Leaderboard

Hugh McRae Andrews 1961 - 2019 - On September 15th in a tragic house fire in DeSable, Prince Edward Island; Hughie was lost to his family and the helicopter community. He will be sadly and greatly missed by his wife and two daughters and all of those of us whom crossed his path in the world of helicopters. He was a unique member of the rotary wing varsity, a professional with a quick smile and joke to help lighten your day. RIP my friend.

My two cents... I've always been a mechanical guy which is why I wanted to fly helicopters in the first place. I got my A&P in order to get a flying job. Yes it lets out the secret of my age and county of origin...Being a mechanic did in fact get me my first pilot job. I was never hired as a pilot/mechanic. I was hired as a truck driver wannabe pilot. The company rightly believed that it was better to bring somebody up from the ground than have to unteach a lot of bad habits... But now I'm rambling...I strongly believe that a pilot mechanic is a conflict of interest. Whenever I have been pressured to do my own inspections, I refused. I fly and look at it every day. Once or twice a month it's not too much to ask to have another set of eyes on it. It's nice to be able to change a starter or check a chip plug myself, but in the end I have one job. And finally, I think being a licenced mechanic makes me a better pilot.

I found a stack of old Okanagan newsletters in a filing cabinet... absolutely incredible to read them.. and the picturesI I got my first job in aviation in 1989 and reading these things makes me feel like a baby... I cannot tip my hat enough to the pioneers who actually managed to fly aircraft with climb rates of less than 500 FPM in the mountains! And then teach others how to do the same... amazing... Anyway, here are a few pics... there are hundreds but I limited it to people I actually know... Terry Dixon with hair is priceless! HV Collection_of_Pics_from_RotorTales.pdf OK Dec 81.pdf

So....I get asked by the boss...when do we have to leave so I can get to where I want to go go before it is dark...I let him know...when does he show up....I tell him it will be dark in 20 minutes...his reply...do you have a problem with that....my answer....I don't but you might in 30 minutes...fah!

Holy crap that is terrible. Ol' Eddy was one of those characters unique to our industry... the kind of guy who would have been home on a ship raiding Spanish galleons in the 1600's. He deserved much better and should have retired into a comfortable chair to reflect on all he'd accomplished, and not against small odds. RIP HV

Hey how about those cool old photos eh?

Most people don't care. It's just that a man who virtue signals that all people are racist if they don't vote liberal got caught out. I personally am loving watching him squirm. I guess he didn't get the memo that blackface hasn't been acceptably since the 70s. But then again this is a man who thinks the rules only apply to us little people.

Thats pretty much it for story time....I turned down a job this summer flying fishermen out of a lodge in BC for my buddy who works out of Vancouver Island...too much travelling and I didn't want to fly an Astar....oh well...I may find time to write up some more stuff...its been 45 years!

We would appreciate a picture of HV with hair...

When I get to Gilliam I pull the ignitor plug out which had quit a bit of carbon on it so I always carried a new plug...changed it and then pulled the fuel nozzle which didn't look to bad but I cleaned it for good luck. The job would have me shutting down many times out in the boonies and I didn't want to have this happen again as I wouldn't be dragging my tools around so we will see what happens. I called our hangar and a fcu was put on the next jet into Gilliam.

I was going to put this under whats up with P/E but I will start a new thread....After I had been on the job in Red Lake for 2 months I get a call and asked if I would do a 2 week job in Gilliam hauling guys around collecting sand samples looking for diamonds...this after asking for time off.. I get told there will be at least 4 hrs of flying a day...so I say ok and load up and head north for Gilliam. I also tell them that this ship will need a 100 hr inspection soon and the usual answer....you will have every evening to work on the ship...great....so I plan on stopping to do some brook trout fishing on the way....as I will be going right past my favourite fishing spot on Gods River that I always stop at going north or going south. Its out in the middle of no where. I land an have a good hour of fishing and then load up and hit the start button...roll the throttle...nothing...lovely.

