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I knew it was meant to be...


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Okay, I'm sure you've all read this a million times, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to share my experience...

 

I'm a 20 year-old college student with simply no money. In this economy, I can't find any kind of job anywhere, and have ~$20,000 in student loans at the moment. Finishing up my degree in Political Economics. In a year, I will be putting in a packet for Warrant Officer Flight Training for the U.S. Army - I've wanted to fly for as long as I can remember (blah blah blah), and the Army is where I want to do it. Anyway, I decided it would be a good idea to take an intro flight before I start taking the plunge into preparing a packet and getting LASIK, etc. But I have no money, right?

 

So I emailed all of the local helicopter flight schools in the Seattle area, asking if any of them had a job around the schoolhouse where I could just sweep floors, handle phone calls, clean the helicopter, ANYTHING that would fund an intro flight (and possibly more). Well, I got a ton of emails back saying "because of the economy, we currently have no positions available" etc etc. Except for one. One CFI emailed me back (I won't say who and for what company, because I don't want people to bother him for the same deal), and said that while he has no paid positions available, he completely understands the situation I'm in, how he was in this same situation when he was my age, etc. He said he would give me an intro flight on the house. Obviously, I couldn't (and still can't) believe my luck. Sure gives truth to the saying "Where there's a will, there's a way," doesn't it?

 

Anyway, my intro flight was this morning. 10:00am, did a quick preflight (said he'd go into deeper detail later), showed me how to warm up the helicopter, and then we got light on the skids. First, you should know that I was inwardly VERY worried that I'd get air sickness. Not because I thought I would, but because if I did, it would sure be a pain and another hurdle to get over before I could live out my dream. It was a nagging concern in the back of my mind. But anyway, we got light on the skids, and all nervousness completely disappeared. At that second, I was absolutely CERTAIN that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. Then we went into a hover, and my cheeks still hurt from grinning so hard. Then we taxi'd to the runway and away we went.

 

Oh sweet Jesus, I've never done ANYTHING as cool as that. We took off from the local airfield, then went closer to the mountains and dropped down to ~30ft above a river and followed it for awhile, popping up and down over falling trees, flying OVER a diving bald eagle, and make a random landing on the riverbed because he wanted to adjust his pedals. At this point I thought I was going to die of sheer glee. I kept waiting for the point where I'd feel sick, but I never did. He was surprised too, since there was quite a crosswind and it was making us yaw quite a bit. So after the river, we headed north to downtown Seattle. Flew over his house (his wife waved from below! So cool!), then over the sports stadiums which were both busy, over some cruise ships at the waterfront, over the Seattle Center, and then looped around and headed back. There are no words to describe just how incredible that was. He let me work the cyclic and pedals quite a bit, actually. At first I was wobbly even though I felt I wasn't gripping the cyclic hard (I'd read a lot on here to know not to do that). My problem was that my movements were more jerky than smooth and I kept watching the speedometer since he wanted me to keep it at 65 knots. Then he instructed me to watch the blade tips and their relationship to the top of this one cloud, and to keep it there. That sure helped - I improved immediately and he said I was doing very very well. All of a sudden I was keeping the helicopter steady and at a nearly constant 65 knots, without even looking at the instrument panel that much. That was very exciting. Especially with the crosswind, as I felt I had to really apply a lot of left pressure on the cyclic (I say pressure because that's the way he described it - it's more pressure than really swinging the cyclic around).

 

Anyway, he took us back to the airport, back to the landing pad, and he had me use the pedals to keep it steady in the crosswind. Took me a bit, but I eventually improved. We landed, cleaned the helicopter, and went back to the hangar to schedule our next flight.

 

Overall, it was probably the best two hours of my life (we were in the air for exactly 1 hour 13 minutes), and I am so incredibly lucky and IMMENSELY thankful that I am doing it all for free. My message to those who don't think it's financially plausible - just ask, EVERYWHERE. It is highly unlikely you'll get the same deal but you never know. At the very least, you might get a discounted intro flight or even a job at a schoolhouse that is doing well in this economy.

 

Sorry for the essay guys, and thanks for reading. If there was ever the slightest doubt in my mind before that this was what I wanted to do, it is gone now forever. My path is clear.

- Lindsey

 

EDIT: Uh, I just realized I posted this in the wrong forum, I guess it should be in the flight training one. Can a moderator move it, please? Sorry about that, folks.

Edited by Lindsey
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I have a couple comments for ya.

