Archive: March 2016
On the 1st of January every year since 1980, exactly one-year after I began flying helicopter air ambulance from the rooftop helipad at Hermann Hospital in Houston, I created a folder on my computer entitled, EMS CRASHES. When a HEMS crash occurred that year I would add the details. I developed this practice each year because I could see very early-on in my helicopter air ambulance career how dangerous flying an air medical helicopter was.
Here’s the sad part: In 36 years I have NEVER had an empty folder at the end of a year. Does that shock you? It should. In fact I hope it enrages you. Sadly 2016 will be no different because on March 26th I woke up to the following headline:
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Categories:
My Two Cents Worth
Well, I hope everyone who went, survived the showy…snowy…Heli-Expo this year. Then again, there’s not much “survival” required anymore. Seemed to be a lot of hoopla over this year’s location in Louisville. No dancing girls like Vegas, sunny beaches like Orlando, or big city delights like Dallas or Houston. For me, I never went for the location. All night parties and a ton of freebies made the day go by. Navigating the CCR show at Big B’s shindig, hacking invitations at the bus pick-up, and staying vertical the day after on the exhibit floor…now those were the survival skills of Expos past. Ha!
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Categories:
ROTORwrench
I arrived overhead, looked down. Yep. That's the heli-terminal. Rows and rows of shiny little helicopters, parked in neat, white circles. Down I went. Nice approach. Noticed this funny, rather high barbed wire fence all around the heli-terminal. Strict security, eh? Hey-ho. Hop over the fence. Land in a nice, big circle beside a big shiny fellow. Great! Hey-hum. Don't want to shut down just yet. Having too much fun. I'm in circle number twenty. I see. Well, let's do some practice. Hop over to circle number eighteen. Lift up, hover checks, across we go. Settle down in the hover, DOWN we settle, BINGO!
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Moggy's Musings