Believe it or not, having fun WHILE providing for the family is possible, you should try it.
That's all for me and to get back on subject:
Yes I would do it all over again!

This is Bosher's contribution:

"....£250 per day is not that good for an IR rated twin pilot, you can get that flying shag jet rangers.

IR twin drivers should, and can get, £300- £350 per day. (well thats wot i get)

"...It's time some people stopped "doing it for the love of it" and let the pros earn some more money..."


Mmmmm?

Heliport, thanks for the email allerting me to this thread.... OK I know it was ages ago, but I'd just got in from the pub, and you know how it is.....

Apologies if I go over anything said before, but I have skipped through the whole thread in the last 15 minutes, and at my age, can't keep all that stuff in my head at once. Anyway, I've just got in from the pub again.

I went helicopter flying in the RN because that's what they did. I loved almost every minute of my career and looked forward to a second career in police flying. That turned out to be 1% unforgettable, fantastic flying and 99% staring at each other in the crew room, or hovering over a long cold crime scene. The slack time allowed study for the fixed wing licence, and simply because it was different, and a new challenge, that was next.

Someone had said that helicopter pilots will always work for a living, where planks just sit and bank the dosh.

Right to a degree. Freighters were a good intro, but the anti social hours were draining. Finally got into a proper airline and, to be frank, I enjoy the job. Doing anything right is an ongoing challenge.

Just now, I'm (courtesy of Osama) back in the right hand seat, and my take home pay is about £300 a month more than it was with the Navy in 1994. (A pay cut in real terms). But as someone else pointed out, money (beyond providing for family) isn't everything. (And ethereal is welcome to his Porsche. A bit of humility is worth ten of them).

Would I do it again? I'd love to do a bit of both. I don't need that bum clenching thrill of military flying any more, but just to hover again would be nice (tried it in the jet the other night and it didn't work:eek: )

It's horses for courses. We are all so lucky to make a living at what we love to do, and would (do) pay for if we weren't paid to do it.

So I guess I score for both sides, Heliport.

Now... If I could go back to bus driving.......

Jesus, is it really that bad!!!!!
 

Jesus, is it really that bad!!! I've just come from the wannabies forum and i feel like topping myself, all doom and gloom......Is this a fw thing or does it apply to GA.....i must admit that when i read the posts in here i always (well, nearly always) feel that i have learnt something new or have read some good for/against arguments etc etc and i myself have posted questions with regards to the state of the industry and have had some excellent replies. I think i've been given a fair and unbiased opinoun from others within this forum and feel fairly confident that although it will be extremely difficult, that there is a career in rotary aviation for me..

I appreciate that external facters play a major role in the industry; terrorism, war looming etc, but there seem's to be a real negative view towards the industry at present.

I dont know why im writing this, its not like im looking for a particular answer, i just wanted to say something!!!!

If you havn't all follen asleep by now, thanks for listening!!

Rotormad:(

Congrats on your decision. :) It's as bad as they say, and it's as good as they say. With a positive outlook, and quite a bit of persistance you will find your way into a seat. It won't be easy, far from it in actual fact, but anything worthwhile is never easy. Although the pay isn't the greatest, it can be highly rewarding and fun. Just remember that it will take persistance to get that first job, but if you keep smiling, and a positive attitude then you will eventually succeed.

Good luck !!

Cheers

Randy is right.

You have to love flying helicopters. You have to take the good with the bad. Every job comes with its share of bulls**t.

It won't make you rich but it is a very rewarding career.

You just have to love helicopters. Loving what you do is the most important part of any job. If the guys on this forum didn't love it..... they would be long gone.

That's a decision only you can make.

Cheers

very true
 

Agree with everything you stated XNR!

I'd like to add...... love what you do( flying helicopters) but don't let THEM take advantage of that!!!!

All the newbies or wannabies should be told this from the start.

D.K.

three ways to go!!
 

1/ You love helicopter flying, put up with all the bull **** in the industry!! not too much money to make especially when living in the UK. bite your teeth and have a rewarding career.

2/ After roughly five years in the industry or at the age of 35, which ever comes first, you will seek an Fixed wing Airline career.