 

1. You're damn lucky

2. Buy a logbook now !

3. Dont take this for granted, show up early and help out wherever you can for as long as it lasts.

4. If you're a female Lindsey (as opposed to a male) then google "skymuffin" and send Stacy an email. She can tell you all about being a woman Army pilot.

 

Good luck,

 

Goldy

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That's awesome you found something!! Based on your flight description I'm at that airport and on that river every week teaching, but we come from the up by the city I think we're flying different makes of helicopter ;) So happy for you!!

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I have a couple comments for ya.

 

1. You're damn lucky

2. Buy a logbook now !

3. Dont take this for granted, show up early and help out wherever you can for as long as it lasts.

4. If you're a female Lindsey (as opposed to a male) then google "skymuffin" and send Stacy an email. She can tell you all about being a woman Army pilot.

 

Good luck,

 

Goldy

 

 

Wow, thanks! Yes I will most definitely help out - I realize how incredibly lucky I am, and I want to make sure he thinks it's worth his time to help me out. He said I can pop by the hangar anytime I want to study ground stuff, work on the helicopter, or just hang out. I'm taking full advantage of that and will be scrubbing that thing (and the floors!) until they look brand damn new.

 

My CFI is checking to see how much the logbooks are that they sell, and I'll buy one next time I go up (probably Tuesday or Friday).

 

Yes, I'm female! :D Skymuffin, eh? I'll definitely shoot her an email! Thanks so much for that contact - I'm sure it will be very useful!

 

Here's a free ground lesson... it's an airspeed indicator, not a speedometer! :)

 

Congrats on the opportunity and welcome to the addiction.

 

Er...I knew that. :lol: I think that permagrin also make my mind blank because I stumbled at that and just said speedometer because I blanked. But yes, airspeed indicator!! :D Thanks!

 

That's awesome you found something!! Based on your flight description I'm at that airport and on that river every week teaching, but we come from the up by the city I think we're flying different makes of helicopter ;) So happy for you!!

 

Oh really? Very cool! I would tell you the airfield but like I said before, I don't want my CFI getting 10 emails from people asking why he can do what he's doing for me, but why not for them, you know? You flying a R-22? If so, think we saw you (or someone else flying it) today!

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Right on! I love the enthusiasm....go get a log book, medical and borrow some books. Shoot, you can have all of mine if you cant afford em, theyre just getting dusty on a shelf at home. Welcome to this very expensive(usually) addiction!

 

Arthur

 

Oh my gosh, if you're serious, I'd love to have your books! Yeah, my parents are not very happy about this decision of mine since it's so dangerous, so I'm basically going it alone ('cept for my awesome CFI!).

 

Can I PM you my address?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey, I just finished reading this post, finally.....just kidding, I always feel like mine are too long too!!!! AWESOME!!! My flight was only 30 minutes and I live in the mid-west (A.K.A. middle of no where), no scenery, but much better in a chopper!!! You really got lucky! I think the WOFT program would be great, I'm too old and blind, I tried. For the right candidates it seems to be a great program, as long as you don't get shot down (potentially good auto experience though). It was windy for my flight too, I think it was better because of it, that is part of being a pilot after all. " All good things come to those who wait, and work their asses off!" See you in the air!

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Hey, I just finished reading this post, finally.....just kidding, I always feel like mine are too long too!!!! AWESOME!!! My flight was only 30 minutes and I live in the mid-west (A.K.A. middle of no where), no scenery, but much better in a chopper!!! You really got lucky! I think the WOFT program would be great, I'm too old and blind, I tried. For the right candidates it seems to be a great program, as long as you don't get shot down (potentially good auto experience though). It was windy for my flight too, I think it was better because of it, that is part of being a pilot after all. " All good things come to those who wait, and work their asses off!" See you in the air!

 

Hey now, I'm blind too. :D Gotta get LASIK, somehow. Have to find the money. Then I'm good to go!

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Hey now, I'm blind too. :D Gotta get LASIK, somehow. Have to find the money. Then I'm good to go!

 

I spoke with aeromedical at Ft. Rucker back in May, and they (as well as other branches of the military) prefer PRK to LASIK. Just letting you know! Either can be disqualifying, but the number of LASIK candidates that get disqualified far outnumber the amount of PRK candidates.

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I spoke with aeromedical at Ft. Rucker back in May, and they (as well as other branches of the military) prefer PRK to LASIK. Just letting you know! Either can be disqualifying, but the number of LASIK candidates that get disqualified far outnumber the amount of PRK candidates.

