Category: Helicopters and Humans

With thanks to Jeff and his Great Grandpa. I hope I NEVER tick you guys off… Of Helicopters and Humans (10) Shillelaghs, hair-trigger tempers, and three… Greens? (Part 1) We little humans are all the product, or victims, to some degree, of factors not entirely under our control. We don’t get to choose our upbringing,…

Of Helicopters and Humans Part 9 Break day, the Real Laws of Physics, and the Poetry of belonging to the Lower Caste (written many years ago; any reference to the living, the dead, the demented, and the delusional, is entirely unintentional) It’s the morning of Break Day. Thank fu-fu-fu….. goodness. I get to go home…

“The good-looking guy is ME. C’est MOI. As for the ugly looking weirdo, with his arm around me… Some crazy old chopper jockey, I believe… “ Of Helicopters and Humans (8) The Sports Section It was just another routine helicopter flying day in the Gulf of Mexico. I had landed on a platform, and I…

Of Helicopters and Humans (7) The Road of Light 3/19/2010 I went to a funeral today. No, not a tragic, miserable, meaningless ritual. With grey faced folk, standing around, pretending so much they wished to be there. When they just really wanted it to be over… No, not like that at all. In a strange…

Of Helicopters and Humans (6) Homo Helicopterus Macho Maximus ( “Macho Man “) In the far, far future, in several thousand years’ time, (long after the Time of the Great Upheaval, the Intergalactic Phenomenon, and Madonna’s awful caterwauling), it might be interesting…. to be a fly on the wall (or a bed bug in somebody’s…

Of Helicopters and Humans (5) Up to your ass in Alligators (a true story) Helicopter pilots, apart from being lovable, cuddly, incredibly sexy and usually hopelessly impoverished, are also very curious people. They can’t help it. They’ve gotta touch it, try it, poke it, and see if it really DOES hurt when you stick your…

A really, really bad day… Of Helicopters and Humans Part 4: “A very nice lady, walking her dog on the beach. A very, very nice lady. “ The first time I heard this story, I thought it was a Gulf myth. I didn’t believe it. But then I saw the photographic evidence. It was kind…

Of Helicopters and Humans Part 3: “A Certain Rich Aroma “ I remember that African day well. Even down to tiny details. I remember walking out to the aircraft, my passenger in tow, across the grass. I remember it was warm, and sunny, and Africa was truly beautiful. The Black Angolan gentleman I was taking…

Of Helicopters and Humans 2. There ain’t nuthin’ like a good hammer (On the problems of ‘Remote Authority’ and the back-and-forth tussle with Anti-Authoritarian ‘Type A’ tendencies amongst SOB pilots. Helicopter operations frequently allow our PIC’s to develop partial or total disrespect for Head Office. The Boss may be hours, days, and hundreds of miles…

my faithful old ride ‘One-Four-Victor’, subsequently destroyed in a crash, that killed the pilot… Living in a cubicle We were flying along in a Bell helicopter, quite happily, enjoying the strange magic of the African coastline, with a pale blue wintry sky. Cirrus clouds were weaving their thin, ephemeral presence at some dizzy height above…