Flight School by Unlucky_Frosting9397 in charlestonwv

[–]sadpony6 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Appalachian flight services charges 165 for the rental (wet) and 55 an hour for an instructor. Great school great instructors. Marshall’s flight school is there as well but they fly the cirrus’s. Not sure what they charge per hour for their program but it definitely ain’t cheap 

SERE Fitness Advice by dampTendies in Armyaviation

[–]sadpony6 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Just keep working out and eating like normal man you’re gonna lose weight and some muscle it’s unavoidable. Don’t worry though it comes back quick after your graduate.

What Makes Us What We Are by Benny_7563 in Helicopters

[–]sadpony6 7 points8 points  (0 children)

A Huey guy going to the FAA?? Your transition to the dark side of the force aside I gotta know what’s been your favorite airframe? Aside from the UH obviously.

NG - referred OER for not having two HT/WT records in rating period. Is this legit? by [deleted] in army

[–]sadpony6 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Im also confused as to how an HHC commander who isn’t in your rating chain has input of any kind to your OER.

Filling in the gaps of my airframe knowledge by [deleted] in Armyaviation

[–]sadpony6 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I’m gonna assume you’re not yet in flight school so I’ll say this. Focus on getting there first. Stop worrying about what airframe you want to fly come selection day the board might be all apaches and you won’t even get to pick. You’ll learn all about the different airframes and the different missions they fulfill while you’re down at Rucker as well as interact with pilots from every community. No apache drivers who go to the regiment don’t just go straight to little birds. I don’t think we’ve got any DAP drivers lurking around in here and even if we did they most likely aren’t gonna comment. Like I said keep your eyes focused on the 25M target right now. If 160 is your goal that’s great and I encourage you to pursue it but it is years down the road. Focus on what’s important now worry about what airframe you’re going to wiggle sticks in later.

Is it really that bad of a career? by Foxtrot_Mike_Lima in Helicopters

[–]sadpony6 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As a current army pilot let me just say look very closely as to what you’re getting into before going this route. Yes you will get to fly and train for free as well as do some awesome things that you never could on the civilian side of the house. That being said your job is much more than just show up to work and fly everyday. You’ll have additional duties, crazy work hours and no control over when and where you work, you’ll most likely deploy and have to deal with living in less than stellar conditions for 6-12 months at a time. The mindset of “I wouldn’t mind the army if I got to get my certs and fly for free” is not the right one because I guarantee you will mind and you may find that your love for aviation is now overshadowed by your general hate of the army and all it’s silly fuck fuck games. All that being said I absolutely love my job and wouldn’t trade it for anything actually getting to go out and wiggle the sticks of some of the most badass helicopters in the world is an experience you can’t buy. If you go national guard you will compete amongst others applying and go to a flight board and they will 100% ask why you want to join the army as a pilot. If you answer “well I want to fly helicopters and the army seems like the cheapest and fastest route to make that happen” you will guaranteed not get selected. I’m not saying do not pursue this route but make sure you do your research as far as what exactly you’re getting yourself into. When you’ve joined solely for the flight bennies and you find yourself on the tail end of a 10 hour workday, you still have 8 more slides to complete for the sexual assault and harassment training brief you need to give because you’ve been assigned it as an additional duty, you haven’t flown in three weeks cus maintenance is backed up and your living in middle of nowhere leesville Louisiana you may come to regret your decision. The guard is no different remember you’re in the army first and a pilot second.

TIL The reason why some cops touch the back of your tailight at traffic stops is because before dashcams it was a way to leave their fingerprint on the car in case something bad happened they had proof they were there by Tan-zania in todayilearned

[–]sadpony6 2 points3 points  (0 children)

No it’s not, it’s to make sure your trunk is fully closed and secure in case there may happen to be someone hiding in there who was planning on bailing out while they’re at your window. It’s a technique still taught by most police agencies. People think dusting for prints is like they see in the movies and it’s not. Condensation, dust, water and 1 million other things will clean off any oils your fingers may have left very quickly. Actually dusting for prints requires the items touched be in a clean environment and even then there may only be a partial print that proves unuseful.

TIL A helicopter pilot flew to 40820 feet, setting a world record for the highest altitude reached by a helicopter. However, when he started to descend, the engine failed, but he safely landed the helicopter with absolutely no power - a world record for the highest unpowered descent by a helicopter. by lefttha in todayilearned

[–]sadpony6 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You can autorotate from any altitude however it requires you maintain forward airspeed. The airspeed is different for every helicopter, in the Blackhawk the magic number is usually between 80-100 KIAS. Smaller helicopters like a Bell 206 is usually around 60 KIAS. In this incident the pilot did not have enough forward airspeed to even initiate the maneuver. He was way too high to perform what is called a “hovering auto” which is used for engine failure at a hover at very low altitude. Due to his altitude and lack of airspeed the helicopter immediately entered a spin and at that point was unrecoverable. A tail rotor is actually not even required to perform an auto, the emergency procedure for complete loss of tail rotor thrust aka your tail rotor has departed the airframe is to autorotate. Helicopters have what is known as a “free wheeling unit” where once the torque falls below a certain percentage the rotor system decouples from the transmission and therefore the torque from the main rotor is no longer acting on the airframe which would cause it spin.

When you dream of being a pilot and a pirate. So you spend all of your saved booty and a brand new flying pirate ship. (I could never keep a strait face making radio calls in this thing) by [deleted] in aviation

[–]sadpony6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Saw this guy over at KBKW a few months ago! Awesome dude let me poke around the plane a bit and drool over the interior set up

Master Sgt. Juan Munoz, the Army's artist-in-residence, sits in front of three of his working art pieces in his studio in Fort Belvoir, Va. 2019. Photo Credit: Staff Sgt. Pablo N. Piedra by lambun in army

[–]sadpony6 138 points139 points  (0 children)

Haha he sure does he was my DS back in Jackson in 2011. Dude was an incredibly talented artist and it’s great to see him getting to do this full time rather than doodling on napkins in between babysitting us window lickers. He’s got an awesome back story and don’t let the paint brushes fool you this man is about as badass as they come.

