The Adventures of Chopper Chick!: Oooohhhhh the adventures......it just doesn't stop....

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Oooohhhhh the adventures......it just doesn't stop....

It’s been crazy lately. Not much time to blog. You would have thought it would slow down after coming back from fire season during the summer. I’ve been busier now than ever before. Flew news like crazy all last week. Went to the final premier of One Six Right at the Van Nuys airport over the weekend on Saturday with Stacy Sheard(chopper chick), Tracy Glazthofer(chopper chick) and Stu Mundel(chopper chick groupie) Just kidding, Stu is the cameraman in the chopper when I fly for KNBC. He’s also an airplane pilot. Owned his own plane for a while there. We had a blast. The final showing was in the Syncro Hangar with all of the aircraft in the movie. Brian Terwilliger, the man behind this whole amazing creation was there of course. Chills were felt by all through various moments the whole night. It was just the coolest thing. If you were there, you would know. Words cannot describe. Then Sunday, NBC wanted us to fly on the Moorpark fire but it was too windy. I ended up flying our fire contract helicopter(the one I flew all summer) to Las Vegas Sunday afternoon. Met up with 3 other Chopper Chicks in Vegas, Maggie West, Tracy Glatzhoffer, and Elizabeth Cook. The next day, Monday, I flew the B3 to Kingman Arizona to drop it off at the paint shop. We are finally getting our fire paint job for the ship. When we took it over at the beginning of summer it was an old news bird with news paint. News Chopper can still be seen on the tail. Anyway, left the ship there and jumped in the company Cessna 182 with the boss and returned to Whiteman where we are based, then I jumped in our Astar B2 and was sent out to go fight the Moorpark fire. Wow, 3 states in one day! Arrived at the fire helibase and by that time the day had come to an end. The next morning we were released along with other helicopters. The fire was pretty much out. It was great to go out there anyway. Ran into old friends and people I met over the summer. It was great to see them if even for just a day. Went back to base Tuesday morning and got a couple hours sleep and now back on nights flying news 2-12. Flew last night on a structure fire and had a blast putting the night sun on it. As always I get a kick outta that thing! It’s like long lining with a powerful light. Well, I started writing this yesterday, Tuesday, and now it’s Wednesday, so you can see it’s tough for me to find the time. I seriously read all your comments every chance I get I really enjoy everyone’s comments. Thanks for the interest in my adventures and I promise to keep them coming! Talk soon! If there’s any typos, please forgive, I don’t have time to re-read, just typing away as fast as I can! Have a great week everyone!

4 comments:

trevor said...: Desiree, You and that night sun again.... I'm tellin you someone is going to think the mother ship has arrived.....:-); 10:03 PM
Eye in the LA sky said...: Hi Dez. Hope to see you @ Chucks' soiree Friday.; 10:32 PM
Desiree said...: trevor, it's soooo much fun! it's a new kind of adrenaline for me now that i'm not doing fires as much. flying news again after being gone all summer is now more exciting than ever. sometimes you get slightly bored doing the same thing and then you do something different and come back to it, like news and fire, and now the news is alot of fun with the stories we are chasing, the things we are seeing, like the nuclear powered submarine in the port of los angeles today from the news chopper!

eye in the la sky, i will see you tomorrow night at the party for sure. i will be flying in with my cameraman stu since we will be on shift. we will hit the suite with the night sun upon arrival.; 6:53 PM
Askinstoo said...: Hi, i was looking over your blog and didn't
quite find what I was looking for. I'm looking for
different ways to earn money... I did find this though...
a place where you can make some nice extra cash secret shopping.
I made over $900 last month having fun!
make extra money now; 8:49 PM

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PHPA / Professional Helicopter Pilots Association

Promoting safety and
understanding among
helicopter pilots, the PHPA
continues its mission
contributing to the critical
operations maintaining safe
helicopter missions and
acting as a liaison with the
community.

Coordinating efforts towards improving communications, methods of operation within the airspace system, or any other area that will contribute to the safety and education of all pilots;
Provide a forum for identifying and seeking resolution to local problems of interest to the membership;
Promote community relations between the public and the helicopter industry.

