"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 4 Mar 2008 21:14:11 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


So I started helicopter flight lessons. Always wanted to learn how to
fly a helicopter properly - I had some 'copter time, but nothing
formal.

Now I'm looking at buying a 'copter instead of a car. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-crY07TXhVI

Found a used one with really low hours.


An R22 is good, but an R44 is better. Make sure you investigate the status
of the rotors. There was a problem with some of the R22 composite rotors
that resulted in them being officially grounded until the rotors were
replaced. This was 2 or 3 years ago.

The guy we bought one of the Florida houses from had an R22 and he took me
up a few times. I didn't know it at the time, but he was still a student
pilot .... had not completed his flight school or received his ticket yet
and was not supposed to be carrying passengers .... but it was cool. His
R22 was grounded due to the rotor issue and he ended up selling it.

There was another very seasoned pilot that lived in the community that had
an R44 who also was a CFI. I took a few lessons with him, but I had a bit
of a hard time with the whole helicopter concept. He explained to me that
it is often somewhat difficult for someone who learned to fly fixed wing (I
had finished my private a couple of years earlier) to make the transition to
helicopters. I enjoyed flying in it though. We hired him for Eisboch
Jr's wedding. He and my older son (who was best man) made a grand and
surprise arrival at the wedding site in the R44 ..... swooping in at full
speed, 100 feet over the outdoor wedding party area, then pulling up
vertical and coming in for a landing sideways. I have a great video of it.

He also had me out over a cow pasture at 600 feet when I did my first
emergency "auto-rotation" landing. That's when I decided to stick with
fixed wing aircraft. Another time we flew down the ICW, about 5 feet
above the water, "attacking" a big sportsfish that was cruising along. The
look on the faces of the passengers in the cockpit of the boat as we came up
on them from the stern at 90 kts, then suddenly pulling up over them was
priceless. I had to go home and change my pants.

There's another famous poster here who flew with this guy in the R44. It's
a nice aircraft, as is the R22.

Good luck with the lessons and chopper purchase if you decide to go for it.
(Damn, now I have the itch to go rent a Cessna).

Eisboch