Your favorite ship flown during your pilot career

Please feel free to share the most desired ship you had the opportunity to fly during your career as a pilot, or even if you had not been a pilot at the time.

My most favorite ship I have flown so far has been the MD-500. I had the opportunity to fly it back in 2007 when I wasn't a rated pilot yet. It was a lucky scenario really. The pilot who flew in the aircraft with me was the brother of a maintenance test pilot I knew in the military. What a great ship to fly; Fast, agile, very maneuverable, and all around just a fun ship to fly! I call it the porshe of the skies!

Here is another exciting thread regarding most favorite ships flown:

Most unique helicopters flown

Cockpit lighting for night flights

Today I will be talking about some different options when it comes to utilizing lighting assets in the cockpit during night flights. There are several different hand held lighting systems to use in the cockpit. In my past experience, I have used the following products or variations thereof; Surefire HL1-A, Phantom Warrior Tactical Light System, and a Helmet Lip Light. For more information regarding cockpit lighting, visit the following websites:
Just Helicopters
Vertical Reference

Here are some photos to give you an idea of the different lighting systems available for pilots :

Surefire helmet light



Phantom Warrior Lights

Helmet micboom "Lip Lights"



Entry level jobs for 1500 hour pilots

In today's helicopter industry, the competition for gaining an entry level commercial helicopter pilot position is tough. Though while there are numerous operators around the U.S, as with other companies in today's economy, those operators have had to cut back on costs, personnel, and other areas of the job in order to cut spending. This presents a problem to pilots looking for their first job as a commercial pilot. There seems to be an increasing number of people becoming helicopter pilots, and not enough positions open on the commercial market to accept every one of those pilots in. This is a rather big issue amongst the helicopter industry today. For more information on this subject, navigate to the following webpage:

Pilot entry level jobs

Training in a high altitude environment

There is much speculation as to the difference between training at sea level and training in a high altitude environment when it comes to performance management. Many pilots say training at high altitude is just a gimmick and has no real affect on how you manage a helicopters performance in flight, when others say just the opposite; Training in a high altitude environment will teach you to manage your aircraft's performance to a higher degree, and also increase your ability to handle the aircraft under extreme conditions when every bit of power is necessary.

For more information regarding this topic, navigate to the following website:

Vertical Reference - High Altitude Training

Cockpit kneeboard review

I will be reviewing the IFR tri-fold kneeboard manufactured by ASA. I personally use this kneeboard in the cockpit and it works great during my VFR and IFR flights. For specific information regarding this kneeboard, visit ASA http://www.asa2fly.com/Tri-Fold-IFR-Kneeboard-P32_product1.aspx. For those wishing to purchase this kneeboard at a great price, follow the link below to Amazon.