Cherry Drying in Columbia River Gorge

[SemperGumby]

Whoa, and to think I was ignoring to read this thread. It was like a bad soap opera! Nothing like wasting my life reading this instead of studying. It was somewhat entertaining, though.

[Azhigher]

Nothing like wasting my life reading this instead of studying.

 

Study breaks help the learning process.

 

Oh wait, was this post off topic?

[helonorth]

NR claims to not have attacked Ms. Langer. He is merely repeating what she herself has written. Interesting. I have been reading her blog for a while now, and I can't find anywhere where she describes herself as a "selfish, angry, bitter, unChristianlike, ungenerous, unhelpful person that won't give you the time of day."

[jim_222]

let's see... Well, I am with nearly retired on this one. But I think that he dug himself a hole, the moment he mentioned, I think as a sidecomment, the religion beliefs of M.

 

However, the fact is that he responded to a post that was directing the OP to her blog, to seek information about cherry drying. It is also a fact that M. has been pretty clear that she is conscious about sharing such information, and last time I checked, she had her posts relating to the cherry drying business password locked. And that has been done explicitly to keep competiton away, which is still respectable and acceptable, but nonetheless still a fact justifying what nearly retired said. So NR was, to my humble opinion, right; he had a valid point, if you will, saying that "hey, this is probably not the best place to find what you are looking for."

 

I do visit M's blog often, as I enjoy reading about flying, and she has, being a professional writer, a very nice way of describing some aspects of running a helicopter business, and her experiences as a pilot.

 

I would also like to read nearly retired's blog, since his posts here usually make a nice and interesting read, and I anticipate that the same applies for his blog posts. (I would appreciate it, if someone could pm me the link to his blog).

 

As far as religion beliefs are concerned, I am pretty sure that everybody here is much smarter than me to realize that discussions like these will not lead to any kind of useful results or outcomes. They haven't done for a couple thousand of years, and it is very unlikely that a verdict about christianity vs atheism would be reached here... (luckily? enough no other religion/belief has been introduced yet...)

 

just my .02....

[pilot#476398]

(luckily? enough no other religion/belief has been introduced yet...)

 

I would be very interested in hearing the Scientology take on this,...anyone?

[iChris]

This person to whom you are referring is loathe to help out anyone in the business if she even suspects that they might one day in the near or distant future be of *any* competition to her. Read her blog and see!

 

Here's some rest of the story stuff.....

 

In an ALTERNATE HELICOPTER FORUM post in 2009 (the view total was 8,535), I posted links to her blog on Cherry Drying. Her blog was filled with lots of good information for new pilots. I posted links to all her blogs on this subject, since it was an excellent job outlining helicopter cherry drying for the new pilots. That post is below; however, she locked the blogs for the following reason.

 

“Every day, pilots who wanted to learn more about cherry drying were stopping in to read up. Normally, I’d be pleased. But I also began to realize that these same pilots were using the information I provided to compete with me for cherry drying work. That would simply not do.”

 

10/28/2009 2:16 AM

About Cherry Drying:

 

http://www.marialang...drying-planned/

 

At the end of this article check out the additional links near the bottom of the page

 

Read More Posts about Cherry Drying (links below):

Drying Cherries with the Big Fan

Getting Ready for this Year’s First Summer Job

Cherry Drying 101 (with Video)

Walking the Orchards

The Story Behind Walking the Orchards

I Dry Cherries

Cherry Drying on Google Earth

The End is Near

 

REF: Low time pilot jobs

 

 

About the Cherry Drying Posts

 

Posted on September 1, 2010 by Maria Langer

 

And why they’re password protected.

 

A few weeks ago, it came to my attention that this blog was the primary source of information about cherry drying by helicopter. Every day, pilots who wanted to learn more about cherry drying were stopping in to read up.

 

Normally, I’d be pleased. But I also began to realize that these same pilots were using the information I provided to compete with me for cherry drying work.

 

That would simply not do.

 

The truth of the matter is, there simply isn’t enough work to go around. Every year, I struggle to get my contracts together and signed and then struggle some more to get my standby pay. Other pilots I know who have been doing this work far longer than I have go through the same process. None of us can afford to have competition for what little work is out there.

 

In my case, it’s particularly tough. I travel from Arizona to Washington and back at considerable cost. This year, I made the trip with only one contract signed. If I hadn’t been able to secure other work, I would have taken a heavy loss.

 

In this tough economy, I depend on this work to keep my business afloat. Without it, I’d likely have to sell the helicopter. Right now, there simply isn’t enough tour and charter work out there to cover the cost of my fixed expenses, such as insurance, annual maintenance, and hangaring.

