I flew fixwing for many years, mostly singles, but twins on occasions. all the work was low level and working with an observer documenting things.
About 8 years ago I moved to rotary. I have now spent the last 4 years on a Hughes 500d working for an organization documenting illegal activities all over the world. The difference is extreme ! I now have about 4000+ hours and every day is a new challenge. A lot of the time I work from the deck of a ship, but I may well be positioned in the jungle or on a remote glacier.
My last trip, a week ago, was from UK to Gambia in the 500, coming down the Moroccan coast at 100' using the updraft from the cliffs to generate forward speed, then going across the Western Sahara. I am now working with some local authorities arrestng illegal fishing boats.
Doing this in a fix wing just doesn't cut it, Choppers are the biggest rush, and being able to position a machine from 5000' down onto an area the size of the skid pattern is a wonderful reward for MANY hours of thinking 'I'm going to have to stick with fix wing 'cos I just can't get a handle on this hovering bit' !
I have done a couple of positioning flights from Alaska to Mexico and from Alaska to Montreal, and it makes you realize what a beautiful world we have when you can transit at low level and see so much. Helicopters rock.
