whadmin

9/29/17

So some of these people are hurting badly. I already found one local contractor who was so shocked by reading about case #3, that he said to me:

“I have young daughters myself. This is NOT right. It's getting late in the summer, but I would love to see those girls enjoy their promised pool for what's left of the warm weather. I will be more than willing to heavily discount our services to get the pool going. We normally do Air Conditioning work, so the rest of that mess is not our main line of work. However, let's go there, see what all is going on, and discuss with the homeowner…”

So we have a meeting set up with the hopeful homeowners for next Wednesday, October 4th.
Wait and see.

So if you are a CONTRACTOR, willing to pitch in with some help, contact me at: francismeyrick@yahoo.com

That same contractor just called me on the phone, confirming that they are keen to look at this project. This time he added:  “I would hate for people to start thinking that all contractors in Sabine County are heartless monsters. There are may good people. I think other people will jump in to help sort this out as well….”

Last edited by admin on September 29, 2017, 11:35 am

WWW.PREDATORBUILDER.COM

An exposure of ugliness and raw greed, confidence tricking and humbug,

and a hit list of those elected officials who actually care (and those who do NOT)  

  Click HERE to see PDF of Home Inspector's Report on Case #5 below    

copies of letters to and from State and Local Representatives

                                  (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)
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A recent article in the local newspaper:

CONTRACTORS WITHOUT ETHICS

Have you given money to a contractor and have nothing to show for your effort.
Unfortunately, there have been many victims of this abuse in Sabine County. Perhaps you think there is no recourse, perhaps you are embarrassed. Do not give up hope. There is help. Here are some contact numbers:
1. Attorney General office 1-800-621-0508
2. Legal Hotline 1-800-622-2520
3. Lone Star Legal 1-800-354-1889
4. Texas Veterans Legal Assistance 1-800-622-2520(use Veterans option)
5. Veterans Land board 1-800-252-8387
If you have a computer get on the Attorney Generals web site for recommendations to protect your self.
Here are some recommendations to help should you be looking to have work done.
1. Get several bids. Ask friends, family members at church who they used.  A strong note of caution here. The lowest bid might not be the best. You might get what you pay for.
2. Get a contract. Have it spell out EXACTLY what is to be done. Do not be quick to sign a contract. Be sure you understand all that is there. Have it specify when the work is to begin and when it will be finished.
3. Do your homework on materials. Understand the different grades.
4. If you have a place to store the materials order them yourself. Be on hand when the materials are delivered. A contractor will mark up the cost of materials 20 to 30 %. Some suppliers will offer discounts for Veterans, Seniors and such. Usually about 10%.
5. Try to be on hand every day. Inspect the work done and be sure it is done correctly. If there are any changes in construction after the contract is signed, Rest assured YOU will pay for the   changes.
6. DO NOT pay everything up front. Divide the job into stages. Be careful about signing any document that would allow the contractor to get your home should you not pay.
About me. My family had a home building business and we were the General Contractor. We had to put the bid together, order materials and coordinate the activities of the sub-Contractors. Let's say the house needed an Air Conditioner. We had to make sure the framing contractor had a proper mount for the A/C unit. That the electrician ran the proper wire for power, that the plumber had the correct drain lines run, and that everything met local specifications.

Thank You

Mike McCurley
Hemphill, Texas Resident
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Last edited by admin on September 29, 2017, 12:10 pm

      

WARNING: YOUR SANITY MAY BE AFFECTED, IF YOU ARE AN HONEST BUILDER
WARNING:  THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS IMAGES THAT ARE LIKELY TO MAKE YOU WEEP
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Click to see PDF

Last edited by admin on September 28, 2017, 12:14 pm

To cheat, steal, swindle and deceive…??  

WWW. PREDATOR BUILDER .COM

An exposure of ugliness and raw greed, confidence tricking and humbug,

and a hit list of those elected officials who actually care (and those who do NOT)  

  Click HERE to see PDF of Home Inspector's Report on Case #5 below    

Click HERE to see copies of letters to and from State and Local Representatives

Note: in order for a comment, post or article to constitute internet libel, the following elements must typically be met: The first thing you must prove is that the statement constitutes a false statement of fact. … Opinions are typically not actionable as defamation. The false statement of fact must harm your reputation.

Part 1:  Greetings & Hard Facts.   
(Documented facts. With a million photos, statements & the scars & blood pressure meds to prove it…)  

Do you have young children? Have you ever searched to see if there are any registered sex offenders in your area? The Internet is a powerful tool, and the results of a local search will probably shock you. The distressing scale of the sexual predator phenomenon is mind blowing. So is their cunning, their guile, and their sheer brass neck. So many of these people are incorrigible. It is frequently argued there is no cure for child sex offenders.

Well, have you ever used a builder??      OHMIGOD++++ CLICK HERE+++   

Do you plan on using one? Home improvements, anybody? Repairs? Did you ever stop to think that there are 'builders' out there, who are every bit as predatory, as cunning, and utterly ruthless as sexual deviants? Who will harm your home, your family, your finances, and your mental health? Maybe even your marriage? (seriously) Who will simply take your money, do the most awful, slap-dash, downright dangerous job, and walk away, grinning to themselves? Who may even just flat out laugh in your face? (see example quoted below) After they've got your money? Who employ under them workers (and so-called 'foremen') who faithfully/meekly carry out the boss's instructions, even when the intent (to defraud the home owner) is blatantly obvious?
Believe me, they are out there. Big Time. Hurting people. Badly. Often people who really can't afford it. I am doggedly on the trail of just one such utterly heartless and poker faced monster. Below follow four statements, from four different victims. Four different households, devastated by the same crooked couple. This pair operate in East Texas, but the same M.O. is being played out every day all over the USA. I urge you to take a moment, and read through these statements, and then ask yourself these questions:

1) how is it possible that such brazen predator-builders can go on, and on, and on, seemingly without any repercussions? For years? Simply moving from one victim to another? Merely occasionally moving to a different town? A different county?
A different State, if it eventually all gets too hot? Laughing all the way to the Bank? (or the secret hole in the ground into which they stuff their ill-gotten gains)
2) what is wrong with the Texas legal statutes on the books that smoothly facilitates their successful escape from consequences?
3)  how come Law Enforcement is so disinterested? (see below)
4) and what can YOU do to make sure you do not become another notch in the predator-builder's well worn chisel?

I will answer those questions later, as best I can. But first, let's jump right in to the four previously mentioned statements. I will give you the bare bones statement, without the many accompanying photos. But if you wish, you can click on the related underlined hyperlink, and go to whichever FULL statement that might interest you, and those FULL statements include the many photographs. You may rest assured I have personally visited each house, and personally witnessed the exploitation. I have also, in the sad and stressed voices, picked up clearly on the unhappiness and financial hardship this particular odious little man-wife team has inflicted. Smelling, as he usually does, of body odor and stale cabbage, with a faint whiff of urine, this particular predator-builder is a master at his art. He elevates duplicity to an Olympic Marathon of greed and pitiful incompetence. Although he is a  Gold Medal winner in Falsity every time, an astute observer will nonetheless quickly observe the hidden flaws in his well practiced methodology:

The sheer repetitive nature of the same old gags and confidence tricks.
Not to mention the recurrent colossal, pig ignorant, code violating, sloppy builder c*ck ups.
That could easily BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN. Sure, he may talk up a storm, and pretend to sell ice to the Eskimos. (Taking their money, but omitting the small inconvenience of actual delivery). He may swagger convincingly, and be cocky as can be. After all, I guess YEARS of getting away with it does that to you. He may be able to muster a wonderful act of 'scandalized outrage' at the mere HINT that HE is NOT exactly God's gift to carpentry and electricity, (and house leveling, and installing hardiboard, etc, etc) but he can't fail to leave a TRAIL of carnage a mile wide. He may huff and puff, but even in that dark and musty swamp that passes for his soul, and that of his fully complicit (laughing) wife-partner, there may yet today be a faint glimmer of realization. A distant bell… tolling.