3/ You have realised that an exit from the rotary wing world is too costly!! (assuming now you are at the top, and doing really well, i.e....Captain Offshore) NOW you become bitter and twisted!!!

The truth always hurts....

I jumped ship, some five years ago. Now very happy and coffee on the flight deck with a smile.

Flying is a unique occupation. You need to really like it, and has to be in your blood if you want to stay with it long-term. Someone once said, “we fly because it gives us that euphoric feeling.”

Perhaps now is the best time to train as the economy is slow (as in the U.S), this prepares you for the jobs once the economy gets better. Most people probably wait for a good economy to train in and once they are done with training we are back in a recession. Business cycles are here to stay so get use to it, use them to your advantage and focus on the long-term.

I would suggest that you put together a development plan for your training and initial flying jobs. The plan may have to be revised as time goes on and things change. You may need to position yourself for a job opening. In my case I started off in FW, became an instructor and worked for a year at a small airport flying single-engine Cessnas and Pipers. Wanting something bigger I went to a flight school as a student at a larger airport to fly several hours (about 10) building multi-engine time. The school was very professional, the air taxi department had light-twins and a couple of Lear Jets. It was actually owned by Kaman Aerospace and I did meet Charley Kaman one day, he did seem strange, but when you build your first helicopter in a garage you have to be strange. I acted professional and eventually got the nerve to ask for a flight instructing position. The boss said they did not have an open position but if I wanted we could go for an hour as a check flight. We went out and I showed him how I flew and instructed, when we landed he said he had an opening and I accepted. At that time many years ago I had about 400 hours TT, the air taxi department requirements were an ATP and 3000TT to be a captain on a Beech Baron and 5000TT for Lear Jet Captains. I instructed for about a year and a half and moved over to the air taxi department with about 1200 hours TT. I was a co-pilot on Lears for a year and then moved over to dedicated client service on an HS-125-700. About five or six guys were applying for the HS-125 co-pilot position but I was selected, I found out later that I had a good reputation on the Lears. Hard work and no whinning pays off. Not bad at age 24.

Later I got out of flying for a number of years and then discovered helicopters. What I like about helicopters is that it is raw flying, you don’t have your head buried in the cockpit looking at a flight director as was the case in the HS-125. The over thing I noticed in helicopters the people are real, in corporate jets there seems to be a few pompous and conceited people running around. My initial career goal was the almighty airlines but it seems like that job has changed where the pilots are more like computer programmers and system monitors.

By going to the larger airport as a student it got me some exposure to get noticed and get into the instructing position. The instruction position got me exposure for the air-taxi department. The Lear jet position got me the exposure for the HS-125 position. Being there in person I’m sure helped out because chief pilots usually have a stack of resumes 8 inches high at any given time, being there in person helps out.

Maybe down the road for your career you can attend, at your own expense a Super Puma GS and get some sim time at Bristow or Helicopter Services, this way you are at the facilities getting some exposure and you get to put it on your resume. If you do this and it’s a tossup between you and another chap who has not shown such initiative you can guess who gets the job. Another positive aspect is that you will have contact with crews and administration personal, perhaps in GS you will sit with company crews. You can notice how they act and talk, what their values are. Remember, offshore helicopters operators don’t really hire co-pilots, they are looking for Captain material, people that fit in.

I'm always amused when I hear helicopter pilots say something like: "Oh, go with choppers! Even though the pay sucks, the living conditions suck and the time you spend away from your family sucks, it's worth it!" Or alternatively, "...it's a very rewarding career." B0LL0CKS!

Question: How does one person know what will be "worth it" or "rewarding" for another person? Why make such statements? But we do. We try to tell other people how they'll feel if they just get their commercial helicopter rating and follow in our footsteps. Yeah, right. Maybe.

Actually, for the most part, I had to agree with ATPMBA's post. He's pretty good at hitting nails on the head and his advice on how to get a job is invaluable. In aviation, it's all about being in the right place at the right time and having enough spunk to ASK for a slot. You want to stay home and send out resumes? Fine, but don't expect to get a job (or at least, a very good one).

