An Unusual Landing Zone

Posted on by
Comment

This is what it’s all about.

This is why I fly helicopters. So I can visit places like this: a mesa overlooking the north Phoenix area.

Zero Mike Lima on a Mesa

This photo was taken by my friend Jason, who proposed to his wife during a camping trip on this spot. He’d sent me some GPS coordinates and a photo of the place from his plane and asked me to take them up there. I wrote about the gig here.

I ran into Jason the other day at the airport and he told me he had some photos from that trip. He e-mailed them to me yesterday. This one says it all and is now the desktop picture on my main computer.

I distinctly remember taking off from this spot. Lifting about 5 feet off the ground, nosing forward, and just “dropping” off the edge of this cliff. (No, I didn’t do a pushover; I’m not insane.) It was sweet.

Heli-Shopping

Posted on by
Comment

The latest craze? I wish!

You’ve probably heard of heli-skiing, where they take you to the mountaintop in the ultimate “lift”: a helicopter. And heli-hiking, where they take you by helicopter to a remote trailhead and pick you up someplace equally remote. Well, thanks to one of my regular passengers, I’ve now started doing heli-shopping trips.

Here’s the deal.

Wickenburg has serious limitations on its shopping opportunities. Sure, there’s a great supermarket (which even has a Starbucks now, if you can imagine that) and there are a handful of shops down and around town for buying souvenirs, items for your home, and gifts. And even a little boutique.

But for hard-core shoppers, that might not be enough. For these people, it’s Scottsdale or bust.

Scottsdale, by car, is a good 90-minutes from Wickenburg. And that’s if you don’t hit any traffic and push the speed limit a bit. But by helicopter, it’s only 30 minutes away. The obvious benefit for the shopper: less time in the car, more time in the shops.

Last year, a couple who flies with me every time they come to stay at one of Wickenburg’s guest ranches, drove down to Scottsdale for a shopping day. The weather was awful and rainy and since people who live in Arizona don’t know how to drive on wet roads, the traffic was terrible. When they got to the shops, she got right down to business while he tried, in vain, to get a seat at one of the mall restaurants for lunch and a few hours of reading time. But the mall was packed and he couldn’t get a seat, so he wound up in their rental car in the covered parking garage, reading by the car’s dome light. Then, when she was finished shopping, they had another long, miserable drive back to Wickenburg.

This unhappy memory stuck with them. So this year, when they came to visit, they asked me if I could simply fly her down to Scottsdale, while he did something in Wickenburg that he enjoyed: a round of golf.

I’m never one to turn down a good charter, so yesterday at 10:30 AM, I was winding up Three-Niner-Lima with my eager passenger on board. We had an uneventful flight down to Scottsdale, landed, and locked up the helicopter on the ramp. Then, since I had only one passenger and my Scottsdale airport car is a two-seater, I drove her down to the Scottsdale Fashion Mall and let her loose by herself for four hours. Then I spent the time doing some errands, having a nice lunch, and doing a bit of shopping on my own.

I picked up my passenger at 3:30 and drove back up to Scottsdale Airport. I put the car away and we carried our bags back to the helicopter. I stowed everything under the seats and, a few minutes later, we were heading north for a slightly different route back to Wickenburg that would include an overflight of Lake Pleasant and Castle Hot Springs. We were back on the ramp at Wickenburg in time for cocktail hour at the ranch.

Mission accomplished. In style.

Heli-shopping isn’t for everyone. For one thing, it ain’t cheap, so potential heli-shoppers have to be really serious about their shopping time. And shoppers simply have to say no to that great deal on an end table at Restoration Hardware — or anything else that won’t fit in the helicopter.

But heli-shopping is more than just transportation to the shops awaiting your discretionary spending dollars. It’s a scenic flight from one world (the sleepy retirement community of Wickenburg) to another (the busy city of Scottsdale). The transition from town to open, empty desert to suburbs to city is something to see. And you won’t believe the kinds of things you can see from the air that are simply invisible from the road.

Heli-shopping takes shopping to new highs. Pun intended.

Reading Feeds

Posted on by
Comment

I just don’t have time.