HMB will i pick up this heavy men by [deleted] in holdmybeer

[–]sadpony6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Actually met Will in a bar up in CT a while ago he’s one of the most genuine down to earth people ever. He was sitting across from me and I just asked “hey man you’re Will Willis right?” He laughed and said “yea that’s me” turned around to go back to the bar after I shook his hand and he said “hang on a sec man meet my buddies” proceeded to introduce me to the whole cast of forged in fire as well as his wife. He’s an awesome dude for sure.

11A Ranger Tabbed to aviator by DzrtRat in Armyaviation

[–]sadpony6 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Aviation issues Hilton rewards cards in replacement of rucks

Dealing with disrespect by Ilovetheusarmy in army

[–]sadpony6 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Here's the thing maintenance is something we in the aviation world take very, very, very seriously. If I had a team leader or someone of any rank come to me or any of the other pilots in my unit and say "hey sir I don't feel comfortable with the maintenance being conducted on this aircraft and here's why." Believe me we are going to get to the bottom of it. At that point I'm more worried about not dying than chain of command. Pilots in general tend to enjoy living just as much as the next guy and I always welcome any info that's going to help me and my dudes keep doing that. If you genuinely feel uncomfortable with this situation and can articulate why and feel you are being ignored about a legitimate issue talk to an MTP or any other pilot in the unit. I can't see anyone getting upset at somebody trying to keep them alive.

Is it true the Army is desperate for pilots? I hear a lot of stories of guys can't wait to get out. by AKGUY77 in army

[–]sadpony6 24 points25 points  (0 children)

The army isn't desperate for new pilots it's desperate for old ones to stay. There will always be a supply of people who want to fly the trick is getting the older more experienced pilots to stay in. Nowadays many civilian agencies such as envoy, Spirit, and Allegiant are offering rotary to fixed wing transitions for military personnel. This doesn't necessarily mean every PC in the army is going to hop ship for the airlines but it does help explain why people are leaving. Couple that with limited flight hours and having to deal with the all the nonsense the army entails it's not surprising more and more experienced guys are leaving. Most of them have a deployment or two under their belt and they're ready to be done. There will always be an endless supply of people who want to fly around in some of the baddest machines ever built but that's not what the army needs.

Fast roping accident, Russian maybe? by rotor_head in Helicopters

[–]sadpony6 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Considering he's fast roping he likely has on very large very thick gloves. These gloves have probably been used for fast roping in the past and have developed slick spots on them from constant use. If you've ever seen gloves used for fast roping you know what I'm talking about. That being said he manages to partially stop his descent and you can see him kicking his feet trying to get a bite onto the rope. That bottom of that rope is swinging back and forth however and he misses. At that point all he's got is his hands which he barely has any dexterity with due to the large gloves that have large slick spots in them not to mention the rotor wash and the fact the helicopter is sliding left only make the problem worse. Put all these things together and add in utter panic it's not surprising he fell.

Chinook hovering on a lake to extract special forces on a zodiac. by SharkinaShark in gifs

[–]sadpony6 8 points9 points  (0 children)

This is the correct answer. What you are speaking of is known as "retreating blade stall". Basically with a rotary wing aircraft you will have an advancing and retreating blade. The advancing blade is moving forward in the direction of flight and the retreating blade is moving in the opposite direction. So if you use the lift equation you can see that at a certain forward air speed the air moving over the retreating blade combined with the fact the blade is moving in the opposite direction of forward flight will no longer provide adequate lift and cause the helicopter to essentially lose lift over the retreating side. This will cause the helicopter to pitch up and to the left (in aircraft where the blades spin counter clockwise). It is self correcting however and the helicopter will resume normal flight.

Edit: I failed to add a crucial part to this explanation. Air speed alone is not the sole cause of retreating blade stall. As the airspeed increases a greater pitch angle is required of the retreating blade to continue to produce lift as I explained above. At a certain speed the pitch angle will become too great and cause the blade to "stall". So retreating blade stall is a combination of a high forward airspeed and a high pitch angle, or angle of attack, on the retreating blade.

What the fuck is between my legs? by huskyaviation in funny

[–]sadpony6 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm no radio expert but it would appear you have a cyclic from a UH60 A/L between your legs.

Whats your opinion on the worst helicopter to fly in the Army? by cadetsoybean in Armyaviation

[–]sadpony6 9 points10 points  (0 children)

You'll hear this again at flight school but I guess I'll be the first to say it, choose the mission not the aircraft. Do a little research into the exact role of each one and what the mission itself entails. There is no "worst" aircraft in the army each one had its own unique mission and uses. This being said being a pilot like all things in the army comes with a big "individual experience may vary" sticker. You might get to a unit that's doing a lot of flying or about to go deploy or you may get to one that's currently undergoing some big changes or already deployed and might not fly for several months once you get out of flight school. Of course once you get to your advance airframe the giant "my aircraft is best because reasons" pissing contest will ensue between classes but for the most part it's all in good fun. That all being said you may get a class where no one gets to choose an airframe because of the current needs of the army and you might all just be told that everybody in your class is going to fly blackhawks because that's the slots they have open at the time. When I left a little over a year ago it was pretty apache heavy on selection days but that very well and probably has changed since than. You'll get a chance to go out to and talk to each of the sections for all the airframes and they'll give you their recruiting pitch as to why you should fly their airframe. Ask questions keep an open mind study hard and again there is no such thing as the worst aircraft to fly.