However, ATPMBA tipped everyone off as to how things really work in aviation. He was at that flight school getting some multi time when he asked about a position as an instructor. Er- I'll let him tell it: "The boss said they did not have an open position but if I wanted we could go for an hour as a check flight. We went out and I showed him how I flew and instructed, when we landed he said he had an opening..."

Lying bastards. Learn this early: they're all a bunch of lying bastards. "We don't have any openings...well...we miiiiiight if you take another hour of instruction with us..." Clever! But no worries, they probably won't lie to YOU after you get hired. Oh no. NO WAY! They have MUCH too much integrity for that <insert sarcastic chortle here>. :rolleyes:

Then I read this funny bit by ATPMBA: "The other thing I noticed in helicopters the people are real, in corporate jets there seems to be a few pompous and conceited people running around."

Oh man, I never laughed so hard in my life. Milk spewed out my nose and all over my keyboard. Hoo boy! Haven't been around helicopters much, have you old sport! Stick around awhile - you'll meet some egomaniacs that make the most pompous G-V captain seem like Gandhi. Helicopter people...real? Real uneducated, maybe. Not many MBA's among those at our end of the aviation spectrum. I'll probably think about that as I nod off to sleep tonight and the wife will wonder what I'm chuckling to myself about.

There is no predicting what will make someone happy. Back in the old days (yeah, I met Charlie Kaman too but I don't like to admit that I'm that old), I thought being a helicopter pilot was the ONLY thing that I'd ever really enjoy. But that was a self-imposed limitation. Now, looking back, I see that I could have been just as happy in the corporate fixed-wing or airline world. I just love to fly! Lucky for me, now I just do it when *I* want to :cool: And mate, that is what it's all about!

Oh dear we have got our knickers in a twist haven't we?
Pompous you do sound, arrogant you certainly are...
UNEDUCATED? How dare you. What the hell do you need an MBA for to fly a bloody helicopter?
I've known quite a few MBA's , Phd's etc who couldn't tie their own bloody shoe lace let alone fly an aircraft of any sort so SHUT UP! :mad:

Cyclic Rick:


Heh. Proves my point, eh what? It matters not what the mechanical abilities of PhD's are. They're beside the point - which was that many helicopter pilots take your exact view, to wit: "What the hell do you need an MBA for to fly a bloody helicopter?" High school to flight school. All together now (you all know the tune): "We don't need no education..." and most helicopter pilots don't have one. Look at the way most helo pilots write! There have been spell-checkers on the market for years now, but many of us "can't be bothered" using them. Pathetic.

"Pompous?" I've been called worse (by better men than you). Bob Suggs once called me a "pompous, arrogant bastard." I took it as a compliment. "Arrogant?" Never knew a helicopter pilot worth a sh*t who wasn't arrogant, as long as he could back it up with ability. "Knickers in a twist?" Nope, just many, many years (too many, probably) of watching helicopter pilots like yourself make utter fools of themselves trying to convince really educated people that they are too. We're not a highly educated mob. Get over it.

All we want is work
 

educated or not is not the point
experience is all you want !!!

all we want is work !
here I am on my 100 hour; a little after half way to the CPL still 50 to go .
don't get me wrong, I enjoy every minute of it (almost - except ...)

are we that dangerous when we are "young", just finish using our dippers (our flight ins. - that have to put out with all our ****) ?
is the only way is to spend more money be a dipper (flight instructor)?
or maybe cross the fingers and hope to win the lottery ?
or maybe change profession and work as a stripper (which is a problem since I will have to get more money for a gender change op) !!???
when you look backward where you dangerous after flight school?

I know that experience is a key thing in every thing in life, but doesn't the course give us that experience ?

Hmmm(spell checked)....

still think you are someone else PPF#1...

now who might it be;)

and why does the forum need it :confused:

unless.....you're a pigment of my constipation, er sorry, figment of my imagination:)

"Better men than me"?
"Making fools of themselves like you"?

Well you certainly seem to know alot about me, pray tell how and where from?

I'm intrigued

PPRUNE FAN#1
The late Bob Suggs must have been quite a guy. His observations on you seem to have been most perspicacious if the nature of your posts is anything to go by.
I do have a degree, but never found it to have any relevance to my career in aviation. Most of the really arrogant pilots I've met (whether fixed wing or rotary wing) have eventually met their come-uppance as a result of their arrogance.

