With the time of the year and families in mind, it strikes me that the best thing about the helicopter industry is that it's like one, big extended family. You can't spend ten minutes talking to someone without finding out that they know well someone who you know well, too.
Moments are so tough to pick but I do remember circling a late summer field of corn with a low, red sun when, out of the deeply shadowed crops came a hare at full speed followed very quickly by a fox. Halfway across the field the fox gave up, it was still too damn hot to be chasing hares. The reason it stayed with me is that no-one else could see that. The people driving on the nearby road, the people in the local village and the people sat on the airliner 35,000 feet above me - none of them could see it. That is one of the great privileges we have, we see the world as few have. Of the 110 billion people who have ever lived, fewer than 10% have been alive while we've had aviation and about 5% of them have flown and just 1% of them have flown in a helicopter. For every one lucky enough to simply fly in a helicopter there have been perhaps 20000 human beings who never will. What a privilege - Merry Christmas.