Looking for personal helicopter

[Joseph-Sherman]

Looking to buy personal helicopter. It would be in a small community where Life Flight is not close. If there's a severe accident I would make it available for EMS, police and fire. I would need something for somebody on a backboard.

Budget not a problem.

Thanks

Joseph-Sherman

[Wally]

Six to 12 million not a problem? 0r $70,000-$100,000 a month lease, plus operating costs of $900 - $1500 a flight hour not a problem?

 

HOw are you securing the stretcher, other medical equipment on board? Usually HEMS has a 'sled'(stretcher) that the backboard/patient package is is secured to and that locks into floor hard points arrangement?

Are you flying it yourself or do you propose a professional pilot?

 

Are you sea level and temperate or do your climactic conditions present challenges: high plains, mountains, coastal, etc?

How far are you from the trauma/cardiac/pediatric, whatever, receiving hospital?

 

[Joseph-Sherman]

Looking to buy personal helicopter. It would be in a small community where Life Flight is not close. If there's a severe accident I would make it available for EMS, police and fire. I would need something for somebody on a backboard.

Budget not a problem.

Thanks

Joseph-Sherman

I would be fliying it. My intent would be if there was a severe accident and time was a factor my services would be better than ground transport. I assume an EMT or paramedic would accompany the injured

party. The Bell 47 just had baskets but lives were saved.

I was considering the BO 105 or H130 but what do I do with any seats that I have to take out. It would only be a problem if I got a call in mid flight and I would have to immediately go to scene. Is there rear seats for BO 105 that can fold up, can the front seat of the H130 be put in the cargo area?

What has the best flexibility and so forth? I'm familiar with Bell products but that's about it.

Thanks

[Joseph-Sherman]

I would be fliying it. My intent would be if there was a severe accident and time was a factor my services would be better than ground transport. I assume an EMT or paramedic would accompany the injured

party. The Bell 47 just had baskets but lives were saved.

I was considering the BO 105 or H130 but what do I do with any seats that I have to take out. It would only be a problem if I got a call in mid flight and I would have to immediately go to scene. Is there rear seats for BO 105 that can fold up, can the front seat of the H130 be put in the cargo area?

What has the best flexibility and so forth? I'm familiar with Bell products but that's about it.

Thanks

[takefootoff]

M.A.S.H

[mike0331]

The AW609 looks like it's gonna be pretty sweet

 

Mike

[Eric Hunt]

It's hard to answer your question, J-S, without knowing a bit about you- do you have a commercial licence, thousands of hours day/night VFR/IFR, EMS experience, twin time, blah blah?

 

It is a nice idea to offer a private helicopter to help in hard times, but the agencies involved in this stuff have some strict requirements for the machine and the driver. Insurance and liability are huge considerations.

[Nearly Retired]

Allow me.

 

I flew for a guy - now, this was down on a little island off the coast of Honduras, not here in the States, but I think it could be the same thing. The owner lived in Florida and only came down to Honduras every other week or so. The island did not have any medical facilities to speak of, just a little clinic. It always seemed that when he was gone, the people of the island would get hurt and need a ride to the hospital on the mainland, which involved a 70-mile boat ride.

 

One time, someone prevailed on my boss to use the helicopter to transport an injured person, which we did at no charge. This of course lead to additional requests. The boss's attitude was that if it was something serious that could not be treated on our little island, then yeah, fly 'em! And so I did. Sometimes, the "life or death" determination seemed kind of...well...loose. In other cases the helicopter was a real lifesaver. A lot of the people I carried would surely have died without being able to go to the hospital by air, no lie.

 

We were using an FH1100, which is "kind of" like a JetRanger. It had clamshell doors on the left side. The front (copilot) seatback detached easily and went in the baggage compartment. We constructed a wooden "ironing board" type of stretcher that the "patients" would ride on, set longitudinally across the copilot and left-rear seats. The whole shebang got secured with the front and rear seatbelts. It worked okay. I could carry a stretcher patient and two pax if necessary. (I wish we'd had a LongRanger.)