So I’ve password-protected the posts, making them inaccessible to most visitors. I’ll likely remove the password once my friends and I stop doing this work.

 

Cherry drying requires a helicopter. If you don’t have a helicopter, you cannot dry cherries. Any company that has helicopters for this kind of work already has pilots. Inexperienced pilots cannot expect to be hired for this kind of work by a company that already has helicopters and pilots.

 

Cherry drying is not a good way to build time. I got less than 20 hours of drying time this summer. I got around 5 hours each of the previous two years. Do you really want to blow a whole summer sitting around in farm country waiting for it to rain just to get 5 to 20 hours of flight time?

 

Cherry drying is not for low-time pilots. When you work, you’re hovering 5 feet over treetops, sometimes in very windy conditions. That means tailwinds and crosswinds and LTE. There’s a lot of dancing on the pedals. There’s a real need to know the helicopter you’re flying.

 

Cherry drying is dangerous. All operations are inside the deadman’s curve. If you have an engine problem, you will crash. Read these accident reports to get a better idea of what can happen: SEA05CA122, SEA04LA102, LAX02LA169, SEA00LA101, SEA00LA103, WPR09LA371, and WPR11CA146

 

I know a lot of helicopter pilots — especially low-time helicopter pilots — out there are desperate for work. If you’re one of them, I can assure you that cherry drying isn’t the solution you’re looking for.

Edited February 17, 2013 by iChris

[aeroscout]

I'm just lurking on this thread (so far). But I am available for moral support.

[Nearly Retired]

Jim_222 said:

I would also like to read nearly retired's blog, since his posts here usually make a nice and interesting read, and I anticipate that the same applies for his blog posts. (I would appreciate it, if someone could pm me the link to his blog).

 

Thanks! But...you could have just asked me

 

And look, I know I p-r-o-b-a-b-l-y shouldn't have brought up the other blogger's atheism. Whenever you do that, you open yourself up to comments like, "You think you're holier-than-thou!" and, "You think you're better than her!" And of course, denigrating one atheist brings out all of the other nutjob atheists...who will try to justify the unjustifiable - that a Creator does not exist...and in fact *cannot* exist...and that belief in a Creator is a sign of intellectual weakness combined with a personality that is prone to hallucination and fantasy.

 

Do I believe in a Creator? Yes. WHY then? Why, when there is no hard, tangible proof of the Creator's existence, do I still believe? Because I see evidence of intelligent design all around me, especially when I go flying. I am not so shallow as to think that "all this" just happened spontaneously or coincidentally. That would be just the height of ignorance.

 

My specific views are a little "out there" even for the religion I was raised in but no longer practice. For one thing, I believe that our entire universe exists within the Creator (perhaps within the Creator's mind - we could be just a figment of His imagination). This means, in the words of John Lennon, that I am He as you are He as you are me and we are all together. I think that not only do we have the Creator/God inside all of us, but WE are all an integral part of Him. As such, we have a tremendous source of energy that we can tap into. It means that we are never truly alone. We are a part of God and are therefore connected to everyone that's ever come before and after us.

 

That probably sounds pretty crazy.

 

But I do know that there is "something" more than this physical world. I know that the supernatural absolutely exists (how could anyone deny it?). No, you cannot prove it scientifically, but it's there...another dimension...or something...something bigger than puny little us. There are just too many stories of strange, unexplained "things" happening to dismiss out of hand. For instance, look up the real story of Our Lady of Lourdes. That'll freak you all the way out, man. But there are other things as well.

 

So maybe a persons religious affiliation (or non-affiliation as the case may be) has nothing to do with their goodness or badness. As I've said, maybe the blogger I've been speaking about is a wonderful human being. But it seems...I dunno...not. Not if you read her own words. And rightly or wrongly, I connect that (her general unhappiness and unpleasantness) to her lack of spirituality and the selfish, egotistical world that atheists inhabit.

[pilot#476398]

I've often thought that maybe the whole of existance is just in my mind, and when I die it'll all just disappear?,...heavy sh*t!

 

...then I saw that picture they call the Hubble Deep Field, and suddenly felt very small and insignificant!

Edited February 17, 2013 by pilot#476398

[Lindsey]

I'm just lurking on this thread (so far). But I am available for moral support.

 

If you're an atheist, you don't have morals (apparently )...

