Like a kid on Christmas Eve ...

Can't wait to hear about your big day, tbf.

 

Good luck. Do they let you blow anything up?

 

what's the opposite of fyl?

 

Cue the overture to Also Sprach Zaratustra. Lock and load, dude. Remember to bring that slick in low and slow.

Testostorne and andrenlin. What more culd a boy ask for?

 

TBF is doing more before 6 a.m. than I'm going to do all day.

 

At some point you have to say "Charlie don't surf."

 

Lucky son of a bitch.

 

Well, I made it through the first day without killing myself or anyone else.

It was pretty damned awesome. After flying the helicopter we learned to fly on, this thing is a freaking Cadillac. Once you get it straightened out and leveled up, you can pretty much let go of the controls. It was pretty easy to hold altitude and airspeed, which were pretty hard in the Bell 206B.

But the most impressive thing was the power. The Bell normally used about 90 percent of its continuously available power to hover a piddly 3,000 pounds at three feet.

I pulled the Hawk up to a 10-foot hover, and it was using a measly 54 percent to lift nearly 15,000 pounds. Rather than using 65 percent to cruise at 90 knots, I used 42 for 120 knots. I was absolutely amazed.

Gotta run. I'll finish the story later. /still smiling.

 

Way cool to hear, tbf. Keep us updated on the next flights, too.

 

You're going to do a fly-by near Art Bell's house, right?

 

Nah. That's all the Apache guys trying to, um, compensate.

I belong to the Medical Service Corps and, therefore, won't be carrying any guns and such.

 

I watched that clip, today. Never gets old. Either fight, or surf, motherfuckers.