August 30th, 2010
We are often contracted to provide helicopter rides at fairs, events, and in this case a Brazilian rodeo. Located in Brockton, Massachusetts, this fair was sponsored by Brazilian Times. North Andover Flight Academy has been the official helicopter tour provider for the Brazilian Times starting this year, and we have already covered all of their fairs this year, with more to come.
 Monster Trucks and Helicopters This particular event featured many events, and the helicopters were there to provide rides for the interested crowds.
 Motorcycle Jump In between the lulls in the crowds, the helicopters were sent to the Norwood Airport, in Norwood, Mass for fuel. Always a beautiful ride from Brockton, the Norwood Airport is just South of Boston, near the Bluehill reservation.
 Helicopter Rides North Andover Flight Academy is not only the leading Part 141 helicopter school in the Boston, Massachusetts area, we are also providers of quality helicopter tours and are available for events and fairs throughout New England.
Tags: bluehill helicopters, boston helicopter, helicopter rides mass, norwood helicopters
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August 29th, 2010
I reached down between the seats to grab my Garmin 496 GPS from my bag at the same moment the flight attendant was coming down the aisle of the Continental 737 bound for Boston. She was taking the drink orders from my row, looking curiously at my GPS held up against the window. She had no idea what I was doing, and probably couldn’t imagine why I was holding this GPS and looking out the window at the winding river below.
Let’s back up a few weeks.
We receive a call at the school looking for a ferry pilot to deliver a helicopter. Shortly after the call schedules are set, plans are made, and the flight is rescheduled - not one, two, three, but four times. Contracts are sent but not signed, insurance is up in the air, people get involved that should not be dealing with helicopters, but I still launch.
I had two routes planned around the Adirondacks - a westerly route and an easterly route. I chose the easterly route to avoid the hills with the low ceilings. I would be glad I made this decision later.
 Low ceilings over Connecticut Making our way through the rolling hills of Connecticut would provide a rough start for what would be a long 21 hours in the seat over the next two days. Low ceilings and special VFR clearances dictated the need to get closer to the coast a little quicker than planned.
From coastal Connecticut we made our way down to Lincoln Park, New Jersey (N07). A quick fuel stop, then off to Frederick, Maryland (KFDK). Temperature on the ramp was a cool 35 Celsius…a quick lunch in an air conditioned restaurant and back to the helicopter for the ride around the Washington SFRA and down to Blue Ridge Virginia (KMTV). The SFRA area can be confusing, so be sure to get the online training before venturing anywhere near that area.
Although the terrain was fairly flat through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, the visibilities dropped dramatically. Five miles would be the best for the rest of this first day of flying. In some spots the visibility was 1 mile or less with haze and smoke. Coupled with the high temperatures of 100F, it was like someone threw a blanket over the helicopter.
 Decreasing Visibility Down through Virginia and North Carolina, the thunderstorms were starting to pop-up, but with the 496 Nexrad we were able to keep out of their way. As is usually the case with air mass thunderstorms on the east coast, you just need to be careful, keep visual on the cells, and always have an out.
 Better visibility near South Carolina The first day would end at Spartanburg, just over the border into South Carolina. Almost 700 miles on the first day, even though we started at 10AM…not a bad day.
Day 2 started around 8AM, but traveling west, I knew we would gain 1 hour through Georgia. Staying to the North of Atlanta, the first stop was Anniston, Georgia. The weather was a bit nicer than the previous day, and visibilities were holding. Temperature was beginning to climb, it looks like another uncomfortable day coming up.
Next stop would be Magee, Mississippi. What a great little airport. Weather was looking up - still brutally hot, but the convective activity was well to the South, and the visibilities had picked up quite a bit.
Arrived at Magee and was greeted by the only airport personnel around.
 Airport Attendant Taking a Break at Magee After a few phone calls (one to the Mayor’s office) a city employee of Magee came down from City Hall to give us access to the gas pump. He was happy to be at the airport, and was interested in the helicopter - not many R44’s pass through this way I guess. Great people in Magee! We had an audience on departure.
