I've had a lifelong interest in aviation and space.
- As a child I built models and flew model rockets. I wanted R/C stuff but it was too expensive for our family situation.
- When I graduated college one of the first things I did was make a parachute jump because it was easier and much less expensive than actually flying. Hooked instantly, and it had me around airplanes. Went so far as to become a static line jumpmaster (a now effectively obsolete rating).
- I had always wanted to fly helicopters, and, as everyone here knows, that's a tough row to hoe. But being around aircraft all day when skydiving, and making a decent living from my "real" job, thank goodness, getting a fixed wing private certificate was irresistible. So I made that happen.
- Then work and life interfered with aviation for a long time, some 13 years. When I decided it was time to get back into the sky, there was no way I was going to do it in anything but a helicopter! Like that first parachute jump, it only took that first intro flight to get me totally hooked.
- Now that I'm back in the aviation world, I love helicopters so much that I've not even bothered to do a refresher in a fixed wing.
- Next challenge: figuring out a way to buy one and not put myself in the poorhouse! Sadly, helicopter clubs or partnerships seem to be a rarity. Around here, privately owned helicopters are all single owner affairs.
