The Adventures of Chopper Chick!: A trip down memory lane......past and present....

Sunday, June 22, 2008

A trip down memory lane......past and present....

After flying a 58T for most of my day yesterday out of riverside then going to Whiteman Airport to fly SKY 9, I had seen the old Screaming Mimi sitting on the ramp at WHP with all of the other helicopters based at Whiteman Airport. That made me think of the past, how for many years while flying out of Van Nuys Airport, I had seen her sitting at the northwest corner in her orginal paint like the picture below, just sitting there, waiting for a new home and to fly again. It made me think of the TV Series and a few other shows in the 80's about flying helicopters. Airwolf was my all time favorite. Magnum PI was good too. Anyone remember Tales of the Gold Monkey? hahaha. Ahhh, Blue Thunder. So many cool helicopter shows. I was fortunate to have the bug to fly helicopters since I was a child but then to be able to watch so many shows with helicopters was even more inspiring to someday fly them.

The Screaming Mimi

After years of sitting at Van Nuys Airport, she was purchased by Summit Helicopters, painted up orange and now a working utility ship based out of Whiteman Airport.

One bad ass flying machine! Airwolf! Which by the way, when I was learning to fly, this machine was owned and operated along with Santini Air(the jetranger in Airwolf) out of VNY at Helinet where I was taking lessons. It was great to see her sitting in the hangar and sometimes on the ramp, without her movie paint. She is originally black with red stripes. Santini Air was in it's original paint scheme from the show. Santini Air stayed busy flying alot and Airwolf, the Bell 222 did a little less flying. She eventually was sold and went to a new home somewhere. How fortunate was I to grow up watching this show, loving helicopters, and then taking lessons from the people who owned her! It was inspirational and amazing.

Some links - Screaming Mimi - Riptide.....
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.tvacres.com/screaming_mimi.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.tvacres.com/helicopters_screaming.htm&h=278&w=379&sz=13&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=hHQy_7koxBrKuM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=123&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dscreaming%2Bmimi%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7SKPB%26sa%3

More photos on the Screaming Mimi......
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.rotaryaction.com/images/riptide8.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.rotaryaction.com/pages/riptide.html&h=229&w=425&sz=22&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=6TWZ6szDhWo4dM:&tbnh=68&tbnw=126&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dscreaming%2Bmimi%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7SKPB%26sa%3DN

Some show's of the 80's I grew up with......
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.retrojunk.com/img/art-images/airwolf01.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.retrojunk.com/details_articles/1742/&h=327&w=400&sz=19&hl=en&start=17&um=1&tbnid=PncbTxXJXdhsKM:&tbnh=101&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dairwolf%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7SKPB

Today I am back at VNY flying SKYFOX. We cruised the coast mostly for the morning show. It was fun and beautiful as always. When I first arrived at VNY, the sun was still coming up. It was one of those moments I should have taken a photo, but no camera. Helinet had ten ships on the ramp, impressive as always to see so many all painted up differently, and different models as well. The sun was lighting them up beautifully. A photo wouldn't have done them justice. It was like the typical start of every morning over here, all the machines anxiously waiting to go fly.

3 comments:

Trevor said...: Desiree, 2 little bits of trivia about Airwolf. The 222 that was used in the show was sold and was sent overseas. Unfortunately it was destroyed in a crash in '90 or '91 I believe. And the "Santini Air" jet ranger you mentioned, it was the exact same jet ranger used in the opening shots of the movie "Blue Thunder". I barely remember Riptide but Airwolf was my Saturday night must-see hour of TV when I was growing up. :) Blue Thunder was a cool helicopter too, but Airwolf was ALOT sexier of a machine.; 4:48 PM
James Songco said...: Funny thing, a 1:1 replica of Airwolf was sold on ebay just a few weeks ago. The museum that had it closed down.

I like your blog Desiree, the photography is AWESOME!; 4:21 AM
Desiree said...: trevor, wow, interesting. always wondered what happened to her. how sad. the people that lost their lives. yes, airwolf, very sexy.

james, thanks so much! :); 7:30 AM

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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
support your helicopter
community.

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!