This last Friday (May 9) I took a 1-hour ride in a helicopter with my friend Clay Hayes. Janna and Clay's wife Andrea had purchased a voucher good for this ride at a charity auction for another friend of ours who has cancer.
The trip was AWESOME! I have taken several flights in small fixed-wing aircraft, but I had never before done the helicopter thing. I must say that several things stood out to me. First, the flight was not bumpy. Second, the takeoff and landing were very different. It feels weird to come into an airport and follow a landing strip for a few miles, the entire time just hanging out at about 10 feet off the ground. Finally, the movement is much different.
I put about 35,000 miles per year on my company car. In a car you can control speed and right-to-left direction. In a helicopter you can control altitude change, speed, right-to-left movement, tilt and the direction you face. At a single moment you may be climbing, spinning from North to East but traveling West, declining in speed and rate of climb as well as tilting from an upright position to a laying down position. It was awesome!
Our trip took us to some beautiful places. First, we cruised over to Clay's house, where our wives and kids were. Here is a short video of that.
After that, we flew over the temple.
From there we followed the Columbia River for several miles. We went out to Othello and then over by the Hanford area. From there we went out to Rattlesnake Mountain for some spectacular views.
This is my favorite video. We fly close to the ground and then the ground falls away suddenly.
From there we headed back towards town, curving around the other side of Badger Mountain and taking a small detour to see some cool sites.
My favorite part was the landing. Check this out!
1 comment:
How cool was that?!?! That looked like so much fun. Thanks for the video clips, it really felt like I was along for the ride.
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