It's done, don't be jealous.
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 169
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From: Scotland
It's done, don't be jealous.
20th of March, flying fish on Unst / Shetland, I hit the mark:
20,000
(with only 100 hours of plank)
after 39 years active flying.
Always happy landings
Spencer17
20,000
(with only 100 hours of plank)after 39 years active flying.
Always happy landings
Spencer17
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 275
Likes: 1
From: Behind the curve
I passed 20,000hours last year after commencing flying 45 years ago at the age of 17. However there was a 4 year interruption in my flying career after spending 10 years as a military pilot (during which I only flew just over 2000 hours) so my total flying career to earn a crust is 41 years
Had I not been employed to dodge bullets while flying for the taxpayer and had I not taken 4 years out of flying, I estimate that I would have reached 25,000 hours before retiring in 2014. Sigh !
But there is another colleague still flying helicopters from Scatsta who passed 20,000 one year before me. Even so, we're in a quite exclusive club in the helicopter world.
Fixed-wing guys can easily pass 30,000 hours in their careers, but then they're not really flying for most of their time sitting in the flight deck and bitching about expenses/security/rosters/EASA/seniority/pensions etc. Just kidding !
Had I not been employed to dodge bullets while flying for the taxpayer and had I not taken 4 years out of flying, I estimate that I would have reached 25,000 hours before retiring in 2014. Sigh !
But there is another colleague still flying helicopters from Scatsta who passed 20,000 one year before me. Even so, we're in a quite exclusive club in the helicopter world.
Fixed-wing guys can easily pass 30,000 hours in their careers, but then they're not really flying for most of their time sitting in the flight deck and bitching about expenses/security/rosters/EASA/seniority/pensions etc. Just kidding !
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 440
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From: Royal Leamington Spa
There's probably a tale to be told behind the fact that both of the contributors to this thread who have in excess of 20,000 hrs are posting using oversized font! 
Well done to all members of the Over 20's Club!
Well done to all members of the Over 20's Club!
Joined: Mar 2007
Aviation Qualifications: ATPL
Posts: 659
Likes: 13
From: Under my coconut tree
Regardless of the total hours (which I have total respect) anybody that can fly for 30 plus years in the north sea to gain such a total deserves my unreserved admiration 
I just couldn't do it and only managed 9 years..... Enjoy that monster pension, you certainly earned it
Me, I'll take me 10,500 hours,no pension, dubious constitution, new wife and all the other perks of having sampled the heli smorgasbord and disappear under me rock in the med...
Congratulations, and I mean that most sincerely
If I'm Pete Tong and you have accomplished it outside the N.Sea then I'm speechless
I just couldn't do it and only managed 9 years..... Enjoy that monster pension, you certainly earned it
Me, I'll take me 10,500 hours,no pension, dubious constitution, new wife and all the other perks of having sampled the heli smorgasbord and disappear under me rock in the med...
Congratulations, and I mean that most sincerely
If I'm Pete Tong and you have accomplished it outside the N.Sea then I'm speechless
Last edited by griffothefog; 25th March 2012 at 19:03.
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 275
Likes: 1
From: Behind the curve
Spencer17 started by stating " flying fish on Unst / Shetland " which suggests that he doesn't work in the North Sea oil industry. The Unst base ceased to be used by Bristow or any offshore operators many years ago, so my guess is that he flies something like a Squirrel carrying smoults (baby fish) for the salmon industry.
If most of his helicopter flying has not been offshore but doing aerial work, then he truly deserves a medal. I did forestry and underslung and crop spraying for a couple of seasons and can testify to how "knackering" it is to do such hands-on flying and such intense concentration day in, day out with minimal rest, minimal days off and minimal automation.
What we do on the North Sea for the oil industry, where I've worked for 31 years is very much akin to airline operations including eating cooked meals while at the flying controls for up to 2 hours in the cruise. Only our quality of bitching is probably better than the airline chaps.
Sincere and heartfelt congratulations Spencer. If my guess about your working life is correct, then you need a mention in dispatches at least.
If most of his helicopter flying has not been offshore but doing aerial work, then he truly deserves a medal. I did forestry and underslung and crop spraying for a couple of seasons and can testify to how "knackering" it is to do such hands-on flying and such intense concentration day in, day out with minimal rest, minimal days off and minimal automation.
What we do on the North Sea for the oil industry, where I've worked for 31 years is very much akin to airline operations including eating cooked meals while at the flying controls for up to 2 hours in the cruise. Only our quality of bitching is probably better than the airline chaps.
Sincere and heartfelt congratulations Spencer. If my guess about your working life is correct, then you need a mention in dispatches at least.
Last edited by Colibri49; 26th March 2012 at 08:40.
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,669
Likes: 5
From: uk
Colibri, that may be the case in Northern North Sea but the guys down south may just disagree.
Congratulations to the OP for hitting that milestone. I'm too old to ever get there though. 10k would be difficult to achieve for me.
Congratulations to the OP for hitting that milestone. I'm too old to ever get there though.
10k would be difficult to achieve for me.
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 98
Likes: 5
From: Far North Queensland
You must be a very humble man to get on an anonymous internet forum and share that bit of information with your peers, some of whom would have ticked over 20,000hrs after half that length of time flying. For such humility, I'm guessing you're British!
Regardless, congratulations.
Regardless, congratulations.
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 275
Likes: 1
From: Behind the curve
Widewoodenwingswork
My dear fellow inhabitant of the Southern Hemisphere, or at least that's where I was born and used to live before making the fundamental mistake of marrying a Brit. Now I'm stuck here with family and no hope of escape to a better lifestyle.
Perhaps what you don't know is that the lazy whinging poms only allow themselves to fly helicopters professionally to a maximum of 800 hours per year, so on that basis your arithmetic is slightly out. Flying to the legal maximum for 20 years would produce 16000 hours in the logbook, or to reach 20000 hours would take 25 years.
But life and career/contract changes etc tend to interrupt things for most people (stupidly emigrating to the Northern Hemisphere interrupted my progress), so 30 years might be a more realistic minimum period to reach the 20000 total, wherever you happen to be working.
No doubt in God's fair country you blokes know the meaning of real hard work, doing mustering in R22s and the like. That would surely be hard-earned hours compared with almost anything else, if you can survive it.
My dear fellow inhabitant of the Southern Hemisphere, or at least that's where I was born and used to live before making the fundamental mistake of marrying a Brit. Now I'm stuck here with family and no hope of escape to a better lifestyle.
Perhaps what you don't know is that the lazy whinging poms only allow themselves to fly helicopters professionally to a maximum of 800 hours per year, so on that basis your arithmetic is slightly out. Flying to the legal maximum for 20 years would produce 16000 hours in the logbook, or to reach 20000 hours would take 25 years.
But life and career/contract changes etc tend to interrupt things for most people (stupidly emigrating to the Northern Hemisphere interrupted my progress), so 30 years might be a more realistic minimum period to reach the 20000 total, wherever you happen to be working.
No doubt in God's fair country you blokes know the meaning of real hard work, doing mustering in R22s and the like. That would surely be hard-earned hours compared with almost anything else, if you can survive it.