HeliOps 2026 Calendar Giveaway

[KiwiNedNZ]

Morning All,

The 2026 HeliOps Calendar is off at the printers and this year will give away 200 copies to members here if they would like one.

All you need to do is post on this thread what you fly or work on, or did fly or work on and why you enjoyed being part of this industry.

Then send me a PM with postal address of where you would like calendar mailed to. Easy and simple.

Great collection of images from around the world in this edition.

Cheers

Ned

[VeeAny]

HI Ned,

I fly AW109 and AW169 now, best part of the industry for me, is I get to fly with my son about once a month ! And you about once every 10 years.

Gary

[TacEval Inject]

2026 Calendar Giveaway

Hi Ned!

RAF veteran after flying the EH101 and Puma Mk2 for long enough, now plying my trade with the police on the EC135. Simply love going out of the door not knowing exactly what we're going to, where we're going to, or where the next stop will be! Contrary to popular belief, it's more than just getting the camera in the air, but at times, landing on to provide assistance. Oh, and the south west of the UK is a great place to fly.

Taceval Inject

[ShyTorque]

First solo: Slingsby Glider (1972)
First fixed wing solo: C150 (1973)
First jet solo: JP3A (1977)
First heli solo: WW10 (1979)
First twin engine: Wessex 5 (1979)
Followed by:
Puma
Gazelle
Bulldog
SK76 A++ & C
S-70
AS355N
SK76 C+ & SK76 B
A109E & S.
Safely (and not too sadly) now just about retired after just over 44 years of flying for a living.

[attitudepowertrim]

Retired from Navy flying the mighty Lynx. But you can not remain having fun forever!
Now dual rated on AW139/189 flying in Western Africa and never get bored with the offshore.
Flying in Africa gives you the best of two worlds: travel to new countries meeting new people and local challenges, and then get back home for some quality time to do whatever you want.
Approaching 60 years hold and I still love to do this.

APT

[Rwy in Sight]

I am an acute observer of the industry as I watch them fly by my place. This year I didn't get a chance to fly on them but I look forward to see a couple of units on the Air Force open day when a visit to the SAR unit is the centerpiece.

[That lights normal!]

Still flying Off-Shore.
AW189 - love that machine: fits me like a glove.

[albatross]

Retired
Flew bush planes and Helicopters.
Ah the Beaver on floats on cool Canadian morning.
Helicopters all over the place.
Favs…Bell 205, 212, 206l-1 and the S-92.
Still it was the great people…much fun.
Miss my zoom zoom.

[cavuman1]

Greetings from Ohio in the American Midwest, Ned!

Though the vast majority of my PIC time is fixed-wing, I do have five hours of instruction in a Bell 206L. I also play the pipe organ; the two beasties are very similar and require both hands and both feet to "get off the ground!" (Sometimes an extra hand and/or foot would come in handy.)

My LongRanger instructor said that hovering was like a monkey trying to have sex with a football. He wasn't lying...

I hope you are enjoying a glorious antipodal spring!

- Ed

[Lonewolf_50]

Ned, I first touched a Jet Ranger's controls (in flight) in 1978. That was an "orientation" ride when I was a midshipman.
I first hovered a Jet Ranger in 1981. I last hovered a Blackhawk in 2001.
Operating helicopters off of the frigates, destroyers and cruisers of the US Navy was what I liked best about helicopter flying.
Flying off of carriers was fine, yes, but it didn't hold a candle to operating form the "sleek greyhounds of the fleet" - aka escorts.

Currently working in helicopter repair and logistics.

[Blackhawk9]

Started as an Airframe Fitter on RAAF Chinooks in 1982, then Huey's also 82 then to Black Hawks in 88, then on to Civi machines in 91 and got LAME license 212, 412, 214B, 214ST, S-76, S-61, AS332, SA330, and little ones thrown in 206, 206L, 407, BK117 and AS350, fat dumb and happy on S-92's since 2005, Black Hawk my undisputed favorite, 43 years on Helo's now and still love it no intention to retire just wind back a bit and work on what I want not what I'm told to. ie: S-70, S-92, 212, 412 and 429 only don't do small Helo's or Eurotrash.

