New update! They pay me to fly a helicopter!

I seriously can not believe it either, but true enough I am an employed helicopter pilot. If you have been following my blog, I have to apologize for the lack of updates. The last 6 or so months have really required 100% of my attention and focus to get through. (No time to relax when you're doing your CFII rating in 2 months). But finally, I have a moment to breath, re-focus on the next goal and of course, update my blog.

 So last we left off, I believe I had just completed my Commercial rating. As fun and exciting as it was, there was little time to rest as I jumped right into my CFI training. CFI proved to be a bigger challenge than I had expected. Not only are you expected to know the material in a working manner, you now must know the material to a professional level, in order to teach it to a student in a manner that they can grasp.

The ground knowledge was fairly straight forward. My real challenge came with teaching flight maneuvers. It was hard for me to explain what I was doing with the helicopter and why. One area that I struggled with was removing abstractions from my language while instructing. For example, I would constantly refer to the LZ as "it". "It" is moving up the windscreen or "it" is moving down the windscreen. The lesson learned here is that just because "it" means a certain thing in your head, "it" may not mean that same thing to your student. Given the inherent danger in what we do, I am sure you can see that there is no room or time for that matter to play "guess what I really mean" with your student. 

Any how, after a very tense and rushed summer semester, I had completed my ratings up through certified flight instructor instrument. I have honestly never been more proud of an achievement (minus marrying my wife, which was an achievement... The girl wouldn't even have coffee with me at first!) So after hearing that my school may have some positions open for instructors, naturally I applied. As did the rest of my graduating class. So here are the numbers. 12 graduates, 12 applicants, 6 selected for interviews, 3 pilots hired. Fortunately, I was selected for hire, as were two of my close friends. Most interesting part about it is that the three of us who were hired, set next to each other and studied together for a year and a half. Yeah, interesting...

So as of now, I am doing a good deal of ground instruction including teaching the simulator class and doing extra tutoring for students that need it. I did not receive any flight students this semester (next semester I will) but to keep my flying, I am doing the majority of the maintenance flying for the school. We have a fairly large fleet and there is plenty of work. The best part about being so involved with maintenance flying is not only getting to really know the maintenance crew but getting an even better understanding of the machine that you strapped to your butt. Only one interesting moment so far. I precautionary landing due to an alternator light coupled with the strong smell of smoke in the cabin. Turned out to be just a bad alternator, but man... the things that rush through your head when you decide that "hey, this is a land immediately situation".... Where is the wind? Is that flat? Is it soft? If I have to auto, can  I plop it down with no ground run? Why is the maintenance guy riding with me so quiet...oh yeah, hes terrified.

The reassuring thing about being faced with an emergency is knowing how you will react. For me, my reaction was an immediate flood of information to my frontal cortex, recalling wind direction and speed from ATIS, emergency procedures, full down training, etc etc. The beauty of it is that in a helicopter there is really not enough time to get "emotional" for lack of a better word. You deal with the problem, get on the ground and deal with how it made you "feel" after you roll that throttle down.

Wow.... no real rhyme or reason to this post, I just wanted to bring things up to speed on whats going on. Stay tuned for more updates! Also look for videos soon. Just got a GoPro for some in flight footage! 

I'm a professional (kinda)

That's right, and I have the ratings to prove it. This past Thursday, I took and passed my commercial helicopter pilot check ride.The FAA says that I am now well enough equipped to place other peoples lives into my care, take them aloft, and be paid for it.  It is hard for me to believe that I have done this. In just over a year, I have learned an enormous amount of information and have slowly developed into a professional pilot.

Something you may not know is that this is my 3rd professional career. I spent 6 years in the U.S. Air force, then spent some time as a police officer in bay area of Northern California. While the military was always a stepping stone, I thought law enforcement would be my last career. Well fate usually has a different idea then the one you intended.  The winds shifted and I left law enforcement and spent the better part of three years trying to figure out what my "forever" plan was going to be. The thought of flying professionally had crossed my mind several times over those three years but for whatever reason, was not yet ready to commit to it. It made sense, most of the men in my family were and are pilots and I did have a desire to fly. I think a part of me was holding on to my last career in hopes of returning to it.

Well, the months went on and the economy continued to diminish. After hearing the same story from different departments who could not afford to hire due to the economic downturn, I decided I needed to re-train and sight my sights on a new trade. I met a guy who is now somewhat of my aviation mentor. My friend was a corporate pilot who flew helicopter and fixed wing planes for an operator out of Chino airport in Southern California. I was able to fly along on several helicopter and airplane flights and was hooked. One of the flights that really set the hook in me for the helicopter was a photo flight he did for a large electronics corporation. We did several flights over this corporations headquarters, flying sideways, at low speeds, with a camera sticking out of the side of the helicopter. It scared the pants of me and excited me beyond words all at the same time. From then on, I knew I had to fly and that I was going to do it in a helicopter.

Fast forward a couple years and here I am. Moved a state away, uprooted my family and put my hopes and determination in making this thing work. And as far as I can see, it is indeed working. I am moving along on track and am looking at my last semester of flight school with focus on learning how to teach the things that I have learned over the past year. At the end of the summer, if things progress accordingly I should be a certified flight instructor. I really cannot think of a more demanding and encompassing responsibility. This has been the most challenging and rewarding thing that I have ever undertaken in my professional life and I do not regret one second of it. I honestly can say, I would not have been able to do this without the never ending support of my wife, and the support that I have received from my school including my fellow students. It has been such a positive experience and everyone wants you to do well. There is nothing like walking in off the ramp after a check ride and giving a high five or pound to your instructors and friends because you passed the check ride. And likewise, it is just as exciting to see your friends succeed and pass their rides as well. It's just been a fantastic experience.