Rotormad,

I've flown for quite a few employers over the years, some good and some bad. Reading through the fixed wing forums (or fora - for PPRUNE FAN#1 - either is correct, though the use of fora is rarer) it seems there is just the same mixture of good and bad employers in all branches of aviation. You should just try not to allow it to sour your enjoyment of flying. There are a lot of moaners in the world of flying, but some are just moaning about things under their control. It's no good going for a well paid job on the North Sea and then moaning that flying to oil rigs is boring. It's possible to go and work overseas and earn more money (albeit that some of the extra money may be due to having no liability for income tax - depending where you're from and whether you are able to establish non-residency). Sometimes we pilots are our own worst enemy. The salaries in the Middle East at the moment are very poor and a lot of helicopter pilots are leaving. However, there are always lots of their fellow pilots who are willing to work over their leave periods for extra money, thus removing any pressure from the employers to increase salaries.
Remember that a lot of fixed wing pilots also spend a lot of time away from their families. There are many helicopter jobs where you can be at home every night if you wish, and many of the overseas positions nowadays are on an equal time-on/time-off basis so the separation is not too bad and all the time off is quality time.
I still enjoy flying, I earn a reasonable salary, I have a nice house and I get a reasonable amount of time with my family. Yes, I'd like more of all of these, but there are few flying jobs that offer excellent salaries, lots of time at home, exciting flying and being based in safe, beautiful countries. All life is a compromise. If you can find somewhere that you don't have to compromise too much you'll have a satisfying (and sometimes enjoyable and/or fun) life as a helicopter pilot.

Perspi-whaaaat?
 

MamboBaas wrote:


The thing is, many helicopter pilots wear their lack of education like a badge of honour. It's like they're proud that they do this relatively complex task without having/needing the higher education to go along with it. They think that what they've learned on the street or in The School of Hard Knocks is sufficient and perhaps even comparable to the education received by what they derisively refer to as "college boys."

This is why many helicopter pilots are so myopic and narrow-minded. It's not that they're unintelligent, it's just that they wrongly think that because they've mastered a particular task that takes some unusual skill, it automatically imbues them with extraordinary deductive abilities, powers of reasoning, and comprehension. (And for those of you having trouble translating that paragraph, just read it thusly: "Helicopter pilots think that because they know how to fly, it makes them *smart*.")

Uh-huh.



If that totally unverifiable thought gives you comfort or some smug sense of satisfaction, I will not deny you that. You're entitled to your opinion, as I am to mine. Perhaps I will crash and burn spectacularly soon. Perhaps the next 10,000 hours will be as safe and accident-free as the last. Time will tell.

Side note to CyclicRick: When I said "helicopter pilots like yourself..." I was merely connecting you to other pilots on the assumption that you are one. I do not know if you have in fact made an utter fool of yourself yet, but it would not surprise me in the least.

Thanks Momba

That was a really good reply. I am absolutly determined to achieve my goals and i too have a degree and work as a project/marketing manager at present. I know that i will never be rich if i fly for a living, but money is something that has become less important to me over the last few years. If i stay where i am I would earn far more than i ever could as a pilot but i hate it, with a passion and all i really want to do is fly, i dont care where, who for or for how much i just want to fly. Sounds corny i know, but its the truth!!

Rotormad

do you enjoy your job?
 

is flying helicopters a good way to make a living or has it become just another day at the office?
do you chaps still get a twang of enjoyment when you lift into the air or would you rather be doing something else?
is it just a job or do you feel lucky to be paid to do what you do?

to many people it looks like an exciting career and i just wondered what you would all say the realities of it actually are (other than it seems you are lucky if you get a job at all!).

many thanks...

I think we all enjoy the flying aspect of our jobs , but unfortunatly there is alot of waiting about in fields/airports which can be very boaring. Beats working for a living though!:ok:

Usually, a great way to make a living.
I've flown professionally 20 of the last 35 years. There are times that I wish I was doing something else. Then I remember that when I was doing "something else," I always wished I was flying.

Beats working for a living? What?!
 

