21,000 Hrs!

[206Fan]

Calgary based Helicopter Pilot passes 21000 Hrs!

https://www.verticalmag.com/news/calgary-pilot-passes-21000-flight-hours-helicopters/?utm_source=vertical-daily-news-todays-news&utm_campaign=vertical-daily-news&utm_medium=email&utm_term=todays-news&utm_content=V1

[sandiego89]

Wow, well done Sir!

[albatross]

Well done!

[212man]

I stopped (never say never though) at 11,000 ish. Well done!

[400hover]

Amazing! After 9 years, i am struggling to pass the 800 hours mark! Maybe he can pass 1000h...

[Nigerian Expat Outlaw]

Hats off to him. Some people just keep going. We had a guy in Eket who made 30,000 hours before he retired. Amazing.

NEO

[Sir Korsky]

I've got 21,000 hours sitting in FBOs if that counts.

[newfieboy]

Bravo Zulu Richard.
We have a pilot with the company I work with, passed the 30,000 mark a while ago. Thought I was high time with my 16,800ish. Just a baby pilot really....:{:ugh:

[Gordy]

Newfie,

Funny after all these years we are only 200 hours apart.

[soggyboxers]

That's really good. I'm still sad that having neither American licences i had to stop flying at 65 with a bit more than 20,000. I was lucky to be able to continue working in aviation until I was 70, but I'd still like to get back to an aviation-related job :sad:

[Nigerian Expat Outlaw]

soggy,

If being senile counts as flying you still are ! ;):ok:

Not far behind you........

NEO

[newfieboy]

Hi Gordy,
Hope all's well in the new Utopia that is Trumpworld. Yep can sure rack those hrs up flying utility with a good company in Canada. 15 yrs now with this company, lucky some years our winter work is on par with the busy summers. Especially when drills were turning. Things seem on the up here, survey birds starting to fly and drills starting to turn. Been going steady all last year again with regular tours.
Told the missus 20thou hrs or sixty which ever comes first and I'm done....SSSh, don't tell her, don't know no better so will crack on medical permitting. See you brought a boat mate....bloody hel, you used to be Kipper Fleet looking for the damn things, not sailing them. Be safe matey, here's to another busy year. Regards to Her In Doors....
Newfie.

[TipCap]

Well done Richard

I retired at 62 with 22,500 but not the quality of flying that Richard did :ok:

TC

[newfieboy]

TipCap
Yes Sir the forum name fits...I for sure tip my hat to you....62/22500hrs, not too shabby.
Hopefully this thread will motivate the young pups just coming out of flight school. Sure things aren't the same in theses times but it can be done A La career in this industry.

[Gordy]

Newfie

Yes on the boat, 34' cruising yacht, sails ready for when I need to get out fast.... We are on the 2020 retirement plan..... upgrade to a catamaran and sail the world, (slowly if we get out of the Caribbean). And yep, Kipper fleet was fun while the cold war lasted---all the Nimrods grounded now.

Life is good here, I fly less and mentor more now. Hiring younger kids in the 2500-3000 hour range and "interning" them. Utility work slowly on the rise as the electric grid system is needing to be expanded.

Say hi to SWeMBO, and hats off to the 20,000 hour guys.

[SASless]

Errrrrr.....Gordy....sailboats and fast are mutually exclusive concepts. You mind yer Missus and there will be no need to "escape".

If you want that Cat.....friend has a really nice Power Cat for sale....call the "Seaveyor".

I have cast a squinted eye towards it myself.


Well Done that Man....over fifty years of flying helicopters.....now that just ain't right!;)

[Gordy]

Arghhhhh SAS,

You know me too well. I am slowly converting back to my slow paced life... Once again I will not own a pair of shoes or long pants. There is an exhilaration of gaining an extra knot when keeled over at 35 degrees, while trying to not spill SWeMBO's cocktail.....

Need to get you on "Merry Time" sometime, ifen not, I am sure you will visit us on the Cat....

[SASless]

You buy a big Cat....and I will move aboard and stand wheel watches for you!

[Gordy]

You buy a big Cat....and I will move aboard and stand wheel watches for you!

Deal....current front runner is the Bali 4.3 followed closely by the Leopard 45. Google is your friend....

