By CyclicAuthority on 8/1/2011 2:59 PM

Well ... I'm not building any time, but I am getting some great experience.  I have been working as crew for a 133/135 operation this summer in a 212 and in a 206L.  By the end of the summer, I should have 200+ hours sitting next to the 212 pilot (I get to fly occasionally, so a handful of hours will be loggable), and 100+ hours sitting next to the 206 pilot (no dual controls unfortunately).  The operation is working primarily between 5000 and 9000 feet in the mountains, so I am getting to see how a couple of 30 year veteran pilots fly under some pretty tricky conditions...

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By CyclicAuthority on 4/3/2011 7:17 AM

Well, I am 15 months into my CFI career, and it is going pretty slow.  It started off good, but in the last 6 months things have slowed to a crawl …

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By CyclicAuthority on 7/19/2010 9:51 AM

I can't decide whether to be discouraged or empowered by what I read on the JH Forums.  I started flying helicopters because I love flying, and I didn't want to spend the rest of my life tied to a desk.  Then I read the forums, and there are so many unhappy people in this industry.  Not just unhappy, but down right hateful of this industry from what I can tell...

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By CyclicAuthority on 7/5/2010 3:02 PM

Well, I had my first close call the other day.  I suppose it wasn't that close, but it was definitely enough to make my heart skip a beat...

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By CyclicAuthority on 6/15/2010 8:10 AM

I sent my first student up for their checkride, and they passed with flying colors.  I think I found this more stressful than their solo, probably because the solo took 30 minutes, and this took 4 hours...

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By CyclicAuthority on 5/22/2010 3:35 PM

When I started my commercial training, one of the first things my instructor taught me was a commercial approach, basically an approach flown at 50-60 knots until you are in ground effect, then a quick stop.  I suppose it was fun to fly, but for the life of me, I have yet to find this type of approach documented in a text book or a PTS, or really anywhere...

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By CyclicAuthority on 5/15/2010 7:23 AM

I recently had not one, but two opportunities to do a bit of flying in turbine powered helicopters … and now I am obsessed.  The first flight was a joy ride in an MD500E.  Being the first time in a turbine, I knew pretty much nothing about the startup, so the owner got it running, but I got to fly it, and it was fantastic...
 

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By CyclicAuthority on 5/7/2010 11:58 AM

So, I sent my first solo student into the great blue yonder a few weeks ago (well, the pattern at least), and I was no where near as stressed about it as I thought I would be.  I have talked to many CFIs who talk about the stress of sending a new student on their first solo flight being as bad as if it were their own first solo, but I felt pretty good about it.  Nothing crazy happened, they picked up, flew the pattern for 30 minutes, came back and made an ugly setdown and all was good...

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