 

For the record, I do believe in God, but I find it exasperatingly irritating when people try to force their religion on others, or say that atheists inhabit a "selfish, egotistical world." That's ridiculous. I believe that the highest calling of anyone is to be a good person, and that includes both atheists and Christians, and everyone in between. There are as many "bad" Christians as "bad" atheists, and as many "good" atheists as "good" Christians. Just because they don't believe there is a God doesn't mean that they are "forever lost" or any junk nonsense of the sort. Come on. I don't judge people based on their religion; I "judge" them based on their actions (judge in the sense of whether I like or dislike them, as opposed to saying they are going to hell for eternity). I don't go to church and this is exactly the reason why -- I can't stand bible thumpers. Does that make me a "bad" Christian? So be it. I believe in God and what he stands for. I fully understand and accept that some people don't, and I have no issue with that. I believe in evolution and don't think that science and religion are mutually exclusive entities.

 

We don't all have to hold hands and sing and be merry, but a bit of tolerance and understanding goes a long way in life. I feel like I've been saying this a lot lately, with some of these threads, but:

 

We're all in this together.

[JCM5]

Relaxian

[JCM5]

 

 

 

http://youtu.be/cRmbwczTC6E

[SemperGumby]

Hey, today I learned that Cherries are dried by helicopters when it rains because it gets all fat and gross when it absorbs the moisture and it cracks the skin. No wonder these things are so expensive.

 

Oh and all non-Christians are bad especially that guy Ghandi and that other one, Einstein.

 

I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it. (Albert Einstein, 1954)

 

And one last thing about intelligent design but this guy said it better.

 

 

Of course, everyone knows about opinions...

[C of G]

[Rotortramp]

http://youtu.be/cRmbwczTC6E

 

Great video.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4238NN8HMgQ

 

 

Another great video. I could watch his videos all day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[avbug]

It doesn't take much more than the Euthyphro Dilema to derail your misguided moral code.

 

That does nothing to derail, actually, as it's easily dismissed out of hand as a tree in the forest. It's a straw argument for those looking to derail faith, and it's a hollow one that's best suited for those who like to hear themselves talk.

 

Piety isn't necessary for faith or for religion, but to reduce the question to one of morality, the so-called dilemma is quashed by simple algebra. Factor out God. If the morality still exists then the "dilemma" does not.

 

The problem is that you think that she is a fowl person AS A DIRECT RESULT of her atheism.

 

Atheism made her into a bird lady?

 

Most atheists are actually agnostics, and in reality (where most of us live) agnosticism is the only true philosophy.

 

Agnosticism is perhaps philosophical in nature, or can be approached philosophically, but is not philosophy. Just as one can have morality without God (and can also have morality with God), one can philosophize with or without any reference to diety. Ambivalence on one subject does not predispose one to contemplation on another, nor does it necessarily enhance ones view. Moreover, one can be quite religious and a person of faith, and enter into philosophical discussion without hinderance or fear. There's something disingenuous about ridiculing someone who would refer to "the one true God" and at the same time refer to agnosticism as the one true philosophy. You see the point?

 

Agnosticism, atheism, Christianity, philosophy, or Trix (for kids) have nothing to do with flying helicopters, and were best left out of the discussion at the outset. NearlyRetired continued belaboring of the subject, particularly after delving into community consciousness and creative design as functions of pious Christianity. That on the heels of condemning others for their lack of unwavering participation in his particular unusual set of beliefs. There's such a thing as revealing too much of one's self, as is the case here. Perhaps just a little too much information.

 

If NearlyRetired has such heartburn over the cherry-drying woman, perhaps he'd have best simply recommended a better source and left it at that, or given valid reasons for his concern that didn't include her lack of belief in a religious practice that even he doesn't follow.

 

On a side note, I'm curious just how bad the competition can be for this woman. Her web site says pointedly that she can do 100 acres, and doesn't spread herself too thin, and doesn't leave her work. When I started doing ag, it was nothing to take on 50,000 acres of work. Different than cherry drying of course, but there's a lot of ag property out there...far, far more than a hundred acres. Someone else doing a hundred acres is going to rob her blind? I don't think so. More interesting is that she's the one putting the information out there, then complaining (prior to shutting it down) that others might have used it to compete.

[DS_HMMR]

I think as Pilates, we should all just wash our hands of this Thread.

 

[avbug]

Now there's an interesting exercise.

[JCM5]

 

I'm going to do pilates.

[DS_HMMR]

I was aiming at this Pilate, though your's works surprisingly well too!

[avbug]

Pilot. Pilate. Pilates.

 

Tomato. Tomatoe.

[Nearly Retired]

Avbug:

If NearlyRetired has such heartburn over the cherry-drying woman, perhaps he'd have best simply recommended a better source and left it at that, or given valid reasons for his concern that didn't include her lack of belief in a religious practice that even he doesn't follow.

