Category: Auto-biographical (tuna helicopters)

Where’s Bill A Pilots Tale Introduction: “Where’s Bill ” is an afterthought. When I started this book, I was going to write about my experiences as a pilot, in particular, a helicopter pilot. As such, I named the book “Rotor Trash, A pilot’s tale” but I could not seem to keep from writing about all…

The sun comes up around 5:30 and in spite of me trying to talk him out of it, my observer and I lurched off the deck about 6:00 am. I say, “Lurched” because Launched is just not sufficient to describe our departure. About this time I think to myself “Now you’ve done it! You have…

PART 3 “Moggy’s Tuna Manual ” “Handling your helicopter “ A good view of the right hand side tie-downs, and the wax I lavished on my baby Chapter 3-D TIE-DOWNS and BLADE SOCKS Typically,you will have four separate tie-downs to anchor your baby on the deck. Two at the front, one left, one right. Two…

PART 2 “Moggy’s Tuna Manual ” “Job offers and job duties “ Fish head soup… yup! Chapter 2-E Food, food, glorious food…..! (You want me to eat….THAT?????) Ha! Food, my friends, food. Let me say two things. 1) All the WILD stories you hear, the outrageous tales, the amazing horror stories, the un-be-liev-able stuff…. Very…

PART 2 “Moggy’s Tuna Manual ” “Job offers and job duties “ Taiwanese sailors at work moving fish; some of the most hard-working dudes you will ever meet Chapter 2 -D Other duties? Humping fish? Taking the watch? (You want me to do….WHAT?????) So there you are, young sailor, three days at sea, on your…

PART 2 “Moggy’s Tuna Manual ” “Job offers and job duties “ landing a Hughes 500 from the port side; notice the interesting ‘winglets’ on the end of the floats! Chapter 2 -C Your Job Offer: Your cabin and your roommate(s) (Cockroaches or Carpets?) Let’s face it, you’re young perhaps, anxious for your first job,…

Bell 47, a classic work horse PART 3 “Moggy’s Tuna Manual ” “Handling your helicopter “ Chapter 3-C TAKE-OFF You may hear it said that -where Tuna boats are concerned- there are more take-off accidents than landing accidents. If you include all the really unpleasant (and usually fatal) tie-down accidents (see next chapter), then I…

Chapter 2 -B Your Job Offer: PAY? HOW MUCH and WHEN? (Will you be an employee or a sub-contractor?) There are two different pay structures: 1) straight salary, and 2) pay per tonnage caught. Or a combination of both. 1) Straight salary is exactly that: $3,500 per month. Or $7,000 per month. If the ship…

Moggy’s Tuna Manual Ch.3-A Landing Video discussions There are some great tuna helicopter videos around, and I’m hoping people will send me many more links and photos, so I can include them here. For the purpose of discussion, a few things: 1) remember that the video often doesn’t tell us the whole story about the…

Landing on the Chi Tai 866, 30th January 1998 PART 3 “Moggy’s Tuna Manual ” “Handling your helicopter “ Chapter 3-B Wind, waves, and wild decks Few things can compare with this crazy dare; if you crave the ultimate trip go land, my friend, on a ship, on a wild and stormy deck rolling around…