 Magee Mississippi Next stop would be Hawthorne, Texas (45R). Interesting airport, some interesting weather. Other than crossing the Mississippi River, this was an uninteresting leg. The visibilities were down again, and there were thunderstorms everywhere. An organized weather system to the South kept us a bit north.
 Mississippi River by helicopter The Mississippi river was interesting. Winding waters surrounded completely by marshland. Sure looked like gator country down there. Gave my SPOT PLB a check and pressed the “OK” button, just for luck.
On to Calhoun County Texas, time for a practice autorotation and some low RPM recovery work. Absolutely nothing to see in Calhoun County. Nothing.
 Calhoun County Texas Next stop would be Brownsville - FINALLY! The gulf coast was interesting - not the most interesting terrain, but something I’ve never had the opportunity to see from a helicopter.
 Gulf Coast in a Robinson Helicopter Arrival in Brownsville would end an 11 hour flying day. Total miles from Marlboro, Massachusetts to Brownsville, Texas - 1600 miles. Total time - 21 hours of flying in 2 days.
The GPS acquired it’s position, and I confirmed the tiny river below as the Mississippi. Quite a different perspective of almost the exact same crossing point from the day before. Staring at my drink on the tray table in front of me, I reflected on the lessons learned from this trip.
It’s easy to not to trust anyone, and it’s foolish to trust everyone. Knowing who to trust is the key to happiness and success, and there were people involved in this deal I should not have trusted, and someone I should have trusted more than I did. I would have thought my experiences with people in the helicopter industry would have honed those skills but evidently I need more practice. The helicopter was safely on its way to Mexico, so everything ended well for the buyers and the seller - so the trip was successful if judged in those terms. Not so by my standards…. Just another lesson learned.
 Mississippi River Far Below
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August 24th, 2010
I tried to get a part in this music video, but all they really wanted was the helicopter. Check out our own 95P on a rainy ramp at Lawrence in this latest music video.
Official Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQnDyw1ibpA&feature=related
Behind The Scenes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccRh-Pnxbgk
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August 18th, 2010
Chris Andrade starting flying with us a few months ago, and soloed just in time for a beautiful sunset flight around the Lawrence Airport. Chris will be continuing on through the helicopter instrument training, commercial, and CFI with us in the coming months.
Chris started his day with the standard pre-solo check flight with Curt, then another check by his instructor Joe, before lifting off into a perfect hover at the North Andover Flight Academy ramp. Joe was close by to supervise his first solo liftoff, and commented that everything went perfectly.
Students always anticipate the first solo, and often ask what it’s like. Take a look at this first picture - worth a thousand words.
 First Helicopter Solo Smile Perfect form - of course! After a great pickup and setdown, Joe gave Chris the “thumbs up” for the pattern flights.
 First Helicopter Solo
Chris has also just finished the Private Pilot Helicopter Ground School, so he will be taking his written, then finishing up with the cross country requirements before taking his check ride.
 First Solo Pedal Turn Before taking off into the pattern, each student must perform a prefect pickup, 360 pedal turn and setdown. Then, and only then, are the “cleared to go” by the supervising instructor.
 Nice Helicopter Solo We also field many questions on what it takes to get to this point. Well, most of our students first come in for their introductory helicopter ride. After they see what it’s all about, they either sign up for lessons immediately, or wait until the next ground school session starts. Most start taking a few lessons so they get into the ground school with some experience. Then they continue on from that point.
 Nice Helicopter Solo  Coming in from first solo  Joe checking everything out  Happiness is a first helicopter solo  Artsy Helicopter Picture  A proud instructor Stop by and check out the only complete Part 141 helicopter school in the Boston, Norwood, Weston, Lawrence, North Shore, and Lawrence area.
