Hi all, I too am sorry to see this newsgroup grind to a halt. I have
not posted in a long while so can take some of the blame! I love
helicopters and enjoy reading everyones posts. I have 8 hours flying
them and just love it when I do. My experience is only on vacations
or work trips. I call ahead to a school and set up an hour with an
instructor and have a blast. So far I have flown R22, 300CB and Turbo
Enstrom. I have been forunate to fly in cities all over such as San
Fransisco, Hillsbor,OR, Ft Lauderdale and Longmont, CO so far. All
the instructors have been great and let me try and hover at the end of
my flights. That was always fun and sometimes I actually held it for
a few seconds,lol It is one thing to read about all the interaction
of the flight controls, but to experience it is quite a lesson! I
have asked to be shown what it feels like to enter an auto and the
first time was a doozy of a feeling for sure. I live in Marion,IA and
we do have a small local school here with Enstroms, but it is pricey
and the scenery is not quite as exciting as elsewhere so that is why I
wait for trips. I would love to get my license someday and you never
know, but for now I will just get a small piece of my dream and that
is really neat.
I also try to get up to Oshkosh every couple of years. The local
airport has a daily shuttle to Fondulac(sp) and then hop a bus to the
airshow so I can spend a day up there and see everything. What a
wonderfull event that is! I spend a couple of hours up at the
ultralight and helicopter field and that is fun. I will post again and
do enjoy everything I have read and learned in this group. Jerry