SIX...

Thanks a ton for posting this up! I laughed until I spotted myself (well, not really).

"...and how long until it clicks with me?"

"6 to 8 months..."

LMAO!

This took me back to the days when I was a teenager (1969) and used to accompany my Dad out to the Army Primary Helicopter School at Ft. Wolters, Texas where he was a civilian I.P. contracting to the Army training WOCs (Warrant Officer Candidates).

Out at the myriad "Stage Fields" spread over North Texas, there was always a huge concrete area that was used for learning to hover. One of the little TH-55 (Hughes 300 to us civie types) would amble over to the middle of the parking lot type area (always steady as a rock...obviously the I.P. was at the controls), it would settle gently to the pavement, then there would be a few minutes of imparting a brain trust toward the student in the art of hovering, then the "fun" would begin!

The little machine would rise and begin a rock and roll "dance" LITERALLY ALL OVER the huge pad area! The nose would dip, it would rear back up, drift left, drift right, the little machine would shoot up, drop back down...and all the while myself and the I.P.s that were standing around (their students were post-solo and were in the traffic pattern doing practice approaches, etc), would be laughing our asses off! As a 13 year old, I was afforded only a small amount of guffaw, but these men in their zippered "hero costumes" (they, like my Dad were all ex-Army types, had been to "the Nam", and were all now riding the gravy train of being a civilian instructor) would laugh, point, slap each other on the back, and generally have WAY TOO much fun watching some poor I.P. out in the "rodeo arena" trying to teach the un-teachable.

Eventually (after SEVERAL moments of "rock steady" in the hover)....the I.P. was obviously on the controls trying to get this knucklehead to STOP CHURNING THE BUTTER with the cyclic, JACKING THE PUMP with the collective, and God knows what they were doing with the anti-torque pedals!...the little bird would hover over the same patch of ground (well kinda) for the required amount of time, and the fun would be over...

...until the next little orange and white machine would taxi into the "rodeo".

"Out of shoot number 7....being ridden by WOC Jones.....WIDOW MAKER!"

Ah....good times....good times. Btw, I'm just finishing up putting these memories onto paper, and will post up a link to my blog when it's finished....the title is "The Sundance Kid" (one of the Stage Fields was named "Sundance").

THANKS AGAIN SIX! This made my day...