We started bring our new Raven II home Saturday. The Robinson factory demands that ferry flights follow I10 into Texas, and carry a factory approved pilot, in this case dealer Mark Boyer. Only two souls can be on board, and both have to be helicopter rated pilots. Therefore, my partner in the helo, Buck and Mark flew N3149L on her maiden flight from Torrance, CA (TOA) to Phoenix (PHX).
After Robinson school, I met Buck and Mark in Phoenix, where we got together for dinner. The next morning, Buck flew commercial back to Philly, and Mark and I started the next leg from PHX to Tucson (TUS) to Las Cruces (LRU) to El Paso (ELP) to Midland Intl. (MAF). The cool part was passing by the "bone yard" at Pinal.
Today, Mark and I flew to Wichita Falls (SPS, Kickapoo Airport, and I have a fuel receipt to prove it!), then on to Tehlequah, OK (TQH) where we did an off-airport landing at a Chinese restaurant with a quasi helipad in the rear (for lunch) before making the one minute flight to the airport. We decide to hole up here because it looked we could only get about 100 nm before hitting turbulence and other wx associated with that (damn) front.
Tomorrow, we'll try to get as far as wx permits, and then try to get back to N99 on Wednesday. More pictures to follow, but here's one Mark took of me at Cutter Aviation's ramp in PHX.
We now have around 17 hours on the Hobbs, and the helicopter is running great. At 22-23" MP, she wants to settle in at 115-120 KIAS and just keep chuggin' away.
After Robinson school, I met Buck and Mark in Phoenix, where we got together for dinner. The next morning, Buck flew commercial back to Philly, and Mark and I started the next leg from PHX to Tucson (TUS) to Las Cruces (LRU) to El Paso (ELP) to Midland Intl. (MAF). The cool part was passing by the "bone yard" at Pinal.
Today, Mark and I flew to Wichita Falls (SPS, Kickapoo Airport, and I have a fuel receipt to prove it!), then on to Tehlequah, OK (TQH) where we did an off-airport landing at a Chinese restaurant with a quasi helipad in the rear (for lunch) before making the one minute flight to the airport. We decide to hole up here because it looked we could only get about 100 nm before hitting turbulence and other wx associated with that (damn) front.
Tomorrow, we'll try to get as far as wx permits, and then try to get back to N99 on Wednesday. More pictures to follow, but here's one Mark took of me at Cutter Aviation's ramp in PHX.
We now have around 17 hours on the Hobbs, and the helicopter is running great. At 22-23" MP, she wants to settle in at 115-120 KIAS and just keep chuggin' away.