(Duh…)

( “Oh, f**k. This is the age of the Internet, and maybe we messed with the wrong guy… “)

But, dear visitor, I will let YOU be the judge. The timing of this web page may be fortunate. The recent hurricane in Texas, causing widespread devastation, doubtless has a veritable plague of these locusts descending on hapless, shell shocked victims. Competing unfairly (undercutting) against the frustrated honest tradesmen.

So, without further ado, let's look at four statements from four victims.  Four heartaches. Same builder couple. For now, let's call this builder couple “Mr and Mrs Boris Porqchops”.

I started off feeling sorry for him, because he said he'd suffered nine strokes  (I've been through one). He also claimed (emotionally) that he was:
a decorated US Army Ranger…
who had HALO parachuted (Low Opening) down to 300 feet into Baghdad…
But fallen on hard times, he said 'the only way they could make it' was that his wife was claiming food stamps. As an ex Free Fall jumpmaster, and skydiving enthusiast, I asked him what canopy he used. I also expressed amazement his chute would open at 300 feet, travelling at terminal velocity of 176 feet per second. (I recall now that the conversation changed abruptly at that point…) I wonder if he would be prepared to show me his DD-214…   
Oddly, the LOCAL Sabine County Veteran Service Officer has no record of him being a Veteran…  
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Part 2  – 6 statements  (MORE TO COME)
6 disasters, 6 heartaches, 6 cases of financial loss  (1 builder)  

Case #1   

Mr and Mrs B and L    (Case Complaint filed with Texas Attorney General Office)

Date:  9/23/17   Address: provided    (East Texas)

Note: I have met this couple at their home  

We first contracted with Mr and Mrs Boris Porqchops early in May 2017.
We contracted for:
1)  The whole house to be re-wired, and a new breaker box to be installed outside
2)  run a wire out to an aerobic septic system
He quoted $3,900 to re-wire the house and another $350 for the aerobic septic line.
We paid him $4,250 up front. Which is what he demanded.

Results of Mr Boris' work:  

1)  re-wiring
This is still not even remotely done. And he has not been back for months. Not only that, but so much of it looks dangerous, and we are worried there may be an electrical fire in our house. And we are worried that the insurance would not cover such an event, because the work is obviously not up to code. The breaker box he had supplied is improperly secured. There are loose wires hanging all over the place. See attached photos. We have many photos showing this, for instance the yellow wires in the utility room simply hanging down. We are obviously not licensed electricians, so we can't describe technically what's wrong, but what we have seen and experienced does not inspire us with confidence. One day, Mr Porqchops was there working with his men, and he was telling one of them to wrap electrical tape around the whole length of wires in the attic. We don't really understand why that was being done. All of a sudden there was a loud and piercing scream from the attic, and a tremendous thud. Everybody came running. It turned out that Mr Porqchops had turned the mains electrical power back on, without checking first to see if it was safe, whilst one of his men had been busily engaged wrapping wires in electrical tape. The scream we heard was the worker in the attic being electrocuted, and the thud was his body flying across the attic. We were heavily concerned, but Mr Boris was quite unperturbed. He was more just irritated. He angrily tore strips off his worker. He was cross. This rather bizarre (to us) conversation then took place:

Mr Boris to his worker: “What is your problem?? You had plenty of time to finish that job! What have you been doing up there? I thought you had to have finished by now! “
Worker (white-faced): “Mister Boris, it's stiflingly hot up there in the attic. I was drenched in sweat. I had to keep wiping my hands off.    And the tape wasn't sticking very well to the wires.”   

Shortly after that, they decided to knock off for the day. The worker in the attic was nineteen years old. It was his first day of working for Mr Boris. It was also his last. He quit.
Whatever happened, after that short circuit, half the electrics in the house no longer worked. Both lights and sockets were affected in this way. There were only three or four electrical plugs working in the whole house. So we had to run electrical extension cords for close to two months. The hot water heater also no longer worked, so we had no hot water. So we had to go to our parents' house to take a bath.
On another occasion, a worker called P. (who was the 'foreman') was up in the attic, and he kept begging Boris to come up into the attic to check his work. He didn't seem to know what he was doing, but Boris refused to climb up into the attic to check his work.  
Boris laughingly said to us:

“I'm not going up there. It's crazy hot up there. “

Basically Mr Boris just sat on our sofa, drinking our soda, whilst his seemingly wholly untrained workers were trying desperately to actually do some kind of work.
We also get electric shocks off the washer. We complained about this, but nothing was done.
Our central air and heat wouldn't work after he re-wired the house. We had to pay an air conditioning company to come out and check what was going on. I was afraid that Mr Boris had fried our Air conditioning unit after the short circuit in the attic. But the A/C gentleman that came out told us that the reason the A/C didn't work was more simple.

Boris had wired it up for 110 volt, when it was in fact a 220 volt unit.

2) the aerobic septic system
The connection didn't work. We found out that the reason for this was simple: he had forgotten to connect the wire. Leaving the dangling loose wire HOT. WE had to go out and buy conduit and a breaker. And get somebody else to connect it all.
Mr B is disabled. He had a stroke, and this caused uncontrollable seizure disorder. He is obviously not able to work.
Mrs L is on disability, and is also unable to work.
The $4,250 paid to Mr and Mrs Boris Porqchops represents a HUGE amount of money for us, and this experience has been traumatic and massively worrying and stressful for both of us.  

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Case # 2  

Mr and Mrs D and K      (Case Complaint filed with Texas Attorney General Office)

Date:  9/23/17   Address: provided    (East Texas)

Note: I have met this couple at their home  

We contracted with Mr and Mrs Porqchops on or about early May 2017.
The work was meant to be as follows:

Main breaker box electrical work
Install patio doors  (doors provided by us)
Run an electrical wire/connection to power the aerobic septic system

He quoted $650 for the breaker box work. He wanted this money in advance, because he said he had to go buy the breaker box.
He quoted $450 to install the (provided) patio doors
He quoted $300 to hook up the aerobic system

The Results of Mr David Laird's handiwork:  

A) breaker box work

The box leaks. It gets water inside every time it rains. We complained repeatedly to Mr Boris. When he eventually answered our phone calls, to our very great surprise, he demanded an additional $200 to come and address this issue. This was despite the fact that HE had both provided the box, AND installed this box. We were not happy about this. The new box is now already starting to rust inside. The weather head appears to have been incorrectly installed. The rubber boot looks slapped up there, and is not properly installed.

B) install patio doors

We provided the patio doors. Somehow he managed to lose the hardware that closes the right hand door at the bottom. We don't really understand how this was possible, but he achieved this anyway. This meant that the doors did not close properly and securely at the bottom. This would be bad enough, but in addition to this, there is a huge gap at the top of the door, that large insects and small birds can navigate safely through. Rather than admit at the time that he had (allegedly) lost the provided metal fitting for the bottom of the patio door, he decided to fix the issue in this manner:  

he simply drove two (decidedly tired looking) rusty and used screws at a forty five degree angle through the top and bottom of one of the two patio doors, into the RH door frame.    

