Clocking hours and sharing the good times

It's now been six months since I got my license and I have steadily been building my hours in the R44. It's been awesome; taking up friends and family to share the joy and show them the world from the unique view of a helicopter. In the previous post I had just been rated on the R44, and since then I have been building experience flying this machine, and flying with more than one passenger!

I started by taking up Steph and Ed, a couple of mates from the BoM for a scenic flight around the Perth city. I was glad to get this in before Ed choofed off to Sydney, bastard;)

My next flight was with my mates Pete and Max, also from work. We did a morning flight to Rotto (becoming a regular trip!) for a coffee and donut before returning around midday. The trendy vests we're wearing are not parachutes, they're life jackets! Just in case.

My folks then visited from Victoria and we did the same flight, out to Rotto for the day. It was a perfect Autumn day; sunny, low 30's and no sea breeze! We rode around the island and even got into the water for a bit.

The following week my six-month-pregnant sister visited. It was great seeing her glowing, looking beautiful and happy in this special moment in her life. Birchy and Nadine (more BoM mates!) were keen to go on a different flight than the others I'd done so we flew northeast to Northam for lunch (Est shotgunned front seat!). We flew over the forested area to the east of Perth, the Helena River Reservoir, and out over the farmlands towards the country town of Northam. We called the one taxi in town for a pub lunch before returning via Mount (pimple) Dale. There were some prescribed burns going on over the Hills on our return trip and we were able to fly beneath the smoke layer that these were producing, giving the sun a beautiful red glow. We were all fairly gobsmacked at the surreal scenery of flying over the forest, with a red sky above us and the Perth Metropolitan area on the horizon.

A good mate of mine from was visiting from Queensland. I went to Uni with Deano, through the met course and chased tornadoes in the USA with him back in 2013. He's by far the most passionate weather nut out there and always up for a good time. It was great being able to take him up and show him my new-found skills. My housemate, Callum, also tagged along for his second ride on Jonno airways.

Another Rotto trip was calling! I took a Catherine and Richard, a couple more friends from work and another mate, Will, who's been working in Kalgoorlie as a Geologist. Three meteorologists and a geologist made for a fairly nerdy day on the island! We also caught some footage on a GoPro that I'm hoping to upload soon...

And then just when I thought I couldn't fit another flight in, my housemate had some blow-ins from Scotland, Sarah and Steve, who had never visited Perth. I took them up for their first flight in a chopper and gave them the tour de Perth. A very lovely couple!

My maiden voyages as a commercial pilot

I know, I know: by definition maiden voyage is the first and only, allow me some creative license:) The hardest thing about finishing my pilots license has been the lack of flying thereafter. During my training I managed to spend more than what I'd saved, an easy thing to do in this game! Meanwhile work was gearing up for a very busy season, so it was time to shift my mindset and buckle down for the slog of summer. The busyness allowed me to pay off some of my debt, but the need to keep myself current kept me buzzing around the Perth skies on the infrequent occasion. Since finishing my license I have now taken up my old man and two good mates, all on separate flights. It turns out they all have something in common: it was their first flight in a chopper and I was their captain! :)

Dad's flight, as covered in the previous post, allowed him to witness the Perth city and Rottnest Island from the air as well as his son's newly acquired rotary flight skills. We stopped at Rotto for a cool beverage before tracking back over the turquoise blue waters off the Perth coast and onwards to Jandakot. It was a special moment and I think we both enjoyed the flight and all it represented.

The next flight I took up Callum, one of my meteorologist mates, on the "Freo and hills" adventure where we flew direct to the historic coastal town of Fremantle, south along the coast before taking an easterly track towards the Hills. Once over a beautifully blue reservoir surrounded by a forest of green we tracked back to the airport. It was a fairly warm day so we elected to fly with both doors off! Epic.

The third flight since I obtained my license I decided to just head to the skies by myself. It was the day after boxing day and I wanted to refresh my skills but also go up to just enjoy my newly acquired freedom in the skies, I hadn't done any solo flying since getting my license. I flew over Perth and then south along the coastline populated with beach-goers surviving the heat. It was a moment where I realised the paradigm shift that I found myself in. Whilst looking down at the people on the beach I thought "I used to be down there, looking up and wishing that was me just enjoying the view from the top of the world". It turns out I'd made it to where I wanted to be, a pretty good feeling considering the years of work and saving I'd put into it all.

The fourth flight was a flight to refresh my skills prior to beginning training in the bigger chopper, the R44, the following day. On this refresher flight, I took up another good mate of mine from BoM. Darryl trained me to become a meteorologist during my early days at Perth, and has been a rock of support throughout my time in Perth. We did the "tour of Perth city and Rotto", again with the doors off!

Meanwhile on my days off I had been preparing for my R44 endorsement. The Robinson 44 is the R22's bigger cousin and can carry four (pilot and three passengers), as opposed to the cosy two (pilot +1) that the R22 affords.

My first job in the industry will most likely be taking up tourists and the most likely machine will be in the (very common) R44, so getting rated on this machine was always part of the plan. It was the first time I'd flown with an instructor in three months so it took some time to get used to the "back seat pilot" again ;). Jumping from the 22 into the 44 came with a welcome increase in power and speed. The 44 cruises at about 100kts, whereas the 22 cruises around 80-85 knots. It can therefore travel further with full tanks, 200-250 nautical miles in the 44 compared with 150-200 nautical miles in the 22. The other main difference with the 44 is that, because the blades need to be bigger to support the increased weight, hydraulics are included into the controls. This is equivalent to having power steering in a car. Now if the hydraulics fail, I still need to be able to fly the machine so most of the "familiarisation training" included flying the machine with hydraulics off, a very weighty game (have your weetbix in the morning!). Otherwise, with the hydraulics on, the machine is very smooth to fly, and the one I trained in also had air-con! Luxury. After three flights with the instructor I got my endorsement (a little note in my license stating that I can now fly that type of aircraft). I then decided to fly a solo flight in the machine to Freo and back, 22 minutes from engine start to engine stop! It's now time to build my hours in the 44, taking up mates willing to pay for their seat :)