The Real Magic Carpet

It's amazing.

I awoke this morning in the Midwest.
At 1 P.M. I was laying my hands on a brand new helicopter in Torrance, California. I had hoped to spend the night in Tucson, Arizona, but reality got in the way of that plan. More on that in a sec.

I'm still amazed at the technology that can take us from one city and plop us in another, 2000+ miles away, in less than five hours! Think about it:
Our forebears crossed the same country I just flew over in Wagons......at all of 2 miles per hour!
If it rained, they got wet. If it snowed, they were in huge trouble. Instead, I ate my peanuts and drank my diet soda......then took a nap. I stayed warm and dry. How would "the 49-ers" react if they could know how easily we travel?

Back to "the best laid plans".......
I'm hoping to spend tomorrow night in Roswell, New Mexico with "Ole Prairie Dog".
I had hoped to make it to Tucson tonight so the travel day tomorrow wouldn't be so brutal.

But when I checked the engine oil on my preflight on this new helicopter, the oil dipstick, (a self-locking threaded apparatus on this machine), was cross-threaded.
"No Sweat!" says the delivery guy, and promptly brings out the mechanic to remedy the problem. Great!

But when he puts in the new filler tube, it too is boogered up. Drat!
He had to cannibalize a filler tube off another aircraft to get me on my way, and by the time the work was done, I was already two hours behind schedule.

Fifteen minutes out of Blythe, my eyes were getting bleary from fatigue.
I landed at 5:30 P.M. local time, and the gas jockey had already bugged out! His phone number posted on the wall......would have cost half the amount my motel room cost, just to get him to return to the airport.

Lots and lots of accidents happen because a pilot's reach exceeds his grasp...
Something pilots call "get-home-itis". It has caused a lot of bent, expensive metal, and many, many fatalities. I am VERY aware of it.

The gas guy bein' gone was the straw that broke the camels back. I called the motel courtesy car, and here I am, in air-conditioned comfort, while the outside temperature is still right at 100 degrees.

I'll be up bright and early in the A.M., and, after a great night's rest and a full breakfast, try to make up some lost time.

So, O.P.D., you may see me later than you wanted tomorrow night, but at least you'll be looking at someone with a body temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit!

More later, folks. I got some sleepin' to do! (Sorry for the disjointed post.....remember, I AM DOG-TIRED!)

Got a Recipe?

Spring comes to Chateau Greybeard.......
the nights begin to be almost, not quite, warm.
One of the first true signs of Spring is when the Night Peepers begin to call to one another.
The temperature might still be cool, but their ardor is obvious......
they sing joyfully to one another for several hours after the Sun goes down.

About the 1st of May, the Bullfrogs announce their presence.
I know you've heard their love song........
Every second or so.........a deep, vibrant, honk.

There are four or more around the pond this Spring.
One will start the chorus, then the others join in by returning the challenge (and stake out their claim to a piece of Real Estate?)
It's a gorgeous sound.......Call, response, response, response........honk, honk, honk, honk!

Remember the scene in "Happy Days" where the night sounds keep Fonzie awake until he goes to the window and shouts and shuts all the critters up? At the time I saw that piece, I thought how stupid he was. The sounds of the night are a huge source of pleasure for me.

We have several Barred Owls in our neighborhood that frequently ask, "Who cooks for you? Who cooks for y'aaaaaaaallllllll?"
They sometimes call from the tree immediately outside our bedroom window, and believe me, that'll get your attention at 3 A.M.!
But even that brings a smile to our faces.....God's wonderful diversity.

This morning, after sharing our favorite "Breakfast Pizza" with Big Bubba, as I slowed to pull into the drive, a 3' tall Great Blue Heron was stalking the North bank of our pond......
(hunting my beloved Bullfrogs?)
Herons are also magnificent creatures.......it's wonderful to watch them ply their trade.......SOOOOOOO ssssssllllllooooooowww in their stalking movement, it's impossible to watch them and not marvel at their technique.

But my Bullfrogs!

I'm reminded of the "Last act of defiance" posters!
Seen them?
I tried to find the one I wanted to show you, but could only find the poster showing the mouse giving the "single finger salute" to the owl on final approach, talons extended.
The one I'm thinking of shows a Heron swallowing a Bullfrog, but the Bullfrog's arms are stretched around the Heron's neck, attempting to strangle it.......
Never give up!

I love the sound of our Bullfrogs at night and don't want to lose them.
Do ya think I maybe need to even the score?
Anyone have a recipe for Great Blue Heron?
(Probably tough, but I bet it tastes like Chicken!)


UPDATE:
This is the image I was lookin' for!

Trip #17

Next Friday I'll be headed back to California to ferry home another helicopter.
This time, it will be an R22......the smaller of the two helicopters I bring back East.
This will be my 17th trip back from L.A..

I thought it might be fun to see if any of you have ideas about things to see along the route.
Take a look at a map......
I'll be taking off from Torrance, California, then following I-10 Eastbound past Banning and Palm Springs/Palm Desert to Blythe......Then across the Colorado river to Phoenix, then South to Tucson. Continuing on I-10 all the way to El Paso.
From El Paso, I can go pretty much any way I want......North and East, toward Tulsa, Oklahoma.

If you can suggest anything along that route that might be interesting to see, I'll consider flying by and using my new digital camera to get a picture to share with you.

So folks, your mission, (should you decide to accept), is to get out your maps and use your imagination.
I'll get my nose in the instruction manual for the camera, and maybe we can work as a team to do something neat! You guide me, and I'll go take a look, and record what I see, then report to you.

I look forward to your comments.

Sympathy For the Devil

I'm not happy with George Bush.
He spends money like Ted Kennedy.
The U.S. deficit is out of control, and no remedies appear forthcoming.

I admit to voting for Bush twice,
and, knowing what I know now,
given the choices we had in '04,
I'd vote for him again!

Let me bounce some names off ya.....

The Dixie Chicks,
Sean Penn,
Tim Robbins,
Susan Sarandon,
George Clooney,
etc.,
etc.,
etc..

Flashback to my war.......Viet Nam in 1968-'69.
A Vietnamese General by the name of Vo Nguyen Giap wrote in his memoirs that the North Vietnamese were ready to surrender to U.S. and South Vietnamese forces until they began to receive aid and comfort from the likes of John Kerry, Jane Fonda, and Walter Cronkite.
When those celebrities comments about the war turned negative, leaders in North Viet Nam decided to watch public opinion in America.
And we know what happened, don't we?
A war we were winning.......
had it in our pocket if we had just had the discipline to finish it,
slipped from our grasp.

How many Americans were killed between the '68 Tet offensive and the withdrawal of our troops in 1973?
I don't know the answer to that question, but I personally knew a few of those guys,
and I know the answer would make me sick to my stomach.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I call your attention to those cowards that won't appear on videotape without wearing a tribal scarf across their faces........do they scare you?
Why?
They're afraid to show their faces for a reason!

News reports are now saying that captured internal memos indicate Al Qaeda is in a panic and desperate.....
They know they are getting their posteriors handed to them.
The locals are tired of the bombs going off in the streets........
Residents realize the cause of their problems does not originate with coalition forces.

If I had a son or daughter in Iraq risking his/her life so that some ditzy blonde singer could stand on a stage in Great Britain and use her freedom of speech to say stupid things about our President, I'd be pretty furious.
I'm just one voice, and a small one at that. All I can do is make my thoughts known on my piddly little blog.

But I can also keep my Dollars in my pocket.
No purchase of Dixie Chicks music for me......
No George Clooney movies either.
(Actually, they're so bad I have no desire......)

There has to be a price to pay for aiding and abetting the enemy.
Zarqawi, Zawahiri, and Bin Laden are finely tuned to our Mainstream Media......
every word spoken against our effort in Iraq is EXACTLY equivalent to the words JFK Lite and Jane Fonda provided to encourage our enemy in Viet Nam.

We have to be Marathoners, folks, not Sprinters......
There are 58,000 names carved in a black gash in Washington, D.C........
I would hope that at least we can say their deaths taught us a lesson;
"Don't throw in the towel when you have knocked your opponent down and the referree has reached the count of 9!"
Support your troops by supporting our leaders.

And.........vote with your bucks!
I think I'll see if my son can download "Earl Had to Die" free, off the internet......
That song cracks me up!

UPDATE:
Interesting details HERE!

Grass! (The Kind You Mow.)

In previous posts I've mentioned our property......
We live in a 3 bedroom, 2 bath log home on 2 1/2 acres with lots of trees.
A five acre pond adjoins our property at the rear.
It really is a lovely place......people passing in cars frequently slow, point, and come to a stop to admire the view.

We bought and moved into this home on Halloween of 1992.

Spring of '93 arrived wet........
Remember the floods of '93?
I can safely vouch for the fact that grass absolutely loves rain and 92 degree temperatures!


