TH-55A: UH-1A,B,C,D,H,M;CH-47A,B,C;CH-34;CH-37;Bell 47,205.206,206L,212,412;Alouette III;S-58T,S-76A;FH-1100;Hughes 500D,E;BO-105,BK-117
About 10,000 accident/incident free hours....(Knocking on Wood!)
US/UK/Nigerian ATPL
US CFI/CFII Helicopters and Airplanes Single and Multi-engine
Ex-US Army Warrant Officer (Charter Member Phu Loi Chapter of WOPA) Started in Helicopters in June of '67 Two tours as a CH-47 Instructor
Two combat tours in Vietnam....Medavac'd on second tour
Seen Upper Volta, Ghana, Mali, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Italy, UK, France, Canada, Alaska, USA, Jordan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Spain, The Canary Islands, Norway, and a few other places by helicopter.
Now fly an armed BK-117 on a counter-terrorist operation within the US......dark gray....not black helicopter.
Most flying in one day.....18+55 Vietnam
Longest flight....Deadhorse (Prudhoe Bay) to Lafayette, Louisana
Most memorable things....
French coastline on a full moon night ....snow covered ground after crossing the channel in an S-58T.
The sheer joy of a vertical climb at max torque in an empty C Model Chinook doing left pedal turns....seeing the VSI pegged!
Realizing the Hughes 500D and all occupants were unscathed after an engine failure coming off Mt. Neuhauser near Tok, Alaska just at dark. (Proved bears do not like smelly things with soggy trousers!) 9800 feet to the forest.....and yes you can climb in full autorotation from 60 knots in a H-500 (OH-6A)! You just really have to want to do it!
Bagpipes in the middle of the Iranian desert.....and a cat's chorus of singers on the beer!
Ivana Leali....!!!
Being shot at and being missed.
Ivana Leali.....!!!
What scares me the most....The thought of seeing Nick Lappos in a Tu-Tu. (envisioning himself as Nicole Kidman!)