Thanks for the input, everyone. I think I got my answer. Only two people here have actually experienced it, so it seems that it doesn't happen very often but when it does, it is definitely at seat sucking experience. In my case, I was taking off with turbulent winds and a load on the hook. So the setup was there: oge hover in a left crosswind, high power etc. But that's what the LZ dictated and I had taken twenty or thirty loads like that in the previous couple hours. Got to the top of the trees, dancing on the pedals and then everything smoothed out. Left pedal was on the stop and the the nose just kept coming around... It was like the tail rotor wasn't even there. Close quarters with trees, people on the ground and no option to reduce power... 270 degrees later, I cleared the trees and got recovered. The rotary gods were definitely with me that day. This was a uh1-H with a -13. It is also the only one we have that does not have a fast fun.... I believe that is the key.

So to clarify the above responses. YES, you can go by yourself and do 3 circuits to become legal (3 takeoffs and landings every 90 days to be current. after that you need to fly 5 take offs and landing within 6 months to maintain currency. The takeoffs and landings MUST include a full take off and landing, so a full circuit. In the US you can do that with Air taxi. Hope that helps.

Another good one...buddy boy gets me to fly him to a meeting...its getting very late and I have him informed that we have to leave now or we will be flying home in the dark... no problem he says ...I don't mind flying in the dark...ok...I am pissed. Its an hour and a half home over water in the dark...clear night or I would not have gone but I am pissed off! Well I will leave it there...we made it home!

Is this Forum not moderated anymore?

"Self described rotary god".....I like that. Doesn't actually make sense...but I'll take the title anyway.

what? the self described rotary god doesn't have the crystal ball answer?? you let us all down. #fail

You would be correct Matt...and my Triumph was brand new in 1973...thanks for the complement Kim!

You want us to all to just whip out our crystal balls to interpret your rather vague post?

I can’t say Ed and I saw eye to eye but I respected him very much. I had a chance to fly with him for my mountain course and it was amazing to watch him demonstrate an approach. They guy to make that JetBox dance! I’m stunned that this could happen. If he couldn’t get out of whatever happened, no one could have. my condolences to the E&B family.

Canadore Bush Camp, White Lake. 1984..........some good times had there as well.

There was 50 guys that started in 1972...not that many in the photo...Colen Sullivan was in this class...RIP.

One of the first I met in the industry and certainly one of the most memorable. He will be missed

I get our outbound eapis completed and give him a call...a very friendly female voice answers and I explain our situation...she gives buddy a shout and I can hear him yelling to tell those f___ing Canadians to get the F++k out of the USA. She says very politely....I Guess you heard that...which I reply...YES....we hit the sky for our hangar in Canada after giving Canpass a call....couldn't wait to get the he!! out of the States.

All you gentlemen with the smart-*** answers should try a few tours in the arctic on the Polar Shelf contract or or any other survey carried out in that area. In some some area's you have to wash the leading edge of the rotor blades on a daily basis, because you are losing lift due to black fly and mosquitoes contamination. Imagine dear pilot what an engineer has to go thru doing major maintenance on the helicopter, bin there done that. If more companies would investigate or look into the prospect of such an en-devour, you might find more engineers willing to do tours up there. Companies had better start looking after people or start training the investors (shareholders) in flying and maintenance or get out of the business totally.

If only life was that simple for everyone...

Couldn’t agree more.

In my opinion, besides getting the licence, you will need to get a job. Simply, you will more than likely land a first job flying a Robinson product, if you want to make it a lot easier on yourself then train on a R22. That Cabri is a total odd ball unicorn helicopter that relates to nothing you will get a job on, so don’t get “sold” on that. An R22 is probably the most common trainer ever built, , so opinions aside, it is what has trained most of us, and successfully. It Autos fine and is a good little machine to fly. As far as autos go, If you train in Alberta at 3500 feet or more, an auto is far more challenging. A peace of piss to do an auto at sea level compared to Calgary for example. Go from Calgary and do an auto on the coast and it’s like slow motion. This is a big deal as more than likely you will be working at higher altitudes most of your career. By training at an higher altitude, you will be far more prepared to work a helicopter with weight in it and degraded performance due to thinner air, and this could save your life one day. Go see Mountain View Flight School in, they will set you up. You will be trained by people who are not only instructors, but also people that actually work in the real world of helicopters in the summer. You will graduate being able to nail a full on auto in a R22 at 4000 feet. When you go to get your first job, probaly in an R44 you will feel right at home doing your first flight test. Hard indusrty try to crack, you might as well do it the easiest way....Like training in a R22 vs that unicorn Cabri.