I'm off to fly Helicopters!!!

Holy smokes I can't believe that I can say that this Monday I will be living in Florida training to be a Helicopter Pilot! It has been an extremely long and bumpy road getting to this point. The hook to want to fly helicopters was set early when I was eight years old. Michael Bucove is in my opinion one of the best helicopter pilots in the world. He would show up at my door randomly and take me up flying. I remember the first time he took me, my friend Alex and our exchange student up over the ice field. I felt lucky being able to sit up front with a set of controls between my legs. I really wasn't expecting to have the chance to fly, but I remember Mike grinning and saying for me to put my right hand on the cyclic, left hand on the collective and feet on the pedals. The helicopter immediately got a bit bumpy and there was a general yaw left and right as I was battling with the wind and turbulence. Landing back in Juneau I was feeling really good about my new flight skills....that was until my buddy Alex got out looking like a ghost and upset with my flying. Sure enough His lunch was all over the Helicopter! Needless to say my flying ego was short lived, but the hook was set.

It has been 14 years from my first helicopter flight and I finally have my chance to live out my childhood dream. I had always thought that I would go straight from high school to flight school, but my heart, the FAA, and most importantly God had other plans for me. It has all worked out for the best now. By waiting Ive had the opportunity to go to Bible College, live in California and make some awesome friends. After battling back and forth with the FAA I finally have my class 2 medical certificate in hand. This has also given me the time to find the right flight school, after a couple of demo flights, lots of questions and forum browsing Ive chosen Bristow Academy to take my $60,000 to fly!

Its going to be an exciting time and I will be dedicated to diligently study and train. I will update this blog as I go throughout my training to keep everyone up to date. Please pray the God uses me to reach out to this industry and that I will stay focused. Thank you all for all your support!