We guess he thought that would fix the problem (and hide the fact that he had lost the metal hardware).  It didn't.  Obviously we immediately noticed the minor fact that we were unable to open that RH patio door. It was after all permanently screwed shut. In addition to the fact that one of the two patio doors was now permanently shut, the doors were obviously hung crooked. They were so crooked in fact, that you wouldn't need a cat burglar to break into our house. Our pet cat quickly learned the trick to push on the door, and enter anytime she pleased.

New trick. One very smug cat.

Again, we complained to Mr Porqchops. We also pointed out that the facie board above the patio doors had been removed, but not replaced. And was missing. This was also letting in water and insects. And was big enough for a fully grown raccoon. Never mind just small birds. He did not bother to come out, but curtly told us that it was not his fault. He could not help us anymore, because 'the patio doors were warped'. Finish. End of conversation.
(We have never heard of STEEL patio doors 'warping'.)

During one frustrated call from Mrs N to Mr Porqchops, he replied to me in an irritated manner that he couldn't talk to me because he was 'taking care of business'.  We had to tell him firmly that this WAS business.

C) aerobic septic system

All he had to do was run one electrical wire out to a receptacle for the aerobic septic system. He seemed to have done this, but when the aerobic septic installer came out, he told us that the electrical connection was faulty. We called Mr Boris, but he said he was 'in a meeting'. This was despite the fact that we explained to him that the aerobic installer was at our house now, and obviously could not hang around indefinitely.  After that, he would simply not answer our phone calls any more. We tried multiple times. Then the septic tank installer called Mr Boris, and, strangely, Mr Boris answered the call on the first ring.     The installer told Mr Porqchops that he needed to come out, to fix the mess up. Mr Boris grudgingly said he would come out, and he did. He did something, but after he left, the septic installer told us the breaker still kept popping. This problem was eventually traced to the simple fact that Mr Boris had used the wrong type of breaker.  The breaker amperage was far too low. The septic installer later told us flat out that Mr Porqchops was not a licensed electrician, and didn't have the foggiest clue as to what he was supposed to be doing. When we confronted Mr Boris with this, he replied that he had 'obviously' been sold a faulty breaker when he originally bought it, and that is why it was happening. In blaming it on a bad breaker, he said he was not responsible in any way. Finish. End of conversation.

During all these many frustrating and tedious problems, I spoke numerous times with his wife, Mrs Porqchops who is actively involved in the running of the business. She made the remark one day that she was his 'office manager'. In one bizarre conversation, I called her in utter frustration once again, and when I told her that her husband was simply not returning my phone calls, she actually flat out laughed.

All in all, we paid Mr and Mrs Porqchops $1,200

Not only do we feel we totally wasted that money, we feel we would have been better off donating the Porqchops Family Foundation a tax deductible sum of $500 cash, on condition that they did NO work, and promised to stay OUT of our lives.

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Case #3                      Click here to meet with RESCUE BUILDER # 1    

Mr and Mrs S and G    (Case Complaint filed with Texas Attorney General Office)

Date:  9/20/17   Address: provided    (East Texas)   

Note: I have met this couple at their home  

We agreed our first contract with Mr and Mrs Porqchops on April 6, 2017
and a second contract on May 16th, 2017

1) contract dated April 6, 2017
Summary of work agreed:  
Remove all plumbing and replace same
Put a grey water trap in
Remove all carpet and overlay on floors and replace with laminate flooring except for bathroom which will be vinyl.
Also install a swimming pool, liner provided by us.
Price agreed: $8,500.

Monies paid up front: $4,250 (allegedly for material)  
Agreement for another $4,250 to be paid upon satisfactory completion.

An additional $1,000 was advanced up front for the following reason: Mr Boris told us a sad story, namely that Lowe's had overcharged his card by $4,000, and were being extremely difficult returning his funds. He asked therefore for another advance of $1,000. We agreed to pay him this, to help him out. So he could make payroll, he said.
This left us owing him only $3,250.

2) Contract #2 dated May 16th, 2017
Paid: $2,250 up front (allegedly for material)      (out of a total $4,650)

Summary of work agreed:  leveling house, replace all hollow core cinder blocks with solid cinder blocks, and where ever yellow pine wood was touching the ground, he was to replace same with solid cinder blocks.
The work was not even remotely completed to our satisfaction.
The first contract was supposed to be done in 14 days, which would have therefore completed on April 20th, 2017. The second contract was supposed to be completed in three days, which would have seen  completion on May 19th.
On contract # 1 failures to complete were as follows:
He has not completed ANY of the work to satisfaction. The hot and cold water supply was supposed to be replaced with all new PEX piping. This was only partially done, a small part, in a very sloppy and misleading manner. The new PEX piping is actually lying on the ground, and he did not remove the existing piping. He just left all the old piping. He cut the old piping in a few more easily visible places, interjected some PEX piping into the old piping lines, to make it look as if he had done the job. But this was obviously staged for our benefit.  

The grey water: he was supposed to replace all the system. And install a grey water trap. In fact, he didn't replace any of the existing grey water lines, he simply tied into them, and tied a trap into them. Which he had to come back and try and repair (it leaked all over the place) no less than SEVEN times. At the end of which multiple attempts, it still didn't work. The material that was used for the grey water lines was material I already had here. The only thing he bought for that was some fittings. I felt that this was also carefully “staged ” to make it look to me as if he had honored his contract.
When I say “all the system ” this includes the toilet system. He didn't do anything on it.  With the exception of a place right at the septic tank. Which still leaks.
As a result of his transparent attempts to make it look as if he had done the work as agreed, we are left with a far worse situation than what we started out with. Underneath the house is now permanently wet and smelly, and an unpleasant pungent odor creeps constantly into the house. It also leaks dirty water into my neighbor's yard. I cannot use my washer and dryer, because it overloads my system and causes leaks and blockages. I therefore have to drive into (local town) to do my washing at the washeteria. We now cannot flush toilet tissue down the toilet, because it also overloads the system. Instead, we have to collect the toilet tissue elsewhere. This is smelly, unpleasant and degrading.
I feel I have been maliciously taken advantage of. We spent a total of $5,250 in good faith up front on this contract #1. I feel we have been cynically defrauded due to non-performance of contractual obligations.
He told us he had already ordered the flooring a week after we gave him the money (around the 12th of April), and this is September 19th, and we have yet to see sight nor sound of this mythical flooring. He just simply took our money and ran.
For our contract #1 he had Mrs G go out and buy linoleum flooring for the bathroom, despite the fact that we had already given him $5,250 up front. The price of the linoleum was $227.
He has never even remotely started the pool assembly, which was a reward for my girls, to be used this last summer, in recognition of their good grades. We are bitterly disappointed with this failure, as we have broken the hearts of our little girls.
This we are told constitutes 'theft by contract'.  And crosses the line from civil to criminal.  

Contract # 2 was for house levelling.  
We paid $2,250. He allegedly purchased 120 foot of 4 by 6 beams and allegedly 65 solid cinder blocks. He claimed the wooden beams underneath my house were cracked. At the time, we took his word for it.
He was also supposed to build a pad to support the safe. This was never done.
He only did a small fraction of the leveling work required. What he did was little more than a token effort. To our surprise, his daughter, E. Porqchops, turned up on our door step, asking for money. She had been sent in an attempt to collect full payment, i.e.$2,400.   What was even more strange was the fact that the entire crew were lined up behind her, obviously expecting to be paid by Miss Porqchops in turn. (From the beginning, we kept hearing grumbling from the workers that they had trouble getting paid).  We explained that the work was not even remotely completed to our satisfaction. It had barely even been started. We do not understand why he would send his daughter to attempt to collect.

