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I have looked at the thread regarding the Kiowa divestment. Any ideas as to when we will see the results or is it a shell game for re-deploying the people they want to keep? It seems like there is too much military activity by other nations overseas for the USA to be scaling back its military operations. From a financial point of view it would be a good thing but the reality of the world political landscape might indicate otherwise.

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I have looked at the thread regarding the Kiowa divestment. Any ideas as to when we will see the results or is it a shell game for re-deploying the people they want to keep? It seems like there is too much military activity by other nations overseas for the USA to be scaling back its military operations. From a financial point of view it would be a good thing but the reality of the world political landscape might indicate otherwise.

Well it's already been set. The OH-58 is going away and it's pilots will be looking for jobs. I'd say roughly half will go to other airframes. 1/4 will go to various non flying jobs and a 1/4 will be forced out. So you're looking at maybe a couple hundred 58 pilots going into the market.

 

It's not just the OH-58 either. The Army as a whole has been downsizing. While the world political landscape might indicate a need for military involvement, it doesn't require the numbers of Army aviators that we currently have. At least from the leadership view, they believe they can do the same job with additional Apaches & UAVs. Considering that 58s had the highest optempo in both wars, they have a huge shoe to fill.

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Incidentally, IERW (basic flight training) at Fort Rucker will be shifting to the LUH-72 Lakota (EC-145) from the Bell 206 soon. Down the line you'll have folks getting out of the Army with the EC literally being the "least complex" aircraft they've flown. They'll also never, ever do a touchdown autorotation. :rolleyes:

 

Back in my day... :lol:

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Incidentally, IERW (basic flight training) at Fort Rucker will be shifting to the LUH-72 Lakota (EC-145) from the Bell 206 soon. Down the line you'll have folks getting out of the Army with the EC literally being the "least complex" aircraft they've flown. They'll also never, ever do a touchdown autorotation. :rolleyes:

 

Back in my day... :lol:

 

When I left, Autos weren't even an evaluated maneuver in Hawks anymore.

 

Sigh.

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CharyouTree,

 

Really? Autos weren't a graded maneuver in blackhawks by the time you left? Autos are STILL a graded maneuver in blackhawks.

Wow, I didn't catch that. No bueno.

I'm extremely impressed with the academics so far though (again, haven't started flying). Much more in depth than my civilian training with many more resources and training aids at my fingertips.

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Lindsey,

 

True, there is just no comparison in academics between the civilian and military world. Military academics make the civilian academics look like a very poor introduction. And, when possible, I go much further in 1-on-1 (or 2) with students than even the academic classes. I personally like the Navy's training manual, especially for aerodynamics - it's about twice as thick as even the Army's.

 

I don't agree with a lot of things that the Army does but we do not go light on the academics.

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We have to do autos and manual throttle every 90 days. It's still not enough to feel comfortable doing them but the muscle memory helps hopefully enough to be survivable. Some of these birds can be quite a handful.

 

As for the numbers above I would be surprised if even half of the 58 drivers get transitions. Time will tell but I just don't see the demand. That said, a lot of guys aren't going to reach even the 1500-2000 hours mark and wont be motivated to continue with civil flying.

Edited by SBuzzkill
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We dont even practice autos in the Chinook as an ATM maneuver, or even a demo. The Test Pilots do them to set auto RPM. I did one the other day. 3000+ FPM decent. Good times. It autos even faster than the KW.

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Zulus and Yankees are not allowed to do power recovery autos anymore. Torching engines at the bottom of the auto resulted in a bunch of incidents. In addition to constantly over G'ing the aircraft between the 180 and short final. So essentially it's a power on auto which results in a half assed profile and potentially bad habit patterns.

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Practice full Autos to the Deck in the MH-60R and S are prohibited maneuvers. Auto profile ends in a power recovery <25KGS and about 30ft. We do them in the sim (obviously), but those are more to practice Complete Loss of T/R Drive to an auto, and the peripheral and "seat of the pants" cues in the sim aren't great.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Seem to be plenty of vacancies in Texas for PHI EMS.

There is ONE less now, 'cos I humbly applied for one of them. got it, waiting for class date.

After 10 years 4 months flying for them offshore (Gulf and Angola), seemed a nice change of pace. And right beside an area in Texas where I have a house rental business going.

Also scenic, lakes, boating, motorcycling, etc.

 

Reasons for hop-skipping across:

+++Location, location

+++ I was surprised (when i did the research) that there was a "Geographic differential pay" for the location, which coughs up another $220 or so per bi-weekly pay check.

+++plenty of work-over. That's dead in the Gulf for 407 turkeys. This year has been terrible. $26,000 last year in w/o and only $3,000 so far this year.

+++ Change of pace

+++ flew EMS before for another operator, and hated it. Nurse politics, no support, treated like.... dirt. Heard varying, but a lot of good stories about the way my employer does the business. Let's give it 100 %, no 110%, and see if this can work.

+++ nice to get back into NVG's. Flew them before in LE.

+++. and off-road landings, as indicated above by others, has its satisfaction, and same for being single pilot PIC. The two crew never satisfied me. Ask ANY two crew captain "If the money was the same, which would you choose? A 407 or a S76 / S92?" And the ones I have asked, so far, without exception, have given me that funny look reserved for people who ask stupid questions, or crawl out of damp corners. All (so far) have said they would unhesitatingly choose the 407, for fun.

 

Anyway, wish me luck. Back to being the junior kid on the (new) block. Polish up my P's and Q's.

 

(you can do it, Moriarty, you can do it...) (Just watch those nurse jokes...)

 

:rolleyes:

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Remember that wires are everywhere and, as you recall, it's not your emergency...

 

Ain't that the truth. :angry: If you had to write down the Golden Rules for EMS pilots,

"watch 'em bloody wires"

would be right up there alongside

"beware inadvertent IMC"

and

"beware inadvertent slow descent at night over black".

 

Leaving out the nurse wise-cracks (we'll poke fun later in that department, maybe), what else jumps instantly to your mind? Oops, if the O.P. doesn't mind me, that is.

 

Somewhere, I got a scribble about frightening myself with wires. True story. 100%. Not even my infamous "99%". Lemme see if I can dig it out, and pollute the polite forum.

 

:ph34r:

 

Okay, found it, and just posted it, for what it's worth. (probably not-a-lot).

Here's the link. Just sent shivers down my spine remembering that day.

 

"Of Helicopters and Humans (35) - Do you see any wires?"

Edited by Francis Meyrick
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Remember that wires are everywhere and, as you recall, it's not your emergency...

The wires aren't everywhere, just where you want to go.

It's not your emergency...to start with. No need to cause one either.

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One thing you need to watch for along the shore is kites. I've seen them flying >300' above the ground, and some of them are very large. Those require very strong line, which can bring you down one way or another. Once, flying along the beach east of Galveston, under a 300' broken ceiling, I saw one flying above the clouds, just happened to see it dead ahead through a break in the ceiling. I banked very hard, and somehow missed it. You have to pay attention, to everything, all the time, if you want to live to be old. I'm still trying.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The coastline is always a high-traffic area. It makes for easy navigation (ocean on the right/land on the left or vice versa and you can't get lost) and good sightseeing. VFR flight following is your friend.

 

Why would anyone want to fly a kite above a cloud where you can't even see it?

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