Of course we enjoy our jobs. I think it's safe to say that each and every one of us truly loves to fly or we wouldn't be doing this. After thirty years in this business and umpteen-thousand hours, I still get a big kick out of lifting up on that little lever next to my seat and seeing the world gradually drop away. It is a sublime pleasure, as fresh today as it ever was.

But make no mistake, this is just a job. J-O-B. It is a job that must be taken *very* seriously, and done with all due diligence or the penalty is death to you, your passengers and possibly people on the ground. We're not up there skylarking. The trouble is, when you look at the accident reports, it is painfully obvious that some pilots do not perceive commercial flying in this way. But flying is work...real, honest, legitimate work. Could it be that the "beats working for a living" attitude might be a factor in some accidents? I'm no psychologist, but I think so.

You'll often hear pilots say that flying "beats working for a living." That's the conscious thought. Sub-consciously, some of these pilots make a connection that since flying isn't "working for a living" then they're darn lucky to earn any money at all from it. Therefore, they are deathly afraid to:
1) Demand any more money for doing what we do; and
2) "Rock the boat" by voicing any criticism because it might cost them their job...which they were lucky to get in the first place.

You don't have to be Freud to figure that out.

The end result is that helicopter pilots have been compensated poorly over the years, and will probably continue to be for years to come. Or at least until we run out of pilots who will fly for free, which is not likely to ever happen as long as this activity is perceived as not "working for a living."

Is it all about money? Obviously not. But you have to have some dignity. If you work at a job in a field in which you are undervalued and undercompensated, resentment WILL creep in sooner or later. ...Unless you are one of those who think that since flying isn't "work" then we don't deserve to be paid very much. In which case you can stand there and cast stones at those who disagree. You can say silly things like, "You're a pathetically, terminally unhappy person," and "If you're not happy flying helicopters, then quit and go do something else." Happy flying helicopters meaning, I guess, accepting whatever pay/benefits/working conditions are offered.

Personally, I love to fly. And at this stage of the game I make a pretty penny doing it. But there were many, many years when my pennies weren't so pretty. *THAT* is the reality of helicopter flying. I love a great many things in this life. And if I couldn't ever fly a helicopter again, I would go and do something else that I love. We humans like to pigeon-hole ourselves, thinking that what we do defines who we are. We think that without flying, life would not be worth living or some such nonsense. Just read between the lines in some of the posts on this very board to see what I mean. I have been as guilty of that as anyone. Fortunately, I overcame that particular neurosis without the need for therapy.

So, is flying a good way to make a living? Yes. And no. It all depends on you, your goals and dreams, and what you are willing to settle for. Life is all about compromises, is it not? Would I do it again the same way? Absolutely...not. If I had it to do all over again, I would quit at the 5,000 hour mark and go do something truly meaningful with my life. But our foresight is not nearly as acute as our hindsight. (Oh, and before anyone gets their knickers in a twist that flying helicopters isn't "meaningful," keep in mind that getting pleasure by pulling up and down on a little stick all your life isn't meaningful, it's masturbation plain and simple.)

Just remember this: If you are paid to fly, then flying is a JOB, period, end of sentence. If you get some pleasure out of your JOB, great. If you have the talent to be a helicopter pilot and that's the only thing that "makes you happy," wonderful.

Whatever you do, just don't sell yourself short.

Mmmh?

I do enjoy flying around for a living very much, but I know more pilots who are bored and would rather do something else than satisfied ones.

I don't think I want to be bouncing up and down all day in a helicopter for a a living when I am say 50-55 years old. (I'm 32).

Do I enjoy working very long shifts, sometimes for quite little job satisfaction? Making less money than younger fixed wing colleagues who work about half the hours that I do, some of whom I know failed rotary training and would faint at the thought of having to do what we do? Walking past the row of shiny new plank wing pilots' cars to get to my own 11 year old car because it's all I can afford? Let me see.... :hmm:

Yes, I enjoy doing it to the best of my ability, knowing that we are doing a pretty good and safe job. I still try to do it that little bit better every day.

BUT! After 25 years or so of being shut in, shut out, shouted at, shot at, sat upon, and shat upon, if I never had to do it ever again I would just shrug my shoulders and find something else.

