Any Helicopter Pilots Here?

Before my leg got screwed up, I LOVED my helicopter sims (had foot pedals and full console) - I wasn't crazy enough to want a real one as by comparison to aircraft or boats - helicopters...are even more expensive money pits.

Not a pilot, not thinking of it at all but our eldest and I rode in one over Mt Rushmore. That was cool.

This thread brings FDPer JAFO to mind. I believe he did helicopter logistics for a Saudi prince. Passed away before we moved here.

May have been.  I remember helping him coordinate a purchase of a 50's tribute LP from the store I bought mine from.  I got the goldtop and he got a black one then added a Bigsby.  He was overseas but had it shipped to his home in So Cal I believe.  He (Tom) had some wild stories to tell.  

One of my Uncles was a Marine medivac pilot in Nam. He was shot down 6 times. He took me for a ride and said this is how we came into a hot LZ to pick up wounded. He proceeded to roll the thing sideways and it fell like a rock to about 10 feet from the ground where he slowed it down and hit the dirt. Then it was a full power almost straight up and a hard bank off the ground.

Scared the crap out of me.

He then asked if I wanted to try flying it. So he gave me the controls and it almost immediately went into a spin. He took over and laughed his ass off. I was sure we were going to crash several times.

Needless to say I never rode with him again.

p.s. I'm not giving the thought of lessons serious consideration. Although I think it would be a hoot, I'm at the age where I don't think I want to incur the expense. Getting a license probably isn't, relatively speaking, too hard on the wallet. But, renting or buying, maintenance, fuel, etc... would eat a person out of house and home.

Some of those heli jockeys can get pretty wild. A couple of times in the late eighties/early nineties, I was shuttled out to and between some Louisiana offshore gas platforms. The pilot was a Vietnam vet. He would try to take advantage of prevailing winds to save time and fuel. That meant getting up to and down from the optimum altitude as fast as possible. He would get that copter off the pad and instantly it felt like you were going straight up. Coming down to a platform was even more exciting, spiraling down out of the sky at breakneck speed.

Another interesting thing. No helicopters flew after dark. If you couldn't get to your destination before dark, everyone (pilot included) spent the night on whatever platform you were on.

About ten years ago we took one of those tourist helicopter rides around LA. Hawthorne Airport west to Manhattan beach, then up the coast to Santa Monica, over the hills, around the city and back to Hawthorne. I asked the pilot, who was a very petite young woman, how she got into it. She had gone to art school, studied Industrial Design, had a job with a toy maker and then ended up in Hollywood doing digital work /CGI for the film industry. She didn't like to drive anywhere, so a friend bought her the same helicopter tour so she would at least be able to get a sense of where she lived. At the end of the tour she noted that they also gave lessons, so, as she had really enjoyed the flight and wanted something to do besides being a grind, she took lessons and by the end was so good that the company offered her a job, which she took. When we flew with her she had quit her other job and was now full time, and her goal was to eventually  fly med evacuation and/ or firefighting. Flying seemed to be a natural fit, as she had an engineer's organized sensibility and a gamer's focus and multi tasking ability. Joystick, graphical displays and the actual environment spread outside the bubble, moving through multiple control zones- LAX, police, city, etc. She said the whole idea of it blew her parents minds, they couldn't believe that she was doing it.
BTW, I asked her what concerns she had when flying and she said drones and RC airplanes.