Chopper flying and Music

[Hover Junkie]

Hi all,

This morning in the car I heard a song that reminded me of my helicopter pilot training. The song was Vangelis' 1492, Conquest of Paradise. Everytime I hear it, I fondly think back to learning to fly a helicopter.:)

The CD of Vangelis was in my car radio at the time that I did my early morning drives to the flight school and always played in the background.

Anybody else out there that has got the same association with a specific song or piece of music? Would like to hear from you.

[verticalhold]

First solo on a glider I found myself nervously whistling Fly Me To The Moon.
First solo on a fixed wing and on a heli the same tune came up. Crazy thing was I didn't realise it until I started on the downwind checks!

VH

[Camp Freddie]

"why dont we do it in the road" by the beatles

only joking, cant think of anything :(

CF

[rotornut]

Stukas dive bombing to Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries in 1943 German Newsreel (Deutsche Wochenschau). Later used in helicopter assault in Apocalypse Now.

[YOP]

'Lean on Me' by Red Box. Always reminds me of 2 Sqn AFT on the Wessex at Shawbury in 1985.

[MD900 Explorer]

It has to be "Come fly with me, come fly away" by Sinatra... used it as my first dance for my wedding!! Awesome tune!!

MD :ok:

[Pandalet]

First solo..."I feel good!" somewhere down the downwind leg...

[S76Heavy]

Theme from "Airwolf" :}

[belly tank]

After i walked out of the exam room and just passed my CPLH jumped in my Ute ( pickup for you yanks out there!!)..started the car and the tune for "Wanted dead or alive" by Bon Jovi just started!.:ok:..ill never forget it!!....just happens to be that im seeing them in concert in about 2 months in Melbourne!!!.so i can relive the glory 13 years on:D

[Flashover999]

Did most of my training in California and at the time Scar tissue By the Red Hot Chilli peppers was playing quite a lot on the radio and on the local bar jukebox! When i came home (Back to the UK) I made a short film to remind me of how fantastic it was to fly!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7uy1q1XO7k

When ever i hear that song on the radio Im back there!

Flash!

[paddyboy]

Meatloaf - Bat Out Of Hell

Ironic.:ok:

[heliski22]

Many years ago, Andy Gutteridge did my Instructor Rating Flight Test - I was scared s***less on the way to the hangar on the morning of the test. So I got the stereo cranked up and had the Prisoner's (Slaves) Chorus from Nabucco blaring from the speakers in the car - I was well fired up by the time I got there!!

Passed too!!

[flatstick]

spiderbait's version of black betty.:E

[Hughes500]

Normally have the Ipod going in the machines. Most pax like The Stones " Get off my cloud "" and for a bit of low flying fun "paint it black"

[diginagain]

Deano's "Little Old Wine Drinker Me" always brings back memories.
Or are they flashbacks?:(

[topendtorque]

Well, it's comes to mind that mostly the only 'music', occurs when everything has gone pear shaped, about several hundred or a couple of thousand) rogue cattle all in diametric opposition and all with their blinkin' heads on their wrong ends. Then it's fly for your life baby cause you mostly should have seen it coming, with teeth very clenthed and over and over I hiss it out, its -
'who likes aeroplane jelly'
aeroplane jelly for me'.

But there was a pristine moment, being priveliged to have been invited to demonstrate a certain machine in a very historic airshow, the only participant with clearances to ground level, and all the time in the background I reheased the maneuvres to -
Sonny and Cher
'I've got you babe'

'Hey Hey, you You
Get offa my cloud',
ran a close second.

[Ioan]

Verticalhold - exactly the same - 'Fly me to the moon' for both my first solo in a glider and 1st solo in a 152. I don't even know the song, but was on the film Armageddon I believe and it seems to pop up in my head flying every now and then.

Downwind on my 1st solo in the 22 it was 'Dangerzone' I was humming as I struggled to keep at 700' in this helicopter that wanted to keep climbing on me! I wouuldn't say it was appropriate, but at the same time I couldn't help but smile at my unconscious choice!