When the grass started threatening I realized I had overlooked something:
Our previous property was about 1/2 acre,
and I mowed that with a 21 inch push mower.
That mower wasn't gonna make a dent in this big lot with the rain coming down and grass growing like a nightmare.

I've been mowing grass for a Spinster neighbor for many years.
She owned a 38" riding mower.
She came up with this proposal: Mow her lawn for free and I could use her mower to mow our property all summer.

I was glad for the offer.....I didn't have much choice.
I had used up most of my "liquid" assets putting a down payment on the house and buying new furniture and carpeting.

Mowing this property with her mower took 5 hours!
That's a long, long time to drone along on a riding mower, circling every tree two or three times to keep from having to come back with a trimmer.
Pretty quickly I realized I was wearing her mower out. There are many trees with exposed roots on our property that were bending the mower deck on her mower. More and more nickel and dime things would break on it, and I began to be fearful something big would explode....then I'd feel obligated to buy her a new mower, and I'd have nothing to show for it.

At the end of mowing season I discussed the problem with Sara Jean:
We needed a new mower, and we needed something much bigger than a 38" garden tractor.

I started comparison shopping.
Pretty quickly I settled on the idea of spending "dinero largo" on something that would do a good job and would take the punishment this big yard could dish out.

I ended up buying a Grasshopper Commercial Mower.
I paid more for this machine than I have paid for many cars I have purchased.
But it mows the lawn and does a great job at 7.5 miles per hour......it turned a dreaded five hour task into a relatively enjoyable 2 hour experience......I love driving the thing.......I call it my "lunar lander".

We're now in our 13th season mowing with this machine. It has had a few glitches in that time, but the things that have broken have been readily replaced at a reasonable price.

It reinforced a lesson I learned some time back.......if you can afford it, go 1st class.
"Getting by" saves you money up front, but can cost you in more ways than you might imagine later.
Going 1st class with the Grasshopper has saved me time and money over 13 years, and it is still going strong!

Stanley Hiller, 1924-2006

The ugly thing you see on the right is a Hiller helicopter.
When I got my Civilian Flight Instructor Certificate, it's the first machine I used to train students. They're relatively big, noisy, obviously ugly, and built like tanks.... heavy. A great trainer.

Mr. Hiller is gone.........
ThirdWaveDave forwarded me the New York Times Obituary....
(they couldn't even get that right.....said this machine was used in the TV series MASH. That was a Bell 47, which I also have a bunch of time in!)

Thanks for thinking of me Dave!

I have a soft spot for this old bird........I've flown this machine in it's "B", "C", and "D" versions, and probably have 500 hours in the various iterations. It was terribly underpowered, but was forgiving in it's flight characteristics. It was slow, slow, slow........when the wind was blowing 20 knots on your nose, it was obvious that cars and trucks on roads beneath you were making better time to their destinations.

Stanley Hiller was born in 1924. When he was 8 years old, he invented a toy car with an engine that would propel it to 60 miles per hour, and sold a bunch of 'em.......made $100,000 on them in one year. Do the math with me: 1924 plus 8 years equals 1932.
$100K in the heart of the depression made 8 year old Stanley the envy of 99% of the U.S. population!

He was brilliant. It's hard to tell looking at the above picture, but his control system for the helicopter was unique: The Pilot's control inputs actually flew a set of paddles located 90 degrees ahead of the rotors. This control system negated the effects of gyroscopic precession and gave the Hiller it's slow, forgiving control quality.

Hiller, along with Arthur Young of Bell Helicopter, made the helicopter industry of today possible.
Igor Sikorsky invented the first practical helicopter, but Bell and Hiller made them dependable and (somewhat) affordable.

Thank you Mr. Hiller.
Rest in Peace.

Juan Valdez, Drug Pusher

Coffee and caffeine......
Good for you/Bad for you.
You don't have to look far to find statistics backing up whichever position you take on this issue.

Like many, our home coffee maker has a timer. Our first gentle nudge toward wakefulness is the initial gurgle of near-boiling water being spritzed over fresh ground coffee downstairs in the kitchen.

My Old Man drank tons of it. He'd brew a pot in the morning, drink two cups before leaving for work, then put the rest of the pot in a quart thermos. The thermos would be empty by Noon, so he'd order a cup or two with lunch at one of his favorite restaurants, then ask them to refill the thermos as he paid for his meal. That quart would be gone by the time he got home, so he'd brew yet another pot to share with Mom during and after supper. I don't know how he did it..........he still slept like a baby.

I once attended an Army school where they had a "coffee club".
For $10 a week you could drink all the coffee you wanted during breaks between classes.
I joined.
I found that 8 cups in 8 hours made my hands shake like a palsy victim and kept me tossing and turning most of the night.
I guess I'm not my Father's son.

I like my coffee strong and black. I've found I can drink two cups in the morning before going to bed with little adverse effect.
I drink a cup when I wake in the afternoon, then grab another as I go out the door to work. I'll normally drink another cup or two sometime during the evening if it's available in whatever E.R. we get dispatched to.
Six cups, spread out over an 18 hour period, seems to be my comfort level.

I've found that if I skip my morning cuppa prior to hitting the sack,
I wake with a slight headache that will only go away about two or so hours after I've had a cup of Juan Valdez's magic potion.

One more thing..........
I like Arabica, and I brew it myself.
I'm too doggone cheap to pay $4.00 or more per cup to satisfy my drug habit!

Vacation/Recreation

Just got back from 9 days of vacation.
I need a vacation to recover from my vacation.

We drive the better part of twelve hours to get to our destination. Driving that distance takes a physical and mental toll.
We've learned to stop often and stretch our legs.....grab a bite to eat every four hours or so. Still, I can't go to sleep right away upon arriving, and I feel the effects of the drive for a couple days.

While on vacation, you want to "suck the last ounce of enjoyment" out of every day. There's stress involved there too........places to go, people to meet, stuff to see.
More driving.
Sure, all of this is enjoyable, but you're still tired when the day is done.

We had a High School reunion to attend on our way home, so we detoured from our normal route to head to my old stomping grounds and meet with my classmates. We had an absolutely wonderful time, but I have to admit I found myself in tears more than once during this meeting, so there's emotional stress involved there too.

Back home last night after almost 2,000 miles crossed in the 9 days. Many experiences and memories to recall.....most of them wonderful. I'm due to start my shift back at work tonight. Getting back into my normal routine will be less stressful than the "re-creation" I have experienced during the last week+.

Back to the normal routine..........but it will take a day or two to get back to "normal".

Happy Anniversary, "Pitchpull"

Exactly a year ago, at this same table, on this same laptop,
I published my first post.

The passage of a year........
a year not so significant as some in the past, thank Heaven.

My writing style has changed a little, and I've modified the way I compose my posts. Blogging has forced me to focus on writing to avoid misunderstanding. I hope my writing and style have both improved.

As I figured at the start, I've blogged about my flying experiences, but not exclusively. The Aviation Industry exposes me to many interesting people and subjects, and I've enjoyed sharing some of those experiences with all of you. I've also had to do some research in order to publish some posts I knew little about, and that has been educational and satisfying.

But what I appreciate most of all is the support and constructive criticism I have received from fellow bloggers and passers-by. Many have become "virtual friends". What a wonderful community!

I've told many of the most important stories of my life in the past year.
I'm considering going back and re-publishing some of them for readers that have just found "Pitchpull", so they don't have to slog through the rest of the crap to find the "pearls". Of course, what I consider a pearl may be a lump of coal to others. For those folks, the archive awaits.

My sitemeter now says more than 40 folks per day are stopping by. That's a number I would not have expected if you had asked a year ago. Thank you all for sharing your thoughts, for criticizing when I need it, and for helping keep me out of trouble.

Let's all look forward to the year ahead!

Nearly Heaven

Coffee in hand, still trying to clear the morning cobwebs, I saw this very picture unfold in real time this morning, minus the surfer.
A pod of 12 or so dolphins were grazing in my front yard. Wonderful.

We are midway through our one-week stay in our little slice of paradise. Spring breakers all gone, traffic flows normally and there are no lines at our favorite eateries.

Construction is going on everywhere. Having seen how bad traffic is during Spring Break, or during the summer when vacationers are here, I can't imagine how bad it will be when they fill the condos that are now under construction here. They can't widen the roads enough to handle that number of cars.

The water is a magnet for humans. What was once a sleepy little place is undergoing a traumatic change, and from what I hear, it's happening near the coast almost everywhere. This, at a time when fewer insurance companies will consider writing a policy to cover hurricane damage. It will be interesting to see what happens when the political power that comes with the money involved here begins to flex it's muscle.

We're fortunate to be able to come at times we choose. The idea of coming during the "peak" season is less and less attractive.