Tags: student helicopter solo boston mass part 141
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August 16th, 2010
After a monumental battle with IACRA, our man from Ireland, Steven Walsh, passed his private pilot helicopter check ride. It’s been a long haul from Ireland for Steven, and after 12 weeks of flying, studying, ground school, and several stage checks Steven “Steve-O” Walsh is now a Private Helicopter Pilot. So what is the Boston area’s newest helicopter pilot going to do next? Well, he’s going to get his instrument rating…of course after he takes his girl for her first helicopter flight!
 Heading Out to the Helicopter Steven came out over the winter and chose our 141 helicopter school over others in the area for many reasons, one of which was our Robinson overhaul and maintenance center. There’s lots for students to learn out in the shop, and that makes the entire helicopter training experience that much better!
 Some of the NAFA Crew He also was able to take advantage of the only helicopter ground school in the Boston, Massachusetts area.
 Some of the NAFA Crew Posing Congratulations Steven, your hard work paid off. We look forward to your instrument and commercial training - Steven is going to transition to the Robinson R-44 and use our FITS training syllabus for his commercial helicopter license.
 Posing Take 2 Our next instrument ground school begins in September, and Steven will be joining in with us in January for the 2011 instrument helicopter ground school.
Nice job Steve-O!
Tags: boston part 141 helicopter school
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August 13th, 2010
It appears our man from Ireland is making “international” news! Here’s a little article from the Connaught Telegraph, County Mayo, Ireland. Nice story.
Read the original article here.
The sky’s the limit for Straide man Steven Walsh. The 27-year-old has completed his first solo flight after just 3,000 miles’ experience.
Despite having had absolutely no previous flying experience, it appears he’s a bit of a natural, making his flight with below average flying experience.
Steven works with CBE, who gave him leave to go and pursue his ambition of getting his private pilots licence.
In little over two months in the States, he has progressed rapidly and has just undertaken a perfect first solo flight.
Steve has been training at the North Andover Flight Academy in Boston.
Chief instructor Curt Peredina explained what he has achieved: “Steven soloed in 30 hours, which is below the average for helicopters for zero-time students.
“He has come a long way and has been working very hard to achieve his goal of becoming a commercial helicopter pilot.
“The solo is really the first large step toward that goal. His solo flights have been nothing short of perfect!”
Steven will eventually attain his certified instructor ratings and could become a helicopter flight instructor at the school.
Added Curt about his student: “He is enjoying his stay in Boston, Massachusetts, and is doing extremely well with his studies. He takes the train from Boston almost everyday to study at the school, fly, and observe the maintenance technicians working on helicopters in the shop.”
Steven, who is son of Marian and John Walsh, Straide, is due home at the end of the month.
He first touched base with North Andover in the spring when he stopped through to look at the facility while searching for a helicopter school that could provide the necessary training and Visa with which to begin his training.
He arrived in June and started attending the private pilot helicopter ground school.
After completing his written stage check and a stage check flight, Steve was ready to go. Without hesitation, he executed a perfect pickup and setdown, followed by three perfect patterns.
Tags: international helicopter student boston mass
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August 12th, 2010
Flying a helicopter long distance is always a great time. But a nicely equipped Raven II from mid-Wisconsin to Mass in less than 2 days? That’s a flight! (Little did I know that within the next week I would have almost 3000 miles and almost 40 hours logged - another ferry to Brownsville and a trip out to Elmira, NY).
The alarm went off at 4AM, but I was already up and about long before, getting ready to head off the the airport to catch the Milwaukee flight out of Logan. It would be great to make the trip from Wisconsin in one day, but a delayed flight out of Logan, and a less than expected tailwind would conspire to make it a 1.5 day trip. Leave Wisconsin Friday around noon, back in Lawrence by 1PM on Saturday.
My friend, Marc, and I picked up the helicopter from the private heliport west of Milwaukee, headed to Waukegan for fuel, then followed the shore of Lake Michigan past Chicago and into Indiana.
 At the heliport outside Milwaukee  Shores of Lake Michigan The flight along the shoreline was fantastic and the views of Chicago were excellent - what a great city!