What was wrong was just about everything, and we have many photos and even a video to prove our case. We still have yellowpine wood touching the ground. We still have hollow and cracked cinder blocks. And we still have a hopelessly un-level house.  Combined with his total failure as described above to address the grey water issue, and therefore the fact that the house underneath is wet and smelly, we now have cracked and hollow cinder blocks steadily sinking into the ground. Thus further aggravating the situation.
After Mr Porqchops' “intervention ” we are not only NOT better off than when we started. We are considerably WORSE off. (And considerably poorer).

We feel magnificently cheated and taken advantage of. When we first met Mr and Mrs Boris about three years ago, through our daughters playing basket ball, our girls spent time over there. They seemed at first a very nice couple. When Boris sadly told us he had been hurt with a $40,000 bad debt last year, we were anxious to help him with his business.  He is a real charmer, and he is perfectly capable of walking in here even today, with a big smile, inviting our girls over to spend time with his.   
We would appreciate something occurring, so he does not continue to prey on other people, including elderly and vulnerable folk. We have been hearing many stories about vulnerable and elderly people in the same boat.

Note: an attorney was consulted. The costs of litigation were estimated to run to many thousands, with an uncertain outcome of recovery, due to this builder having no significant visible assets. No action taken.

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Case #4   

Mr and Mrs K and T    (Case Complaint filed with Texas Attorney General Office)

Date:  9/23/17   Address: provided    (East Texas)

Note: I have met this couple at their home  

We contracted with Mr and Mrs Boris Porqchops in early June 2017, for the following work:

1.Connect an aerobic system to the septic tank
2.Hook in a breaker for the stove
3.Install a ceiling fan   (provided by us)
For this work, he quoted $350 for the septic tank
$100 labor for installing the breaker for the stove
He said he would throw the ceiling fan in for no charge.

He demanded to be paid up front, because he said he had to buy materials.

Results of Mr Porqchops' handiwork:  

A)  Ceiling fan:   the fan came with a detailed set of instructions, and a separate switch to allow it to have a variable speed. We have been given to understand this is quite a common feature, and is most widely used. Despite this fact, and the fact that electricians have since told us that this is a most common installation and should be easily done, to our surprise, Mr Boris did not know how to install this fan. As a result of this, the fan only runs at one speed. High speed. Flat out, to where the blast of air blows paper all over the place. We like to burn air wick candles for a nice smell, but in the hurricane force wind, they blow hopelessly out. The cat, wisely, refuses point blank to enter. To our amazement, Mr David laird, when we pointed this out, replied as follows:

“Oh, you don't need that feature…! ”  

What he had actually done, was to ignore the enclosed instructions, and discard the provided 'control box with speed control'. He had taken the simple, easy route, and simply wired the variable speed fan into an existing on/off switch.  So all you can do is switch the variable speed fan ON or OFF. Full bore or nothing. No apologies.  

B) The stove saga
Mrs T bought a stove off one of Mr Porqchop's employees, a Mr Jason. Mr Jason is actually his  foreman. We wanted this 220 volt stove installed. Mr Boris installed it with

a 220 volt breaker, attached to a 110 volt line.   

It worked after a fashion for five days. Then, on the morning of the sixth day, it died a spectacular death. We contacted Mr Boris and Mr Jason repeatedly, but they would not even answer our phone calls. So we now were faced with having wasted money buying the stove that had now become garbage, and wasted more money ($100) for a truly ludicrous piece of electrical non-wiring.
Mr K only can find 15 hours a week work at the Dollar store, for minimum wage, so this kind of loss hurt us badly.  He is bringing home about $100 a week. Mrs T stays home to look after our two small children aged two and four. So this has really set us back.

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So, you may wonder, how many more cases are there out there? Dozens? Hundreds, more like it. We can't list all the 'submissions' here on the opening page, (it would start becoming tedious almost) but we will organize an attached folder elsewhere in due course to list everybody, and we strongly encourage you to contact us. (francismeyrick@yahoo.com) (Don't get mad – get even). Moving along, in order to keep the narrative flowing, let's look at case #5. MY case. Which benefits from a detailed Home Inspector's Report. Yes, exact same builder as the four cases above.  Team Boris Porqchops, at your service. Kinda.    

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Case #5   

Kerrygold LLC    (Case Complaint filed with Texas Attorney General Office)

Date:  9/23/17   Address: provided    (East Texas)

Note: I know this guy – it's ME  

So my company has spent the best part of:   $30,000 …with this hombre, and what have we got for it? Answer: NOTHING++++  A job where EVERYTHING is so inadequately (not) done, or fraudulently and cynically  misrepresented as having been done, when it was NOT done, that I have been advised to DEMOLISH the house and start all over again. Literally every single thing he did was an encyclopedia on how to SWINDLE a customer. The art (?) of 'staging' things to where it LOOKS like it's done, when in fact, very little has been done. And that very little has been done BADLY. The motive is PURE FRAUD. The plot, well rehearsed over many a year, is to HIDE behind inadequate laws that PROTECT the bad guy. Once he can say that he “started” a project, he's (seemingly) home and dry. After that, a disinterested local Police Chief, and a lazy/insincere D/A official, are only too eager to effectively give the bad guy MAXIMUM protection, by refusing to even consider CRIMINAL misrepresentation. It's “CIVIL” so-called, and the stunned consumer is left with no recourse. He can go to an attorney, be quoted thousands of dollars, and realize he will pour MORE thousands of dollars down a dark, black hole. Not surprisingly, people give up. The bad guy, laughing all the way to a secret hole in the ground, or a musty mattress somewhere, learns from experience that he need only do a TOKEN effort. The consumer can cry and wail, complain and go mad, but the bad guy shrugs his shoulders. Mostly, after a few weeks (or a month or two), of angry attempted phone calls (which he ignores, see the above statements), he can relax. Home free.  It doesn't matter that the various jobs were presented as DONE, when they were NOT. It doesn't MATTER that the 1950's era electrical wiring was NOT replaced, as required. He can blatantly PATCH into the old wiring  (see my home inspector's report below), and he can BLATANTLY RISK a massive house fire (see my home inspector's report below), the fact is NOBODY CARES. It doesn't matter that he takes money for leveling a house, and then doesn't do it. NOBODY CARES. Except the defrauded home owner.

Oh, and the HONEST tradesmen… who see their HONEST bids massively UNDERCUT by CROOKS who have NO INTENTION of doing the job properly. Maybe you can read some of that frustration in this letter from such a builder, after he had inspected my house…

Owner, Poppy's Crew  

_______________________________________________________________________________________

If the last sentence recommending demolition, “and start from the ground all over again” (and kissing goodbye to $30,000) seems none too cheerful to you, wait until you read through the 47 PAGE HOME INSPECTOR's REPORT below. Now the real revelations jump out at you, and with a great number of really good quality photographs to support his writing, this home inspector (Mr Ben Higgs, 409-2232056) pulls no punches. It makes for fascinating and revealing reading. The question you can ask yourself after reading that report, dear reader, is this:

Did David and Brandy Laird, of 'ABC Homeworkz' innocently make a few slip ups? Minor stuff?
Nobody's perfect?  Or, on the contrary, did they cold-bloodedly set out to deceive,swindle, embezzle and defraud? Is there a PATTERN here? A bit of a RACKET?

