Attention !!! Who is Versatile Helicopters ???

[bintheredonethat13]

To all pilots that might be considering replying to the want ad that Versatile Helicopters just put up on the job board.........do your homework & see what info you can dig up on the Canadian owned & operated company that does business in Central Washington USA.

 

I've searched & can not find much info on them. I find that a little strange. Just my opinion. Noy trying to cause drama,want to know if anyone knows them.

[Sonic04GT]

Drama time

[Counterrotate]

Oh boy! Please, do share! I love a good yarn.

[Nearly Retired]

I too love a good yam. And sometimes I love a good sweet potato.

[Fred0311]

Spent my whole thinking a yam was a sweet potatoe only to find out it wasn't so this past thanks giving. it shook my world.

[Bclogger]

I wish I had seen this post six months ago! Yes please do your home work on this operator!

I had a very bad experience with this company.I was a newbie looking for that first break,and thought I got it......was I wrong!

My job was to fly one of his hillers with a turbine conversion.The owner couldn't say enough about how good of an operator he was and that his accommodations and machines were top notch.Well on arriving to Brewster Washington my room was in a bug infested,varmint feces basement.The helicopter wasn't any better ,pretty sure the helicopter sat outside from the previous season as on my di found a birds nest in the tail rotor,couldn't find any certificates of airworthiness,log book or insurance,yes on just this I should have run,but I didn't .Went for a flight with the owner,truthfully it was rough,I had never flown a Hiller a lot different than what I had trained on,I might add that the airspeed indicator and radio were not working,the whole flight was the owner yelling and screaming at me for my mistakes,after a 40 minute flight I landed that piece of garbage crooked and had to listen to another 10 minute verbal lashing,where he added that if I ever crashed I had better run for the border because I quote" I don't have insurance" yes I should have run.....being a low time pilot and one of your first jobs is on a turbine I wanted it to work,I ended up going for a couple more flights,things got smoother and better but his attitude towards me when I asked to see the log books combined with the serious maintenance issues and the lack of insurance I took off for home.

This is only my EXPERIENCE with Versatile Helicopters,maybe things have improved I don't know ,however if anyone is considering working with this guy do your homework,no time is worth flying something that shouldn't be in the air!

[yzchopper]

I was there last year and left after a few weeks. I did fly the Hiller D model as well (not the soloy). I got a few hours drying in the 58 and spent most of my time fighting for control of the helicopter as the Manager did most of the flying and did not let me fly that much. I quit but at the same time they were going to fire me. I found a lot of issues with the company and the way things were operated and it was just not going to work for me. This was not my first time drying either. I had 5 seasons of drying, (225hrs of actual dry time) under my belt and I had been growing cherries and operating a cherry orchard for 11yrs before the farm was sold. I was not new to this type of work by any means. I must have been doing something right when I was drying before because I was getting lots of repeat customers every year plus picking up more customers and was being asked for by name to dry. When I left from drying and handed over my operation to a friend I had 12 growers and some 300+ acres under contract. I would fly for the guys next door with Bob in the S-55 before I would go back to them.