 Chicago, Ill from the helicopter  More of the Chicago shoreline  Chicago  The windy city  Gary Indiana Gary, Indiana is still mainly and industrial town - lots of steel mills and other complexes. We could see the foundry from the helicopter as we passed a large industrial area just East of Chicago.
 AOPA Flight Planner I had used the AOPA flight plan software to see how accurate it really was. I planned the flight the morning of, and sure enough, the legs worked out almost exactly as the flight planner had calculated!
 Central Ohio Ohio and Indiana were beautiful as well. Corn and soy fields for miles and miles, stretching off to the horizon. It was interesting to make note of each small town center as we flew by. The layout is much different from back east. It was a strange feeling to be flying over the same area that I had driven a few weeks before, delivering a Ducati out to the Chicago area.
 Great Setup  Charting the course By the time we hit western Pennsylvania, it was beginning to get late, so we stopped for fuel. The airport (New Castle) had free overnight tiedowns with fuel, and a courtesy car. This was the place to stay!
 Getting ready for departure It was a cool summer evening in western Pennsylvania, so that made for a foggy morning. We waited a while for most of the fog to burn off, and launched in a direct line to Lawrence, Mass.
 Foggy Morning  Morning Clouds in Western PA  Approach to Bradford, PA A quick fuel stop at Bradford, PA and it was time to head over the Catskills and back home to Lawrence. By now the morning fog had completely lifted, and it was becoming a great summer day.
 Pepacton Reservior, New York  Eastern edge of the Catskills  Garmin 696 The Robinson R44 helicopter is an amazing cross country helicopter. At 20 inches of MAP, we were averaging less than 13 gallons per hour at near 30C. The colder morning at 15C the fuel burn went up slightly, but at around 100TAS, the 44 is an extremely capable helicopter to take long distances.
This would be the fifth helicopter ferry for North Andover Flight Academy in the last year, the sixth helicopter ferry was yet to come - check back later for the Boston to Brownsville Texas trip! Interesting story.
Tags: helicopter ferry, helicopter training boston
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August 3rd, 2010
TEDx is an event which features innovation and creativity wrapped into a locally organized conference and meeting of creative minds. Part of the TEDx experience are the Pre-Event Adventures which the TEDx team organize in advance for all the TEDx attendees. This year, we were fortunate enough to be chosen as the “Helicopter Tour of Boston” pre-event adventure for anyone who would be heading to TEDx for the day.
 Enjoying the Tour - ritterbin.com
 Ready for the tour - ritterbin.com
We were looking to attract all those interested in getting a glimpse of Boston from the air. And what a glimpse it was! The days of the helicopter tours were perfect. People of all ages were part of the helicopter tour adventure for the day. One of the tours had none other than Mike Ritter along to photograph the event for the TEDx presentations the next day (the helicopter photos were the first to be shown at the conference). The photos on this blog are all courtesy of Mike Ritter - check out Mike Ritter /ritterbin.com for more information!
 Explaining the Robinson R44 - ritterbin.com  Mike Ritter - ritterbin.com The TEDx description of the event was as follows:
What kind of innovative structures would you spy from a bird’s-eye view of Boston?
 Gain an unprecedented view of the sites that make Boston such a revolutionary city with a scenic helicopter flight. Meet your pilot at either Lawrence or Beverly Airport, and be whisked above some of the city’s oldest and newest neighborhoods, monuments, and parks. Highlights include Boston’s two tallest buildings (the Hancock and Prudential Towers), Fenway Park, and the seaport/waterfront district of the future.
Some of the quotes from our passengers were great:
“We really had a terrific tour today with Steve. He is such a nice guy and a real professional. My son has been grinning from ear to ear since we left you guys.”
Other comments were posted directly to the TEDx website:
Helicopter Ride: Numerous TEDxBoston community members were whisked above the city for a helicopter tour of Boston with the North Andover Flight Academy. One father-son duo described their “absolutely terrific time.” Guests explained, “Even though I’ve lived in Boston for 10 years, the perspective from the low-flying helicopter opened my eyes to the beauty of the city […] Amazing!”