Let's go through the Home Inspector's report below in detail, step by step…  It's going to take a while.  First, let's give you a link to the ENTIRE 47 PAGE Home Inspection Report, should you care to read through it. It was set up by my coder from a secure/trusted source. No virus worries.  Here you go:   Click to see PDF

______________________________________________________________________________________

10/3/17   But first, we move on with Case #6.  And I have now spoken or personally MET WITH  TWELVE different cases. Indeed, tomorrow I have an appointment with yet another victim of 'ABC Homeworkz', a couple in their seventies…

(to be continued…)
______________________________________________________________________________________

10/3/17   Case #6   

Kerrygold LLC    (Case Complaint filed with Texas Attorney General Office)

Date:  9/23/17   Address: provided    (East Texas)

Note: I know this guy – it's ME  

So I also own a duplex in Hemphill. Each apartment, as you would expect, has its own electric supply, and its own electric meter. Right? A few days ago, one of the two tenants moved out, giving me proper notice, fine fellow, and he then had the electric turned off to his apartment, apartment 'A'. Normal procedure, right? Not quite…

Got a phone call from the remaining tenant in apartment 'B'. Nice elderly gentleman, handicapped, pays his rent as reliable as Rosie O'Donnell making me mad, but he sounds puzzled. All of a sudden, he says, his living room lights don't work, nor his stove or microwave. His freezer comes on, his bedroom light comes on, but the bedroom sockets are dead. And he has to be real careful going to the bathroom, because the power is off there as well. No hot water of course. WTF…???  
It soon emerges that the 'electrician' who recently “re-wired” my duplex, HOPELESSLY F@#K'D UP the circuits. In fact, it's so messed up, we're having trouble even figuring out WHAT THE HELL he has DONE. All we can do to help our struggling tenant in Apartment 'B' is to pay to have the electric in APARTMENT 'A' TURNED BACK ON+++

And WHO, you may ask, is the (…. CENSORED……CLOWN….CENSORED…) who did this???

NEED YOU ASK…??????  

DAVID LAIRD/a.k.a. DAVID SELF/ a.k.a.DAVID CARTER… of ABC HOMEWORKZ+++++++  

Well, I guess we can always give him a call? I'm sure he'll resort to running, like he always does. Just an open question which way the fat little fellow will waddle…
__________________________________________________________________________________________

So, given the MULTIPLE cases described above, across MULTIPLE HOUSEHOLDS, of (errr….) MINOR TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES with ABC Homeworkz' electrical re-wiring services…
Question: what was it the Home Inspector said in his 47 page report (link above) about Mr Laird/Self/Carter's electrical wiring…??

Oh, yes. We remember. Here, on page number 38.

Page 38  (of 47) of the Home Inspector's Report   

QUOTE:

II. ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS
  A.  Service Entrance and Panels
Comments:  Service entrance conductors are copper Main disconnect is 200 amps.
The weather-head is unsecured,
None of the breakers are sized appropriately
(Several circuits have 30 Amp breakers running 14 Gage conductors) 14 AWG conductors (wires) should be run by 15 Amp breakers
Or the conductors run by the 30 Amp breakers should be 10 Ga.
One other circuit Has a 20 Amp breaker on a 14 Ga conductor.
This is still too large for the conductor.  12 Ga is required for 20 Amp service. Yet another circuit has a 60 amp breaker running a 12 Ga conductor A 6 Ga conductor is required for 60 Amp service.
These conditions are very dangerous.  The breakers are designed to shut off The power well before the wires in the walls get hot enough to cause a fire. I recommend having a licensed electrician look at this system and rework the panel.   (UNQUOTE)

What? The inspector must be mistaken. It can't be possible that Mr Laird/Self/Carter doesn't know his BREAKERS from his elbows? His WIRE GAGES from his knobbly knees…? You know, MINOR STUFF???  Having charged $3,900 to rewire my whole house, I'm now being told “NONE OF THE BREAKERS ARE SIZED APPROPRIATELY”?? And “THESE CONDITIONS ARE VERY DANGEROUS”??   We are in danger of the HOUSE BURNING DOWN????  

Well, that's what we are reading, folks.

Page 41 (of 47) of the Home Inspector's Report   

B. Branch Circuits, Connected Devices, and Fixtures
Type of Wiring: Copper non-metallic sheathed cable with elements of very old Knob and tube type
Conductors being used in the attic and walls.
Comments: Old wiring is being used in the attic and in the walls. This in combination with the mismatched breakers create a very dangerous condition.
The kitchen is required to have at least 2, 20 Amp circuits, and
Each bathroom, and the laundry room are required to have 1, 20 Amp circuit. The 14 Ga conductors are not adequate to support this. There are several rooms with no light switches, and no rooms with lights mounted.

You mean, you mean… 'ABC Home Destructionworkz' instead of replacing ALL the old 1950's wiring, merely took the easy route and half-ass PATCHED IN TO IT…?? Creating a “very dangerous condition” in the attic and the walls…?  Who in their right minds would PATCH IN to wiring that is 70 years old, when you HAVE BEEN PAID TO RE-WIRE THE WHOLE HOUSE…? Well, answer:  THIS guy.  

Nah. I hear you say. Nobody does that. You, Mister Francis, must be exaggerating.
Do you have PROOF?  Like, PHOTOS???

Yes I jolly well do. You want to see photos? Proof? Proof that this clown cut every corner available to man just to make a fast buck, and to HELL with the consequences for me, the home owner? Never mind some unfortunate tenant renting that house off me in good faith, fast asleep at night, and next thing the old 1950's wiring in the walls and attic decides to spontaneously COMBUST…?

Coming up… Watch this place.

(under construction)  (there's going to be more) (LOTS more) (with photos)   

Last edited by admin on November 20, 2017, 2:01 pm

“The past is the past ” “You cannot rewrite history. ” Valid points but you simply cannot ignore the past. You must accept the past before you can accept the ultimate will to change. Now nearing the rip age of thirty, I am finally coming to term with my long lasted 'growing up' phase. Mainly because of unhappiness with myself. My restlessness, lack of attention to detail, and general lack of patience has been the cause of impulsiveness.  An anxiety, sometimes settled but only temporary with human vices and substances.

The truth, when I fly I am settled and relaxed. A peace or a form of tranquility. A gratitude of “ahhhh I got to do that. ” A true gratitude, after 10 years to 1,000 hrs.

Living on a boat can be difficult mentally. The time afforded “can be a form of therapy ” as described by Moggy. A time to reflect, to think, to analyze, and FEEL. I had wrote something in the second month on contract in great anger, remorse, and with extreme cynicism. Emotions and lack of perspective or relativity. “Relativity, my friends ” as describe by my friend Mark.  
Everything we do is all relative to our own needs and wants compared to others. While this is an ever changing perspective. Essentially, “one man's trash is another man's treasure. ”  An interesting perspective but a crucial one when you or rather I found myself in. The blaming of others on my past problems. Do not get me wrong, some people are assholes and have complete selfish vendettas that are apparent and easy to see. Then those are the secret vampires, the one that influence you secretly to the better of themselves. Not to say that I have been a good or bad influencer or even a silver tongued devil myself at times but it depends on relativity.

