Mountain flying time...

There are several helo operators that offer training in the mountain
environment there in SoCal. Western Helicopters comes to mind near
Rialto. A couple hours dual in nearly any helicopter in the high
country will give you an insight into the do/don't of mtn flying. Major
difference is in the individual helicopter performance under a given
set of circumstances. I've flown in the Rockies, the Sierras, Cascades,
Andes, Drakensburg and Karoo (So Africa). They all have the same
problems when it comes to flying in the high country.
Ol S&B

Kevin
I, and many other pro pilots I have flown with into some sticky areas
often laughed and asked.."Is this a confined area?"..or "Is this what
is defined as a pinnacle approach/landing?"
We were going into areas that required the utmost of both the aircraft
and the pilot. And, having talked with many pilots who have never seen
such areas, and who were highly skilled pros in their own areas of
expertise, the common response was, "How in hell did you do that?" or,
"Man I'd never do that kind of schitt..."
It boils down to the eye of the beholder. When I landed in areas that I
had to do a slow pedal turn to see if I had clearance and then touch
down, and talk with pilots who required at least 100' clearance to even
consider a landing...it all is relative to either experience, or
company requirements. In my case, I have been flying the past 40 years
in areas that you either performed, or didn't.
Just about the time you think you have the answers, you get to fly with
someone who is doing stuff you never dreamed of possible! When I fly
with someone who has half my hours and can do things I never thought
of, I have to bow my head in admiration and respect. I never stop
learning.
Ol S&B

wrote in message
oups.com...
Just about the time you think you have the answers, you get to fly with
someone who is doing stuff you never dreamed of possible! When I fly
with someone who has half my hours and can do things I never thought
of, I have to bow my head in admiration and respect. I never stop
learning.
Ol S&B


And THAT is the key to becoming a first class pilot. I've met too many guys
through the years that thought their sh** didn't stink because they had some
multi thousands of hours under their belts. Just because someone doesn't
have as many hours in the air, doesn't mean they can't have experiences
beyond what the higher time pilot has. Maybe it's not likely, but as "Ol
S&B" pointed out, it's certainly possible and I think probably more likely
with rotorcraft than fixed wing.

The day you stop learning, is the day you start to die and I think that
applies to a lot more than just aviation!

JMO! :-)

Fly Safe,
Steve R.

Kevin
As an old IFR CFI, I always tell my students that at between the
50%-75% point in the IFR training, they will throw their hands in the
air and scream..."I can't take it anymore...This is too much for me.."
All the time I am laughing outloud and making sure they see me do it
while telling them.."I told you so.."
At some point, it suddenly falls into place and comes together. There
is a lot of info and skill involved in becoming an IFR pilot and its
pretty difficult to do it in a short period of time. The brain is
processing the info and is affected by outside influences like daily
life? So don't be disheartened and keep in mind what I said! And, if
you become a CFII, you'll do well to remember your own frustrations,
and what I said.
It is so sweet to grind around in the goo and when you pop out of the
crud with the centerline right in front of you and all is under control
while you maintain a Mr. Studly cool voice on the radio.... it just
plain feels good.
I think my first actual IFR approach in a helicopter was in 1974 going
into Durban So Africa and it was an NDB. When I popped out of the
bottom of the cloud deck the tower was amazed that it was a helicopter
and they said they had never seen it done before. That was in a 206B
flying for Astra Helicopters at Rand Airport. Pretty straighforward
approach.
As for mountain flying. SoCal has some pretty hostile terrain and few
ever think of it. If you were to check on the numbers of crashes on the
hills east of Brown Field...? Or in the big hills east of LA, or on
Saddleback in Orange County...etc. once you get above about 4500' you
are in serious mountainous terrain and CA is full of such terrain.
I based out of SNA for about 20 years and that was nearly 20 years
ago.. So I guess that makes me a dinosaur. Woahh...gg
Ol S&B

wrote:
At some point, it suddenly falls into place and comes together. There
is a lot of info and skill involved in becoming an IFR pilot and its
pretty difficult to do it in a short period of time. The brain is
processing the info and is affected by outside influences like daily
life?

Here is another pearl of wisdom to lighten things up a bit in IFR
training: Learning to talk on the radios during flight school is
like learning to talk to girls in highschool.