"The Sniffer" and "The Snatch"

What a title!
Bet this post doesn't go the way you imagine!


My Viet Nam Unit was one-of-a-kind.
I was in "The Aeroscout Company", Americal Division.
Our main mission was reconnaissance.
We accomplished our recon. mission by launching four helicopters:

An OH-6 Scout,

A UH1-C "Charley Model" Gunship,

An AH1-G Cobra Gunship,

and,

A UH1-H "Slick"

The little OH-6 Scout would fly low enough to part the tops of trees with his rotorwash and look underneath to see if any enemy activity was going on down there. I think the guys flying this mission had the most dangerous flying job in Viet Nam. No OH-6 in our unit accrued 300 total flight hours before being shot down during my year there.

I followed the Scout in the "Charley Model" Huey, flying 50 feet above and about 1/8th mile behind, to cover the OH-6 in case he began to receive fire.
This low altitude and airspeed also left me considerably exposed,
SO......

The "Snake", (Cobra), followed behind me at 1000' altitude and 1/2 mile behind in case I got shot at.

The "Slick" carried a squad of Infantry,
(we called our grunts "Animals"),
and followed along high enough to be out of the range of small arms fire.

One of the special missions our unit performed was "The Snatch".
If the little Scout saw a military-age male acting suspiciously in the area we were to recon, he would call for the Slick to land and the "Animals" would pick this suspect up for questioning.
Obviously, this was a dangerous mission......on more than one occasion we landed the Slick, only to find we had inserted our troops into a hornet's nest. We'd then use the two Gunships to provide fire and protection for the Slick as we extricated our "Animals" from harms way.

However, we were frequently successful at snatching suspicious young males who provided good information to our Division Intelligence folks.

We used this same basic team to do another type of recon mission: "The Sniffer".

The little Scout would pick up a specialty team with a special machine......
The Sniffer.
It fit in the rear of the OH-6, and had a sensor on a cord that was lowered 30 feet below the aircraft. We would then go out into bad-guy territory and fly just over the triple canopy jungle with the sensor just above the tops of the trees. We would start working a grid pattern downwind....the sensor would give you erroneous readings if it picked up the exhaust from the helicopters....and we would fly a grid that was designated by our Division Intel. people.

The Sniffer picked up human perspiration. If it sensed perspiration, the technician operating the machine would call out "HOT" over the radio, and the Co-Pilot in the Slick would make a mark on his map showing where that "Hot" reading was taken. We would fly along for several minutes with the technician saying "HOT", "HOT", "HOT", "HOT", "HOT"every two seconds, then we'd do a 180 degree turn, move 1000' upwind, and sweep another path......
"HOT", "HOT", "HOT", "HOT"....

Keep in mind, the Scout and I are flying at near treetop level over triple-canopy jungle, in single engine helicopters, over what was probably a North Vietnamese Army Division.
My fear: What are we gonna do if the engine fails? This job was tense....gave me a "pucker factor" of 9 out of 10!

We flew Sniffer missions about once a week, but I don't remember ever being shot at during one of these flights.
The bad guys were moving their troops to attack us and didn't want us to know they were down there. Shooting at us would have unquestionably exposed them and their position.
By flying this mission weekly, we were able to plot the movement of large enemy units.

Imagine how you would feel, flying along hearing "HOT"...."HOT"...."HOT"..... over the radio, thinking of (thousands?) of men below you, and all the possibilities that COULD happen!

Drive!

I'm on thin ice here........making bold, declarative statements,
but I'm doing so because I want your feedback........

How do you feel when you board an airliner?

I've been airborne more than two full years. I'm certainly not afraid of flying,
and I get to fly commercially two or three times a year.
But as I board I still wonder, "What sort of crew is at the controls of this machine?"

Flying an airliner is "safe as houses", whatever that means.
But you still read about the now-and-then stupid decision......
like the VERY seasoned KLM Captain at Tenerife that started his 747 on takeoff roll in thick fog while another 747 was taxiing on the same runway, resulting in the single worst aviation disaster in history.

I have survived flying helicopters 38 years, including acting as a target for one of those years, partly because I don't take risks while I'm at the controls.
My crews know this, and frequently commend me for it.

When I get aboard an airliner, I hope the folks at the controls have that same attitude toward risk-taking. I'd be very comfortable if they would invite me to come sit up front and observe.......maybe even take the controls and fly the airplane a little. I like to be in control.
Almost by definition, Pilots have to be conceited.....
taking the lives of others into their hands.

Drive........1
I like to drive. When I go somewhere in a car, I like to be the one behind the steering wheel.
I know my skills. I know I am in great health. When I'm at the wheel, I control the risks that are taken between Point A and Point B.
Control is the Big Kahuna........I don't like NOT being in control.

Drive.......2
Ambition.
Motivation.
The desire to make something happen.
I'm not easily bored.
When I begin to be bored, I try to make somethin' happen.
If I don't like what's goin' on around me, I try to change it.
Lotsa folks, including some of my loved ones, get irritated with me because I push. I admit I have a problem with being confident that I'm right, and sometimes what is right for me might not be right for someone else.
But I truly believe in the old Army adage: "Do something, even if it's wrong."
By putting a plan in motion, even if you fail, you learn something.......
what NOT to do next time.
And you know, there is GREAT value learning what doesn't work!
See......we're back to the control thing, aren't we?
By deciding on a plan and trying to make it work, you have control over your circumstances.

Would you call me a "Type A" personality?
Some do. I don't know.......I think I'm pretty laid back most of the time.

But I have never fully understood the "Type B's"......
those folks that mostly sit back and allow life to happen to them......
hoping that what comes their way is good......
being afraid to make a decision because it might fail........
accepting mental or physical abuse as if they deserve it, because it was what "life" handed them.

I've been discussing Co-Dependency with a friend.
I understand the concept, but the self-centered blockhead in me cannot figure out why anyone would allow life to pass by, taking actions that reinforce behaviors that make life worse for both.
Me, I'd be shouting, "I don't like the way this is turning out. Let's do something else!"

I know......it's 'way more complex than that.
So you see, I am trying to understand.
I know it is addictive behavior, and I think we all have some of that.

But.......wouldn't it be better to identify things in your life that are not making your life better, and try something else?
The one that best knows what is best for you, is YOU!

In other words, take control of the wheel of your life and DRIVE!

Talkin' 'Bout My Generation

Flush the toilet in our Master Bedroom.
As the water tank reaches the end of it's fill cycle
and the fill valve begins to close,
the toilet makes a sound EXACTLY like the distorted guitar chord that begins the tune "I Feel Fine" by The Beatles!
I'm SO proud of my talented house!

Now, that set me to thinking......
If you go back through the almost year of posts on this journal,
quite a few of the posts themselves are music related.
Many of the titles to posts.......
"Magic Carpet Ride"......
"Time in a Bottle",
are ripped from songs popular during the late '60's and early '70's.
Music is at the very core of the fabric of our lives.

In an early morning discussion today I found myself using Bob Seger's phrase, "I used her, she used me, and neither one cared.........we were gettin' our share."
And it was comfortable........it fit well into our discussion.

In another post on another blog I discussed how "Rhapsody In Blue" will stop me dead in my tracks.....it's too beautiful to let pass without devoting full attention to it.

I wonder........does everyone feel this way?
Did previous generations feel this way?

In closing, let me just say something I've wanted to use here for a long time:

"Ya can't always get what ya want,
But if you try sometimes, ya just might find.......
Ya get what ya need!"

So......NEVER QUIT TRYIN' !

Horse Sense

Just started my shift....
I saw something on my way to work that I wanted to share.

I passed a pasture that had six horses standing in the corner.
Two of the horses were spectating, as the other four
had formed a square formation,
nose to tail-nose to tail, all around.
Each of the horses was nibbling on his teammates rump.......
obviously scratchin' an itch that needed scratchin'!
It looked highly satisfying for all concerned, but I wondered......
what's wrong with a hexagon, so that all six could share?

For me, seeing it on this wonderful day put a smile on my face.
Happy Easter, everyone!

The Shroud

Good Friday.
Another great time to discuss Jesus Christ.
Lotsa documentaries and conversation lately about The Shroud of Turin.....
What's your opinion.....is that the image of Jesus in that cloth?

Let me quote the Gospel written by John, Chapter 19, verse 40:
(New Intl. translation)

"Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices,
in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs."

"Strips"?

Now I'll ask again:
What's your opinion?

Rotorcraft

Just 'cause it flies and has a rotor, doesn't mean it's a helicopter.

Yesterday, my student showed up for his helicopter lesson in his "Magni" Autogyro.

I was thrilled to get a chance to fly with him in this machine......
I have always wanted to fly one with someone I knew was not certifiably insane!