So my relative goals, now are apparent and they have ways been to fly and see the world. Simple, life is simple. Do what you dream of, do what makes you happy.  Little did I realize that my own unhappiness was because of my own decisions, ultimately… I had much hate and anger, I had much I regreted …, it all happens for a reason. For me, getting wiser is learning from the past but by far the largest lesson is dealing with the relativity of others and simply interpreting the wants and needs of others. Then deciding whether or not their influence helps my simple goals in life.

People always say first impressions are lasting, I now think, every time you see someone, it is an opportunity to prove that first impression wrong. The past is indeed the past but not to be confused with ignoring it but learning from it. The most important thing is not what I have done in my life but what I am going to do tomorrow, the next week, and in my lifetime. So the future is the future, bring it on life!

“Huh, I wonder why I am the only helicopter flying? ” Was a brief thought I had right after take-off on the outskirts of a storm. We were fishing near the Papua New Guinea Western most coast near Wewok. About 10 RD boats, or rather all of the companies large Purse Seiners were hunting for tuna in a pack of boats. The weather was not good. Strong wind, grey skies, light drizzle, and a rather large cloud beginning at the surface extending to 20,000 ft or more was just East of our position.

Now when I had received the 'Chopper Standby' call. The area we were in seemed adequate and free of heavy precipitation. This was a particular concern to my mechanic and myself because the aircraft's blade tap had started to wear after 1 year aboard our fishing vessel.
We took off in the clear-ish area and searched for tuna in a triangular pattern from the boat. The boat changed course based on a recommendation of another fish master. I watched as another boat followed our boat enter the Eastern cloud. After about ¼ mile into the greyish color the boat disappeared. “I hope we are not expected to enter that thing… ” After one hour of searching for fish, the Korean Navigator gestures to go back to the boat.

In the helicopter I would typically follow the Garman G125H boat gps that is installed in the aircraft. It lays a line or track of where the helicopter took off and landed. I then would supper impose the direction the boat was heading during take-off. Then based on 14kts or the speed of the boat and the time of flight I could predict generally where the boat was. In this case the boat changed course and drove 10 miles into the dark grey cloud that began at the surface due to strong precipitation. The course change did not matter a whole lot since the navigator knew they changed to South West.

In excitement a radio transmission came in on the radio in Korean from our Fishmaster. The only words I could hear where “YellowFin. ” A prize worth catching or at least how it sounded on the radio. The navigator looks at the 604 and then point directly at the dark grey monstrosity to the east of the helicopter. “go back to ship, go go! ” I simply said no, it was interesting that the Korean Navigator thought it would be ok to fly into what looked like the evil gates of Moridor. The reception with the boat started to get very poor and the 604 lost the position of the boat. This was making the Korean very nervous because he was reliant on the 604. I simply knew in general where the boat was headed. They were headed on a South East direction and about 10 miles into the depth of the grey cloud in front of us.

I pointed about 5 miles to the south and the clouds looked like they had an opening where the precipitation and visibility would be adequate to safely get back to the boat. I gestured to the Navigator and we were off to the South Paralleling the precipitation from a safe distance. As we approached of what looked to be a clearing…Things began to change rapidly. The color darkened and precipitation began to get heavy. After about 30 seconds of heavy precipitation. I did a 180 degree turn and a low frequency vibration started and the cyclic had a slight oscillation in it. I sort of knew that it was the main rotorblade tap that was coming off. In the previous week the tail rotor blade tap came off on one of the blade causing a weight imbalance and an alarming tail rotor vibration. In this case the vibration was not nearly as pronounced because of the small change on a much larger surface. I could also hear a 'swoosh swoosh' Sound from the blades due to the flapping of loose tap. This lasted for less than a minute before I saw a piece of debri fly off the aircraft, then the sound stopped and the vibrations subsided to a minimal.  However, the Navigator was rather alarmed and screaming in Korean over the radio. He then pointed at the rough sea and said “landdingh? ”

I simply said “no, bring boat here! ”  We then flew about 3 miles West away from the emerging cloud. The cloud began to look truly alike the clouds to the Gates of Moridor in the Lord of the Rings; very dark, encompassing, and it appeared that this menacing cloud wanted to swallow us. Within a matter of minutes we had continued to retreat from this formidable enemy a few more miles Westward as it grew rapidly. After pacing around till the clock hit 1 hr and 10 minutes, we had received a radio message that the boat was headed for us and about 1 hr away. This time would be cutting it close. The storm had now pushed us back 20 miles from the take-off point. The distance and time brought cause for concern but was not an imminent danger at that point but an action needed to happen, especially because the boat would be traveling slower than expected in rough seas.
It was more than apparent that South and East were not viable directions to head. The general visibility of the safe haven area only had a visibility of 5 miles. I noticed that North and NorthEast appeared lighter in color. So I proceeded at 60 kts for two reasons; first if the weather decided to try to encroach on us we would not dive into the cloud and precipitation too fast as before putting us in Inadvertent Meteorological conditions The second reason was that speed is close to the lift over drag ratio or rather the speed you fly for maximum endurance -time aloft.-

After an additional 20 minutes of proceeding North, there appeared to be a light opening East. So we proceeded directly East and then finally picked up a 604 signal showing a directed track back to the boat of 080 degrees and 8 miles. The visibility was adequate, about 3 miles with a light drizzle. I could feel a strong wind from the South which meant the storm's center was shifting to the South and we should be in the clear back to the boat. The wind was a result of the pressure difference from the heaving precipitation to the South (Micro/Macro-burst). The weather seemed to stay relatively stable. At 2 hrs of flight time, we saw the boat, a nice relief. The Korean Navigator, this was his last flight with me and his last trip on the ship. We got full the next day and his contract was ending. So naturally, he pulled out the phone and we took a commemorative selfie!

If you notice in the photo, I look a little fatigued while Hwong Sin -Navigator- looks over joyous with the new gift of life! I took a 3 hour nap after this semi-stressful experience.
Fly safe!

Field Trip – Visiting a Field on a Trip to Do good in Papua New Guinea.

One day I was just meandering maybe scribbling up in the pilot house, on the helideck, when I received a visit from Jeffrey. Jeffrey 'The beast' is a PNG man on our boat that performs the most dangerous job on the boat. He is the assistance Skiff man. He is the individual that connects the net cables from the Skiff boat to the main boat. These cables can hold 100s of tons of force and pressure. So naturally great care and attention must be taken or a person can easily be cut in half.

Jeffrey's name is always repeated by the Fish Masters' as a sign of respect for his work ethic. Most workers get called by their job titles such as: 'skiff man,' or 'Chief Mate,' etc. etc..  But, every once in a while, a person's actual name will be used by the Koreans as a sign of respect. Everyone knows Jeffrey 'the Beast.'

So I was casual sitting in my adopted office on the boat and Jeffrey comes in. I invited him for a seat. He explains in detail his oldest son's dream to become a pilot. Maxwell, his son, a fifteen year old PNG boy that is two grades in school ahead of others his age, as proudly explained by his father.

Well I gladly told Jeffrey if his son wanted to go into a helicopter I could gladly accommodate in Madang, Papua New Guinea. I had thought of the time when I was 11 and my father had arranged with an EMS pilot to take me in an Astar around Lubbock, TX. It was quite the experience in my remembrance. I figured, in a way, it was my turn to pay it forward. Especially for my friend 'the beast.'