Everybody can relate to that, and if I could go back and do it all
over again, knowing what I know now...

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net wrote in
message ...
On 5 Apr 2005 09:16:59 -0700, wrote:

I have to agree with you wholeheartedly about the "continuing
education" aspect of flying. Right now, I feel like I've taken 3
stpes back since I got my ticket. This instrument stuff is really
making me feel like I don't know a damned thing. My CFII says I'm
pretty smooth for so few hours under the hood, but it sure doesn't
look that way to me. Then again, when I was struggling with
approaches several months ago, I thought I'd never get 'em figured
out..



Out of curiosity, Kevin, did you get much hood time during your primary
training? The instructor I had when I got my fixed wing license was a big
believer in throwing in a couple of tenths of hood time almost every time we
flew but I don't remember you mentioning it all your writings. Maybe I
missed one?

Just curious.

Fly Safe,
Steve R.

Kevin
I envy your position and ability to do some good sim time on a regular?
basis. Nothing could be better. I teach my students first - how to fly
the aircraft so they can do it nearly in their sleep. THEN and ONLY
then do I start in with IFR procedures and approaches. I believe if
they can't fly the machine without having to think about it, they sure
as hell aren't ready to confound the problems with the mental
gymnastics of a hard nosed approach to minimums. Then you can couple
that with the inevitable wind switch or a severe WX change that
requires you to suddenly switch to a different approach while you are
already geared for the one you are on and it requires you dig out the
proper approach chart (I still don't know where the term "Plate" ever
came from?), fly the machine, and follow directions all the while
trying to keep your Pax calm and not make the ice tinkle in their
glasses...YeeHawwww
Are we having fun yet? It'll work out and look at all the hair raising
fun you have to look forward to! ggg
I can still smile when I break out on an ILS and calmly ask, "Which
side of the line am I on?"
Smart assed Ol Shy & Bashful with well over 1200 hrs of actual IFR
logged and a lot of hood and sim time

Kevin
I like the heheh...as they say, if you can do what you say you can do
you ain't braggin...?
My X used to say I was guilty of boastful arrogance and perhaps she is
right? Hmmmm she never complained when I landed on the top of the truck
with inches of clearance for the skids and even took videos.
Ol S&B

The OTHER Kevin in San Diego wrote:
On 8 Apr 2005 06:04:43 -0700, wrote:

Kevin
I like the heheh...as they say, if you can do what you say you can
do
you ain't braggin...?

So you say. g

My X used to say I was guilty of boastful arrogance and perhaps she
is
right? Hmmmm she never complained when I landed on the top of the
truck
with inches of clearance for the skids and even took videos.
Ol S&B

ok, now you're braggin' again.. eheheh

(I wanna see the video)
Kevin
It's really no big deal when you are crop spraying with helicopters. We
use a truck for the loading platform/mixing rig and land crossways on
the top of the truck. Tell you what...you send me a pvt address and
I'll send you some pics. I can't imagine how many thousands of landings
I've done on top of a truck right up to a few weeks ago. It was parked
on top of a ridge on a logging road in SW Oregon. Probably 40 feet from
edge to edge? It was narrow enough that we had to find a "landing" to
get turned around with either the pickups or the loading rig. Wind gets
to blowing and it gets kind of interesting under those conditions.
Ol S&B

wrote:

It's really no big deal when you are crop spraying with helicopters. We
use a truck for the loading platform/mixing rig and land crossways on
the top of the truck.

Saw an interesting program the other night on plagues of grasshoppers
in Australia starting from the larvae stage to final days as adults.

They showed the lengths the government went through to try to control
these pests including massive aerial spraying programs mainly with
fixed wing. Interesting to see high wing Cessnas with spray booms doing
low level spraying.

Curious question Mr. Selway.... What type of helicopter were you using
to do the spraying and basically how long would a load last before you
had to refil.

I would presume that a safety feature of landing on a truck would be
that nobody on the ground would be in danger of being clipped by a
rotor, and the only people on the truck would be those directly needed
to refuel the helicopter and refil the hoppers.

If you feel up to describing a day in the life I'm sure the folks here
would be interested in reading about your adventures.

Last but not least if you would consider posting those pictures to
alt.binaries.pictures.aviation then we'd all get to have a peek.