 

Oops. Wrong! "That woman" publicly stated she does not believe in a Creator/God. I do. That is the extent and source of my "heartburn" with her as you call it. So you're wrong, Avbug. Stop overanalyzing everything. You're more fatuous than I am - and that's saying something!

 

For the record, I *did* recommend a better source, that being JR Aviation who does more work down in the southern part of Washington State than the female pilot/blogger in question. I even put my own goddam cell phone number in a response and suggested pilots call ME to find out about the cherry-drying business, and if I cannot answer the questions I can at least help them find the information. Try reading the whole thread next time before you start sniping.

 

And I really don't have "hearburn" with her for being an atheist, I merely disagree with her belief system which causes me to doubt her (or any atheist's) intelligence and ability to reason logically. And I (perhaps erroneously but I don't think so) connect the dots to her behavior and unpleasant demeanor and the constant strife and drama that seem to follow her around like a rain cloud. To wit...

 

If I do have any "hearburn" at all, it's because she publicly stated that she deliberatly does *not* help out younger helicopter pilots who are trying to break into this cherry-drying business. Instead of explaining to them that she'd rather not give out information which might be used competitively against her, she strings the caller along, giving monosyllabic answers until the caller simply gets frustrated and hangs up. She seems to get some perverse pleasure from this. Gee, how helpful, toots. Not.

 

She doggedly maintains that cherry-drying is not a job for low-timers. Yes, the job is risky, but let's face it, it's just maintaining a constant hover over some trees. It doesn't require the mad skillz of a Chuck Yeager. It has been proven time and again that with proper training and supervision/monitoring, low-timers can be taught to do the job well and safely. Perhaps cherry-drying is "dangerous" for low-timers in a weak, inferior platform like the R-44, but in a proper, more robust airframe with better power reserves it is not a problem. Thus, companies like Versatile and Golden Wings can take a young pup and train him or her. Both companies offer opportunities for people to learn the job and become proficient. Plus, there are brokers (who work for the farmers) that can be contacted who arrange for out-of-state helicopters to come to Washington (like, oh say, from Arizona?) to work for the summer.

 

Now, this female pilot *could* have simply pointed pilots in those directions instead of wasting the caller's (and her own) time. But no. And with that, I do have "heartburn," yeah.

[iChris]

Oh and all non-Christians are bad especially that guy Ghandi and that other one, Einstein.

 

I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it. (Albert Einstein, 1954)

 

 

Lets take a deeper look into that....

 

Einstein did not believe in a personal God, but in "Spinoza's God, which he called the lawful harmony of all that exists, but not in a God who concerns himself with the fate and the doings of mankind".

 

“We followers of Spinoza see out God in the wonderful order and lawfulness of all that exists and in its soul as it reveals itself in man and animal. It is a different question whether belief in a personal God should be contested. Freud endorsed this view in his latest publication. I myself would never engage in such a task. For such a belief seems to me to the lack of any transcendental outlook of life, and I wonder whether on can ever successfully render to the majority of mankind a more sublime means in order to satisfy its metaphysical needs.”

 

Many scientists dismiss any concept of an intelligent designer as unscientific, and claim that any recognition of or belief in such a designer does harm to the scientific method. However, the greatest scientist who ever lived, Albert Einstein, did not share this outlook. His years of studying the universe not only led him to come up with the Theory of Relativity, but also led him to believe, in his own words, in a "spirit manifest in the laws of the universe, that reveals itself in the harmony of all that exists" (Isaacson 2007: 44). He once wrote:

 

The religious inclination lies in the dim consciousness that dwells in humans that all nature, including the humans in it, is in no way an accidental game, but a work of lawfulness that there is a fundamental cause of all existence (ibid. 46).

 

In a 1930 essay entitled "What I Believe," Einstein wrote:

 

To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is something that our minds cannot grasp, whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly: this is religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I am a devoutly religious man (ibid. 47).

 

He also made the following statement in an essay entitled "The Religiousness of Science," which appeared in a collection of his essays published in English under the title "The World As I See It":

 

The scientist is possessed by the sense of universal causation....His religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an INTELLIGENCE of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection. This feeling is the guiding principle of his life and work, in so far as he succeeds in keeping himself from the shackles of selfish desire (Updike 2007: 77).

 

Einstein and Intelligent Design

 

Spinoza and Einstein

 

Einstein and Intelligent Design

Edited February 17, 2013 by iChris

[FlyNHighNFast]

 

And of course, denigrating one atheist brings out all of the other nutjob atheists...

 

 

Do Christians get Jesus points for calling atheist names?

[FlyNHighNFast]

Nearly Retired: You're probably longing for the "good old days." Not going to happen!