What A Blast!

[lrogers]

In Mobile, at the BATTLESHIP ALABAMA MEMORIAL PARK, they started giving helicopter rides this year. I promised my mother-in-law a helicopter ride for her birthday. Well, due to several things, I missed her birthday, but made up for it today!

The helicopter is a vintage (built in 1946) Bell 47, like the one used in the TV series MASH. It was even "wearing" GI olive drab paint and ARMY markings.

The ride lasted about 8 minutes and we went out over the river delta, back across the Mobile River, over downtown, back across the river, over a swampy area (now the REALLY FUN part) got "down-in-the-dirt" across the swamp, popped up and over the tree line, circled the Battleship Alabama and returned to start point. IT WAS GREAT! Hard to tell who enjoyed it more, me or my mother-in-law.

If you get in the Mobile area, this is a must-do!

[LCHIEN]

I have ridden a helicopter to work on offshore oil production platforms about 7 times in the last year each lasting about 45 minutes to 1.5 hours each way. Its exciting the first time especially after taking the required day-long course in helicopter ditching at sea survival where you are strapped into a helicopter frame in a 4-point harness, blindfolded and dunked upside down, and then learning to put on a rubber cold-water survival suit while floating in a pool.

I guess if everybody in Alabama had to do that they wouldn't sell so many rides...

OTOH, the helicopters I rode in were a whole lot newer than 1946... and we were taught to expect crashing at any time. I guess they must have good insurance in Alabama...

[Ken Massingale]

Getting high again, Larry?

One thing for sure, someone would have had to pry me off the seat after those 'REALLY fun parts', my butt would have made new button holes in the seat.

Glad you guys had a blast and got the blood rushing.

[cgallery]

especially after taking the required day-long course in helicopter ditching at sea survival where you are strapped into a helicopter frame in a 4-point harness, blindfolded and dunked upside down, and then learning to put on a rubber cold-water survival suit while floating in a pool

Really speaks volumes about the transportation company's confidence in the technology.

[lrogers]

LORING,
Know what you mean about going out in the gulf by air. I've had to do that too for work. This was a LOT more fun! Sitting up front in that bubble, you can see everything!

As for training, the first time I flew out, my training consisted of a guy telling me,"since you're sitting by the door, your job if we go in is to kick the door out and reach under the seat and toss out the raft". Didn't give me a warm and fuzzy feeling!

[LCHIEN]

Now I have taken a helo ride from Juneau, AK to the Mendenhall Glacier.
That was kool, riding in the bubble we popped over the mountain top and rode along the glacier's deep crevaces and deep blue ice, finally landing and getting out for a walk around.

Again, the Helo wasn't 61 years old...

One thing I think about (no much else to do while flying over 100 miles of ocean) is to realize how many things vibrate a lot and wonder how many stress cycles they can withstand. If you ever rode in ahelo you know what I mean.

[DJehlik]

A friend once said that a helo is a collection of parts flying in something resembling a formation, and 100% unstable.

I've had three helo rides, one in a Navy chopper that picked me up after ejecting from a B-47, and two enjoyable sight-seeing rides in Hawaii.

[gsmittle]

I flew in a helicopter from St. Louis to Cape Girardeau a number of years ago to take pictures. (I was a commerical photographer that week, and we had a contract with the Corps of Engineers to document their dredging work. Yawn.)

On the way down, the pilot spotted some wild turkeys below us (we were at about 1500 ft.) and he put us on the deck and chased them into the woods. I remember watching the trees getting bigger and bigger and wondering if my life insurance was paid up and if it was enough for my new bride to live on. At what seemed like the last second we popped over the trees and followed the Mississippi the rest of the way to Cape.

Another time I got to hang out the door and photograph some tree planting by the Corps. Big fun!

I'd love to learn to fly a helicopter!

g

[Whaler]

When I was a USAF survival instructor stationed in Hawaii my class was broken into two segments. The first was sea survival and ended with a Coast Guard helicopter hoisting me and my class out of the Pacific, no baskets just a horse coller. The second was land survival and ended at a flat spot up a mountain where the Army came in with one of those big banana choppers and took us out. Love to ride in helicopters.

[Uncle Cracker]

A friend once said that a helo is a collection of parts flying in something resembling a formation, and 100% unstable.

I've heard it described as 5000 moving parts, manufactured to insane tolerances, all trying to shake each other apart simultaneously.

I have always enjoyed my opportunities to ride.

[Slik Geek]

The first time I flew in anything was at a county fair at 16 or 17 years old. I bought a helicopter ride. The chopper was the bubble type, no doors. I was paired up with a girl who was by herself. The pilot was on the left, she was in the middle, I was on the right.

The only thing that was keeping me in the chopper was a single seat belt that stretched over me and the girl. It was a vulnerable feeling having nothing but open air between me and the ground when I looked to my right.

It was a blast. When we first took off, it felt like I was on a small plywood platform that was leaning forward, heading for powerlines. We easily cleared them, but for a moment, it felt like I was about to either fall forward off of the platform or drive right into the power lines.

[goslin23]

A friend once said that a helo is a collection of parts flying in something resembling a formation, and 100% unstable.

I've had three helo rides, one in a Navy chopper that picked me up after ejecting from a B-47, and two enjoyable sight-seeing rides in Hawaii.

Did everyone miss this? I, for one, would like to hear this story!

[lrogers]

Yeah, me too. After a ride in an ejection seat, the helo ride must having boring!