S-92 Checklist request
Gentlemen;
Thank you for taking the time to respond.
To horror box, having been so wrong on your observations I hope you will be more reticent and thoughtful before showing your lack of knowledge in the future.
To Matari. If you would like another number to choke over, I have flown more than 300 fixed wing aircraft. You will likely note that some museum – somewhere – does not have that many aircraft on display… Mind you, I do not consider several hundred aircraft in my log books as significant as I know other acquaintances who are aviation writers as well who have more than a thousand. BTW, the number two person behind me on helicopters is also a Canadian test pilot/aviation writer and sits at 55 types when I last talked with him at Canadian Helicopter Corporation Safety Seminar in Vancouver a few months ago.
To 212man, yes, you are correct a wait is in order and I have been advised that I will not receive the current printed POH for ten days. Unfortunately too late for the imminent work I had planned before heading off on flying ops.
To SASless, (should that be senseless – or is your implication that you are directionless and uncontrolled as is without a stability augmentation system?), it’s not the bait that smells, it’s your opinion on the veracity of my enquiry. As a broadly published aviation writer, (I hesitate to say in over 60 aviation and fire suppression magazines worldwide lest some of you want to query that too), I often request information from others to provide in depth coverage of a topic. SASless, do you write so often and so much on these forums because you can’t get published elsewhere?
To Brian Abraham in Australia, cheers mate. Flew for Vowell Helicopters out of Tyabb on numerous contracts years ago, long-line magnetometer work in Tasy, and geological/mineral work in Lithgow, Cobar, The Gardens (Alice Springs outback areas) etc. . To say I was paid well beyond the Aussie “award” scale would be an understatement –given the flying challenges of flying the magnetometer 60 feet about ground surface in treed areas of mountainous Tasmania. The year of operations with the mining technicians discovered a lot of new minerals in Oz and it was a blast to fly a brand new 206 with electronics aboard that were worth three times the helicopter’s value. All landings in the desert locations (that were not with a magnetometer) were autorotations from throttle cut at 30 knots on final to avoid erosion on compressor blades due to flying sand associated with hover landings, The additional benefit of course was the various rotor blades were “drooped” to 70% of their normal landing rpm thereby reducing their erosion by 50%. (I wonder if the math wizards like Matari know how to figure that one out?) All in all, it was a wonderful experience for a man who was in his early thirties. If you ever run across Bill English, the company owner in 1980, wish him the best from the Canadian – he will know who I am.
For Jeffincornwall, Thanks, but no thanks on future submissions. I appreciate your honesty and sincerity on this request; however, I have followed the threads and generally not participated in forums that feature a lot of mindless people with nothing better to do than attempt to pull others down to their level. I needed help to get some data quickly and found nothing but criticism and no help. It is better to invest my time writing an opinion that tens of thousands can read in a magazine or on line versions of the magazines rather than join the forums of supposed professionals. We get much better reader response that is of value to other readers in magazines. And yes, I often do write with my tongue in cheek and use plays on words – often missed by many….sometimes it is embarrassing to identify myself as a helicopter pilot and be lumped into the morass of the many and the public’s opinion of our group.
To WhirlwindIII, thank you for your comment. Indeed my aviation life has been exceptional. I am wealthy, respected and sought after in the courts by law firms for my opinions (and never lost a case since starting in 1994), won many awards for my editorial contributions and heroism and lucky indeed. Mind you it was necessary to work hard after leaving the excellent initial training of the RCAF/CAF, apply myself and place the customer as number one, the charter company second and my own interests last to excel in the industry. (BTW Horror Box I always listened to my passengers/customer as they are the driving force in the business – not supposedly professional pilots.) I started writing with my first article published in Wings magazine in 1976 when I took a sabbatical from rotary wing ops and became sales manager and chief demo pilot for Cessna. The truth of the matter is that a large number of near death experiences convinced me to leave helicopter ops. The industry hasn’t changed and our accident rate is abysmal and shameful. Mind you I returned three years later because I missed the challenges associated with helicopter flying…. My reason at that time for writing was to help others by passing on knowledge since most high time, broadly qualified pilots do little to help others through education and I felt I “owed” the industry for the blessings it gave me. Obviously, this forum format is not a suitable vehicle for attempting to have meaningful, informative interchanges and since time is important to me will not exchange ideas again.
So, I hope those of you who use witless barbs as your source of humour will enjoy my meager offerings in reply. To the others who have responded in a positive manner, may you be successful in our trade and bring it honour and respect.
Once again, best wishes for safe flying to you all.