Helicopters Make Me Smile

I'm not sure how I got here in my mind this morning, but something reminded me of my first helicopter ride. I have been fascinated with anything that flies for most of my life, and helicopters are at the peak of that fascination. My friends think I am a freak because I can tell you what kind of helicopter it is by the sound it makes as it flies over. They also laugh because when I hear one, after I tell them what kind it is, I almost always drop whatever I am doing to go take a look. My parents tell me that I road in a helicopter when I was very young but unfortunately I spent most of my life up to last year without the memory of a helicopter flight experience.
In the spring of last year, my fire department hosted Mediflight course for ground school training. This is where they show you how to set up and emergency landing zone, how to communicate with the incoming pilot, and just about everything else you may need to know about landing a helicopter on an emergency scene. We actually land Mediflight helicopters quite often related to serious motor vehicle accidents due to our being on the opposite side of the metro area from OU Medical Center which is the only level 1 trauma center we have. I had been looking farward to the training for a while, but was most excited about the possilibilty of going up in one of their "birds"...that's what all the flight medics call them. Throughout the whole course it wasn't looking good though. The helicopters assigned to out area where all on calls most of the evening and it looked like they would not be free to come to our station, but at the last minute they all got freed up and they sent one to us.
We set up a mock LZ behind the station and practiced bringing them in. Then they would load 2 or 3 of us into the cockpit and take us for about a 10 minute ride and then we would do it all over again. I was assigned to be LZ command for the first landing and after I brought him in I also went up with the first group. I had perma-grin the whole time.
On our flight we followed Hefner Parkway a little past Lake Hefner and made a big loop toward the east over The Village and back towards the station. We buzzed Quail Springs Mall and I caught myself thinking about all of the times I see a helicopter flying over and thinking to myself how cool it would be to be one of the guys on it...when I saw the people in the parking lot looking up I thought "I AM THAT GUY!"
I took some video and stills with the stations digital camera and made a real cheesy compilation video last year. The quality isn't that good but I watched it again today for the first time in a while and it still makes me smile.

Mediflight Training


I sat next to the pilot so I had a great view. It was the coolest feeling taking off and descending vertically. I studied the pilots moves the whole flight. Several months after the ride I had a dream that I had to fly and land a helicopter. I did pretty good...in my dreams!
My dad worked in an office for a couple of years that was right next to the Addison Airport in the Dallas area. When I was in town I would just sit and watch planes land and takeoff. On rare lucky occassions, I would be there when they were having a helicopter class. One day I went down and asked them how much it costs to get a helicopter pilot license. I don't remember the exact figure, but I do remember being shocked and thinking I would just stick to the plan to get my fixed wing license one of these days.