Flying high

LJ's uncle John is a pilot for the police department. This afternoon after I got home from work, we took the kids over to the airport and we all got to take turns flying in the helicopter with John. Well, actually the kids mostly just hovered around the hanger with him, but he took LJ and me on separate trips around the city. It was pretty cool. This would be a good time to show you a cool picture from today, but we left the camera at my parents' house this weekend, so we got video but no snaps.

Anyway, we arrived at the hanger while John was at lunch, so we went with the kids over to the airport park and the kids swinged (swang?) for a while. As John drove past the park in the police truck, we saw us and turned the lights and sirens on to let us know he was back. We then walked over to the hanger and the kids all got in one of the helicopters that was parked there and pretended to fly it, flipping switches and pulling the triggers (the helicopters are all Vietnam-era Army surplus Hueys, and were once armed). Abs pushed a button and the engine tried to start. She scared herself (and us) and removed her finger quickly from the button. After that NoahKrakatoa made sure that she didn't touch it again (he said later that he "fweaked out"). After they played in the helicopter a little bit, we went outside, where John preflighted the helicopter outside and showed me how to strap everyone in and gave me instructions for how to bring the kids back and forth to him.

First up was NoahKrakatoa. I walked out to the helicopter with him and strapped him in, put on the headset, and plugged him in so he could hear John. Then I walked back and John started the engine. Noah looked unsure, very clenched up, and LJ commented to me that out of all the kids, Noah is the one most afraid of heights. I guess I should say that this particular Huey had the front doors removed, so there's nothing between you and the ground other than your seatbelts. Anyway, John brought the engine up slowly and Noah gained confidence, so that when he took off, Noah waved to us. John took him up from the pad and hovered backwards toward the grass between the hanger and Runway 29. Then he turned and hovered around back and forth for a few minutes and brought him back. BenjiBoy went next, then HannahBanana. When I came to get HannahBanana out, I asked John if Abs would be able to go. He wasn't sure how she would do, and he asked what she said. I told him that she wanted to go (she had asked to every time the others went), so he said that we'd give it a try. So Abs strapped in and went and she liked it a lot. Then LJ got her turn, which was probably 10 minutes of flying, and then finally was my turn.

I'm a big, tall guy (we'll leave it at that), so my biggest problem was that the flight controls had to make it past and around my legs. This meant that I had to sit in sort of a cramped position so that the collective and cyclic could make it past my left leg while I made sure that I didn't touch the pedals with my feet (there are live controls on both front seats). This made it a little bit nervewracking, since I felt like I might block a critical movement by accident, but John did a great job. This was the first time any of us had been up in a helicopter, and it was interesting to contrast it with airplane flight. I have been up many times in airliners, and I have flown in a Cessna and an "experimental" kit plane. Flying in the helicopter was much different.

For one, the takeoff and landing was much easier than going up in a plane. Although you feel the power of takeoff, it was a much more gradual transition than in a plane. Landing was much softer as well, and since you are at zero air speed at both times, it feels less dangerous, although I'm pretty sure that isn't the case. But it isn't as scary. In the air, it's a little bit different, although, granted, that could have been because I was totally exposed to the outside, my arm was out the door, and I could look straight down to the ground. But the sensation of flight was different too. I am pretty sure we were going slow enough that we would have been at the lower end of the flight envelope for even a small plane, so you really felt the rises and falls caused by wind, even though it was not windy at all today. I would hate to be in a helicopter in a bad storm (I have been in a plane in a bad one). Somehow the forward momentum of flight in a plane gives me a sensation that even if we hit an up or down draft that we will still be flying forward and that we'll be okay. I could imagine the helicopter getting tossed around quite a bit, although I'm sure John could have taken the speed up significantly had that been necessary. It was neat to see the city from above with the ability to really focus and identify things as you leisurely circle around.

So all in all, it was a lot of fun. Once I got back, NoahKrakatoa was ready to go again, but we will have to save the next ride for later. BenjiBoy and I were talking about it after we got home, and I told him that he got to do something today that billions of people will never have a chance to do. I'm not even sure that I even know anyone else who's ever ridden in a chopper, except for John's family. Cool stuff.