any of you ever thought about flying a helicopter?

[Alan Fox]

I flew down to Charlotte to do repairs on an Enstrom , 2 weeks ago , if you saw what was under the cowl , you would never even think of flying one....I have been a passenger in an Iriquios (Bell UH1)  and it was a cool experience , but no way to fly in one of the toy helos....  I could have gone for a flight and decided I was good on the ground.....Although I did stand on the skid and hover a foot off the ground for a minute or two to test the belt and clutch systems...

[aviatoreb]

I flew down to Charlotte to do repairs on an Enstrom , 2 weeks ago , if you saw what was under the cowl , you would never even think of flying one....I have been a passenger in an Iriquios (Bell UH1)  and it was a cool experience , but no way to fly in one of the toy helos....  I could have gone for a flight and decided I was good on the ground.....Although I did stand on the skid and hover a foot off the ground for a minute or two to test the belt and clutch systems...

Say more - what was it under the hood that was not so cool?

[rainman]

I'd love to fly a helicopter.  A gyro plane is a second for me (and super easy to fly).   Neither give me the utility of a Mooney.  Perhaps I would feel different if I lived on a ranch.  

Chris, those gyro instructors at the airport in Taylor TX have a great reputation and cool modern gyros.....I'm thinking about it!

[Alan Fox]

Say more - what was it under the hood that was not so cool?

[Alan Fox]

[Alan Fox]

[Marauder]

Alan hard at work taking apart a working helicopter to build up his supply of helicopter parts. Personally Alan, I have always made it a point to keep you away from my plane during our fly-ins or hence forth expect to see parts of my plane for sale on eBay!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Hank]

Why are there no Antique Helicopter Flyins?

 

 

 

[peevee]

Some time ago I could have added the rating on for about half what I could now but decided against it because being twice as expensive as airplanes it's something I'd get the rating just for the sake of getting it and probably never fly them again, same way I feel about a float rating 

[Ned Gravel]

I have spent more time in the back of Huey's and Herc's than I can recall.  Loved them both.  Delivery into lots of places around the world.  From the Huey it was mostly rappelling onto the objective.  Only from 120 feet up and not so high.

But....  during one deployment with the Navy, I was part of the recce party for a staging location and about 20 minutes out from the ship, the pilot offered me a half an hour in the left seat (their equivalent of our right seat).   It was an old Sea King (our CH-124 = USN SH-3 = Sikorsky S-61).  Flew good for a while, then Aux (off) and Vox (off).  It was like trying to stand on top of a beach ball.  Requires way more finesse in the touch than a Mooney.  

Loved it, but I am getting too old to look a rotary wing license.

[ryoder]

I want to fly Airwolf.  Anything else is just not cool enough.

[helitim]

 I worked full time as a flight nurse in Bell Jet Rangers for almost 5 years and have nothng but great memories of the experiences.  Each year our pilots would do their emergency training with a Bell factory test pilot. He would drive his motor home into the parking lot and tie in to the hangar power for the week.   They would install the left seat and fly with duals for this training.  I would routinely request to ride with them for the training.  After the third year of my flying with them I had gotten to know the test pilot pretty well.  We were sitting having breakfast in the hangar one morning when the test pilot made me an offer I couldn't believe.  He asked if I wanted to go out and fly right seat with him.  This was a no brainer.  We boarded and pulled up into a high hover.  He asked if I was ready to take over and put his arms across his chest and said "your ship".  This was absolutely awesome.  I had flown a Bell 47 enough to have a general idea what I should be doing so off we went to the airport.  We spent the next 45 minutes going thru the entire repertoire of emergency maneuvers.  Full auto rotations to the deck with me following him on the controls. Simulated stuck rudder pedal where he actually flew it to the ground and did a run on landing.  I've got to say, that scared the sh$t out of me. The amount of flying he allowed me to do was quite surprising.  It was hands down the most amazing flight I have ever experienced and we did it in the companies dime.  Can't beat that for fun factor.  

The next year I bought a two seat gyro copter and flew it for 2 1/2 years before going to fixed wing.  Gyro's are not practical because they are so slow but they are a lot of fun. One thing I will say for flying gyro's is that if you ever did lose your engine they are quite easy to land safely in a very small area if you had to. My standard landing was to get over the airport at 500' and pull the power off to do a full auto landing.  Little to no ground roll is easily achievable once you get comfortable with them.  Like anything, you must be careful and not try to outfly your abilities.