Gulf Of Mexico: Operation Turtle Watch

The day to day routine of a helicopter pilot flying in the Gulf of Mexico does not suffer from having “too much” variety in it. Once you’re assigned to a job, and have flown that contract for awhile, you’ll essentially figure out the routine and settle into a nice pattern. The only time that really

Gulf of Mexico: Life Off-Shore (Pics)

First of all I want to say thank you to everyone that’s been reading the latest posts, commenting, and messaging. Some loyal readers that had been waiting in the wings for me to start putting content back out – and some new readers! Welcome! I’ve been getting questions about certain aspects of being a helicopter

Weather in the Gulf of Mexico (Pics)

This is one I’ve been meaning to write since I started flying off-shore. It’s a topic I get questions about from time to time, and one that is worth mentioning. What is the weather like in the Gulf? How do you plan, fly, and work with it? Now that may seem like a ridiculous question

Flying in the Gulf of Mexico (Pics)

Even though I haven’t been writing for the past year and a half (give or take) I still get messages on this site, instagram, and on Facebook. It’s been a long time since I managed any helicopter pilot groups on FB so that last one is a bit of a mystery to me. Let’s roll

Start. Stop. Start. Stop….Start?

So here we are again, a year between posts and I’m writing that I’ll do better, I’ll post regularly, I’ll stay more involved in the blog process. We’ve been here before. This past year has certainly been an interesting one, and there are a few reasons why “the roaming pilot” hasn’t been roaming much at

The GI Bill “Loophole” – A Veterans Response

Let me start first by qualifying myself to even make the following comments. I am a US Army Veteran, I served honorably in combat, and my honorable discharge reflects that. I carry a VA service connected disability rating of 20% (getting blown up and shot at a lot will do that to a guy –

The Adventure Begins

Today I started on the way to the South Pacific to take on an adventure of a job. What some might call the true last bastion of the “wild west” for helicopters, I was hired recently by Tropic Helicopters to fly on one of the Tuna Boats that was out fishing the region. They say

Gone Fishin’

A lot of cool things have been in the works for some time now, but I’m happy to say that as of right now, as I’m writing this – I’m officially roaming again. I took a job with Tropic Helicopters flying with a tuna boat. I’m sitting in the airport waiting for my first flight

Checking an item off of my bucket list.

I was sent to Murray, Idaho with one of our company R44’s to fly rides for their Molly b’damn Gold Rush days festival. All in it was a really uneventful weekend in a sleepy town nestled in the beautiful North Idaho mountains. The real pleasure of this assignment was the chance to do something that

This is the appropriate way to take a girl to the lake

The other weekend I was bringing one of our company R44 helicopters back from a job in North Idaho and had to ferry it all the way back to Moses Lake. It only made sense to call up a friend of mine and ask her out. The date? A helicopter flight across central Washington to