Hello all,

I wish to express my interest in joining the 229th Battalion.

With regards to my flight sim experience, I have been flying flight sims from a young age but have only got serious about in the last year and half. I have experience in a number of combat flight sims including Il-2 1946, IL-2 CLoD, RoF and DCS. I also own a hotas, pedals and TrackIR.

Currently, DCS is my sim of choice and I really enjoy flying the helicopters. You could say that I am competent in the Black Shark and I have experience in the Mi-8. I also recently obtained the Huey (which is currently my 'study' aircraft) and I have logged about 10 hours in it so far.

I also build my own missions for DCS and have hosted sessions running those missions for other pilots.

With regards to personal information, I am 27 years old and reside in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. I am interested in joining C Company.

I wish to note that I work full-time, five days a week. I also have sporting commitments on the weekend. This means that the time I am able to fly is limited to Fridays and Saturdays PST.

Now, why do I want to join? Well, military aviation is a big passion of mine and I particularly enjoy learning about and flying helicopters. At the moment I am only able to fly helicopters virtually but in the future I would like to get a pilot licence and fly them for real.

The thing that most captures my imagination when it comes to military helicopters is the Air Assault. Further, my interest in this facet of military rotary aviation has only grown since I recently read Robert Mason's memoir "Chickenhawk".

So when I found out there was a virtual 229th Battalion which was doing air assault missions in Hueys via DCS: UH-1H and in a realistic manner (I put high stock on realism), it did not take me long to decide I wanted to join up.

I am looking forward to the opportunity of flying with mature, like-minded people and learning from helicopter pilots with real world experience (some which I understand is in Huey itself!). My preference is to learn to fly slicks but I am more than happy to learn to fly gunships if needed.

Cheers all,
Andrei Dragovic

Welcome Andrei, one of the admins will be along soon with the details you need to get flying with us. look forward to flying with you

Gidday Andrei, Welcome to the 229th.

Being a Sydney lad, you will be assigned to C Coy.
LiveBait is the C Company Commander and will take care of all of your induction needs.

A great bunch of talented guys in the Bn from mission builders to ex and current serving military experience.   I'm sure you will enjoy it.

I'm the C Company IP, so once you are settled in and ready, PM me for some Huey Basics and we will work you up for your Basic Wings Check Ride.

Looking forward to flying with you.

Thanks for the warm welcomes,  Logiebee and Samri.

I did my first post as a guest, so I am reposting here so that I can be more easily PMed.

Kind Regards,
Andrei

Hi Andrei, welcome to the 229th.
You have been accepted into C Company. Check your PM's and I'll fire one off to you shortly to get you going.
Catch you on Team Speak soon.

Welcome Andrei

Welcome to 1st Cav sir!

Welcome !

Hi Andrei...welcome to the 229th.  You certainly come to the right place for realism in military helicopter flight.  You're joining the ranks of some very fine pilots who are dedicated to making your experience here fruitful and exciting.  Samri is one of the best IP's in the Battalion to learn from so I would recommend spending as much time with him as possible. He has real world UH-1 military experience as an instructor pilot, so you will get the proper training your looking for.  You are also welcome to fly with any other battalion member or IP that is available.  I look forward to flying with you.  I'm unsure if you have received the official Welcome Letter so I will include one along with Captain LiveBait...watch your PM's.  See you in the virtual sky's...

Welcome!

Welcome Andrei, sorry im late in the welcome, ive just got back from some business interstate, anyway all of the above, we have been a bit quiet lately but im sure that we can start to resume normal flight ops soon and get the " sim passion" flowing !!!

Welcome Andrei.

Strut will get ya going

Welcome!