An Aerial Saw pilot is a year-round position in that there is no busy or slow season. The 500D models we fly are like migratory birds chasing fine weather up and down the Atlantic and Mississippi flyways.
During the summer of 2018, I was fortunate enough to fly from a 50-meter (164-foot) private yacht …departing Seattle, WA on May 1st to cruise the Inside Passage and Gulf of Alaska…
A joint services exercise involving artillery, naval vessel guns, fixed-wing rockets and machine guns starts to get complex quick….a job like this is mostly about, what we call, mission management… It doesn’t hurt that its’ fun!
…a look into what motivation and passion look like and why your age should never be a factor if you want to follow your dreams.
…I reluctantly hop out of bed and head for the gym. If I don’t take care of myself, how can I take care of my students?
…I had to re-teach myself how to hover with my neck extended outside the door and all my usual steady reference points gone…
…hopefully I can make a difference to the survival of wild areas… dropping off the ranger teams to keep this vast area protected from poachers…
When our crew briefing is complete, I gather my equipment and standby for a flight request. Our goal is to launch within 8 minutes during the day and 10 minutes at night.
We complete a recon and lower our Rescue Tech (RT) to the Ship to assess the patient and get them ready to be hoisted to the aircraft. Once the RT indicates that everything is ready we move back in to pick them both up…
…severe skull fractures.. .extensive brain damage…twenty four hours earlier Liam and his parents had been enjoying life, bushwalking in Mt Kosciusko State Forest, hundreds of miles from Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital…
There are three large windfarms located to the north and our job was to fly the technicians there when sea conditions didn’t allow boat operations.
…the dramatic landscape seemingly pours downward directly from the sky, splashing into the ocean several thousand vertical feet later…
…take the mighty H120 down to Shannon Airport to meet a group of four golfers right off their jet from the United States and bring them to the world famous Old Head golf club…
Deep into the flooded plains of the Delta… amazed at the landscape in front of me…flying under 500 feet and sharing the airspace with fixed-wing planes
You never know what the day will bring when working in HEMS but there are definitely some calls that stay with you long after the shift is over…
It was 0430, sunrise was about 30 minutes away, and I checked the DarkSky app for the sixth time since I got up 20 minutes prior. “On contract” with a cherry farmer in central Washington state…this looked like the first day I would be called on to fly…
Got a shiny new CPL and want to cut your teeth at something other than instructing? Try getting involved with pleasure flying and you’ll find your skills and understanding of flying developing in no time.
After 9 years and just under 2300 hours flying US Coast Guard SAR, Air Security, and Training missions …I found myself looking for a new role, outside the military.
I still didn’t know how bad the situation was… all I knew for sure, was that if I decided not to land, no one would ever come to their rescue
…I one hundred percent practice the ‘dress to egress’ principle, students who have not paid heed to this, will now suffer…facing the harsh realities of a post-crash jungle survival scenario…
…good advice comes when you’re least expecting it…sometimes, the best way to get back home to your family, is to land the damn helicopter and walk…
…Sometimes you just want to watch the earth pass below your feet….
An honest, motivational and inspiring story of an Apache Helicopter pilot’s “Turning Point” that can only serve to motivate all of us.
Whether it’s a gift for the helicopter pilot in your life or something for yourself to pass the time while on shift, we’ve got a list of 16 of the “Best Books for Helicopter Pilots”.
The K-1200 sits in our hangar… among the bigger, fatter and unsightly 61s and Hueys. An insect like profile stares back as I approach, looking more like a truck sized dragon fly than a helicopter…
…there may be no “typical day” in the Gulf but if you’re considering a position as a VFR pilot in the Gulf of Mexico, you’ll find we all share “typical experiences”…
The week begins with the long drive to work on Tuesday evening…for the past thirteen years, I’ve driven back and forth one day each week from Houston to report to a base located somewhere in Louisiana or Mississippi.
As part of our “Day in the Life” series, the following is a day in the life like no other!
Everyone has a story… there’s something unusual about how any of us got here…
Does anyone need us anymore? Haven’t they been waiting for the flying car ever since the ’60s promised it to the ’80s?