The aircraft I flew in is the same type you see here.
(Kind of a flying motorcycle!)
I had to buy a disposable camera to get a photo of the aircraft I rode in......
when the film is developed, I'll share that pic with you.

Sara Jean threw a fit when she found out,
but my attitude has always been that life is a series of calculated risks,
and this is just another of those "things I always wanted to do" that I can now check off my list!

On Second Thought-

I just did something I've never done before.........
I took down a post I thought was timely and well written.

Those of you that saw the post before I put it in storage.......Good for you!

Someone with whom I have had a "virtual" relationship for a while......
someone I respect, emailed and cautioned me that under certain circumstances I could find myself in hot water from about six directions if I wasn't careful.

I published the post when I was angry about innocent kids being hurt because of the carelessness of their parents.
My friend pointed out that I could be in trouble with my company, or the parents involved, if the post became public knowledge.
In it, I had been judge, jury, and almost executioner.
Of course he's right.

Now, here's the deal........(being devious)......
Time is the thing here.
If I wait and let water flow beneath this bridge for about a month or two, it'll be more difficult to connect the story with the actual event.

My counselor agreed that everything I said was "spot on".
(Don'cha love an appreciative audience?)
I also love the fact that the guy was playing "point man" for me......coverin' my backside.

SO.........
I'll let that particular post simmer a while........
get better and better while it rests.....
and one night when I have writer's block........
BINGO!
I'll have a "spot on" rant to share with you!

Freedom of speech.
Ain't it wonderful?

Why Don't Ya Come With Me Little Girl?

On a Magic Carpet Ride!

A Navy F18 takes us for a cool spin,
accompanied by John Kay and Steppenwolf....
(This song was popular during my tour in Viet Nam....
one of my faves!)

Volume WAY up!
( 3 1/2 minute video, so long download).

Thanks to Grouchymedia!

A Smooth Segway.....

I've commented before that one of the neatest things about working in the Aviation industry is the people you get to rub elbows with.

I find people attracted to flying are more likely to be interesting than those that sit at home watching "As The Stomach Turns" on TV.

I also think folks that like helicopters take that thought one step farther.
Helicopter fliers, rightly or wrongly, are perceived to be just a little crazier than fixed-wing folks.

One of my students owns a business here in town, and wanted me to come look at an area where he hopes to land the helicopter once he has his license.
I surveyed his landing area and was surprised at how large it is... normally students seriously underestimate the area they will need to land safely, at least at first, when their skills are still developing.

He invited me into his business to meet his employees, and then we visited his office. Over in the corner of his office it sat...
calling to me...
the "Segway".
I've been fascinated with the Segway since I first saw reports about them. How hard would it be to ride? Would riding it be "instinctive"? How fast would it go?
Here was my chance to find out!

For those not familiar with this machine, here is a picture of one.
(You may remember seeing pictures of President Bush taking a tumble while riding one about two years ago.)

I can report that it wasn't as easy as I thought.
It has two speeds... a slower one for novices, and a "scoot" speed once you get acclimated. On the higher speed, you'd have to run at a pretty good clip to keep up with the Segway.

Basically, you lean forward to move forward... aft to move in reverse.
A twist grip on the left handlebar is twisted forward to turn left, rearward to turn right.
Starting out at the slower speed, I was amazed at how little pressure it took to get it to move.
You don't actually have to lean to put it in motion... simply put pressure on your toes and it will start moving forward. Similar to flying a helicopter, it almost moves just because you thought about moving!
Very slight aft pressure on the handlebars is all that is necessary to slow the Segway to a gentle stop. Panic stops can be accomplished by pulling the handlebars against your body.

I was reasonably comfortable with it after 5 minutes, so my student changed the skill level to the more expert, higher speed setting.
Wow... I immediately realized wearing a helmet would be a great idea on this thing!

Big Boys and expensive toys...
Aviation people are wonderful, and, like the Lamborghini Countach I got to test drive several years ago, frequently they own some pretty neat playthings.

It was great to have the chance to check "riding the Segway" off my list of things I wanted to do!

Bullet Hose

The "Charley Model" Huey Gunship I flew in Viet Nam was armed with two 9-shot rocket pods and two .30 calibre miniguns.
The miniguns were each capable of firing 3,000 rounds a minute.
Continuous firing at that rate would literally melt the barrels on the guns, so there was a relay in the system that would only allow the guns to fire for three seconds, then the "interrupter" would shut the guns down.
To fire again, you had to release the trigger, then pull it once again.
This system worked well to keep excited Gunship Co-Pilots from turning the six barrels into the consistency of cooked spaghetti.
Normally the Co-Pilot would fire the mini-guns,
the Aircraft Commander would fire the rockets......a nine-rocket pod mounted on each side of the aircraft, next to the the miniguns.

I found a video on the minigun here that illustrates their awesome power.
As you watch, keep in mind that between each of the red tracer rounds that you see are three "ball" rounds that you cannot see.
Therefore, what you see leaving the gun is only 1/4th the actually rounds striking the target.

Another thing.......no helicopter would actually fly down a target line like you see here.
The video demonstrates the lethality of the gun, but in the real world the pilot would use whatever means necessary to avoid being brought down by surface to air missiles or small arms fire.

These new weapons systems can be computer assisted, making the manually adjusted system in the old "Charley" look pretty inaccurate. Still, I wouldn't have wanted to be on the receiving end of my attention in that old bird.

(Thanks to Compfused.com)

My Apology:

Six months ago I complained that in my 20 years of flying sick people, I seem always to get stuck when we change our clocks.......working the extra unpaid hour in Autumn.......
but being off in the Spring when an 11 hour shift pays for 12 hours work, and I suggested a way we could avoid all the confusion.

GUESS WHO IS AT WORK TONIGHT, GETTIN' AN EXTRA HOUR'S PAY?

HOORAY!

I hope this becomes the new routine!

So I'll be home with an hour's less sleep,
trying to search out every @#*&% clock in the house/garage/cars
in order to add the extra hour.

Spring is busting out all over around Greybeard and family. Our plum tree in the back yard is really showing off this year.......
vivid purple blossoms.

I Hope your season is as nice.
(Don't forget your clocks tonight!)

'Cause He's the Tax Man!

Someone kick my butt!

I hate this time of year.
I throw all my tax information into a box and wait until the last minute to sort it out and take it to my tax preparer.
Inevitably there is something missing and I have to scramble to find it.

Last year I waited until the 14th of April to begin my tax information gathering. I'm proud of myself this year for beginning before "the midnight hour."

I normally get a small refund, and so long as that is true
the 15th really isn't a deadline.
I've also heard there is less likelihood of being audited if you wait until the last minute.......

Yeah, that's the ticket! Less chance of being audited!

What's your excuse?

Time In a Bottle

On my way to work Saturday night, the ceiling was overcast and gray except for a sliver of sky next to the horizon, perceivable as about an inch of blue.

As the Sun slowly made it's way Westward, it began to transform this piece of sky......
the color was like lava flowing down a volcano at first.....a brilliant red-orange.

Then the Sun itself popped from behind the overcast, and it was too brilliant to look at directly. But I knew I was in for something special once it began to hide behind the edge of the earth.
I also knew the beauty would be fleeting.

Sure enough, as it dipped below the horizon, the sky turned the color of lava once again, only this time the edges of cloud were tinged with a brilliant silvery-yellow hue.
Slowly the underside of the overcast was illuminated, and the entire sky above me turned the color of molten lava. As the Sun continued it's journey, that color changed to purple, then magenta, then reddish-gray, and finally the Sun gave up the stage and dusk prepared the world for the coming darkness.

This whole scenario unfolded in less than ten minutes.
If I could have stopped time.....
captured that moment so I could savor it fully, I would have.

I was in Baltimore, Maryland when I found out my Dad was dying.
The company had purchased a BK117 in Italy and had shipped it to Baltimore. I was there to inspect the aircraft, and finding it as advertised, with the help of a mechanic, mount the main and tail rotors on it and ferry it back to the Midwest.
As luck would have it, the trip took me right over the town where my Dad was hospitalized. I got to stop and see him.

In my 20 years of EMS flying, much medical information has found it's way into this thick skull. From what I had heard I knew Dad was in big trouble.
Dialogue with my sister, Mommanurse , filled in the blanks........
It was just a question of time.
Again, if I could have stopped time right then, I would have.

Dad had been a lifelong smoker. He resented our attempts to get him to quit.
Now his habit had caught up with him.......he tried to put on the "Brave face", but everyone could see through it........he was obviously frightened about what the future held for him. We were all frightened for him.

Over the next months, Sis and I took turns giving Mom as much relief as we could in taking care of Dad. It was a painful process to watch, knowing that he was in pain and uncomfortable, because we knew the next day would only be worse, and the next worse than that. He was on the downhill slide.
I didn't want Dad to die, but I didn't want him suffering, either.