Maybe I would even just dust off that old FW commercial licence :E

Well, I must be one of the lucky pilots who has had job satisfaction in every job I have had and in every sphere of my work. The only time i found myself shat upon was instructing in a civil flying school - I left there and started my own school, and the satisfaction returned.

Now, after 34 years and 12,000 hrs since first solo, i still think flying is a real hoot, and i love to introduce new people to helicopters. They are the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

I didn't like the early starts of police work, and the constant strain of low-level powerline inspections would pall by the afternoon of the fourth day in the field, but now I am paid to be on standby in my house, 200m from the hangar holding the three toys. Just finished my first cappucino of the day, I love this job.:p

wanted to see it from the other end...
 

thanks for your replies guys - extremely interesting reading.

i asked the questions as i have the opportunity to pursue a career in the field and wondered whether the enthusiasm that exists in intial training dispurses (the novelty wears off) as your hours increase and it becomes "just a job".

basically i wondered if you thought it was worth all the money, exams and effort. did it turn out as you hoped? (only one way for me to find out!)

ultimately i guess i already knew what i have read here; that it is different for everyone, just wanted an insight...

ta, mpd

p.s. any more replies really appreciated.

Twenty years and counting and I don't regret a minute of it. I'll be one of those old guys that won't retire until they force me to. I love it so much; my wife says I get downright ornery if I don't get out flying on a regular basis.

Just don't let yourself get into a rut. If you don't like what you're doing, try a different aspect of the industry, it has a lot to offer. I used to love hanging my head out the door and slinging drills all over the hills, but the family-life/conditions made me move on. EMS was alot of fun, I liked the professionalism and excitement, and the schedule and homelife is much, much better, but I found the odd taste of actual IFR just wetted my appetite for more, so now I'm flogging heavies in the clag all day, yet home everynight, and making good coin to boot. If traveling is your thing, I doubt there are people that have seen more than guys touring offshore. It’s a great life, but you may have to work abit to make it fun. Life's too short to be miserable!

For me, it's not a job...it's my life , I think I would die of sorrow if I had to do a "real" job for a living now,
My only concern is the age of 60 limitation...I still have 13 years to go and I am desperatly trying to become "RPM saturated" in flying more and more and go sailing instead.
But I know that when the time of my last rotor brake will come I shall not be cured, maybe microlights...
Anyway, I am already aware I had been lucky.

Tis the pity that the most enjoyable of the flying I have done....Bush Flying is seasonal and not year around. If I could just find a way to do it year around. Bounding around Alaska in a Hughes 500, slinging core drills, hauling geologists to their traverse routes, fishing everyday......was fun.

PPF *1
Don't get me wrong , I take this job very seriously , Three engine failures a tail rotor control failure plus the fact I have lost five friends to aviation help me keep focusd .
what i meant when i said it beats working for a living was that i couldn't see myself getting up every morning in dread of the job waiting for me.
Just because i am working hard doesn't mean that i can't enjoy myself a little bit , does it?:\

I wholeheartedly back your opinion on people flying for free and it really gets my knickers in a twist when i hear of people flying for ten or twenty euros an hour when i am trying to explain to my boss that i am worth ten times that.
:{

Life is too short not to enjoy your job, any job.

Jim

As soon as I am 50, there or thereabouts, I shall release the squillions of equity in my house and retire to France, never to fly in a Helicopter again! Just another day in the office for me I'm afraid

You know, Letsbyavenue, I have seen more than one saying that and then come back, even after retirement.
Maybe for some of us flying is just the result of a choice between others but for the great majority it has been a long story lasting since childhood.
In both cases it seems there is often some sort of syndrom of "adiction" we are not even aware of, it's maybe a side effect of these big rotor blades that have kept turning over our heads for so long after all
:p

tell me more Letsby Avenue...
 

hi and thanks for your input.

i have a question:

has it always been another day at the office or has what initially attracted you to helicopters as a career gone?

cheers, mpd

Sorry for the delay – I’ve just realised that you were asking a question!

