For you Medevac helicopter pilots I have a question.

MikeD said:
Me? Im just an average Joe.

:)
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??????

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SteveC said:
I would love to get helicopter qualified. Seriously.

I had always been under the assumption that it was not a quick transition and rather expensive undertaking. Just yesterday though I was talking to a dual qualed guy while sitting in Atlantic City, and now this conversation, both lead me to believe that doing so is in the realm of "doable". Do any of you guys know how much investment in time/money it would take to add the rating?
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I've always had an interest in helicopters and have wanted to learn how to fly them. Even more so when a friend took me for a ride in his Bell 47 (M.A.S.H. helicopter).

Last year I had an opportunity to buy a 2-seat Rotorway helicopter for $15k. Went and looked at it, but discovered that we'd have to buy new rotor blades, a windscreen, and some other various parts. We'd have the $15k and at least another $20k in it before it was ready to fly. Backed out of that one. I already had the Pitts project and a Mooney project sitting in the hangars. Didn't need another one.... Lol.


But in all honesty, when I do have more time and money, I'm seriously still looking at purchasing a Rotorway helicopter sometime in the future and learning how to fly it. Or maybe a Bell 47 helicopter if the price is right. You can pick up the Rotorway helicopters anywhere from the $15k project to the flying $35k piston to the $75k turbine conversion.

For the couple hundred bucks an hour it costs to rent a helicopter, you could just finance the $35k helicopter into payments and have a MUCH cheaper monthly payment and investment into getting your license and you could always resell it later and get most of that money back. Or you could just keep it and have a helicopter.... :)

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Okie_Pilot said:
But in all honesty, when I do have more time and money, I'm seriously still looking at purchasing a Rotorway helicopter sometime in the future and learning how to fly it. Or maybe a Bell 47 helicopter if the price is right. You can pick up the Rotorway helicopters anywhere from the $15k project to the flying $35k piston to the $75k turbine conversion.

For the couple hundred bucks an hour it costs to rent a helicopter, you could just finance the $35k helicopter into payments and have a MUCH cheaper monthly payment and investment into getting your license and you could always resell it later and get most of that money back. Or you could just keep it and have a helicopter.... :)
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Problem is, helicopters are NOT cheap to maintain. Nearly EVERYTHING on them is life limited in some way. The maintenance costs are pretty high compared to a fixed wing.
 
Okie_Pilot said:
For the couple hundred bucks an hour it costs to rent a helicopter, you could just finance the $35k helicopter into payments and have a MUCH cheaper monthly payment and investment into getting your license and you could always resell it later and get most of that money back. Or you could just keep it and have a helicopter.... :)

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Meh, Rotorway. Why waste that kind of money on that helicopter? Either get a Safari (replica Bell 47) or the Helicycle. I mean, who doesn't want their own personal turbine helicopter?

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Count me as one of those that would love to give those whirlybirds a ....whirl. The ol' wallet ain't what she used to be though and even though there's a local flight school that offers discovery flights, I can't even afford that!

Someday, though. Someday....
 
Bud01 said:
Okay so a little back drop to this. The state of Michigan has done away with the helmet law for motorcyclist. In my home town we already had an accident. they needed to immediately medevac the guy to the hospital because of his injuries. instead of transporting him less than a mile to the high school ball field they had the helicopter land in downtown. in the process the wake ripped off awnings from a couple of businesses. the picture it looks deceiving that there is plenty of room but it had to be tight. I was wondering what your thoughts are? would you put down in the middle of two story tall buildings to collect the victim or have him transported to a wide open ball field?

http://www.lenconnect.com/news/x1018072261/Car-hits-motorcycle-in-Tecumseh?photo=0
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The metrics are variable. I worked Medevac in civilian and tactical environments. We did everything we could to ensure the safety of the people and property around us, but the wake of a UH-60 Blackhawk isn't always easy to predict.

Once, on short final to a rooftop pad at a hospital, we noted that we were blowing around a large piece of ply wood in the alley at street level below us. The possibility of blowing the plywood sheet out into the sidewalk full of pedestrians was great, so we executed a Go Around. Fortunately, it was just a training op, so nobody suffered for our extra caution.

Other times, I had to talk the pilots in to incredibly confined locations just large enough to clear the main and tail rotor discs. We landed, secured the LZ, and collected our patients. We took off as vertically as we could and hauled to the hospital. The assessment of the LZ, like in the first scenario, was done entirely in real-time without outside assistance. That's how Medevac reacts to an unprepared LZ.

Ideally, somebody on-scene preps the LZ first and guides us in. Even then, we might reject it. Not everybody does the best job, despite their good intentions.

Unintentional collateral damage due to rotor wash does happen, on occasion. Or if you're in a porta-john, and you've said something particularly unsavory about a Dustoff crew. But I can neither confirm nor deny the actuality of that last part.
 
A Life Aloft said:
How difficult was it for you to transition from fixed wing to a helicopter? (I am assuming that's how this went)
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MikeD said:
Yes. Wasn't too difficult, just different. Although there are considerations that one takes for granted in fixed wing, which are critical in rotary wing, such as performance, power, winds/temps, etc. Most fixed wing don't have to worry about it in a general sense, but helicopters have to constantly consider these things, especially if doing things other than just flying point to point.
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Beyond the challenge of the hover, and having my IP constantly yell "Get you G++damn foot off of the pedals!!!" at cruise, the transition is not hard at all. Mastering various techniques and maneuvers is a different story.
 
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