Time, time, time........
It just marches along, oblivious to our wishes.

I'm not old, but I'm no longer young.
Very soon I will be old.

My memories are overwhelmingly good......
I've said before that my life has been blessed......
I've had a Guardian Angel on my shoulder watching out for me, guiding most of my decisions.

But as I age, I find it SO easy to be melancholy.
I see beauty in so many things......Sunsets and Sunrises, family, other relationships.
I'm upset that these moments of beauty slip away so quickly.

Jim Croce wrote "Time In a Bottle", and then his flame went out.
The lyrics to that song are worthy of your attention.
If they don't make you melancholy, you and I are not on the same planet.
Try as hard as we might, we cannot stop time.......the inevitable is just over the horizon.

I don't want to waste these moments........I want to enjoy them to the fullest.

Being melancholy is bittersweet.......
It comes only when we know we are experiencing something beautiful that we want not to end so quickly.

P.S.
I read this post to Sara Jean and she said, "Gosh Greybeard, you're gonna have everyone depressed and considering suicide!"

I think some men go through their own form of "Change of Life", and maybe that is what I am experiencing when I'm melancholy.
It was not my intent to depress you, but to share my thoughts and see if others have had similar experiences.

Wop, Wop, Wop......

Our EMS company gives out helicopter lapel pins as an advertising promo.
Some years ago my Mom was wearing one I had given her as she stood in line at a grocery store. The guy in line behind her noticed the pin and asked her about it. When she told him what I did for a living, he asked her how I became a helicopter pilot.
She told him I was Army trained and a Viet Nam veteran, and he said "I was a grunt. You tell him the sound of that Huey headed our way to pull us out of the field was the most wonderful sound in the world!"

And what a sound!
Distinctive.
Loud.
In some ways, like a heartbeat.

I have 3,000 hours beneath the rotor of various models of the UH-1.
The rotor on the UH-1H model Huey was 48 feet 3 inches in diameter.
Each time that two-bladed rotor swung around, 24 feet of it was takin' a huge bite out of the air.
The red-line on the airspeed indicator was 120 knots/138 miles per hour. The rotor itself was turning at over 400 miles per hour at the tip. When it came around on the advancing side, it was going fast enough under some conditions to begin to build up a pressure wave, associated with the speed of sound.
That's what gave the Huey it's distinctive sound signature.

One of the reasons helicopters are not so noisy today is that rotor diameter has been reduced, lessening the speed at the tip. Most manufacturers are making multi-bladed systems, which decrease the amount of work the individual blade needs to do, therefore lowering sound levels.

When you hear a helicopter flying by, in most cases the loudest noise you hear is the tail rotor. It turns at 6-7 times the R.P.M. of the main rotor, and makes a high-pitched hum.

The main rotor is generally the second loudest thing on the helicopter. In most machines it is a lower pitch buzzing sound.

On top of all this you add the noise of the engine. In the case of a turbine, it is barely noticeable on top of rotor noise. In helicopters powered with reciprocating engines you can identify the engine sound, but it generally is not objectionable..........more like the sound of your neighbor mowing his lawn at a distance.

I was always aware of the noise footprint of the Huey. It was such a noisy machine, when I flew over cities or late at night, I tried to fly at altititudes that would dissipate the noise.
When I hear one now.......no matter where I am or what I'm doing, I'll stop to watch it pass.....
everything comes to a stop until the aircraft is out of sight and out of earshot.

The Old Huey is a sweetheart, and I'll love her 'til my dying day.

Galveston Wrap-Up

Just a few quick thoughts on the fishing trip:

The round-trip ticket on Southwest Airlines cost $187.
A one-way drive down would have taken 13 hours.
On the Interstate, I normally average 60 m.p.h., considering rest stops, gas stops, etc.. Our car gets 27 m.p.g. at this rate.
By my figures, that means the trip would have been something near 1560 miles, and if I had driven, I would have used 58 gallons of petrol. At an average $2.50 per gallon, cost of gasoline alone would have been $140+.
The flight was an extraordinary bargain.

Southwest Airlines has the security check downpat.
I showed up with my "online boarding pass" in hand, so I was able to walk directly to my gate. Going through security took all of 15 minutes.
I've flown a couple other airlines in the past year, and none of them come close.

Southwest used to be known for having "peanut fares" because they were one of the first lines to discontinue serving meals on their flights........
they give you snacks only.
On the package of peanuts they gave me was this warning:
"Warning: Machinery used to package this product may have come in contact with peanuts."
(I'm sure!)

Old friendships are special.
I've had only passing contact with the three High School classmates that were on this fishing attempt, and we were back perfectly comfortable with one another in less than an hour. The comfort level was such that we are planning a bigger/better "Fiasco" in the future.

Galveston is nicer than I expected. I've spent a lot of time on the Florida Gulf Coast lately, and it is very, very commercial there. Galveston is more "Ma and Pa" than that.........less stressful.
The beaches are not as pretty, but the comfort level may be a fair tradeoff.

Being near water.....anything larger than a puddle, is relaxing.

A friendly dog is a wonderful thing, even if he slobbers.

I've fully adopted the saying, "fishing was good, catching.....not so good."
We all commented before the trip that getting line wet was the goal..........if we caught fish, that would be a plus.
Starting off with that attitude was a good thing........
ounce per dollar spent, that one fish was unbelievably expensive!

I'm still conflicted about catching/killing my own food.
I felt sorry for that beautiful Speckled Trout when we put him in the box. Seems mighty stupid, since I ate a great fresh Red Snapper dinner at the restaurant that evening!

Returning from my vacation, I need a vacation.
It was good I had a one day cushion before I had to go back to work.

You don't forget how to play Euchre, even after 30 years.

And finally:
Being away from your home and wife makes you appreciate them both all the more.
I recommend the short separation.........your routine sure seems like a wonderful thing when it is interrupted for a short while!

Thanks for your comments, Pitchpullers.
I appreciate your kind thoughts.

That's Why They Call It "Fishing"

A quickie update on our adventures.......

Friday:
Not a nibble.
We spent 3 hours on the water in the morning, and a little over two in the afternoon, tempting fish to no avail.
We're told that's why they call it "fishing", not "catching".

Saturday:
Cloudy weather......forecast winds of 10-15 knots.
John caught one Speckled Trout about 16 inches long.

The wind picked up and put white-caps on all the waves.
We Northerners weren't too concerned, but Captain Tom was fidgety. He convinced us to put the equipment away.
As we were headed for home, the wind increased to 25 knots. Swells were 4 feet or so.
We pounded along for half an hour getting soaked by the spray.
A lure somehow found a way to hook itself to John's sweatshirt. I tried to detach it, but the ride was too rough, and Cap'n Tom sure as heck wasn't gonna stop to remove it under those conditions!
We were glad to make it back to protected waters.

No mas!

Thank goodness the restaurants serve fresh seafood dinners, because we're not doin' a very good job of putting the goods on the table ourselves.

One thing I can enjoy that the other guys don't give a whit about: There are plenty of helicopters flying around. Petroleum helicopters has a base here serving oil rigs just over the horizon with a Bell 407.
Yesterday we saw a BK117 headed Northeast up Galveston Island, then a short time later we watched a Bell 47 (the helicopter in the M.A.S.H. TV series) struggling against the wind Northeast bound, then return Southwest bound half an hour or so later. I don't often see a 47 fly these days, so it was a good memory prod.

Forecast today is for winds of 15-25 knots with small craft warnings. We are considering a trip to NASA to tour their facility.

I'll update you later.
Thanks for stopping by.

The Grand Galveston Fishing Fiasco

I've been fishing three times in all my life.
I've never been able to figure out what the attraction is.
Most of the time, it looks like a great excuse
to drink beer and take a nap.
It's time to devote serious study to the subject.

I'm leaving this morning to meet several High School
classmates in Galveston, Texas.
We are going out in a good-size boat to drink beer, feed bait to the fish, and probably nap.
(One classmate has even threatened to smoke a cigar or two.)
We hope this will be the first of many "G.G.F.F.'s".

No way to know what the computer situation will be once the study begins, but if something blogworthy happens, I'll try to keep you updated.

In the meantime, as Mike Myers would say.........
"Discuss among yourselves!"

Aviation Surprises

In order for an aircraft to fly in the U.S., it must at least be inspected annually to insure it is "airworthy". Aircraft flown commercially undergo a much more rigorous inspection process.

Obviously this is a good thing for many reasons. It not only keeps aircraft from falling out of the sky at alarming rates......the system fosters confidence in the flying fleet within the aviation community, and more importantly, in the civilian community as well.

If a problem is found in a certain make and model of aircraft, the FAA considers whether this problem is an isolated incident, or if there is a likelihood it is a problem that will crop up in more of this same type aircraft.