[Thud_and_Blunder]

Good going all you high-timers :ok:. Top tip to the youngsters - if you're chasing similar figures don't go into HEMS. My 8.5 years with Bond - mostly HEMS with some lighthouse and a little police work thrown in, followed by IRI/TRI/TRE - produced the princely total of 1100 hours. Good quality flying with loadsa landings, but low total time.

In the 2 years I've been in my current, post-age-60 job I've managed 10% more flying hours than in all my time with Bond. Most of it below 100ft agl, in an aircraft with 2 donks but still having 2.5mins single-engine hover performance from soon after take-off.

...and I get paid to do it :)

[fijdor]

the way things are looking for the future, it might be hard for the younger pilots to get up to those numbers in a career. Its not going to be a rare sight to see heli pilots retiring with between 15,000 and 25,000 hrs these days but with the industry where it is now and even if things starts picking up and I think they will, they will never fly the amount of hours we used to fly and if they do it will be a rare sight.

JD

Forgot, congratulation to the Canadian pilot and all the others that made it that far.

[SASless]

My first Year out of Army Flight School saw me with slightly more 1,200 hours Total Time, a 1,000 of it in a Large Multi-Engine Helicopter. That about a Tenth of the Time I accumulated in the rest of my career that spanned 38 Years.

EMS, Oil Tanker Crew Changes, baby sitting Core Drills, Corporate Flying, and guarding Buckets of Instant Sunshine made for work loads similar to that of a Maytag Man.

[EESDL]

Congratulations, 21,000-hrs and I bet bu55er all radial flying ;-)
Incident-free - huge respect.
Managed 2000-hrs on first 2-year tour (mostly at 100':D) but tailed off severely once out of the playground.
Whilst the old adage of 'Quality not Quantity' might be repeated by those less fortunate - the crucial thing is that it is time out of the office and away from the 'phone!!

[Bladestrike]

Don't think I'll crack 20,000 with 15 years to go, but I'll sure be trying. Cracked 1000 before I was 20 but it's slowed somewhat the past decade with the offshore drudge. I've got a good friend that's very close, I think he'll make it.

Very respectable hours Sir....

[Vertical Freedom]

Congratulations Sir, well done!!.....I'm just 10,000hrs so just a 'youngin' still learning, still growing!

[krypton_john]

Ah, but there's hours and then there's HOURS, VF.

Just ask any long-haul airline pilot.

[megan]

I'm just 10,000hrs so just a 'youngin' still learning, still growing!And you'll still be learning and growing when you hang up the spurs VF, though with the flying you partake of, which most of us are gob smacked by, it would only be by virtue of you taking up a new role in your journey.Ah, but there's hours and then there's HOURSMust confess to being extremely low on experience, retired with 20K, and 16K of that in offshore flying VFR (well, sort of). One hour, repeat 16K times.

[gnow]

I was forced onto retirement at 60 last week due to the 225 grounding and I have 21,400 hrs. Nothing to shout about because the majority is in offshore work though I have military and bush time. What high time pilots have are experience either from their own flying or from the bar! I thought I should be able to reach 25000 hrs but it looks like it may be difficult. I do admire our friend here still doing "part time" flying at 72!!

[Vertical Freedom]

Aaaargh yes Megan & Kyrpton J there are even Pilots who claim to be Mountian flying Guru's having only just started in the Mountains employed as a Mountain expert......thier ego is an accidents just waiting to happen :yuk:

'Some Pilots are always learning & some Pilots stop learning due ego'

One must approach Mountain flying with a humbleness & awareness, without ego......anything less will equal Death.......eventually :8

[krypton_john]

megan: Must confess to being extremely low on experience, retired with 20K, and 16K of that in offshore flying VFR (well, sort of). One hour, repeat 16K times.

:-)

[SASless]

When you stop learning....time to hang up your spurs.

Also....even the oldest Pelican can learn something from a Fledgling.

[spencer17]

22.500 and still flying :E
@Thomas: Yep, only 100 hrs plank and 90% of the rest is aerial work.

[Thomas coupling]

Taking into account all chopper time:
It's not the length that matters its what you do with it that counts.:mad:

I tip my hat to this gentleman, a great career and alive to tell the tale too - bonus!