The Adventures of Chopper Chick!: Another only in L.A. moment.........

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Another only in L.A. moment.........

So there I was once again, flying news, flying on a pursuit, a suspect armed and shooting at the cops, only to end badly, not fatal, but with the suspect being shot, the only way to stop this crazed man from hurting the police or innocent bystanders. As I hovered over the termination of this wild pursuit out in Ontario, a large fireworks display was going off outside my right door less than a half mile away, eye level. How cool is that....getting to enjoy the gorgeous night, the excitement of the pursuit, and fireworks, in an amazing machine in the sky, only in L.A. (I started this post, didn't have time to finish, now finishing it today on Nov. 4)

Here's some photos finally.............

The verizon rock! Only place at the base where a verizon phone works.

View from the verizon rock of the mountains.

More view from the rock, of the helibase.

Up close look at the rock! hahaha

Verizon Rock!

Interesting ever constantly chaging weather up at the base.

Fogged in.

The crew and I after we IA'ed our fire.

Snorkle, cool toy!

The fire we Attacked.

Along side a CDF ship on the fire.

The crew and I up at the base in Keenwild.

3 comments:

Trevor said...: Desiree, I can relate to a fireworks experience like that. One night landing at Brackett Airport, we turned final for 26L just as the fireworks show for the LA County Fair started up. Talk about something that gets your attention. :); 10:59 PM
majroj said...: The last photo reminds me of the lyrics..."Right here, right now, there is no other place I'd rather be". Store it up!
(My moment with those lyrics was on a bus going to Desert Storm, or so I thought. Yours would be better).; 7:31 PM
camerapilot said...: Do I see a critter frame left and about half way down on that shot of your Verizon rock?
Your rock looks a lot like our rock that we had on that Tom Cruise movie "Valkyrie" that I worked on several months ago! Did you steal our rock?
The rock lives in the Lucerne Valley. The Lucerne was doubling Tunisia at the time. We were doing the aerial strafing and bombing action footage with our two Curtiss P-40E Warbirds out there which were driven by Mr. Hinton and his brother of "Planes of Fame",(amazing and gifted pilots). Anyway if anyone wanted to make a call, they had to stand on top of the Afrika Corp Nazi Rock as it wound up being called otherwise your call was dead......
Take care baby siste, Break-a-Leg!; 3:35 PM

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Alan Frawert - Vice President
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Morris Cohen
Guillaume Maillet
Chuck Street
Ed Story
Desiree Horton
Gary Hollbrook
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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!