The R22 I use to train students has a rotor blade made of aluminum (Aviatrix....that's aluminium), and stainless steel. In very damp climates, particularly those close to salt water, many R22's have been found to have what is called "dissimilar metal" corrosion. Different metals, when damp, begin to act as a battery, and the electrolysis process eats into the joint where they meet, weakening it. The FAA rightfully issued a service bulletin for the problem.
The Robinson factory agreed to replace the rotors on those machines still under warranty, and will pro-rate the replacement of all rotors, depending on their total time.

The trainer I use is hangared continually and is not subject to a great deal of moisture.
Still, I'm glad to put on new rotor blades, because the aircraft could be sold to a new owner that lives in say, Miami, Florida, where the problem could be serious. This helicopter is new enough that the blades will be replaced free of charge. Replacement will take about 3 weeks.

We started the process last week by cutting off the rotor blades. We measured two feet out from the main rotor hub and took a saws-all to these $10,000 rotor blades. We then sent the rotor cuff and blade root to the factory where they will inspect the blade spindle for damage, and finding it undamaged, will fit the new rotor to our old spindles.

Taking a saw to what appears to be a perfectly good rotor blade is an emotional experience.
Add to that the fact that it grounds the trainer for at least 3 weeks, and you begin to see the economic impact that is caused in this little segment of the aviation industry.
Think of the impact of a major change to a large number of aircraft........rudder improvements to the Boeing 737, for instance, and you can see why aviation will always be an expensive, risky business in which to make a living.

I've got four students sitting on their hands, wondering how much proficiency they will lose while this aircraft is grounded.
But we'll all be more comfortable knowing the rotor over our head is likely to remain in one piece, thanks to a diligent inspection process.

Money Changes Everything

.......And generally not for the better.

I didn't pilot the flight, but some years back one of our machines was dispatched to the scene of a terrible helicopter crash.
The County Police, Drug Enforcement Agency, and S.W.A.T. teams were coordinating a surveillance/takedown of a drug operation. The DEA was using a helicopter with an Infrared scope to monitor the perpetrators house. The pilot and observer in that aircraft got so focused on watching the I/R screen, they forgot that flying the helicopter needed to be the first order of business. The pilot lost control of the bird and it filtered itself through a high tension electric line on it's way to the ground, killing the observer and critically injuring the pilot, who survived, but had a life-changing head injury.

My opinion is that we have lost "The War on Drugs".
The easiest way to cut our losses is to declare VICTORY!, legalize them, and allow the tobacco and drug companies to produce a quality, inexpensive product for those that now break our un-enforceable laws.

Benefits would be at least two-fold:
Tax receipts could go into education to keep others from going down that path,
and by taking the HUGE profits out of the drug business, you do away with much of what makes it such a big problem for us.........including killing damn fine law enforcement personnel trying to enforce these impossible-to-enforce laws.
(Pablo Escobar ended up being a huge influence on Colombian politics because of his economic power there.)

Another thing came to mind this week as a result of this Barry Bonds steroid fiasco:
It's just another illegal drug situation, driven by the huge dollars involved.

We pay these athletes sinful wages to do what they do.
Athletes like Bonds, McGwire, etc. that bring attention and fans to the sport are paid on the highest end of this "sinful" scale.

These guys risk their future health for the money and fame they can garner because of the big money involved, then, like footballer Lyle Alzado, tearfully admit their mistake on some TV interview show as they are dying of liver cancer, or some other dreadful disease.

I'm so tired of it I could scream.

Back to normal values, folks......
Let's make a list of what is really important to our lives.
And at the top of that values list, remember that not only is it true that "money changes everything",
the change it makes is frequently not something we can be proud of.

Post Oscar Wrap-up

First things first:

Salma Hayak!
Wow.

Now, the program itself:
Is it just me, or did it seen more subdued this year?
I thought Jon Stewart seemed a little nervous, but he was funny, and his political humor was in good taste.

I'm always uncomfortable when one recipient uses up all the talk time and they cut off the second person's chance to say their thanks by "playing them off"........but I do appreciate the fact that the program doesn't go on and on and on.

The only reasonably current movie I have seen is "Walk The Line".
I'm a Johnny Cash fan, so I enjoyed the insights into his life, although I was disappointed to find he was into drugs that heavily.
Both Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon did a great job singing their parts. Portraying professional singers had to be a scary task.

George Clooney's comments about being proud that Hollywood is "out of touch" indicates to me that there is inside talk in the industry about a possible problem there. I hope it means there is a chance of a return to more "heart of America" values on films in the near future.

Films portraying servicemen/women as the heroes they are would be a refreshing change, wouldn't it?

Travellin' Man

(One of my favorite Bob Seger songs, by the way.)

We are headed to a VERY LARGE midwestern city to visit with Sara Jean's niece that is 3 months younger than she. I hate the long drive. I hate driving in all that traffic once we are there.
Let's just say, I hate the whole idea of going, but I'll enjoy the fellowship once we are there.

All this will culminate with the two gals oohing and ahhing over the Oscar presentations.
I've never quite been able to understand what the interest in
"The Oscars" is: A bunch of dysfunctional people vote on one another's job performance, and WE are supposed to be interested...............why?

Yes, I'll watch.
But do me a favor:
Pray for Scarlet Johanson to outdo herself with her choice of gown for the evening!
That would make the night worthwhile.

Sara Jean, Addict

Help me, please!

My wife is an addict. I need to know if there is a 12-step program, or some other help for her.

She has found QVC.

It started off innocently enough.......she'd watch while I wasn't home.
Mostly jewelry attracted her attention, but stuff to beautify/improve the house would get her attention too.

She established an account with them, then bragged about how easy it was to buy stuff now that they had all her information......("Yes, that's the credit card number. Yes, that's the address!")

Soon, she was watching nearly all the time she was at home. I knew we were in trouble when she started referring to the hawksters by their first names, as if they were close friends.

Then I noticed the UPS guy was stopping at our house daily.
Now and then it'd be the FedEx guy, just for a change of pace.

New 600 count sheets on the bed.
Foofy soap in the bathroom.
And of course, the jewelry.......
Wow.......the jewelry!

I didn't have to scold her. After about a month, she figured it out herself....(maybe when she looked at her credit card bill.)

She's weaning herself, and I can see signs of withdrawal.
It's painful for her, this cutting back.
I'm proud of her for realizing on her own that she needed to get this problem under control.

I have two questions:
Is there a scientific name for QVC addiction?
Do UPS guys also go through withdrawal symptoms?

Lovely Rita, Meter Maid

The Army had decided it no longer needed my services. I had just gotten married and I had NO idea what I was going to do to make a living.
I had never collected a cent of unemployment insurance, so my new "Georgia Peach" wife and I went to file my claim for unemployment insurance.

The experience was pretty devastating.
I was overqualified for most available jobs. Also, the numbers of unemployed men at this time was pretty high, so competition for what jobs there were was great.

On top of it all, I found that the Army had paid me for two months unused leave, and I wouldn't be eligible for unemployment compensation until those two months had passed.

Our mood was lower than the belly of a snake as we walked back to my wife's Volkswagon Beetle, to find our Parking Meter registering EXPIRED, and a corpulent Meter Maid resting her foot on our bumper writing out a parking ticket. Without looking up from her ticket pad she said, "You're too late."
It was more than I could handle in one day. Something in my head snapped.
I looked at her, then at the out of state license plates on my wife's car, and made a quick decision!

I unlocked the passenger door like a gentleman and let me wife get in the car. Then to "Rita" I said:

"I'll make you a deal.......If you can complete that ticket before I drive off, I'll take it."

She was so stunned she quit writing as I opened my door, seated myself, started the engine, and drove away.
We drove half a block before realizing it was a dead-end street.
I had to turn around and drive back past Rita holding her ticket book.........wife #1 and I laughing almost uncontrollably, giving her a huge, friendly wave as we passed!

After all the irritation and negative news, being a rebel that day sure was good medicine!

A Tale of Two Scenes

Do you like making a "Grand Entrance"?

I have to admit, I sorta do.
And they don't get much "grander" than landing a helicopter on an Interstate Highway that has been shut down waiting for your arrival!

Last night we were dispatched to the scene of a single vehicle accident. On a clear night, on level terrain and barring obstructions, you can see the flashing lights of emergency vehicles from more than 20 miles out. We called 5 minutes from landing and the State Patrol shut down the highway in preparation for our landing. By the time we arrived, traffic was backed up for about a mile.

A young lady had departed the roadway at a high rate of speed and struck a tree with her driver's side door. The crew walked our stretcher to the ground ambulance where the first responders were working on her.

In ten minutes, my Paramedic returned to the helicopter with an empty stretcher......
that's not good!

