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Ta Da! Charlie Kaman was a guitar fan and he bought and installed the "guitar works" on an unused upper floor of the Kaman factory building. Some of my fellow pilots had flown the SH-2 SeaSprite on active duty and were always talking about Kaman. I had a co-pilot at one time who had test pilot...

To duck or not really depends on the type of helicopter. Some years ago, I and another pilot were assigned to transport a group of "suits" around the Scott Paper operations north of Mobile. We parked next to one of Scott's Kaman K-Max logging helicopters. You've seen them. Two rotor heads and...

Yes. Called "OSAP". See AC 90-80C.

Helicopters have been doing IFR from remote locations for decades. The IFR ops offshore US have enjoyed a good safety record. See AC 90-80C for details. The FAA does not certify the oil rigs and moving ships as landing sites. They do provide that AC for guidance. Bottom line, if a helo can pick...

Odd that the term: "Viking funeral" has yet to be mentioned.

A bit off topic. The Navy used to offer a burial at sea for veterans. I heard of one ceremony when the coffin was inadequately ballasted. It continued to float and was a Hazzard to navigation. Until the Skipper ordered that a .50 caliber machine gun be employed to sink it. I heard that there...

I now realize that it's impossible to do using most GA aircraft. Several pilots have related horror stories. The absolutely worst was an attempt to discharge by hand from the open tail ramp of a USMC helo. It evenly coated the entire interior and very little was dispersed. Do a test with talcum...

The Army "Nap of the Earth" training program teaches this. I had an OEI experience that required an approach to a landing in a confined area. Approach was over a highway with power lines. No go around considered. PIC (Navy Reserve Captain) and I (Flying pilot) discussed this and I lined up the...

Back in helo trainining, we were instructed to deal with an engine failure over a forested areas to pull the nose up and descend into the trees tail first. 40 feet of aft fuselage to act as a crumple zone. I knew a retired USAF pilot who survived two of these in Alaska without a scratch. One was...

Sometime, the performance charts are published as "15 meters." And in the same Flight Manual. No sweat. that equals 49.2 feet. But the question is Why cut it that close? When was the last year that the trees were measured? Just add %100 to whatever is noted for trees and you may be OK. I would...

Also, the FBO can tow it in tight circles with that rudder clamp thingy in place. Lots of stretch in those bungees.

Magnetic chip detectors. I and about all of the pilots I knew have had one or more (or many) of these warning lights illuminate in flight. Procedure is to carefully set your coffee down, pick up the emergency check list and run it. The detectors do differ among aircraft. Basic ones are bayonet...

Luv, that's rather cold to label me a jinx. We were going through a nation wide base closing and reduction. Lots of turmoil for lots of people. Our next door neighbors at Carswell AFB also got the ax. Do you also label them as jinxes too? C'mon, say you're sorry. Some years ago, I made a list of...

At the time, we were within the apt boundries at about 100' and they did roll the equipment. All that did was to block my air taxi to the ramp with big fire trucks. I recall telling twr that if the fire truck didn't move and this crate quit (four foot hover) the taxi way would be blocked. Twr...

I have never actually said "Mayday" or "Declaring an emergency", however, I have had a few. I once had back to back emergencies on successive flights 30 days and 650 miles apart. Back in the day, I was the Air Crash Rescue Chief assigned to Beach Army Hospital at Ft Wolters, TX. I had four...

Let's see. Issue a raincheck to one kid at a time on a rotational basis: Not good. Two kids, one belt. Nah. Kids will "age out" of that arrangement eventually. As I see it, you have one good solution. Shop Cessna 195's on Trade-A-Plane.

There was a time in the 70's when we thought we lost Mike. Both Mikes were assigned to Ft Bragg. Jr was in that Med Bn that belonged to the 82nd. Sr was flying the Golden Knights. At that time the jump ship was a C-47. Around that time frame a lot of ex-USAF C-47s migrated to the Army. It was in...

I first met Mike early January, 1969. We were assigned to take a short class at Fort Sam Houston (home of Army Medicine). We were getting a quicky course to make us combat medics in addition to being RW pilots. Most of the class were new WO-1 pilots. Mike was going back for a second tour. Mike...

I and another pilot were detailed to pick up an aircraft that had been in storage and take it to Corpus Christi. Climbing through 1,500', yellow jackets streamed out of the fwd avionics compartment. We looked at each other for a second or two and we both came to the same idea. Climb to 10,000'...

Just an idea. Take a look at VAL. www.valavionics.com. The Nav 2000 is stand alone, the 2KR plugs into your glass. Around $1500.