mike hunt

I agree with 2tall. I did a bunch of research on the Evo as a replacement of my Gallet. After watching their promotion videos and speaking with Rob at Merrit in the US I went with another Gallet. I don't believe the Evo's are tested to the same standard and when I weighed the two, the Eva was actually a bit heavier than my Gallet. At the cost of helmets these days you want to make the right choice the first time.

I agree with most of these posts on the value of a mountain course, I have one myself and was very fortunate to have a company pay for it. That being said, with the current state of the industry if you are at a place now that isn't giving you one, they are probably still expecting you to go and do the work. Some tips I would offer would be having the sense and confidence to shut down the job early if you are feeling like the conditions are too much for you to handle at the time. Everyone faces this, there are no super-pilots who can do every job in horrible conditions. Try to get the wind figured out as quickly as possible but also have a good out if it isn't what you anticipated. Always leave an exit and have a plan in your mind before you need it. I usually try to load the disc early and go slow, this may give you a few more options. I think there are many people who could ad to this so I hope they speak up. Have fun, it is gratifying flying when it works.

We did read the book, and from what I remember that is what it told us to do. I do appreciate the tip for getting the engineers to regularly to check it anyways. The engineer on site left the chip in the logbook taped to the appropriate page for future reference.

I am not an engineer so don't quote me on this but I believe we did a thirty minute ground run after a chip light illumination this Summer. I think the engineer checked the plug again and I was given the green light to continue. Not comforting to hear of some of these failures but thanks for sharing.

Generally speaking if you need to slow down much below 60 knots to comfortably see, the visibility is probably 1/2 mile or less.

Flight following in the US is excellent, I find it worth it to stay a little higher and in contact with your applicable center than staying low to avoid airspace. They will also guide you around any MOA's or recently Notamed airspace. Good luck and have fun.

Wildcat's machines in Oz are there because of a need that the local operators cannot provide. No different that Erickson, Coulson or Carson (of past seasons). There are not a lot of medium (utility) or heavy helicopters in country, if there were they would be servicing the Nations fire needs instead. I know that Wildcat and Erickson both run mixed crews which they use on both ends.