Robinson R22 Helicopter - Aerobatics "Cool Cuts Showcopters"

This video shows the capability of the Robinson R22 helicopter. Technically it's not aerobatics per say like a fixed wing airplane; it's what the helicopter is capable of in normal flight. Autorotations, flying backwards (the rotor disc doesn't care which way it's flying), turning, climbing descending. It's pretty cool how they do all these maneuvers in formation. I'd love to see this demonstration in person. You can tell these guys have 1000's of hours of experience. The lead pilot is a Vietnam veteran helicopter pilot, Jim Cheatham. Excellent demonstration, check it out, amazing!

Side Note: I was sad to find out that Showcopters were a Salinas, California based team headed by Jim Cheatham who died in March 2009. Once an instructor at Verticare Helicopters and Airplanes in Salinas, Cheatham eventually took over the fixed-wing and rotary flight training, sales and service business. He started Showcopters in 1996, and soon the three-ship team -- flying Robinson helos -- attracted a following at air shows throughout the country. Helicopter Association International did a nice little write up on Jim Cheatham and so did Vertical Reference here. I would have loved to seen their demonstration in person.

Jim Cheatham;  January 5, 1942 ’ March 11, 2009

Obituary:

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Local business owner Jim Cheatham died suddenly in his home early Wednesday morning. Cheatham experienced a minor heart attack and corrective angioplasty one week prior.

Cheatham was recently in the news regarding how his business was devastatingly affected by the economic crisis. A significant factor of his business collapse was the abruptly canceled helicopter contract with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Department. Cheatham was left with massive overhead for the nearly one Million dollar specialized aircraft. Just another victim of major budget cuts.

Born in Laveen, AZ on January 5, 1942, Cheatham later served as an aircraft mechanic and helicopter pilot in the United States Army, completing tours in both Viet Nam and South Korea.

Jim Cheatham moved to the Salinas area in 1967, working for Clevenger’s Air Service. He purchased the company in late 1970 and changed the name to Verticare Helicopters in 1971. During his 42 years flying out of the Salinas Airport, Cheatham utilized his piloting skills performing in airshows, cropdusting, aerial photography and filming, charter services, and flight training.

Cheatham is survived by his significant other, Cheryl Harris (Big Sur, CA); sister Janice Shoemaker (Boerne, TX); children Jodi Serrano (Sacramento, CA), Captain Amanda Evans (Osan AFB, South Korea), Stacey Wilson (Soledad, CA), Kylie Pachuilo (Salinas, CA), Amy Hayes (Yukota NAS, Japan), and Burton Cheatham (Salinas, CA); and seven grandchildren. He will be greatly missed, as he was adored by his family.

A Celebration of Jim’s life will be held in the Verticare Hangar (240 Mortensen Ave) at the Salinas Airport on Monday, March 16th at 11:00am.

-WATCH FOR THE WIRES-

..."and if you do hit them, keep flying the helicopter"...

-Jim Cheatham

RIP

Mission Accomplished! Ferry Flight 17-21 May 2010 - Robinson R22 helicopter

Ferry Flight - Torrance California to Birchwood Alaska in a Robinson R22

The ferry flight took us 34.8 hours of flying and our flight path was approximately 2500 nautical miles over 5 days of flying. If you click on each helicopter it will give you a little description of that particular stop. We did have some MVFR weather on our first leg out of Torrance, California and again around the Fort St. John and Fort Nelson, BC, Canada areas. Other than that we fought quite a bit of turbulence in most areas. Whew! What an adventure. As I get a little more time I'll try and shed some more light on our trip.


View Ferry Flight 17-21 May 2010 Robinson R22 helicopter in a larger map

The newly rebuilt R22 we brought up from Torrance, California
She ran like a champ!

On our way to ferry an R22 from Torrance, California to Birchwood, Alaska

We are on our way down to Torrance, California to ferry one of our R22 helicopters (N767VC) that’s been rebuilt back up to Birchwood, Alaska. It's going to be one hell of an adventure! Let’s hope its uneventful and we pull it off without a hitch. I'll be doing the trip with Corey one of my instructors. And who knows, I might even learn something. It'll be a chance for me to put everything I've learned in the last two years of helicopter training to the test. I'm taking a camera, and if possible will take a few photos along the way to share when I get back. As some of you know there’s not much room in the R22 so all I'm taking is a small little black back pack that will fit under the seat. We'll be roughing it for sure, but the goal is to get the helicopter and us back up here to Alaska in one piece. Our biggest obstacle will be the weather!

Old 7VC that's been rebuilt, rumor has it she's now red with a new registration # 99507; she was a good old bird!

N767VC, I soloed in this ship! I'm curious to see how she's going to look after the rebuild.

View Larger Map

According to Google we are looking at approximately 4,300 miles. Our route will depend on the weather coming up through California, Oregon and Washington but more than likely we'll follow I-5 north and enter Canada at Kelowna, BC. Canada can be a desolate place and staying near the main road (ALCAN HWY) is safer in my book. Our route will follow Williams Lake, BC; Prince George, BC; Dawson Creek, BC; Fort St. John, BC; Fort Nelson, BC; Watson Lake, YT; Whitehorse, YT; Haines Junction, YT; Beaver Creek, YT; Northway Junction, AK; Tok, AK; Glenallen, AK; and then on to Birchwood, AK. Of course we can fly as the crow fly’s and straighten out all the curves :-).  I'm glad we're ferrying the helicopter with summer just around the corner, and as we approach Alaska the days will be longer with plenty of daylight. Wish us luck!

12 December 2008 SOLO!

12 December 2008

Solo!...what a great feeling! Marcus Roulet, Chief Flight Instructor for Alyeska Helicopters, was my instructor that day. I believe I had approximately 29 hours; I would have soloed sooner if it wasn’t for my flight physical at the Heart of Eagle River clinic in Eagle River, Alaska. I ended up waiting an extra two and half weeks for my 3rd class physical. I found out the doctor doesn't sign his own flight physicals, he sends them into Anchorage to the main FAA Flight Doctor to be signed. In the mean time I kept flying. Lessons learned: 1) Ask your flight instructors who they go to for their physicals and take their advice, 2) get your flight physical done as soon as possible in case there are issues. I waited until I had 19 hours in my log book assuming the physical would only take a couple of hours and I'd have the medical certificate in hand when I walked out of the clinic. Live and learn.

I need to stress this point about soloing -- there is no correlation on how good a pilot you’re going to be by the number of hours it takes you to solo (within reason :-). Flying helicopters is about being patient; it's about proficiency, consistency, a good attitude towards safety, learning to relax on the controls, and having FUN flying the helicopter!

Photo credits go to Marcus Roulet

Learning to Fly/Hover the R22 19 Oct 2008 @ 9 hrs

So I had this great idea...I'll have my wife, Mary, shoot a little video of me hovering at approximately 9 hours of flight time. I thought I was pretty good at hovering until I felt the pressure of Mary using the video camera. My instructor was Nico von Pronay. Those hangers in front of me and the helicopter behind me were a little too close for my measly 9 hours. I could imagine splintering rotor blades as they smashed into the building and that parked helicopter. I was too careful in the beginning and felt tense which would translate into overcompensating with the controls and those dam pedals were so sensitive. It's all a part of learning to relax with the machine.