ChrisV

As a licensed (not practicing) Helicopter CFI, I would highly doubt retreating blade stall, settling with power or a nose up attitude caused this. Retreating blade stall - This one is possible if he was at a high airspeed and attempted to duck under one of the lower clouds, but that would be REALLY poor judgement. Not something I would expect of a high time commercial pilot, that close to the ground. Settling with power (ring vortex state) - basically the opposite of retreating blade stall would need to happen. He would have had to get under 30ish (probably lower) knots of forward airspeed and be descending greater than 400 FPM. Not likely when he was so low already. Raising the nose (not collective) - this won't stall a helicopter unless you flipped over. It will slow it down. I've never came close to raising the nose of a helicopter 30 degrees, not even when performing "Quick Stops" (an emergency slow down maneuver). The only time I could imagine a helicopter doing this would be landing under hostile fire. My guess is he went inadvertent IMC, panicked due to the close mountains that he knew were but couldn't see, and instead of switching to instruments he looked for an opening in the clouds. Of course it could have been a control surface failure too.

All the templates are experimental aircraft, but still a lot of fun to play with. If anyone figures out which template is close to a mooney, let us know.

In my experience, helicopters are poor at flying instruments, mainly because it is a lot harder. Helis are unstable and it doesn't look like this one had any autopilot to help. IMO heli pilots don't train enough because it is so challenging, and expensive. And instructing instrument students is no substitute for flying instruments. Not even close.

Yes. I didn't have any heli actual IMC when I got my heli IR.

Not an answer here, but something I find interesting... the King Airs (A200s) that my company uses were originally approved to 23,000 hours. With additional inspections, Beech cleared them to 30,000. At 30,000 Beech, flat out said NO MORE. They returned stateside with less than 100 hours to spare and the owners said they were going to use them for training right up to 30K hours.

I've not flown a turbine helo, do they have the turbine power lag like turbine planes?

This is the finest C I have seen and I could see paying that much IF the engine was fairly new. It would perfectly fit my mission and my wife's comfort level for many years. Keep in mind that the $125K is an asking price and not necessarily what it will sell for.

2019 - Bought my plane. Took my 2 year old son for his first flight with me. Made him fall in love with flying. 2020 - Finish my fixed wing IR add-on... 5 years in the making. And maybe a MEL

First flight as a Co-pilot

I have never heard this statement when landing "Traffic will depart prior to your arrival."

I agree with Cyril on this one. My last flight I was on a right downwind and cleared to land #2. The other aircraft was on left downwind. Instead of turning base when I normally would, I had to find the other aircraft (a much slower plane) and space myself well behind him. So not really "cleared to land" in my opinion.

Couldn't find anything further about this, but these really scare me.

https://komonews.com/news/local/no-injuries-after-small-plane-lands-off-paine-field-runway

Northside Portland ORegon area is $330-$350 plus electricity with manual door, but wait lists are fairly long. Been on the troutdale waitlists for over a year. I may have to move down to Salem, thanks for posting that Jay!

It looks like Blackbird is a startup "charter" service app that that gets around the "charter" label by using pilots that are not connected to the aircraft. From the blackbird pilot FAQ " Can I fly my own plane? In order to maintain the lease requirements, pilot and aircraft must be separate—You won’t be able to fly your own aircraft. From the FAA's illegal charter article: Illegal charters can take a variety of forms including but not limited to: companies that don't have the required certificates; use aircraft that are not on their FAA-authorized aircraft list; use unqualified pilots; offer ride-sharing; try to transfer operational control of the flight to the customer; operate under one rule when they are required to operate under a different rule; and when the customer and the company act in concert to sign a lease that doesn't include crewmembers, but the company then directs the customer to use a specific flight crew. Seems pretty clear to me AND dangerous. If I were a pilot with them, I couldn't fly my own plane that I am very familiar with, but I could fly one that I have never flown.

I like the newer one. Although it would take time to get used to that panel. Not sure about the engine on the newer one, but 10 extra HP! It looks like it was updated with speed and comfort in mind and that is what these planes are all about.

Any words of wisdom from those lucky enough to go? Anything you learned that surprised you? Such as "I've been flying my mooney for 50 years and I never knew ____________?"

I like it. I really wanna see pics in flight.

And if you want to sell in 3 years...? You have to buy out the entire upgrade or try to sell a plane with a $3K/month subscription attached to it. That would be tough. This is definitely not meant for GA.

I'd definitely take yours. As for worth, I couldn't give a good guess, so I won't try. Both planes could use some panel work, but I could fly with yours for a lot of years without updating anything. On the other plane, I would have to update to a standard 6 pack ASAP. More likely, I would go with a glass panel and have to since $20K pretty quick. Just my opinion.

That has to be one of my favorite paint jobs on any plane. Nice work.

I will be in the area at the end of October, would love to take you up. Let me know if you have not found anyone else by then.

Agree with this. I emailed Pacific Coast in May, scheduled for the end of July. They were able to move me up to beginning of July. Less than 2 months on the wait list. Install took 3 days for my G345.

MORE MORE MORE! Looks amazing so far.

Or bose.