Greetings fellow Rotary Wing pilots!  I'm super excited about this community as it appears to be exactly what I was looking for.  Allow me to introduce myself.

Name: Ramon "Trip" Rodriguez III

Age/status: 36 and married.  No kids.

Timezone/Location: EST Greentown Pennsylvania USA (2 hours from NYC, 2 hours from Philadelphia)

Availability: Weekdays 6pm to 2am.  Weekends 10pm-2am.

Experience:  I've flown a few hours in the Huey and Gazelle (no combat yet) but I'm still a total noob.  I've flown the Ka-50 for a few minutes and own the Hip but haven't even started the engines yet.  I am also quite new to DCS.

For starters I'm extremely interested in trianing, both formal and informal.  Right now time is really tight, but that should let up in the next month or so.

About me:  

I've been somewhat obsessed with helicopter flight since my first ride at around ten years old (A Niagra Falls tour ride).  I spent a decent amount of time flying a helicopter in FSX many years ago, have flown ultra micro helicopters a little (mSR, SR120, mCPX), nearly got to go to helicopter school 15 years ago, and recently got started in DCS.  

I love the challenge of flying a helicopter, so the tougher a bird is to manage the happier I am.  This does not mean I'm a great pilot!  I believe with some training I can be decent, but I'm not likely to ever be a tournament competitor.  

I fly exclusively in VR on a home built 6DOF motion simulator (new pics and videos coming soon) which is currently all taken apart for a cockpit upgrade.  I'm likely to be pretty busy working on the cockpit for a good while yet, and will have a lot more time for actually flying once this current stage of construction is complete.  

Aside from simming I'm into the Chevrolet Corvair, an air cooled rear engine American car built from 1960 to 1969.  It's basically the American Porsche but a LOT more affordable!  Not fast but handles great, looks great, and has lots of interesting history and trivia.

Anecdotally I was briefly actually a member of the RL 1st Cavalry Division stationed at Fort Hood TX back in the year 2000.  The big ole' Cav patch still graces my uniforms, which haven't fit for over a decade LOL.  

Here is a vid (not helicopter flight sorry) of my sim in action.  I've since started building a much larger upper platform for more complete cockpit elements as I determined weight wasn't the issue I originally thought it would be.  

Hi Trip, welcome aboard, I hope you'll find this a good place.

Someone from A Coy will be along sometime (they don't get up early) and sort you out with forum access and stuff and then you'll be good to go.

oh I forgot to say I'm envious of the rig!!!!!! Wait till some of the lads see this... you might be getting a visit ha ha

(D/229) Gizzy wrote:oh I forgot to say I'm envious of the rig!!!!!!  Wait till some of the lads see this... you might be getting a visit ha ha

Thank you for the kind words. I imagine I will have some visitors come play with the motion sim once I get to know folks here. =)

Hey trip welcome look forward to flying with you

Thanks Cib, I look forward to participating and learning.

Hey Trip,

TRIP or RODRIGUEZ for your signature... PC overheats when I try to put it all in

Welcome to A Coy, Trip.

That's some rig you've made. You'll fit in here just fine haha

Hey Trip, welcome to the 229th.
Your 229th forum account has been activated. An intro letter from the brass is on the way. In the mean time set up your call sign to access this forum and TeamSpeak. Example: (A/229) Trip.
Come on TeamSpeak when you can. Someone will show ya around, and hook you up with the requisite mods for our servers. Once settled in, I'll orient you to our training program. Have fun.

(D/229) Gizzy wrote:Hey Trip,

TRIP or RODRIGUEZ for your signature... PC overheats when I try to put it all in

LOL. Lets go with Trip.

Thanks Chic.

Just FYI guys, my sim cockpit is in pieces currently so I won't be able to fly for a couple weeks. Once she is airworthy again I'll be putting in at least a few hours a week with you guys, probably more. In the meantime I can do ground school and hang out in chat and the forums.

Also a quick question: I was also looking into "The Black Shark Den" before I got turned onto you guys. Is it ok to be a member of both groups or should I retract my application over there?

Trip it is, signature added.

Re BSD I'd say check them out...'you have to try on the shoes before deciding they fit' ... and there is no bar on belonging to several communities at the same time as far as I know but, the old adage of 'you'll only get out what you put in' will ring true in the 229th.

If you decide to move on that's cool, just let us know .... most do not.

(D/229) Gizzy wrote:Trip it is, signature added.  

Re BSD I'd say check them out...'you have to try on the shoes before deciding they fit' ...   and there is no bar on belonging to several communities at the same time as far as I know but, the old adage of 'you'll only get out what you put in' will ring true in the 229th.

If you decide to move on that's cool, just let us know .... most do not.

No Sir, If anything I'll probably be dropping BSD but wanted to know if it was ok to still check them out since I had already applied before I found the 229th.

PS- I expect to stop by the voice comms tomorrow night if nothing goes awry.

Got on the TS3, but it's super late and there's only one person online. I'll have to try to get on earlier tomorrow but this week is a bit crazy for me so not sure I'll make it. I'll keep trying, and worst case I'll be around next week.

I'm going to be starting work on the Huey controls, so I'll still be plenty busy while I wait for parts to come to get me back in the air. I hope to be training with you guys in two weeks or so.

No worries. We'll be here.

Got on last night and hung out with some of the guys, it was nice to meet some of you folks. =)

Hi guy would like to join you squadron I fly all the helo's in dcs I'm in Canada central time zone

Hey Snakeshit, welcome to the 229th.
Your 229th forum account has been activated. An intro letter from the brass is on the way. In the mean time set up your call sign to access this forum and TeamSpeak. Example: (A/229) Snakeshit.
Come on TeamSpeak when you can. Someone will show ya around, and hook you up with the requisite mods for our servers. Once settled in, I'll orient you to our training program. Have fun.