In 1987, I earned my Private Pilot Fixed Wing initial rating flying with the Aero Club, Hill Air Force Base, Ogden, Utah. I flew off and on through the years with approximately 100 hours mostly flown in the Cessna 152, and the Piper Warrior. In September 08’, I decided to go for my true passion and started flying helicopters at the Birchwood Airport, here in Alaska with Alyeska Helicopters, learning to fly the Robinson R-22. I earned my Rotorcraft-Helicopter Private Pilot additional rating in March of 09’ and my Commercial Pilot Rotorcraft-Helicopter initial rating the same year in November. I am on my way to becoming a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) helicopter pilot and this is my log of those experiences on this journey. I’m also hoping to use this blog as a guide and potential student resource for future helicopter pilot’s as they progress through flight training, and an outlet for my own experiences in becoming a helicopter pilot here in Alaska, a beautiful place to learn and fly. Also included are other miscellaneous ramblings that may pop into my head along the way. I'm retired from the Air Force, enlisted E-8.
What reason do you have to believe the earth is flat?
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ~Mark Twain
Leadership
"Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without the strategy."
~Norman Schwarzkopf
Old-Fashioned, Mark Twain Approach:
"Show them what you can do and the rest will take care of itself." Not many people live by those words today.
Attitude
Winston Churchillonce remarked that, “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” Does it ever! Having a positive attitude can lead to your ultimate success in helicopter flight training much more than intelligence, than circumstance, than skill, education, money or background. A positive attitude towards your flight training can spark positive outcomes and extraordinary results. And that same positive attitude can and will give you an edge through your entire flying career. Read More >>
Helicopter Flight
"It takes infinitely more knowledge and skill to stop, then land, than it does to land, then stop!"
~ Dr. Sergi Sikorsky (son of Igor Sikorsky)
Aeronautical Decision Making
“Superior pilots use their superior judgment to avoid situations in which they have to use their superior skills.”
OR
"If a helicopter pilot uses his superior judgment he will not be called on to use his superior skills."
~Anonymous
Eyes Upward
"Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."
~ Leonardo da Vinci