 

Hmm, really? I know it used to be like that but I wasn't sure if it still was...I suppose I should talk to more people about it and even contact aeromedical at Rucker. Thanks! I was getting closer and closer to deciding on LASIK, so this gives me more to think about.

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I spoke with aeromedical at Ft. Rucker back in May, and they (as well as other branches of the military) prefer PRK to LASIK. Just letting you know! Either can be disqualifying, but the number of LASIK candidates that get disqualified far outnumber the amount of PRK candidates.

 

I have a friend in the Army that got LASIK by an Army Dr. and he's been having problems with fuzziness. I also know several people that have had LASIK done and are fine. He may have just been an unlucky patient.

Karl

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I have a friend in the Army that got LASIK by an Army Dr. and he's been having problems with fuzziness. I also know several people that have had LASIK done and are fine. He may have just been an unlucky patient.

Karl

 

Yeah, I'm thinking that even if the Army would pay for it (I really don't think they do for Civilian applicants), I'm going to pay for a civilian to do it anyway. Not that I don't trust Army docs, but I feel more comfortable having a civvie do it. Especially for something like this. I think they are better trained and more accountable.

 

Ugh. LASIK or PRK, LASIK or PRK. LASIK seems all around awesome, except for Army regs and the fact that it may present complications getting the Army to accept it. PRK seems like a much bigger hassle and more painful and a longer process to actually have good vision, but it seems like the Army prefers it. No pain, no gain, I guess?

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Yeah, I'm thinking that even if the Army would pay for it (I really don't think they do for Civilian applicants), I'm going to pay for a civilian to do it anyway. Not that I don't trust Army docs, but I feel more comfortable having a civvie do it. Especially for something like this. I think they are better trained and more accountable.

 

Ugh. LASIK or PRK, LASIK or PRK. LASIK seems all around awesome, except for Army regs and the fact that it may present complications getting the Army to accept it. PRK seems like a much bigger hassle and more painful and a longer process to actually have good vision, but it seems like the Army prefers it. No pain, no gain, I guess?

 

Don't know how blind you are or what the Army req's are but one of my good friends flies Helis for the Air Force and just wares glasses. he says it works fine.

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  • 1 month later...

An Update!

 

I'm just going to post a link to my blog since I'm too tired to copy/paste everything over here, but basically: 2.5 hour flight through the Cascade Mountains this past Wednesday!

 

http://autorotational.blogspot.com/

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An Update!

 

I'm just going to post a link to my blog since I'm too tired to copy/paste everything over here, but basically: 2.5 hour flight through the Cascade Mountains this past Wednesday!

 

http://autorotational.blogspot.com/

 

Great blog Lindsey.

 

I've flown that ship...

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  • 2 months later...

I am currently in the military. I've been contemplating becoming a warrant for a long time. I recently had the same question regarding lasik vs prk and flight schools. I was convinced to go prk for these reasons.

 

The doc basically cuts a three-sided box on your cornea and peels it back to shoot the laser, and conduct the correction. The flap is then replaced, and the incision cuts. This method heals a lot faster, and your vision is much better from day 1.

 

In prk, the doc cuts out a full square, and then conducts the correction. Because your cornea has to grow back, the healing process is much longer (two days in my case). Also, the correction in your vision isn't as readily apparent as the lasik.

 

Why do prk? Prk was designed for people with thin corneas. However, the problem with lasik and military pilots is there is a extremely small chance of the flap coming "undone" in extreme g-forces. This is why the Army was requiring prk pilots instead of lasik. My doc had me convinced that it really didn't matter as the possibility of said condition ever happening was like being hit by lighting, however it was there. Good luck with your training.

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  • 1 year later...

So things have definitely come full circle...today was my first solo!!! I have been flying with Helicopters Northwest out of Boeing Field in Seattle, and my first instructor there was VR's very own heligirl03. I wouldn't be where I am now without her help and support, and that is not an exaggeration. Anyway, I had a blast!! A few pick-ups and set-downs, quite a bit of hovering, hover taxi, and two flights in the pattern! What a thrill!

 

I'll post up a couple pics and maybe some video later tonight when I have my computer and not just my phone. ;)

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Wow! What a special opportunity that the CFI has provided you with! It is really awesome to hear such a positive story and it's great to see how stoked you are. I wish you the best moving forward!

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