Flying News, Lift Jobs, Patrol, etc.

Photos by Skip Robinson from the Lift Job at the Beverly Center on June 7, 2008

So much to tell, so little time.......as usual lately!

It's been probably the busiest past few months of my life. With working for many companies and working nonstop and enjoying every second of it. Well, maybe not every second. hahaha. I'm very fortunate that after eighteen years of flying I still get excited about flying have new and fun moments constantly with new adventures in flying. Every time I fly I want to blog about something I experience on my flight that I think is so cool and amazing, but by the time I get home or find a computer, I am lucky to get to bed and then off to work as soon as I awake. I feel like I'm not keeping up my diary! hahaha.

I want to blog more often and share so much, but just do not have the time. I started several posts but since I didn't finish them they have gotten out of order so I erased them.

Recently there was a day I started to title a post.....3 Airports, 3 Helicopters, and 3 Missions, as I had seriously done that all in one day working for three different companies. It was quite exciting to think that one could do that, rather than exhausting. But I never got around to finishing that post that I had started. At the time it was a rush to fly all those missions and machines and sometimes I still do that all in one day. Now it's usually just two machines and two airports quite frequently.

Another one was going to be Musical Choppers as all of us news helicopters flew around each other trading positions in the sky over a 2 different big stories we were all working. It was really funny and fun! I couldn't stop laughing at how it seemed like musical chairs in the sky as we swaped positions all morning. We all had a good laugh and fun despite the horrible stories going on beneath us as usual.

Another day was going to be titled Dolphins Catching Waves, and Low Level Fly Bys, Two Highs of my day! That was a great day I remember. I had flown earlier that day and flew along the shoreline and watched the dolphins surf the waves instead of their usual porpusing through the water. Groups of them were riding the waves till just before they broke to white wash. It was really quite fun and beautiful to watch. Then later that day I flew another mission for another company where I got to do a low level pass for something, and that was quite the rush. Let's just say I don't get to do that often enough and that was soooo much fun! The fun never stops! Hey, that's a quirky little title too. hahaha.

Then, there was Chopper Chick goes to the White House as I had the rare opportunity of getting a private tour inside the white house. A friend of mine works there. It was really cool.

Then I had a post called Inspiration for Chopper Pilots as I had a really cool photo to post that I know will give everyone a rush! It's truly one of many reasons helicopters are so fun. That photo is up top here.

Well, let's see, last sunday I flew for the news and hovered over history in the making as Universal Studios backlot was burning up. I was the first helicopter on scene to see New York Street still burning, then as it spread to the other stages, and then spent the rest of the day over the film storage wherehouse as that burned way past my shift. When I left it was still buring and dozers were trying to demolish it to break down the endless flames.

Just two days ago I flew the 58T up to Moffet which was really cool to land there once again. But before I went I got to see our chief pilot fly our round motor for it's last flight. Heli-Flite has 3 T's in operation and one round motor which they just sold to a company in Alaska. Igor Sikorsky would have been so proud to see it up and running. It's an awsome machine to see fly as it's 9 cylinder radial engine puts out quite the noise.

Here's a link on the Sikorsky 58

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_H-34

The ones I fly are the T's which were converted from the round motor to the twin turbine engine.

As soon as I get the photos from my chief pilot of the round motor I will post those.

Once up at Moffet I did a lift job the next day which was Wednesday this week. It's now Saturday. As you can see I'm trying to get online when I can to try and finish this post. hahaha. That lift job was fun. Flew the blue 58T and put units on a the Cisco building up in San Jose. What a rush that job was. I love lift work. I had a great time working with the crew up north at our north base.

Today, Saturday, June 7th, flew a lift job at the Beverly Center. That was as usual a great experience and loads of fun! Flew news and police yesterday. Been super busy! I'll be flying news again tomorrow then back to patrol mon. tues. and lift job again wed.! It just never stops.

Have a great week!