 

Over the course of two years I did a bunch of these ersatz "medevac" flights to the mainland: Pregnant teenagers, machete fight losers, and one guy from the local power company that climbed a pole which *should have" not been powered but was. Turned him into a crispy critter. The smell of burnt flesh and hair is not particularly appetizing. He was lucky to be alive - the helicopter really did save his life. Six months later I flew him back to the island, minus one arm, one hand and one leg. He'd have a hard life from that point on for sure.

 

We were not an air ambulance and did not pretend to be. The passenger had to be semi-ambulatory and preferably conscious. The boss never charged for the flights - he did them as a favor. And even though it was he who supplied the helicopter and the fuel, *I* became a rock star on the island because I was the face they saw that transported their loved ones. It was weird.

 

Providing such a service in the U.S. would be touchy. You would have to be VERY knowledgeable of FAR's 91 and 135...what's allowed and what's not. It'd probably be no problem on a "once in a blue moon" basis. But you absolutely, positively could not "hold out" to the public that this service was available. Compensation doesn't always have to be cash money. Nor could you charge anyone cash money, obviously. Just quietly let the right people in your community know that you have a helicopter, which, by the way has stretcher capability. You'd have to emphasize that you're not a commercial operator, but that you'd be happy to help out in an emergency. But be careful! Stuff you think you're doing in an "emergency" might not seem so to the FAA.

 

Read about this poor guy...

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/600139028/FAA-clears-pilot-who-helped-in-flood.html

[Joseph-Sherman]

To Nearly Retired, I appreciate your testimony. Like you if a situation that a life would be at stake it's a no brainer not to help. I think all who fly and have the power to help have a responsibility to do so.

I thank everybody who responded so far and pray that God keeps us all safe and gives us Godly wisdom in any situation as He would.

Joseph

[Nearly Retired]

Hey, HEY! Watch it there, Sherman. This is a fairly unGodly crowd here. Buncha atheists. I once made a post that anyone who absolutely believed that there was *not* a Creator/God should be reconsidered for a pilot's certificate due to their obvious problems with critical thinking. i mean, it's one thing to say, "I don't believe a Creator/God exists because I see no scientific evidence of it." But some take it a step further and say, "God does NOT exist!" They're kind of saying the same thing, when you think about it. And in either case, very narrow-minded, limited thinking.

 

I was talking with a friend about this recently - that "no evidence of God" thing. And I always fall back on, "Well prove to me that *love* exists!" The fact is, you cannot. If someone says, "I love you," we take it on faith that they do. Likewise if we tell someone we love them; why would they believe us?

 

My friend said, "Well, atheists probably don't believe in love and probably lead a very loveless life." And I thought to myself that his proposition was probably true. How sad! If you can't believe in something that cannot be scientifically measured, life would seem pretty devoid of mystery.

 

As pilots, we have to take a lot of things on faith. We have to have faith in the designers, the people who built the thing, the mechanics who've worked on it...and even the last pilot to fly it - we have to have faith that he didn't overtorque or overtemp it. Faith is a big part of being a pilot.

 

But not faith in God! Oh no! One pilot...a true simpleton if you ask me, actually said in this here forum that he follows his mechanics around and double-checks their work. (You can look it up!) Now, *he* is not an A&P mechanic, mind you, but he feels pompous and arrogant enough to know whether a mechanic was doing his job properly. Hah!

 

But that's helicopter pilots for you. They are all self-proclaimed experts on...well...everything. They know it all, better than you, and better than me. Just ask them! Ask them anything! Politics, the economy, religion...they know it all. Pompous, arrogant dickheads - a lot of them.

 

Me? I know nothing. But I know better to make definitive, declarative statements about whether God exists or not. Hell, I don't even know if Trump's a good president or not. But it seems like everyone else does!

 

So be careful about "cramming religion down people's throats" on this forum, Sherm. You might discover some strong feelings to the contrary.

Edited May 18, 2018 by Nearly Retired

[r22butters]

HA, I new someone would write me into this one!

 

 

[Eric Hunt]

PLEASE keep your imaginary friends to yourselves. This is about helicopters.