To me he shouted, "She's arrested. We're taking her to the hospital by ground."
There was a local hospital within 8 minute's drive of the accident scene. CPR can be done more efficiently in the back of a ground ambulance than in the back of the helicopter.
Good decision.

I flew solo to the local hospital and shut down.
Five minutes later my crew arrived with the first responders.
After 15 minutes of CPR and heart stimulating drugs, the patient showed no improvement.
They pronounced her dead just before 1 A.M..



Tonight, just after my preflight, the phone rang again.
Another scene flight, this time 12 minutes away, on a two-lane country road. A 24 year old male left the roadway and crashed into a creek, partially submerging his car. ( It's 35 degrees F. outside......that water is near freezing! )

I earned my pay on the landing.......
the terrain rose steeply on both sides of the highway, and then was covered with 60' trees.
The only "safe" way to land was to come to a very high hover situated exactly over the highway centerline and hover down to land, sweeping the searchlight to it's extremes watching for wires.

With my crew on the way to the ambulance, the scene commander came over and shook my hand.........
"Beautiful job!" he shouted over the din of the machine.
Nice to hear. (Another Grand Entrance! )

The crew approached with the stretcher 12 minutes later, this time WITH the patient.
I helped load him, did a quick walk around to make sure all doors were secure, and did a vertical takeoff to 100 feet before transitioning to forward flight.

The patient was in the water to just above his waist, unconcious, and of course was hypothermic. He had an open head injury exposing his brain. He also had a priapism......(an erection).....an indication of high spine trauma. In the 14 minute flight to the hospital his heartrate slowed to 40 beats per minute and my crew gave him adrenaline to stimulate his heart.

I landed and went to the rear of the aircraft to help unload the patient and found the crew busy administering more drugs and pumping on an "ambu" bag to give him oxygen. I released the lock on the stretcher in preparation to unload it. The crew had cut off the patient's black, wet, cold sweat clothes and they were in the way of the stretcher's wheels. I moved them out of the way, and found that was a mistake.......my hands immediately felt sticky........the clothing was covered with his blood.

His prognosis is not good either. His injuries will probably overcome him before the sun shines once again.

I've had a bad string of scene flights lately. This is the fourth in a row where the patient either died before I could transport, or will likely die in a short time.

Sure, it comes with the territory.
But I'd much rather have the feeling I helped to make a good/better outcome more likely!

Live Like You Were Dying

Surely you've heard the song, even if you're not a country music fan.
Sung by Tim McGraw, it's a great one, and should be played at the start of the day for all of us.
I get misty-eyed every time I hear it.
We should all pay close attention to the words.

Regular "Pitchpullers" have heard it before, and I'll say it again and again:
My job reminds me continually that none of us are promised a sunrise in the morning.......


She was the first person Sara Jean met when Sara Jean's parents retired and moved to this town.
When I met Sara Jean several years later, she was still one of her best friends.
She looked like Loretta Young's twin, complete with those huge eyes.
A beauty that needed no makeup.

Shy.....so shy she was uncomfortable with my gregariousness in public.
I embarrassed her more times that I could count.
She tolerated me because of her friendship with Sara Jean.

We heard the news when it was already too late:
Breast cancer.....Bad.
She felt the lump and thought it was nothing. When her nipple inverted and there was a discharge, she finally sought help.
By then the disease had spread to her lymph system and her brain.

But then she fought like a trooper.
With the increasing success in cancer research, I told Sara Jean to encourage her to fight......fight, and maybe a miracle would happen before the disease got the best of her.

She continued to work until she needed so much pain medicine she could no longer think straight and do her job.
Still, she kept her chin up, not wanting to depress those around her.
At that point Sara Jean visited her almost daily, and saw her the day before she died. Although it was obvious she was failing fast, she still tried to keep my wife from being sad.

She was 44.
At the funeral, she was sleeping beauty....
just a thinner Loretta Young,
still one of the prettiest women in the room.


There are all sorts of ways to say it:
"Don't worry, be happy",
"Don't sweat the small stuff.....and it's ALL small stuff"

We do need the reminders.

How odd that for most of us, the problem is not "where is my next meal coming from",
but "how can I develop the discipline to keep from putting that in my mouth?"

And yet, we fret.
Sometimes we make those around us miserable.
Why?
Partly, because we forget how short life can be.

I hope you'll take stock of your life and enjoy the wonderful things we all have, to include easy access to good medical care.

I also hope we all begin to do the things we dream about,
then dream more dreams and act on those too.

Wouldn't it be nice to know that at our funeral our family and friends could laugh out loud, telling stories of our adventures?

So do it!
Live like you were dying.

Christianity.... Unnecessarily Boring?

Another post on religion?
Yeah, and if you read it, you may be surprised.

Sara Jean and I are proud to say we are Christians.
I think Christianity has been a tremendous force for good in the world.
I know, individual Christians can be pompous, self absorbed, and holier-than-thou......
Thank God, most are not.

We used to attend Church regularly. Lately, we've fallen off the wagon.
We're kinda rudderless right now... not because we have doubts, but because we're looking for a certain kind of Church.

We realize we are never going to find a Church full of perfect people.
We'd just like to find a Church that teaches the Bible...
All of it.
From the first page to the last.

A couple years ago, we were attending a Church with a vibrant,
story telling Pastor.
We loved the Pastor, but Sunday School was drop-dead boring.

The problem is programmed learning, brainwashing, selective teaching, whatever you want to call it.
Sunday School lessons were distributed in the form of "Quarterlies"...
booklets sent out every three months that prompted you on what to study each Sunday, including questions so you would get the theme of each suggested reading.

Why is this a problem?
Following these "Quarterlies", you never read the whole Bible.
Areas of the Bible that are considered controversial are avoided like the plague.
We never strayed from the quarterlies.

In all my years as a Christian,
no Church has ever guided me to read "Songs of Solomon".
Do you know why?
In a previous post I said "Peyton Place" has nothing on the Bible...
Turn with me now to "Songs of Solomon" and get your brains blown out!
Songs of Solomon is a wild love story.
Dana Carvey's "The Church Lady" would get the vapors!

Then there's the story about Moses I previously mentioned.
Remember I said Moses' wife did something interesting to keep God from killing her husband?
What she did was... use a sharp stone to cut the foreskin from her son, and spread the blood on Moses' feet.
Moses' FEET!
Keep that in mind, please.

The Book of Ruth...
Ruth was a comely lass. She was attractive enough to draw the attention of Boaz,
a rich property owner who owned the fields that Ruth
and her Mom-in-law, Naomi, were gleaning.
Ruth was recently widowed, and wanted to get closer to Boaz.
Naomi gave Ruth this advice...
"Bathe. Put on something that smells nice. Then go observe Boaz, and when he goes to sleep, go over and uncover his FEET.
He will tell you what to do.

Huh?
Moses' wife spreads the blood from her son's foreskin on his "feet",
and it convinces the Lord to not kill him?
Comely Ruth uncovers Boaz' "feet", and he tells her what to do?
What's goin' on here?
I don't care who or how attractive you are, if you come just after I've gone to sleep and uncover my feet, I'm not gonna be a happy camper!

You be the judge.
I know what I believe...
In the Bible, "feet"are mighty interesting!

I think if more adults were exposed to stories like this and the questions they motivate,
more of them would be likely to attend Sunday School...
maybe they'd even stay awake during Church services.

How about an an eye opener?
In the book of Matthew, in all those "begats", the ancestors that lead to the birth of Jesus Christ, there are only four or so women mentioned... by name or indirectly.
Do yourself a favor, and research the history of all those gals.
Believe me, their stories are extraordinary!

Mary was a Virgin... an innocent, and worthy of respect.
Many of Christ's other female forebears could be the subject of an "R" rated movie!

Another Favor, Please:

Some of you did this for me once before.....
Now I'll ask you to do it once more, and this'll be the last time, I promise!

Friend Lee is a budding Novelist and has entered a short-story contest being given by the Ft. Worth Star Telegram.
(He's in the finals!)

I'd appreciate it if you would lend Lee a hand and go to this link:

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/entertainment/special_packages/book15/

Under Lee's Bio, (# 038), find the highlighted words, "Vote here", and click on 'em, then enter the required information...........(takes about 3 minutes).

Look at it this way......the poor guy is lookin' for a major change in his life, and if things work out right, you'll have the warm feeling of knowing you committed a "random act of kindness"!

I'll let ya know how it turns out.

Thanks!

Up Yours!

Now, that's not nice, is it?

Yeah, if you are close to my age, it may be.

Have you had your colonoscopy yet?
Dying from colon cancer is an ugly, painful way to die..... and stupid too, because it's controllable these days.

I had my colonoscopy a little over two years ago. I'll tell ya about my experience, and what I'm hearing about how the procedure has changed since.

