!

posted in helicopters! - 0 replies