Now after 9 months away from Madang, PNG. We were set to arrive, and the plan for the intro flight was set for Maxwell's Graduation date, conveniently the day after we arrived. However, there was the Napoleon Syndrome emanating from the RD Company management (fishing company) that would have prevented the whole occurrence. To explain, previously 9 months before during the first visit my mechanic and I noticed two helipads at the Madang Resort. This seemed to be a miracle event considering the process involved to leave the Pilipino Prison camp/ RD Company Canary was arduous and time consuming. This short flight would involve a 5 minute flight and cross into the path of the runway of the Madang Regional Airport. So I contacted the airport tower on 118.1 and gained permission from the very nice ATC person. I then gained permission from the Madang Resort to land at their fine establishment. So then as a proper precaution I notified Tropic and RD company to go and land. I then received a page long email stated some absurd reasons I cannot go there. “Basically the Napoleon figure -Sir Raffety- in RD office just wanted to -Control- just because he could. ” So being proper and honest is NOT the way to go when dealing with Philippine management. Later finding out from other pilots, it is more logical and easier to just be 'hush hush. ”

So now, a preliminary plan was set, knowing the details of the prison camp they kept us at. This time I asked the Fishmaster to land at the Staff House as a normal occurrence to get to the shuttle faster by landing at the employee living quarters. The Fishmaster got instantly angry and said. “NO NO go to TOWN in HELIKPOTURR. ”  I then had to calm him down and explain, reluctantly he let us go. We landed at the Staff House and the PNG security, a nice man, that we had befriended came up and said, he had to check to make sure the helicopter was landing there. So at this point I knew we needed to be political and make some friends if we wanted to land at Alexishafen (Jeffrey's Village) for his son's very special day.
Alexishafen was on the other side of the Harbour, about 3 miles away from our boat position and around an embankment inland, which would disguise the helicopter if we landed.

THE PLAN

The thing is, Jeffrey and other PNG employees that are on the boats are moist likely related because their tribes or villages own the land where RD Canary is located. So all of the workers are their brotha's, Cousin's, etc. etc..  So the confidentiality of such a flight was easy to obtain because Jeffry was a 'connected' man. So we were set to land at the Staff House, pic up Jeffrey, and proceed accordingly to a soccer field in Alexishafen. The security guard 'his cousin' simply responded to the call and said yes, yes the helicopter is at the staff house.  So we then set off from there.

To avoid being seem we flew slightly above tree top level and followed the main road. “Jeffrey will we get in trouble? ” “MIKES these are my peoples, see they are waving. ” Flying at 50-60 ft people were running out of their huts and waving. We then searched the bay and Jeffrey was a bit confused where the soccer field was, being the dense jungle and his first time seeing his village from the air! We spotted the Soccer field, flew over the power lines conveniently surrounding the field and landed. Immediately 100 little kids started running towards the helicopter -blades turning.- I screamed at Jeffrey to get out and hold them ALL back until the blades stop!!! He did a good job.

When we had settled, and the helicopter blades came to a full stop the hoard of happy children approached and we took a magnificent picture of all the happy little people!

I then met Jeffrey's family and his two sons, very polite young men and incredibly shy. They took me to the ceremony area where they had just had graduation. A was a very pleasant village that was founded officially as a missionary after the WWII plagued a lot of ruin many years ago. Jeffrey took me to see the remnants of an old Sherman Tank.

He then took me to the graveyard and WWII memorial. A somber place with a calm and serene energy. It was interesting to see, both the German, Japanese, and Allied Soldiers were all honored in the memorial. A devastating war that plagued this region, like many of the South Pacific.

It was then time to depart and give Maxwell a belated birthday present. We started the helicopter with the onslaught of the entire village watching us. I then gave a short flight. I always check to see the comfort level of passengers and notably the smile on this young man's face was incredible.

We flew back to the ship and none was the wiser of the events that had partaken this wonderful afternoon. Well some knew, in fact almost all of the PNG workers at the RD fishing facility knew. I now had a silent smile and some sort of respect from all of the locale population. All of the workers never asked for permission slips from me to leave. If I needed a company vehicle to use… The result was “ok Mr. Mike ” then the wait would be ASAP instead of hours. Also in a strange sense, I felt more safe and protected in that area than ever before. It was gratified in a sense, that the people appreciated the courtesy, and I appreciated the smile and joy brought to the young man wishing to become a pilot.
ON THE BOAT.

Later on the boat as we departed Madang. Jeffrey came to me and thanked me again and said his wife and mother had cried. The last thing I stated I could try to help his son, there is a flight school in Texas that I have introduced the Chinese to. If something comes of the introductions I might be able to help with some SPONSORED flight time.

I hope this leads to a Happy ending for Maxwell, IF he studies…. Hopefully to be continued in good will, may God provide.

Last edited by mrocksma on March 22, 2017, 2:38 am

BeWARE OF THE FOAMER BONER

The flying is amazing, fun, and sometimes challenging in the Tuna fields! Making a landing to a moving rust bucket with 15 ft seas swells, as sea water crashes over the 40 ft high helideck, and ever so gently setting your choppa to a small helideck will give any pilot a sense of real accomplishment. On the particular Pilipino boat I am wisping off of in a helicopter, it is a mid-engine design that puts the massive exhaust stakes from the engines in a place which restricts 40% of the available space of the heli-deck. Upon landing the helicopter, about 7ft of space is provided between the exhaust stacks and the tail rotor of the H500 aircraft.

You must wonder, is this the most dangerous thing?   My reply is “Hell no, it is not ” And the very occurrence I am going to talk about I was warned about during my training. However, I got caught in the moment.

The hardest thing in the fishing ground flying is living by the montra of “No, really means no. ”  The Korean officers understand the word no but explaining 'why' is the challenging part. To an extent many of them have a fair amount of experience 'sitting' in a helicopter.  So naturally they know how to fly, right? Recently the Fishmaster -Captain- was insistent on continuing to fly on low fuel and he was 100% certain the bouncing gauge was faulty. He was quickly corrected as the low-fuel warning light began to flash 11 miles away from the boat.
This rather alarming low fuel situation in the middle of the Pacific Ocean started to occur well before this flight. At the butt crack of dawn the annoying loud speaker hanging above our beds belched in broken English “Choppppah Standby, Chopppah StandBY! ” A normal occurrence every morning to go search for school fish.

Normally, the flights go for about 2 hours right to the 20-45 minute fuel reserve depending on how the boat was filled (weather the boat as slanted during fillup). After about 25 minutes, we received a message to come back to the boat because the boat was nearing a school of fish they were going to cast the nets for and capture some fish “Set the net. ”  Shutting down on the heli-deck we were at 40 minutes total flight time. Usually, the procedure is to top off on fuel instantly upon landing. However, since we were about to set the net. The chances of doing fish herding were high. I got lucky, as in our Fishmaster likes to herd fish with a helicopter. Which can be risky but also it is incredibly fun!  Requiring a lot of hovering and low level flying. Sometimes the power requirement can be high, depending on the wind and the type of low level maneuvering.

