Where to begin

Well, my love for aviation started when I was a young boy. I use to love to watch any and all helicopters fly. I was fascinated at this flying machine and hope that one day I too would be able to fly one.

Well, I think I was about 14 years old when visiting my cousin in Reynoldsburg, Ohio. There was a man flying a Bell 47 and giving rides. This may shock you because I think the rides only cost $25.00 and yea that was a lot for a young boy but, I had saved some money and I wanted to take a ride. It was the coolest feeling ever.

I remember it was like taking a ride on a cloud. He brought the helicopter to a hover and then, the nose of the aircraft nosed over and away we went climbing above everything. I remember that as a young boy I would have dreams of flying over all my friends houses but, not in a Helicopter but, by just spreading my arms out and take off running. It was everything that I had dreamed of.

It would be quit some years before I actually started taking flying lessons, but I remember buying a book on "How to Fly Helicopters" and I think I read that book over a thousands times. But, when it came to taking flying lesson in the a Hughes 269C also know as a Hughes 300 all of that reading helped everything to fall into place.

So, if you are serious about flying some day I suggest that you start reading up on books about flying, navigating and aerodynamics. There is so much to learn and you don't want to have to cram reading while you are learning to fly. Flying takes all of your concentration and then some in the beginning. But, after so time it becomes second nature.

The picture below is a 269A helicopter which I believe this one was a trainer for the US Army at one time. It is own by a man in Bremen, Ohio. A friend of mine Steve was taking flying lesson.

I hope that those of you that fly and stop by this site will share with us their flying experiences, close calls and so on.

Next time I will wright on what I learned from an experienced commercial Pilot while flying with him one day. It was valuable information and I was surprise the none of my flight instructors ever advised me of this info while I was training with them. Or perhaps that did but I was so overwhelmed with the training that I forgot about once I had obtained my pilot license and started flying on my own.