[Islandcrazy]

Flash.....nice video. I learned at the same place as you. That departure over the freeway used to scare the :mad: out of me parcularly during my first solos.

Back to the music...... 'Feel so High' by Des'ree...cause in a Robbo, at first, it did! :ooh:

IC

[Whirlygig]

Not sure whether I should admit this but hey!

When I got my PPL in 2003, the record most played (and played everywhere) was Dido - White Flag. That song will still remind me of the time.

However, I remember at the time when I was studying for my PPL exams (HPL) that the book metioned that singing in the cockpit was a sign of uncertainty and nervousness. Crap! I sing all the time. Have to admit, "Fly Me To The Moon" is very singable as is the other Julie London classic, "Cry Me A River".

Cheers

Whirls

[Ioan]

First time I've heard of that in HPL! I hope it's not true... I'm also one of those that hums / whistles a lot
I'm dreading the day I get a stuck PTT switch

[If all else fails]

After a particularly challenging sortie just had to share a tune from the local station with hapless trainee..."Things can only get better.......without You..." caused yet another hover wobble.

On dropping trainees for a unanounced escape and evasion experience called all other instructors across to local station as we solo'd back to base, to the dulcet tones of Niel Diamond - 'Solitary Man'.

We laughed until we stopped.

[heliski22]

Whirls,

Singing as you go is great, but it IS important to ensure the intercom to the cabin is OFF!!! Fortunately, only one of them had a headset on!!!

[outofwhack]

Can anyone recommend a model of intercom that will allow me to play music with decent quality.
ie. stereo and sound quality at least as good as a personal mp3 player.

I bought a little portable "Pilot Avionics Minicom" for $150 because it claimed it had music and cellphone interface capability. With a cellphone attached I can hear a call come in but cant get my voice heard by the caller and when connecting an MP3 player the quality of sound passed through to the headsets is appalling. Base is lost, midrange is tinny and scratchy and high end lost.

Is it possible to get good sound quality from aircraft systems with for example David Clark headsets?

OOW

[thekite]

Neil Diamond's "SkyBird" to anything fun, Hughes 500 low and fast across the Gibson Desert, Yak52 diving through/past Top End CBs STRAIGHT DOWN full throttle, a Harley up Arthur's Pass....
Or a 25' ketch broad reaching across The Minch in a 25kt gale
thekite :}

[stonedigger]

It's gotta be "Learn To Fly" by the Foo Fighters! :}
Cheers Lads
No go out there and fly

[John Eacott]

'Khe Sanh' by Cold Chisel (http://http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2950), great low level/flying in the mountains/motorbiking music :ok:

Except I didn't have a copy for Jimmy Barnes to sign when I flew him :rolleyes:

[tonge]

I was nervously singing "Hi Ho Silver Lining" today, in between trying to get the robbie to slooooowww down!

[Hover Junkie]

trying to get the robbie to slooooowww down!

I usually pull nasty faces and shout something like "oooohhh sh11111t!!!" I think you're sounds would be more enjoyable on the ears.

Thanks to all the wonderful replies so far, I don't feel so 'weird' anymore when I fly and think/whistle/sing some tune. Cheers.:)

[JimBall]

For those (above) who want to get sound in the headset system - get an avionics nerd to make a fly lead with the right headphone plug on one end and the right headphone socket on the other. Breaking out in between can be a small trailing socket with a minijack socket for your mp3.

And you can move it easily between machines if the headphone plug/socket are compatible.

[FrisBee.be]

Everloving from Moby. Started playing it before every PPL exam and also after I got my results. Kept on playin' it throughtout my ATPL exams. It sort of became my personnel victory song.

[BobbyBolkow]

Thought I was the only weird one! Nice to see that there are more out there.
But for me it HAS to be Pink Floyd:-
'Learning to fly' when working hard :\- (tongue-tied and twisted - just an earth bound misfit I)! Or-
'Comfortably numb' when all is well with the world:D. Ooooh errr - hope that's not a portent of things to come.......
Does ANYBODY know how to fly this thing?