[helispotter]

I am not keeping up with developments. Until seeing the lovely photo of VH-X2G on the cover of the HeliOps calendar, I hadn't realised the Guimbal Cabri G2 is now being used in the Heli-Muster industry. Previously I had associated it with flight training schools. Is that now a more attractive option than the R22 for mustering work?

[meleagertoo]

Age 7, first Airfix kit.
Age 11 (no more Airfix aircraft or ships left) first 36" glider from plans.
Age 12 Acquired a Davies Charlton Sabre 1.5cc 'diesel' engine. The lightbulb came on!
Age 13 First control line model from plans.
Age 15 First RC aeroplane - single channel superhet bang-bang.
Age 17 last model aeroplane, 3 channel propo.
Age 21 first helo flight and hands on, JOAC yeovilton Wessex V
Age 24 Bulldog, Gazelle = Wings
Age 25 Seaking (briefly) followed by a short meeting with Sooty and an even briefer one with NAAB who lied that I'd never fly professionally again.
Age 26 CPL(H) Bell47 and BV234
Age 27 S61
Age 28 Enstrom, H500
Age 27 B206 & As355
Age 32 C208a
Age 36 Do228 and resolved to have jet command by 40
Age 37 BAe146
Age 38 command
Age 40 B737
Age 50 A320 series
Age 55 all done thanks.

Haven't flown since. Should get back into gliding and would love to fly a helo again but that ain't about to happen (I'm not a fan of R22s, let alone the even smaller ones).

[matelo99]

Teaching on the EH101, nowhere near as fun as a Sea King it's a bloody big and cumbersome beast but on those days where the sun glints through the cloud and you're hitting 200kts (With the help of a tail wind) or the snow cloud is building it looks bloody impressive!

[Rural53]

PPL in 2000 in a Grumman Cheetah. Rated in C172, PA-28-180, Victor Airtourer 115. I came close to getting a rating in a DH.82A Tiger Moth, but it is a bit difficult getting added to the insurance on a Sunday afternoon. I've done a lot of aerobatics, as a passenger in the Tigermoth. The Airtourer I started my aerobatic rating in, before I ran out of medical, was ZK-CXU, the one Cliff Tait flew around the world in 1969.

As for helicopters, I spent a lot of time in the late 90s riding around/working under Hughes 369Ds fire fighting. I rode back from East Cape to Gisborne, about half an hour, in ZK-HSD a few days before it had its engine stopping/falling out of the sky incident on another fire where I was working as ground crew, https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/30747. I did get a ride to a fire in a BK117 but spent the rest of the day slogging up and down hills. I've always enjoyed anything that converts hydrocarbons to noise. Helicopters are just a subset of things that do it while not touching the ground.

[chrispy77]

EMS in an AS350B3e in the Rockies in Colorado. Best part has to be seeing the Rockies out the window

[KiwiNedNZ]

Anyone else as we are sending first batch of calendars out end of next week.

[pilotmike]

Originally Posted by KiwiNedNZ

Anyone else as we are sending first batch of calendars out end of next week.

Thanks for doing this again, Ned.

I no longer fly, but as others have listed their history, he's mine:

1970s - Chipmuks (passenger) with RAF cadets, Filton, passenger in PA28 and Glos Airtourer with family, aero modelling, control line, RC etc.
1980s - gliding, K21, K6CR, Pilatus B4, Libelle. Instructor
1990s - PPL(D), PPL(A), instructor, CAA X Examiner, aircraft inspector, PFA Coach for Europa conversions
2000s - ATPL(A), CPL(H) - BAe146, Avro RJ, B733, B206, R44, R22
2010s - more of the same
2020s - less of the same

Best bits? All of it really, such variety of forms of flying - weight-shift, 3-axis, tricicycle gear, taildragger, mono wheel, rotary, airliner. Rotary wins it though. I just didn't find a way to make it pay as well as the airlines, which is a pity, 'cos that was where my heart was!

[helomaint]

Since 1983, worked on Bell, Hughes, MD, Hiller, Schweizer and Sikorsky model helicopterss. Still wrenching 40+ years later. Have not figured out what I want to do when I grow up yet :-}~.

[Findon 40]

Afternoon Ned........many thanks for this

Started as tech on Gazelle/Lynx hitting things with increasing sized tools before finding myself in the RHS
Now currently flying B206's in Ireland & occasionally UK, Ireland is stunning especially on the west coast