Close To You

For better or worse, one of the skills I learned while flying on the BAJA races in Mexico was to desensitize myself to operating in close proximity to buildings, powerlines, and other aircraft.  If nothing else it helps to build a much deeper appreciation for exactly how long and wide your helicopter is.  

Pilots Vs. Mechanics, Part 1

It is probably genetic, but there exists an eternal friction between helicopter pilots and mechanics, each suspicious of the other, each convinced that the other's sole purpose in life is to make their lives a miserable hell.  


After a 10 hour cross country flight across 5 states I land at my final destination, and no one is in sight as I taxi to my parking spot and land, and then pause looking around for one of our mechanics.  Of course he has not shown himself, because he is waiting behind the hangar door until I shut down the helicopter and begin gathering my belongings before he saunters up and announces he'd like me to move the helicopter 100 feet to the right. 

BAJA Craziness

The BAJA races that I fly on, now coming to you on SPIKE TV:

YouTube - RoadWarriors on SPIKE

To Move Or Not To Move

This is one of Air Methods' EMS helicopters, post-Joplin tornado.   There is a back story to it I'm sure, as there always is, but one has to wonder why the pilot did not relocate his three million dollar aircraft to somewhere else, unless the severe thunderstorms were unforecast which I highly doubt.  While hangaring it might have produced the same result given the widespread devastation in Joplin, at least there would have been a plausible, reasonable effort to protect the helicopter where now it appears there was none.   And somewhere in the debris of that hospital is an Air Methods' hazardous weather plan, directing the base on what to do in inclement weather, which if I had to guess "leave the helicopter where it is" was not one of the options.  

This Helicopter Sucks

Children's Hospital of San Diego is the nearly exclusive intake facility for critically ill infants and children in San Diego and Imperial Counties.  They have a dedicated Bell 222 helicopter, which my company operates, and as you'd expect it is staffed with highly trained nurses, doctors, and respiratory techs, and state of the art equipment.  Including a zip lock bag of vanilla scented orange pacifiers, for which no advancement of medicine has yet replaced.  

Random Photo

The Germans can make more than really nice cars.  

Human Powered Helicopter

Gamera, AGRC, Aerospace Engineering, University of Maryland