A while back, I started using endo, a feed reader application, to keep up with new content on a few sites. At first, I was able to check in once or twice a day and the number of unread articles never exceeded 20. But then I got busy with other things and couldn’t check in regularly. Now the unread article count is over 500 and I dread wading through what’s there.

What’s In It For Me

I find that about 50% of the material on the feeds I follow is simply not the least bit interesting to me. Unfortunately, those articles are spread out among all the feeds I follow — about two dozen of them. (If I find more than 75% of the content from a single feed uninteresting, I simply unsubscribe.) Those are the easy articles to go through. It takes only a few seconds to read the title and scan through the first paragraph or summary before I hit the up arrow key and move on to the next unread entry.

Of the remaining 50% of the content, about 80% (or roughly 40% of the whole) is mildly interesting and worth a good read. I sometimes link to these articles using del.icio.us bookmarks to generate the This Just In category links entries you might see online here. In fact,that’s how you can find out whether I’ve been reading Web-based content; if there’s a Links post in the morning, I was reading Web content the day before. The more links in the post, the more I read and enjoyed. This takes time, of course, because I have to read through these articles to really appreciate them.

The remaining content (if you’re following the math, that’s 10% of the total content for the feeds I follow) are what I call “keepers.” A keeper is an article that is worth reading not just once, but at least twice. It’s worth keeping a link to — perhaps even bookmarking for future reference. (I’m very stingy with my internal bookmarking.) These articles trigger ideas for writing in my own blog, for expanding on the thoughts of the source blogger to add fresh content to the blogosphere. They also give me ideas for other projects or things I can do to change my way of working to be more productive. This is the real time sucker and the reason I can’t keep up with the feeds I subscribe to. I don’t want to miss these articles. I want to find them and give them the time they deserve. Unfortunately, I just don’t have enough time to give. So I don’t give any; I wait until — well, what?

Why I Don’t Have Time

Currently, I’m under contract to write two books. One is about halfway finished; the other hasn’t been started yet. I’m using up all my big blocks of time at my desk these days, writing about Excel 2007 for Windows. I’m also writing articles for FileMaker Advisor and Informit. And I’m writing blog entries — or trying to — at least once a day.

I’m also preparing for a big “trade show” in Scottsdale — Big Boys and Their Toys Luxury Men’s Expo. I’ll be parking my helicopter on the show floor for two days, handing out brochures and signing people up for my multi-day excursions. So I’m preparing for that by ordering new brochures and logo hats, arranging for booth furniture and electricity, and trying to find two energetic and dependable people to help out with the booth. (If you live in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area, have a neat and presentable appearance and an interest in helicopters, and want a job for the weekend of March 17-18, contact me.) And in the evening, I’m sitting in front of my computer, turning hundreds of photographs and hours of video into a DVD of destinations to show at our booth.

Between all that, I’m flying helicopter charters. I did two on Sunday, I have one today, I have one on Thursday, and I have another one on Saturday. This is revenue my little company sorely needs to cover the cost of things like this trade show, so turning down flights like this would not be a good idea.

Does that give you an idea of how I’m spending my time? Can you see why I don’t have time to wade through the hundreds of accumulated posts that have accumulated in endo?

Well, enough whining for today. Time to get back to work.

And if you’re wondering how much time I used up writing this, it was less than 30 minutes. My morning coffee time. Thank heaven for multitasking.

Blogging the FARs: Fuel Requirements

Posted on by
1

A look at FAR Part 91.151 and real life.

FAR Part 91.151: Fuel requirements for flight in VFR conditions, sets up minimum fuel requirements for flight in VFR conditions. In other words, it’s telling you, the pilot in command, how much fuel must be on board to fly legally.

Here’s the language:

(a) No person may begin a flight in an airplane under VFR conditions unless (considering wind and forecast weather conditions) there is enough fuel to fly to the first point of intended landing and, assuming normal cruising speed:€”

(1) During the day, to fly after that for at least 30 minutes; or

(2) At night, to fly after that for at least 45 minutes.

(b) No person may begin a flight in a rotorcraft under VFR conditions unless (considering wind and forecast weather conditions) there is enough fuel to fly to the first point of intended landing and, assuming normal cruising speed, to fly after that for at least 20 minutes.

