Here I am, back in Galena for another summer of fun in the sun.  There wasn’t much snow here.  It is already dry.  If we don’t have all the rain we had last summer, it could get busy in a hurry.

I’ve been here a week already, and just returned from my first break.  My last post was a real quickie…I wanted to show you the latest project Kitty and I are working on.  We put our bird house together in two days.  This was the first project that we have really jelled on.  We were on the same page with this project from the start.  It was fun and she’s not done.  There will be many more layers added by the time I go home again in two weeks.  Stay tuned for the final pictures then!

I have been asked several times for more helicopter pictures.  This time I’m going to do something a little different.  To be honest with you, I’ve gotten tired of taking pictures of N32AT.  You can only click the shutter for one machine so many hundreds of times.

I dug into the archives and found pictures of past helicopters I have worked on during my career.  Most of these were taken since I came North to Alaska.  I have many earlier pictures to show but must get them into a digital format first.  Yes, I started taking pictures of helicopters back in the stone age…well before the age of the internet and digital photography.

N415AL is the first Bell 407 I went to the bush with in Alaska.  This machine was a workhorse.  The crew I went out with flew this bird 1000 hours in four months.  I had four hours every night to take care of any maintenance needing to be done.  My rotating crew of three pilots flew from 0600-0200 every day.  We were moving people, supplies, and drill rigs around the tundra supporting a coal exploration camp just outside of Point Lay Alaska.  The camp was called Deadfall.  You don’t get much more remote than this place.  I normally don’t show pictures of people but I want you to meet Sjan.  She was one of the pilots working with me. I have been doing this work for a long time and she was one of the best longline pilots I’ve seen.  I watched this young lady assemble a drill rig so precise that the riggers could line bolt holes up as she descended.  That’s good flying.

 Check out this little Robinson R22 trainer.  It got rather beat up by a student that decided to deviate from his flight plan to show off for some buddies.  This is what happens when you show off before you know how to fly.  This was from back in St. Louis shortly before I made the journey north.

 What do you do in Alaska when it’s cold out and there’s no room left in the hangar?  You put the jammies on the helicopter and let it stay outside.  Yes, I said jammies.  Cold weather covers are standard up here.  You never know when bad weather is going to hit and it is easier to remove snow and ice with protected surfaces.

I know this is getting long so let me leave you with some more Robinson pictures.  Back at Spirit of St. Louis airport, I worked for a flight school for about one year.  We were right on the runway.  One of the perks was getting to watch the Blue Angels practice for the big airshow.  Imagine being right next to these guys when they kick in the afterburners.  Yeah, it was cool.

You know, I’ve done this a long time.  I’m ready for new and different challenges, not in aviation.  With that being said, it’s been a good and interesting career.  Enjoy!

My BO105CBS4 resting with Mount ReDoubt in the background.

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It’s Time For Me To Fly