S_Owen
Senior Heliman
Location: Wichita Falls, TX.
| I almost always start flying alone but usually after a few minutes, some people gather in the bleachers. I kid you not. Heli's are like bizarre here or something. There are very very few of us in this area. Most fliers at my field are NATO pilots here for training. They're never here long. Our field is smack in the middle of a large park. Usually, after the first couple flips, a small crowd gathers. Then, when it's time to charge the packs, it's Q&A time. "I didn't know helicopters could do that! How does it work?" Oh God......... You know, at first it was fun to talk about it to spectators, but after you answer the same question 500 times, it gets quite irritating.
One Wednesday afternoon, I snuck out to the field after leaving work early. I was the only one at the field. At about 5:00 some kids were getting ready to play softball. Well, all their parents saw me cutting loose. After running it dry and autoing in. I was startled by a thunderous applause. At least 100 people had gathered behind the fence to watch, I never noticed. Excuse me while I pick my JAW up off the ground!
All else aside, it is true that you should never fly heli's alone. If something happened, you would be just that, alone. BUT as has been said, some of us have no other choice than to fly alone. It always sucks to hear about someone getting hurt in this hobby but unless you are collecting stamps, there is always some risk.
Several years ago, I put the planes up and rode dirt bikes for a while. It was a lot of fun. I was exposed to much more risk doing that than flying helis. I was at Red River Motorcycle Park (otherwise known as Bulcher) having a blast. I saw a fellow rider flying down the creek. He lost it, got tangled in the bike, broke his neck and died. I will never forget that. Even though we play with flying lawn mowers, and have nothing but safety in mind, accidents will happen, thus is the nature of life. |
CCM