[AkAr]

> My friend said, "Well, atheists probably don't believe in love and probably lead a very loveless life." And I thought to myself that his proposition was probably true.

 

You're wrong. I can feel love. If you're wrong about that, and you objectively are whether you think you are or not, then you're probably wrong about most of the other conclusions you've thought your way into (or were indoctrinated into to be accurate) about religion.

[TomPPL]

Hey, HEY! Watch it there, Sherman. This is a fairly unGodly crowd here. Buncha atheists. I once made a post that anyone who absolutely believed that there was *not* a Creator/God should be reconsidered for a pilot's certificate due to their obvious problems with critical thinking. i mean, it's one thing to say, "I don't believe a Creator/God exists because I see no scientific evidence of it." But some take it a step further and say, "God does NOT exist!" They're kind of saying the same thing, when you think about it. And in either case, very narrow-minded, limited thinking.

 

I was talking with a friend about this recently - that "no evidence of God" thing. And I always fall back on, "Well prove to me that *love* exists!" The fact is, you cannot. If someone says, "I love you," we take it on faith that they do. Likewise if we tell someone we love them; why would they believe us?

 

My friend said, "Well, atheists probably don't believe in love and probably lead a very loveless life." And I thought to myself that his proposition was probably true. How sad! If you can't believe in something that cannot be scientifically measured, life would seem pretty devoid of mystery.

 

As pilots, we have to take a lot of things on faith. We have to have faith in the designers, the people who built the thing, the mechanics who've worked on it...and even the last pilot to fly it - we have to have faith that he didn't overtorque or overtemp it. Faith is a big part of being a pilot.

 

But not faith in God! Oh no! One pilot...a true simpleton if you ask me, actually said in this here forum that he follows his mechanics around and double-checks their work. (You can look it up!) Now, *he* is not an A&P mechanic, mind you, but he feels pompous and arrogant enough to know whether a mechanic was doing his job properly. Hah!

 

But that's helicopter pilots for you. They are all self-proclaimed experts on...well...everything. They know it all, better than you, and better than me. Just ask them! Ask them anything! Politics, the economy, religion...they know it all. Pompous, arrogant dickheads - a lot of them.

 

Me? I know nothing. But I know better to make definitive, declarative statements about whether God exists or not. Hell, I don't even know if Trump's a good president or not. But it seems like everyone else does!

 

So be careful about "cramming religion down people's throats" on this forum, Sherm. You might discover some strong feelings to the contrary.

 

 

Wowza..! I certainly wasn't expecting that one! I'm a total atheist (like many others here) but have always found it difficult to explain my feelings on it in an understandable way without getting too derogatory to the religious person in the conversation - that post above was about the best explanation I've seen on this subject, I'm going to try and memorize it..!

[Nearly Retired]

Above, allah akbar believes that I've been indoctrinated. Nothing could be further from the truth. He claims that he can "feel" love, which is interesting. You can feel it? Great. Wonderful. Can someone else "feel" your love? Can they measure it? Can they prove it exists? Sheesh. Oh, but *you* feel it so it's got to be true! People say dumb sh*t like to me and I just shake my head. Mental midgets. (And that's me being kind.)

 

The problem is that people often confuse belief in a Creator with membership in an organized religion. There is this assumption that if you believe in a Creator/God then you *must* also believe all the bullshit in the Bible. That is simply not so. There are thousands and thousands of religions, some with widely differing beliefs. And some don't go by the Christian Bible.

 

My main point is that we do not know whether "God" exists or not. I cannot prove that He does, but neither can anyone prove that He does not. Why do I believe that were were deliberately created by a Creator? I just look around...I use my brain, my capacity for knowledge and logic. In my mind, there would simply have to be just too many "coincidences" for all of...this...to have happened accidentally without some intelligent design. I see "evidence" of God in a beautiful sunrise...in a Beatles song...in the love of a dog (but not a cat - I hate cats).

