As a non professional Pilot--The one thing that stands out is the social leveller that learning to Fly was---The Guys with the Expensive turbines did not look down at the students struggling to master the R22--while you do need money to learn to fly a heli the fact that somebody has money does not mean that they can fly one---Best flying experience was flying the R22 on a stunning day over the Peak District Dams that had been the practice targets for the Dambusters Ruhr Valley raid with the legend that is Mike Horrell---

Hi,

Many Tx´s, the calender arrived and found its place :ok:

http://www.polizeifliegerstaffel.de/...psKalender.jpg

Many happy landings!!!!

What else
 

I´ve done many different works before becoming a helicopter pilot and I am glad it happened. I simply followed my heart beat and my instinct to guide me through into this carrer. I always thought it was magic whenever a helicopter performed a hover flight, and I still do... I am glad I´ve changed my life and I am a helicopter pilot!
Best moment was when I entered that flight school for the very first time and signed for the pilot course. After that, great opportunities and experiences through out my flight hours... from my first solo, passing through fire fighting in Spain, teaching in Brazil, doing charters in Sao Paulo and now working in the offshore industry. Great moments! I am not very much into taking photos all the time but I try to keep it all in my head for when I grow older and look back...

Calendar
 

After 47 yrs and 15000+ hours I have finally hung my headset up. A calendar would be a great farewell present.

My calendar arrived Friday... looks great!!! Many thanks, Ned.. :D:ok:

ATTN: EVERYONE

Last shipment is going out at the end of next week. So you have until next Friday to make a post on here and more importantly send me a PM with your postal address to send it to. If you post on here and dont send me an address to send it to before the last shipment out then please dont get upset if you dont get one.

Thanks

Ned

Sign me up! The old one has run out!

Mine has arrived at work here in Scotland. Awesome as usual...Thanks Ned!

Calendar has arrived, thanks a lot, several helicopter pictures for each month....awesome!!

Returned today from holidays and found the calender in my letter box.

Great pictures, many thanks:D

Thracian

Watching the sun go down on Wiltshire from the door of a Cab at 100 feet. Chasing a stag up North, lifting a couple of very tired and wet people from a moor and watching them visibly relax and drift off to sleep.

Ned, after 50 years I think it goes without saying why, and many, many moments to remember.

Like a Kiwi photographer catching some hot moments in NSW fires, for one ;)

A public thanks for a great gift. Wonderful pictures nice gesture.

So far I am just a student not far from my CPL, but helicopters have always fascinated in many ways. The industry seems like a fun and challenging choice, where you learn something new every day!

One memory I'll never forget is the first time lifting up to hover above the ground, a feeling I still can't get used to!

From fire fighting, to HEMS, to law enforcement, to offshore oil & gas support, to sightseeing, to SAR....what can these machines not do? I fell into this business by accident. Studied avionics systems and planned on working a fixed-wing flight line somewhere.

Memory: 11 years old and my first ride in a helicopter was over Hoover Dam/Lake Meade. A Bell 206B and the pilot was a Vietnam veteran who flew Huey's in the war.

Doesn't sound as exciting as others experiences! But mine was the first time I picked up a R22 on my own for the first time! Loved it!

Why I fly and why I
 

Each flight holds a memory for me with so many favourite moments to choose from in what is such a short career tbh but the reason I fly helis can be put down to two people. 1. Noel Edmunds for getting his JR on bbc kids to as many times as he could; and 2, My father for saying one day while I was working a corporate 9-5 "I don't know why you don't do your flying - you've always wanted to"

Best moments well they're...

1. My first lesson in a 22 out of Southend and thinking "wow" whilst the instructor was doing pirouettes showing me as he said "what this baby can do"

2. Some 11 years after my first 2 lessons (I then stopped for financial reasons - a corp 9-5 can do that) and about 2 weeks into training start - going solo. I recall that "ohh feeling as I turned left base for the first time" and the radio conversation with exec tower when he asked me to use the parallel taxiway to avoid waiting for incoming traffic, "unable Helicopter 243EH" "But you're a helicopter" - "yes I know but I'm also a student on first solo and my instructor gave me specific instructions, so I'll wait", "ok but you're a helicopter", "Affirm, unable, will hold". I think the Tower guy liked me after that as he was very pleasant and accommodating over the next few months.

3. By far the best moment and one I waited to do for sometime after returning home from assignment, and that was to surprise my father after arranging to meet my parents for lunch at a local restaurant where I had landed behind, to have him come out after dinner and look at my new car in the back car park. My father is scared of heights but took left seat in the 44 for his first ever ride in a heli, which was a rapid London sightseeing trip, as dusk was approaching followed by a really confined landing back in the garden. He loved it and I felt fulfilled to give the guy that pushed me that experience.

I just love the smell of jet AI in the morning

My most memorable and longest flight was UK to Moscow went with the helicopter family

I received my calendar yesterday. Thank you very much Ned, it's awesome! :ok:

Got my calendar last night. Thank you very much!