| Los Angeles Trip (Trip to Robinson Helicopter Factory) |
.jpg) November 11 - 17, 2007
Since I've been back from the Marines, there has been a lot of pressure on me to get a civilian job. My mother has been pushing me to get a cubical job working for NSA or Booz-Allen Hamilton. Steve Helschien has been grooming me to work with him in the field of Digital Pulsewave Analysis. I, however, had other plans. I wanted to be a commercial helicopter pilot.
In order to get any sort of helicopter job flying Robinson helicopters, I needed to take the safety course. Unfortunately there is a nine-month wait list to get in. I was registered for a class in April, but I knew I couldn't go until April without employment, so I made a phone call to the factory and spoke with a very nice woman named Nancy. I explained to her my situation and she was happy to put me in a class only two weeks away. So I booked an airplane ticket and I flew to Los Angeles.
Read the whole story and see the photos.
(Posted: 20071206) |
| Alison and Rob's Excellent Adventure |
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Thursday, August 30, 2007
I had been dragging Alison to my flight lessons for four days and planned on dragging her three more. I knew I had to make it up to her, and tried to think of the most fun way to do it.
Read the whole story and see the photos.
(Posted: 20071104) |
| New York City Flight |
.JPG) Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Today I flew a photo flight to New York City.
Read the blog entry below and check out the photos and video.
(Posted: 2007/08/15) |
| Airplane Crash |
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Friday, May 4, 2007
Today I started my job as a commercial helicopter pilot. The job involves flying over the Chesapeake Bay, taking photos of boats. I work for a guy who owns his own Robinson R22 and sells the photos to the boat owners. After lunch, my boss told me that he would have to drop me off at Tipton Airport for about two hours while he picked up a photographer for another photo job.
Read the whole story.
(Posted: 2007/05/14) |
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| Class Trip to New York City |
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November 02, 2006
Everyone takes a high school trip to New York City. I don't know if it's something about the city, or its history, or the fact that some people believe that it's the pinnacle of the universe. My class trip today was a little bit different, however. For starters, there was only one student in the class - me. And I didn't ride up in a bus - it was a helicopter. I flew a helicopter from Frederick, MD to Lancaster, PA, to Princeton, NJ, and then to New York City. We flew around downtown Manhattan at around 700 ft. MSL. I got to fly over the Verrazzano Bridge, Yankee Stadium, Columbia University, right by Ground Zero, Ellis Island, and most importantly, over the Statue of Liberty (Fuck Yeah!) [Team America World Police reference].
Read the whole story and see the photo slide show.
(Posted: 11/02/2006) |
| Cross Country Flight to Bay Bridge |
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Tuesday, May 10, 2006
Tonight was my cross country flight to Bay Bridge.
View the flight path and read the blog entry.
Posted: 05/10/2006 |
| First Solo Flight |
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Tuesday, March 21, 2006
After two and a half months of flight school, I have finally started soloing. I had completed 30 hours of ground instruction and 36.3 hours of flight instruction when Mike gave me my solo endorsement. For the first solo exercise I simply practiced pickups and setdowns.
Read the whole story and watch the video footage.
Posted: 03/24/2006 |
| Flight School Blog |
As many of you already know, I am starting flight school on Monday, January 02, 2005. For many years now it has been my dream to be a pilot and now that I've finished school, I'm finally going to step up and get a pilot's license. I debated for a while as to whether I should choose fixed-wing (airplane) or rotary wing (helicopter), but I ultimately chose a helicopter because it allowed for greater job opportunity and a easier transition from helicopter to airplane than from airplane to helicopter.
I've decided to write a blog of my experiences in flight school. I know reading about it isn't as exciting as actually doing it, but perhaps it will give some people an idea of what flight school is like.
View the blog.
Posted: 01/03/2006 |
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