I looked at the fuel, we were at 300 lbs. I told the mechanic to hold off on topping the aircraft up. The less the weight, the better. Especially since herding may take only 20-30 minutes. So a little less fuel and weight the better.
Sitting on the heli-deck, waiting to set and get the call. Waiting…waiting… and there's the fish! And there goes the fish… The boat sailed right by the school of fish. Followed by a “CHoppaah StandBY. ”  

“Ok, maybe we are herding, they are gonna turn the boat around ” I thought. So I started the aircraft. Instead of the radio operator, the Fishmaster appears on the helideck. “Oh, we must be searching for fish then. ” With no time left to top off the fuel tanks and at flight throttle already, we depart the helideck in search of that tuna gold.
So there are some general metrics used for safety when searching for fish. Typically we go no further than 60 miles per 1 hr of remaining fuel. Additionally, I thought this would not be a long flight. Typically due to back problems, the Fishmaster only flies an hour to an hour and half. Additionally, a triangle pattern away from the boat keeps the helicopter within 35 miles of the boat at the furthest traveling point -most of the time.-
“Ok, no problem, we do not need fuel ” I thought. Well, we departed straight south. At 30 miles on the gps, no turn…At 35 miles, no turn…At 40miles, no turn. “Shit ”   At 55 miles we circled another boat, a friend of the Fishmaster's boat. It was about 1 hr of flight time and we were headed back because I had motioned to the fuel gauge indicating 150lbs. Which would get us back right at the reserve time based on ground speed. Potentially, we had a small buffer with a prevailing wind from the south. This was verified watching our ground speed out to the destination and confirming it on the way back. So flying at an indicated speed of 75kts it was providing for 97 miles per hour on the boat gps that is installed aboard the aircraft. “Ok, no problem, at a lower power setting less fuel will be burned ” I thought.

The next portion of the returning flight was where I made a poor decision that can only best be described as   “a foamer boner. ” Two fully grown men got them in a helicopter at sea this day. Being on a tuna boat as a helicopter pilot is certainly fun flying but also the whole reason all 37 people on board a ship in the middle of the South Pacific  is because of the tuna. Our purpose is purely to capture, millions upon millions of dollars worth of the apparent cheap canned fish found in Walmart and every grocery store around the world.  After your first month on a ship, if you have not been captivated in the spirit of fish and finding fish, you should not be flying in this segment of the helicopter industry. It is like a community, at first you may not be captivated by the allure of finding this sea gold but surely if you like the crew, you will. Because they depend on you and each other as a team. The more you catch, the more money for everyone and the sooner you get to travel to a new adventurous port!  

So a foamer is when all of the fish in a school come to the surface in a circular motion in a feeding frenzy. As Moggy describes… “A magnificent view of one of great mother nature's spectacles. ”  So a “foamer boner ” is when you see one and it means money, port, and fish!!!
At this particular time, this foamer was next to a log, a large log. This is the #1 sighting for a good catch. I saw this out of the corner of my eye. I thought “Shit, that is a good catch, don't Mike, don't you f*&^king dare mention this to the Fishmaster.  Or else you will be persuaded to hook a satellite buoy with dangerously low fuel reserves 25 miles from the boat! ”

Without thinking, similar to the same lack of thinking that occurs with a normal boner at the sight of an extravagant women…  I said, “look ” pointing my finger at this nature's spectacle.  The Fishmaster leans over and jumps!  He gets on the radio and screams something in Korean for about 30 seconds straight… Then he says, “go, make hoveerr, buoy! BUOY! ”   
I point at the fuel gauge, and 20 mile distance on the boat gps. “No fuel. ” The fuel gauge was indicating below 100lbs maybe 90lbs or so.   The Fishmaster with an angry voice says “It is wong, wong it is! We have time. 2 hourahhhzz ”   Well I tried to explain that we did not fill up after the morning flight and the 1:30 minutes on the clock was in fact the equivalent of 2 hr t10 minutes combining the previous flights fuel  burn. The machine has a total flight time of 2 hours and 45 minutes pushing it to bone dry and depending on if the aircraft was filled on a level plain or not. So at this point we had maybe 30 minutes of fuel, and 20 miles away from the boat.

The fishmaster looked at me with an angry Korean face “kinda looks like the normal face, hard to tell the difference. ”  As I leveled out towards the boat he started screaming, and said “you set Buooooy!. ”    “Shit ”  I dropped the collective and swing into a spiral at the lowest power setting right above an autorotational glide. Planning the level and quick stop into the wind I pushing forward on the cyclic to level at 50ft above the ground -water- and 200feet in front of the log.  Leveling with 20 knots speed to keep the power setting as low as possible and a slight decent and deceleration into a hover.   “go, set the buoy Master! Faster master, faster master! ”  The 50 year old Korean set the buoy like a 19 year old man.
I instantly pulled to 40 psi, slowly climbed at 55kts. In the 500D, with the C20B the max continuous power is 83psi -depending on TOT-. Essentially, the power setting I was using was about half power.  I was able to get 400 feet per minute at the best rate of climb speed of 55kts. I chose to level at 700ft because in the event of a flame out due to fuel exhaustion this is an autorotation height which is used in training in many US flight schools and that I am familiar with and provides for some time.

Directed towards the boat at 75kts indicated, the gps with a tailwind indicated 98 miles per hour. “thank god for the tail wind ”  If these wind conditions were reverse in this situation, I am sure a landing at sea would have occurred by choice. Ok, so now we were headed back to the ship the needle was right above the red mark… “Gulp ” At the red mark approximately 37pounds remain of fuel. Which is 7 gallons or 15 minutes before a potential engine flameout.  On the clock we had now been on this flight for 1 hr 35 minutes…Which meant 2hrs and 15minutes used.

About 5 minutes later, we spotted the ship. “Ok, that's good, ship insight ”   So with the ship in sight about 11 miles (estimated away). Things were ok…Until about 1 minute after this thought of thinking things were ok, that lovely “low fuel ” warning panel started flashing.  The gauge was bouncing up to 37lbs and below.. “fawk fawk, fawking sh*t. ”  At 700 agl, I started a slight decent into a glide path towards the ship. Kept the power setting because any lower and the speed reduction compared to the fuel burned to keep the compressor N1 turbine spinning would have been negligible to the fuel consumption rate.  At a slight decent we were able to get a ground speed of 107 miles per hour on the gps. At 1000 ft away from the boat, managing a minor anxiety attack, and looking for places to land, it was time to transition into level flight. I had two concerns with the needle reading around ZERO gallons.. The first, slight turns or abrupt non-level movements could cause the fuel to slosh away from the fuel feeder and cause an engine flame out. The second concern was pulling excess power right before the helideck would exhaust the fuel.

A very slight leveling occurred reducing the speed and stopping the slight 300ft a minute decent. Within 100ft of the helideck a slight decent until over the heli-deck while matching the speed of the boat during the approach at very slight changes to avoid leaning the helicopter too far to the right side. Then a gentle set down. My hands and forehead had rolling sweat.  The Fishmaster nods his head “OHHHH nice lannndind ” and hops out of the aircraft without a care in the world and strolls down to the bridge like a giddy little kid.   
“Thank you little 8lb 6 oz baby jesuz! ”  As I rolled down the throttle the boat hit a swell up and then a swell down…on the way down the engine compressor made some sputtering noises and almost stalled….  The mechanic, Pato, comes running over and looks at the blinking light and fuel gauge “Oh Amigo! No Bueno! Ok, you alive! “

So never again have we ever decided to not fill “Hester ” the helicopter up again upon touching skids down. It is all about the fish, and the familiarities that the Fishmaster has are his certainties. In this case, the lack of my ability to communicate with broken English could have been the demise of Hester the helicopter, myself, and the fish master.. Lesson learned, do not change the system if you are not able to explain it… And of course “No, means no, even with a Foamer Boner! ”   

Note: the catch from that spotting resulted in 170 tons of fish in the high season market of $2800 per ton… So it resulted in roughly $476,000 USD…