Sappy thread alert: Boyhood dream realized

Great story, can't wait to hear more. Hope you wore your best cologne.

 

Wooohoooo!!!! Pretty damned fun. I don't even know where to start.

I didn't crash, kill or endanger anyone, so that's a good thing.

We performed several maneuvers, the coolest of which was a simulated engine failure (think big ass roller coaster ride), traffic patterns (not as boring as you'd think flying in a square is), straight and level flight and the dreaded HOVERING.

I actually performed pretty darned well. Much better than I expected, though, as the helicopter is actually easier to fly than the simulators. I hovered without instructor assist for about a minute and a half -- that means me with all the controls at three feet (pretty big accomplishment, I thought). My stick buddy (no jokes, here) didn't get all the controls handed to him, and didn't get to hover. I felt pretty bad for him, and he beat himself up pretty hard over it.

On the simulated engine failures, the instructor simply turns the throttle down to idle and we coast toward the ground at about 1,400 feet per minute. That's pretty quick, considering we were flying at 1,000 feet and 90 knots when we enter the maneuver. Then, at just above 500 feet, the IP tells the student to recover power, and we turn the throttle back to 100 percent and increase the power to a climb. That procedure is building up to one called an autorotation -- during which we ride it all the way to the ground with no power. Pretty scary stuff. I'll probably hit that on Monday.

Wow. It was all a little too much to process. I only flew for just over an hour, but it felt like an eternity. It was VERY stressful, but I learned to relax toward the end. Pretty much what I expected it to be.

 

Although I'm an Army aviator, I'm not actually part of the Army's "aviation" branch (think infantry, armor, artillery, etc.). I belong to the Army Medical Department, and the only aircraft we fly in the MEDEVAC mission is the Black Hawk. So, it's Hawks for me.

If not the Black Hawk, I think I'd enjoy flying the Chinook. It's the largest, strongest, fastest helicopter we have.

 

I expect daily flight updates so I can vicariously fly with you.

 

Considering the engine in the TH-67 (Or Bell 206B Jet Ranger in the civilian world) only weighs about 158 pounds, we ain't totin' no missiles.

Fuck, with me, my stick buddy, the IP and a tank of gas, we were using about 90 percent of the available power just to fucking hover. It's so light and underpowered that it's almost unsafe because we operate so close to it's operational limits.

 

In my new helicopter lingo, "check."

 

You guy's would fly to Baghdad just to get a helicopter ride?

 

No cologne today. Just funk. Shit, it was hot. It was about 97 today, and it takes a while before we can get the one air conditioner vent positioned correctly.

 

Congrats, Three Bags. Very cool, and one hell of an accomplishment.

 

Yeah congrats. This is a dream of mine too. Except replace helicopter with Jessica Alba.

 

God-damn, that's cool.

My brother in the AF can't even give me something that cool. All he can tell me is who 'coined' him. (He works in intelligence, not anything awesome in the air like this.)

 

Way to go, 3BF. Excellent work. The board is honored to have you. Keep it flying.