 North of Boston - ritterbin.com  Fenway Park - ritterbin.com  Boston Financial District - ritterbin.com We have helicopters constantly coming in and out of our school, tour, and maintenance facility, and this makes a great photo opportunity! Part of the tour is the explanation of the helicopter and the activities at the school. The tour then departs from the North Andover area and continues down Route 93 around the Boston Financial District and North back past Spot Pond and Route 128 back to the Lawrence Airport.
 Financial District - ritterbin.com  Boston Skyscrapers - ritterbin.com  View from the Helicopter Tour - ritterbin.com  Faneuil Hall - ritterbin.com  Zakim Bridge Boston - ritterbin.com  Returning from the Tour - ritterbin.com  Another Great Helicopter Tour of Boston - ritterbin.com As you can see from the comments and the pictures above, there’s no better way to see your city, and there’s no better place to get the helicopter and team to do your helicopter tour of Boston! You don’t have to be a tourist to fly over your hometown area and see it like never before - come on in and check out our helicopter tours!
North Andover Flight Academy is the only Boston helicopter tour operator that has the best prices and most experienced helicopter tour pilots in the Boston area. Call us anytime for a helicopter tour of Boston or the Massachusetts and New Hampshire seacoast.
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July 22nd, 2010
Congratulations to Bill Pickering and Frank Richardson, our 2 latest graduates at North Andover Flight Academy New York! Bill and Frank have been studying under our Part 61 Private Pilot Program at our location in Alexandria Bay, New York. Frank Richardson owns a utility company and Bill works for National Grid. Both understand the utility side of the business and were looking to expand their knowledge of helicopters, so what better way to do it!
 Bill Pickering - Private Helicopter Pilot  Frank Richardson - Private Helicopter Pilot Congratulations to Bill and Frank - our newest private pilots at North Andover Flight Academy!
North Andover Flight Academy is also a Part 141 helicopter training facility located outside Boston, Massachusetts - call for more information on our helicopter flight training programs!
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July 15th, 2010
Really…3000 miles. That’s what it took to get Steven to solo in a helicopter. That, a helicopter, and some time with our instructor, Joe Stremel.
You see, Steven “Steve-O”, is from County Mayo, Ireland. He’s come a long way to get to this point, and it hasn’t been easy.
 Hovering in from first solo at LWM We first met Steve early in the Spring when he was stopping through to look at our school. He was in search of a helicopter school which could provide the needed training and Visa with which to begin his training. He was in the Boston area and checked out several schools, including a large school in Titusville, Florida.
 Hovering in from first solo at LWM Fast forward to June - Steve arrived in Boston with his M Visa, issued through North Andover Flight Academy. He started attending our Private Pilot helicopter ground school with Dotsie, and started immediately flying with Joe. While having fun around the city, he was also studying intently with the goal of getting his Private by the end of the summer in our Part 141 helicopter program (he’s definitely on track).
 Hovering in from first solo at LWM After completing his written stage check and a stage check flight, Steve was ready to go. Joe stopped in (on his day off), and prepped Steve for the solo. Without hesitation, he hopped back in the helicopter, and off he went! It was really a perfect pickup and setdown, followed by 3 perfect patterns around Lawrence, and it seemed that it immediately turned into rush hour with several airplanes suddenly appearing in the pattern.
 Shutting down after solo Steve sounded like he had a thousand hours on the radio - and he did a great job! Well done Steve and Joe! With our 141 program, Steve will be looking forward to his Private helicopter pilot check ride in no time!
 First Helicopter Solo Lawrence Airport We never really asked Steve why he chose our school over all the others. He said that it was the “personality of the place - we really seemed like we care about what we do and the people that fly here - I didn’t like the attitudes at some of the other places”.
We try to keep all our students happy here at North Andover Flight Academy - we’re all part of the same team. As for Steve-O? How excited is he about his first solo? I’ll let the picture below answer that question.
 Happy about that first solo  A serious pose for that first solo
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