These two cuties were my “cargo” on a recent Pilots N Paws mission.  I flew them from a short way from Chicago to Peoria… just one of many legs in their journey from North Carolina to Colorado.

Picking up our passengers at Atlantic Aviation (PWK).

My husband, Steve, tries to get everyone situated in the back.

Looking a little nervous.

And we're off!

Awww, so photogenic.

Back on the ground - Peoria (3MY)

Handing the pups to the next pilot, Bob Blumenshine.

Question:   What does it take to fly a helicopter?
Answer:    Lots of money!

These words of truth and wisdom were from my helicopter instructor, Rich Locklin of Bachman Aero, where I just had my first lesson at Schaumberg airport. It was a blast, but I have to say: helicopters are really hard to fly. Dare I say this… it made flying an airplane seem easy in comparison.

First, there are more controls to worry about. There’s the collective, which changes the pitch angle of the rotor blades to increase or decrease the lift. There also the cyclic, which is like a super-touchy joystick. (Touch it, and the helicopter shoots off in some undesired direction. Leave it alone, same result. Vexing.) The anti-torque pedals are similar to those in an airplane, as is the throttle.

Rich got us up to altitude and then handed over the controls.  I was able to follow the highway, make turns, and maintain altitude relatively well. My familiarity with airplane steam gauges helped with this.

Just as I was feeling a little cocky,  like I might be able to do this, like maybe I was a natural… well, then it was time to hoover. It all went to hell at that point, as nothing I did would compel that helicopter to stay still in the air. Rich would get us into a hoover, hand over the controls, and then the craft did promptly what it wanted to do, which was fly forward and to the right. Or fly down and to the left. Or shoot backwards. I had about six tries, none successful at all, and Rich said I did no worse (or better) than most people. It typically takes about 10 hours to learn this rather important helicopter skill. So: humbling.

So, would I do it again? Yes, in a heartbeat. Will I go on to get my rating? Not likely. Helicopters are fun, but really not practical for the type of long distance flying I do. But it’s a real treat, and I would recommend it to anyone with a couple hundred extra dollars in his pocket.

Rich shows me the controls in the Schweizer helicopter.

The panel, pedals, and cyclic.

Checklisting everything before flight.

This is fun!

Logging rotorcraft time.

A few months ago I happily blogged about my purchase of a 2006 Cirrus SR22 with two partners. Those were happy times.

But 3+ months after signing that purchase order, we still don’t have the airplane. At times I feel the purchase was a dream, just a figment of my imagination. Did I really buy an airplane?

Granted, the airplane needed considerable work when we bought it… it looked every minute of its 2000+ logged hours. We signed up for new paint, new graphics, detailed interior, new Avidyne screens, a full annual, a new prop, and oh, a new engine, too (then after installation, our new engine was determined to be a “lemon,” so now we wait for a replacement.) We also decided to splurge on a WAAS upgrade which apparently involves moving the antennas and some time-consuming wiring shenanigans. It’s a lot of work , and unfortunately Cirrus did a bad job of estimating how long all this would take.

(As I write this blog, I kid you not, I  just received an email saying the replacement engine didn’t actually ship in mid-November as we believed. The new delivery date for the engine is December 7.)

I believe it will be a true Christmas miracle if we get our plane by year’s end, but I will be patient. I have heard that good things come to those who wait.

Awaiting a new engine and some graphics.