 

Maybe someone wants to think that this all just sort of "happened?" Fine. But to me that indicates that their thinking is very, very limited. To summarily rule out even the possibility that we may have been deliberately Created is just a too narrow-minded way of thinking to be a pilot. We pilots have to consider ALL of the possibilities of things, not just the scientific ones written down in the various books we follow. We have to be as open-minded as possible, not closed-minded.

 

On top of all of that, I personally don't think that the principles espoused by most Christians are a bad way to live...the Ten Commandments, if you will. And I try to.

 

I don't expect anyone to believe exactly the way I believe. But at the end of the day, I think we should all believe in a Creator. Start from there. Believe that there is something...or someone "bigger" than us...someone who created us for some undisclosed purpose...someone who would like to see us again when we depart this particular plane of existence.

 

There is a song called "Dear God" by a group called XTC, fronted by a guy named Andy Partridge, a well-known atheist. In the song he's got some great lines...like, "Did you make mankind after we made you?" Which is good question. We people of faith think we know the answer to that one. But honestly, is our human need for a Creator such that we had to invent this thing called "God"? Hmm.

 

Whether we like to admit it or not, we pilots are people of faith. I don't know how I could ever set foot in a helicopter without having faith...and considering the old helicopters I fly, a lot of it! So if I can have faith enough to fly one of these contraptions...if I can have faith that someone loves me (if only a dog), then maybe...just maybe I can open my mind to the possibility that our universe was deliberately created. By a Creator.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDQ_WxPE4sM

Edited May 18, 2018 by Nearly Retired

[r22butters]

I'd be more willing to believe we were engineered by some dude on a planet in Orion's belt (as ancient astronaut theorists believe,...I just love how they say that after every single idea) before I'd believe in some kind of invisible "creator" "god" (partially because that just opens more questions, like who created God? What does he do all day, etc.) and partially because I simply jerk off waaay too much to get into Heaven!

Anyway, I guss I'll find out when I die?

,...or maybe I won't, nobody really knows any of this sh*t!!!

[LJS1993]

I'd be more willing to believe we were engineered by some dude on a planet in Orion's belt (as ancient astronaut theorists believe,...I just love how they say that after every single idea) before I'd believe in some kind of invisible "creator" "god" (partially because that just opens more questions, like who created God? What does he do all day, etc.) and partially because I simply jerk off waaay too much to get into Heaven!

 

Anyway, I guss I'll find out when I die?

 

,...or maybe I won't, nobody really f*cking knows any of this sh*t!!!

 

Do you think there will be R-22's in your after life?

[r22butters]

Do you think there will be R-22's in your after life?

Hmmm,...?

 

Tell me somthing kid, does this song make sense to you?

 

[Thedude]

Did I read that right? If you don’t believe in god you should not be allowed to be a pilot?

[Eric Hunt]

A religious person is usually that way because his/her parents brought them up to be religious. If they subsequently do some research into it, they might find that they are rejecting maybe 1000 other gods to be faithful to their chosen god.

 

So, why should anybody be upset that I have rejected 1001?

[Jaybee]

Did I read that right? If you don’t believe in god you should not be allowed to be a pilot?

 

No. You did not read that right.

[Thedude]

. I once made a post that anyone who absolutely believed that there was *not* a Creator/God should be reconsidered for a pilot's certificate due to their obvious problems with critical thinking.

 

 

No. You did not read that right.

Sure seemed that way to me.

[cherminator]

I was considering the BO 105 or H130 but what do I do with any seats that I have to take out. It would only be a problem if I got a call in mid flight and I would have to immediately go to scene. Is there rear seats for BO 105 that can fold up, can the front seat of the H130 be put in the cargo area?

What has the best flexibility and so forth? I'm familiar with Bell products but that's about it.

Thanks

 

The front seat of an H130 won't fit in the cargo area. Just fly around with the back seats removed most of the time. You still have three seats in the front, and a huge area in the back for lot's of different things. I'm 6'2" and I can lay on the floor in that space easily, thanks to the wide body of the 130. Here are a few pics of stuff I've put in the back of my 130 when I owned one:

 

[LJS1993]

Do you guys think God likes helicopters?

[chris pochari]

God doesn't care about helicopters because he doesn't exist