They gave me a gallon of a clear fluid called "Golightly".
(Sure, it made me think of Audrey Hepburn, but believe me, my body's reaction to it sure as heck wasn't the same!) Golightly flushes your intestines and makes them squeaky clean. You drink this gallon of clear, slightly salty tasting liquid in ONE hour, 8 ounces at a time.

After drinking the first glass, you have a mild case of diarrhea.....a little uncomfortable.
Second glass down........WoW!, can I get to the bathroom quickly enough?
Third glass.........just bring the container here to the bathroom, 'cause I'm stayin'! Honey, could you bring me a magazine?
Fourth glass.......surely there can't be anything more in there, right? But there's still a half-gallon or so of this nasty stuff left to drink!

By the time you finish the gallon, there is nothing but clear fluid coming out, and that's the idea: It gives the Doc a clear view of the walls of your intestinal tract. You can't eat or drink anything until the procedure is over.

Next morning I report to the Doc's office. They start an IV line on me to administer fluids, and give me Demerol and Versed.
Demerol is a pain killer.
Versed makes you drowsy, and helps you to forget that someone is about to feed 30-or-so feet of hose into your behind.

You're laying on your side as the Doc starts the flexible hose on it's journey. It literally is a hollow tube, and he can slide different instruments within this tube, like a camera or cutting devices, or both.

The drugs he gives ya should keep you comfortable during this process. I had a little discomfort when he was forcing the hose the last few feet to it's goal, and after the procedure my Doc was upset that he hadn't given me enough "juice".
(I'll make sure to remind these folks next time!)

On his "Journey Through The Center of Greybeard", he found one polyp that he thought might be a future troublemaker and "nipped it, in the bud!"

The recommended routine now is to get your first one done at about age 50, then another at age 60, and then every 5 years after that, unless they see trouble brewing. So, if you are over 50, get yourself scheduled. Most insurance companies cover it.

It's true when I say that the worst part of the whole procedure for me was drinking the gallon of that foul "Golightly".
Apparently, others thought the same thing.
I'm told that now you drink an 8 ounce glass of an orange flavored potion, and it does what the full gallon of nasty stuff used to do.
That makes it easier to think about going back in a year for a re-check.

The feeling of well-being, knowing that "Mr. C" isn't prowling around in there with nasty plans for my future is well worth the minor discomfort.

Get-R-Done, pilgrim!

Might Be Interesting......

Dennis the Peasant is someone I frequently find interesting.

He's a little rough around the edges sometimes, but his site is worth visiting because you find a nugget there now and then.

Next week, he intends to blog about his Muslim clients......folks he has gotten to know and respect.
Knowing nothing about real Muslims, I'll be reading.

I thought some of you might be interested in getting educated too.

The Great White Hunter

This is a test.

I'm tryin' to make sure I can download pics from my own computer
so I can broaden my inventory of photos to show you.

I terrify geese!

That picture was taken during last year's Goose Roundup.
That's yours truly in the cockpit, gettin' ready to put my headset on.
Purty, huh? (I mean the helicopter!)

The pic was taken at our local fairgrounds, about 3 miles south of where Sara Jean and Greybeard live.
Purty too, huh?

Good friend and great manager of liquids, Terry N. took the picture.
Terry....can ya believe we are just 4 months from doing it again?!

Neat.

Outta The Nest!

I just got off the phone with a former student, (former, as of this morning).
He was excited.......
He took his checkride this morning and is now officially a helicopter pilot!

Taking a checkride is stressful for the student, but it's not without stress for the instructor too.
To get to this point I've had to teach the student to hover, then learn all the aspects of flying in the aviation system as it exists today.

That means teaching him not only how to fly the helicopter, but the regulations, weather, communications, navigation/map reading, emergency procedures, airspace restrictions, and a ton of other things.
It's a daunting task.

This particular student knew how to fly airplanes when he came to me, so he already knew how to talk on the radio and get from point A to point B. That made my job a little easier, although there are some airplane things I had to help him "unlearn".
It still took me 50+ hours of flying to get him comfortable in the helicopter, and hours and hours of ground instruction to insure he knew what retreating blade stall and other emergencies are.

So I was also taking a test today.........to check my skills to impart my knowledge in a way he could understand well enough to regurgitate to the examiner.

He did fine. In fact, the examiner told him it may have been the best oral he had ever administered.
Quite a compliment.

I'll take part of the credit.
But the student has to have the right attitude and has to work hard to absorb all the information.

This was a good student.
Today he just started the learning process, believe me.

Night Flying

I've said before, most of my EMS flying is done without benefit of sunshine.
Statistically it is much more dangerous. Recognizing dangerous weather and navigating are more difficult.
In spite of this, I have learned to love night flying.

It all started in Viet Nam. Our enemy found they could fire 122mm. Katusa rockets....(Big, Loud, and Scary).... at our compound and disappear into the background before we could respond and try to help them assume ambient temperature.
Our answer to this threat was to do a "Rocket Recon" just after sunset each night and just before sunrise each morning. We would take off with a team consisting of an OH-6, a UH1-C gunship, and a UH1-H "slick". The little OH-6 would fly at treetop level with Pilot, Crew Chief and Gunner looking for suspicious activity along a swath that marked the rocket's range. My job in the Huey gunship was, as always, to provide cover and protection for the little bird.
The slick flew at altitude and carried 30 parachute flares, which they would manually push out of the aircraft timed so that the area was continuously illuminated for me and the little bird. This system worked pretty well.......except when slick would announce, "that one didn't fire", meaning the flare didn't ignite, leaving two possibilities:
The parachute and the flare both failed and the 15 pound chunk of magnesium was plummeting to the ground, or......
the parachute deployed, and that same 15 pound chunk of magnesium was slowly floating to the ground, nearly invisible, for the two low birds to find with rotors or windshields. When that happened, the little bird popped up to get a better look at surroundings until we were sure the flare was no longer a threat.

The pilots that were involved with this recon mission were excused from duty during the day. The mission required you to fly 90 or so minutes at sunset and sunrise, so you had to roll outta bed pretty early to beat the sun.......most guys didn't like that.
I volunteered for them as often as possible, because it kept me from having to fly in the heat of the day.

There were other benefits too.
Flying machines work better in cooler air.
Fewer flying machines airborne meant less chance of a mid-air collision.
There was less radio traffic at night, so the radios seemed to work better too.
And the biggee for me:
When shot at, you could see the muzzle flashes and knew right where to put your rocket and mini-gun fire to convince those folks they needed to stop that behavior right away!

Now let's explore why I continue to enjoy flying at night:
I have been a manager in one field or another for over 40 years.
I have citations from various supervisors saying I am good at it.
I am not good at keeping my mouth shut when I am exposed to counterproductive management techniques.

While working days, I was almost continually within earshot of managers, (some of them my managers).
Some of these supervisors managed in ways not conducive to forming a "cohesive unit" of those being managed. When I tried to point out the error in their technique, I found some managers, (particularly my own), took offense at my constructive criticisms.
I missed a promotion that was rightfully mine because of my big mouth, and realized that my "constructive criticisms" could eventually cost me my job.

The solution was to pair up with another pilot that wanted to fly days. The Lead Pilot of our base can accomplish more while those he needs to coordinate with are at work, so he agreed to work days while I work nights......and I almost never encounter a manager.
So in the Winter, it's already dark when I come to work.
I do get to fly in daylight during the long hours of summer sometimes.

It's difficult to try to convey how beautiful it is to come into a major city from the relatively unlit countryside at night. The closest I can come is to use an example that requires some knowledge of rocks.........Geodes to be specific. When you crack open a Geode, the interior of the rock is hollow and quartz crystals blaze at you. (The picture isn't a good example of that.)
The first time you do it is a shock!
Flying into the city at night is like that......all the lights laid out before you are breathtaking.
Introducing someone to night flying for the first time, particularly from the helicopter with it's extraordinary visibility, is truly safisfying.

It's one of the things I will miss most when I can no longer turn a rotor blade.

Jews and Arabs

Tonight on Brit Hume's Fox News show, Mort Kondracke said something to the effect that Arabs continually make "Anti-Semitic" remarks.
Is that possible?

Semite:
1. A member of a group of Semitic-speaking peoples of the Near East and northern Africa, including the Arabs, Arameans, Babylonians, Carthaginians, Ethiopians, Hebrews, and Phoenicians.

That's a definition I found at Dictionary.com.
You can see why I'm confused.......
Can Semites be anti-semitic?

Independence

From Instapundit,
a detailed article covering a subject we have discussed here in the past..........alcohol as a motor fuel. The article also discusses why hydrogen is NOT the resolution to our energy problem.

Go here and review........
I'm extremely interested in this subject, so you'll see more discussion later.

The big question:
How do we get enough "OOMPF" out of alcohol to power aircraft engines?