Richard Sharrocks
Filing Flight Plan
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2020
- Messages
- 4
- Location
- Paramaribo, Suriname
- Display Name
Display name:
TripleHeavenFly
Whilst at university I had the desire to become a helicopter pilot. One of my lecturers gave me a copy of Robert Mason's book Chickenhawk. The book is an autobiography of how Mason became a US Army pilot flying UH-1 Hueys in the Vietnam war. A few years later I fulfilled my dream and I too became an army Helicopter pilot.
In Chickenhawk there is a memorable story about how Mason couldn't get airborne with an underslung load as it was too heavy. By doing an anti-torque turn whilst in ground effect he reduced the energy being taken by the tail rotor thus allowing him some extra pitch and therefore extra lift from his main rotor. I used this same trick many years later when I found myself hovering and basically stuck in a bowl on the side of a large mountain in Bosnia at an altitude of 5,000' and +15C with not enough power available to climb out of the bowl.
Years later I now have kids and have come across a novel aimed specifically at teenage children with an interest in flying. It is an adventure story set in Canada telling the plight of a group of children flying in a DeHavilland DHC-3 Otter which crashes in the mountains in winter. The pilot is injured and the children must escape to save all their lives. Nate, the main character, is an aviation wannabe and has been helping the pilot build a kit plane. He has also been busy flying his Microsoft Flight Simulator.
The author is married to a long-haul training captain and has used his knowledge to help write the technical side of the book. I really enjoyed the read and my daughter did too, so much so that she is now determined to be a pilot as well. Some of the proceeds from sales of the book will go to aviation charities specialising on getting children into flying.
In Chickenhawk there is a memorable story about how Mason couldn't get airborne with an underslung load as it was too heavy. By doing an anti-torque turn whilst in ground effect he reduced the energy being taken by the tail rotor thus allowing him some extra pitch and therefore extra lift from his main rotor. I used this same trick many years later when I found myself hovering and basically stuck in a bowl on the side of a large mountain in Bosnia at an altitude of 5,000' and +15C with not enough power available to climb out of the bowl.
Years later I now have kids and have come across a novel aimed specifically at teenage children with an interest in flying. It is an adventure story set in Canada telling the plight of a group of children flying in a DeHavilland DHC-3 Otter which crashes in the mountains in winter. The pilot is injured and the children must escape to save all their lives. Nate, the main character, is an aviation wannabe and has been helping the pilot build a kit plane. He has also been busy flying his Microsoft Flight Simulator.
The author is married to a long-haul training captain and has used his knowledge to help write the technical side of the book. I really enjoyed the read and my daughter did too, so much so that she is now determined to be a pilot as well. Some of the proceeds from sales of the book will go to aviation charities specialising on getting children into flying.
Stranded by J.E.Timlin
ISBN 978-1916173538
Available in print from Amazon and also on the Kindle
ISBN 978-1916173538
Available in print from Amazon and also on the Kindle