I’ve been flying for about 23 years which includes 18 years of military flying and I think it’s a case of seen it, done it! Believe me, nothing-quite compares with planning, briefing and flying as part of a 10 ship NVG sortie at 100 ft, 100 knots and 2 rotor spans, it’s kind of difficult to top that… Or as part of a helicopter display team for a season in the UK – Great fun! I fly for the Police now and life will be pretty sedentary for the near future..

Having said that, I have never regarded my job as normal and would rather retire than do anything else!
:cool:

Do you know what is bad about being a helicopter pilot? Nothing, absolutely nothing!

Helicopters are like crack cocaine--more addictive and far more expensive--but that is not a reason to consider ever doing anything else.

In all seriousness, few people get to live their dreams. My profession has provided me the ability to travel to places and see things very far off the beaten path. Few people who are not helicopter pilots can relate to my experiences because they are so unique. I can tell you story after story about people and places I have experienced and most would seem like fantasy. There are still places in the world that are so far removed from civilization that they remain virtually untouched unless you have a helicopter. The deep Amazon or Borneo jungles, high mountain regions of the Andes or Himalayas, the deserts of the middle east, northern Chile, and a million unnamed islands in the various seas and oceans. I have hunted with tribesmen in New Guinea, been asked to mate with the daughter of a Dyak headhunter in Borneo (I declined with humorous consequences), was nearly killed by a Dani tribesman in Irian Jaya, robbed in Bolivia, nearly froze to death in Finland, almost died in an earthquake in Turkey, flew with pink flamingos over the Abadan plains of Iran, have eaten Hagis (or however you spell it), war, the occasional life-saving and have experienced hundreds of other adventures. I have never envied anyone for few people could ever live the life I have lived. All of these things I experienced only because I am a helicopter pilot! That said, it is not for everybody.

Where does an alien go to register?
 

I’m not a pilot but the opportunity to be one was offered to me not one time but two. The first was a direct commission as a full Lieutenant in the USCG as a maintenance officer with the option of attending flight school. The second was a direct commission in the North Carolina Army National Guard as a maintenance officer on helicopters and a slot in flight school with an option to go into the US Army aviation program. It may sound foolish but I turned both opportunities down. However my professional life has not been dull. I was a techrep on helicopters for four years, I was a manager of product support on helicopters for three years and I worked in an engineering function on what at the time was state of the art. That included the Cheyenne, the Apache, the A-129, the EH-101 and the V-22. In the fixed wing arena I worked on the Panavia Tornado, the A-310, the FD-728, the Bombardier challenger 604, the Bombardier Regional Jet, the A340, the 767-400-ER, the F-16 and right now I am working on the engine upgrade for the Gulfstream G-IVX. On the non-aviation side I have worked on ballistic missiles, spacecraft, ships (two types) and heavy industrial equipment used to make medicines and animal feed. (The smells on this job were terrible).

My work has taken me to Iran (3 years), Germany (4 years), Italy (3+ years) and Holland (13 months) as well as to England, France and Yugoslavia.

The money is excellent and right now I sit at my computer at home doing my job.

:ok:

As I said, being a helicopter pilot is not for everybody. Some, like that grand old man Lu for instance, opt for a quieter, more sedate occupation.

I think that many helicopter pilots assume that any other job in any other field must necessarily be sheer torture. So they cling to flying for a living as a lifeline. And no matter how bad it is, it's still "better than working for a living."

I feel sorry for those who have no other apparent talent, drive or desire - for those who derive no other pleasure in life than from flying helicopters. Sad when you think about it. How empty and shallow their existence must be if their happiness is tied to the operation of one cantankerous machine. How miserable they must be when they're out of the cockpit, out of their element. How enjoyable it must be for others to be around them...not! Ironically, some wear this personality "quirk" as a badge of honour.

Yes, flying is great, wonderful, exquisite and all that. Yes yes, we love it more than life itself. Funny though, the rest of my family and nearly all of my friends lead perfectly happy, rewarding, fulfilled, content lives and...can you believe it?! they're not pilots! So ask yourself what you would do if you lost your medical tomorrow. Would you fall into a deep depression? Would it be the end of the world? Or would you pick yourself up, dust yourself off and go out there to find what ELSE life has to offer?