The PHPA is a national
organization with the
corporate office in
Los Angeles, California.

Become a member and help
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Go to:
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Board of Directors
Executive Officers & Board of Directors
Robert Butler - President
Alan Frawert - Vice President
Tom White - Secretary
James Paules - Treasurer
Board of Directors
Morris Cohen
Guillaume Maillet
Chuck Street
Ed Story
Desiree Horton
Gary Hollbrook
Pat Carey

Board of Advisors
Ricarda Bennett Esq - Legal Advisor
Alex Calder - Web Administrator

How I got started..........

For those of you who are looking at a life of flying helicopters or just curious how I started and got where I am today, read on.......................

I have been flying helicopters for over 18 years and mostly here in Los Angeles until recently in 2005 when I started fighting fire as a contract pilot all over the U.S. during the summer and in the off season on occasion. Currently I fly for about six different companies as a free lance contract pilot. My main company that I work for is Heli-Flite/Aris Helicopters in Riverside, CA, where I do Aerial Construction flying, fly for Corona Police Department, and fly fires during fire season. In the off months outside of fire season I fly some news and photo and movie production flights for various other companies which some of them I have been working with for over ten years. Since I have received many emails in regards to how does one become a helicopter pilot.....I am giving a little insight to those of you who ask how I got started and how much it costs to become a pilot, well it's a long story and everyone has a different story as to how they got their start. Some people had it easy, some people had it tough, some joined the military, others did the civilian route. There are so many different ways to do it and no one has the same story. As far as cost, well it was alot less 18 years ago, so you will have to check with a flight school on that one. I started flying when I was 19 years old and at the time I couldn't get a loan, so I worked two jobs 7 days a week and after two years, finally got my private. If you can get loan, it will not take you that long as I could only afford a couple of lessons a month. I never got my CFI as I found other ways to build time. Even 18 years ago being a CFI did not pay the bills, so I worked other jobs and flew part time over the years to build my time. I washed helicopters in exchange for flight time. I even paid for left seat time for quite some time to build hours. I jumped on any chance I could get for free flight time riding along with other pilots in an empty seat. I made lots of sacrafices and had no time to myself. It was all about flying, kinda how it still is today. hahaha. Anyway, I started a dba and made brochures and brought myself my own flight business doing tours and photo flights out of a Hughes 269 and an R22. Eventually I had some money to put myself through Bell Factory School which enabled me to fly a Jetranger early in my career with very little time. Back then insurance companies did not require massive amounts of flight time. With just 300 hours and factory school, I now had a jetranger to run my tours in. It eventually led to flying for other companies. Sending myself to Bell school opened up opportunities and possibilities for me. It was also my reputation that opened doors. Attitude is everything. You will not suceed in this business with a poor attitude. Keep that in mind. Trust me, I'm not perfect. We all don't have perfect attitudes, but you know what I mean. My job offers took off from there. I was doing tours for various small tour companies and flight schools and then started flying traffic watch, then soon I was flying news in a 206 which later led to an astar. When I got into fire, I sent myself to long line and mountain flying school. Sometimes if you want something, you will have to pay for it to get ahead and open doors for yourself. I found a company that hired me with no fire experience. With my training I had paid for and experience from flying over the years I was on my way to do what I had always dreamed of doing, fighting fire from a helicopter. I was patient as it took time to get where I am today. You have to be patient sometimes. I still get impatient on occasion and want it all now, but it just doesn't work that way. So my advice to up and coming pilots who ask how to do it? Find a good school, find some money, stick with it, don't ever stop, don't make excuses, don't let others discourage you as that will happen your entire career, and you will suceed and get what you want eventually. Good luck!

By the way, some pilots never stop paying their dues. Sometimes if you want certain things to happen in your career you will find yourself making the same sacrafices later on, but the sacrafices seem even greater because with time, comes more responsibility and more to lose when sacrafices are made. But sometimes the gain is worth it!