What does this mean?

It’s actually pretty straightforward. It’s saying two things:

  • First, it assumes that when you do your flight plan for a flight, you should know how much fuel is required for that flight. For example, if you expect the flight to your first intended landing point (your destination) to take 30 minutes and you burn 12 gallons per hour, that means you’ll need 6 gallons to get to that destination (12÷60×30).
  • Second, it’s requiring that you load additional fuel as follows: If you’re flying an airplane during the day time, you’ll need an extra 30 minutes worth of fuel to be legal; in this example, another 6 gallons for a total of 12 gallons. An airplane at night would need 45 minutes worth of extra fuel; 9 gallons (12÷60×45) in this example for a total of 15 gallons. And a helicopter, which often has its own special rules, only needs an extra 20 minutes of fuel day or night; 4 gallons (12÷60×20) in this example for a total of 10 gallons.

The assumptions here are very important. You need to do a flight plan to know how much fuel it will take to get to your destination. A flight plan should take into consideration wind speed and other weather conditions — for example, conditions that may require rerouting around storms or low-visibility areas. This is related to FAR Part 91.103: Preflight Action, which states, in part:

Each pilot in command shall, before beginning a flight, become familiar with all available information concerning that flight. This information must include—

(a) For a flight under IFR or a flight not in the vicinity of an airport, weather reports and forecasts, fuel requirements, alternatives available if the planned flight cannot be completed, and any known traffic delays of which the pilot in command has been advised by ATC;

By flight plan, I mean a real flight plan. Normally, that involves calculations using a whiz-wheel or handheld aviation calculator or the ever-popular Duats online service (my personal favorite). Looking at a chart and guessing doesn’t count.

What Would a Prudent Pilot Do?

Although I don’t like the phrase “a prudent pilot” — primarily because it was used on me by an FAA person who seemed to suggest that I might not be prudent — it is something to consider here. Using the example above, if you had to complete the flight as planned, would you just take the fuel required by the FARs? In other words, 12 gallons for an airplane during the day, 15 gallons for an airplane at night, or 10 gallons for a helicopter during the day?

A prudent pilot wouldn’t if he/she could safely take more. The limitations would depend on max gross weight; performance at high elevations, high temperatures, or high weight; and weight and balance. Performing weight and balance calculations and checking performance charts is part of the responsibilities of every pilot in command before a flight — that’s part of FAR Part 91.103, too. Remember, you need to “become familiar with all available information concerning that flight.” [Emphasis added.]

Why would more fuel be better?

Do I really need to ask?

More fuel means more time in flight. For me, that could mean the difference between taking an in-flight detour to follow a stream or river that’s rarely flowing or flying the boring straight route from point A to point B. Or the difference between successfully navigating around a fast-moving thunderstorm or having to land in the middle of nowhere to wait it out. Or having to pay $4.90/gallon for fuel at my destination rather than $3.47/gallon at my home base.

According to the 2006 Nall Report, 10.5% of aviation accidents in 2005 were due to poor fuel management — pilots running out of fuel or forgetting to switch fuel tanks. This is sheer stupidity by the pilots — something I call “stupid pilot tricks.” By taking on more fuel than you need, you’ll be reducing the chance of becoming one of these stupid pilots. (You can still be another kind of stupid pilot, though.)

You’ll also have one less thing to worry about in flight.

And if that ain’t prudent, I don’t know what is.

How do you make a million dollars in aviation?

Posted on by
Comment

Start with two million dollars.

That isn’t my joke — it’s standard aviation humor. And if you think it isn’t true, start an aviation-based business.

Yesterday, against all odds, UPS actually delivered the auxiliary fuel pump I needed to get Zero-Mike-Lima up and running again. Yes, on Saturday. In Wickenburg.

The UPS guy was at our neighbor’s house, looking for ours when we spotted him. Mike gave a New York hail-a-cab style whistle and the driver saw us waving at him from our hillside. Moments later, he was on our driveway in front of the house.

“How many deliveries did you have to Wickenburg today?” I asked.

“Two,” he replied. “And you’re lucky it was me driving. I was out for four weeks. If the other Saturday driver can’t find a house, he just doesn’t deliver.”

Yes, I was lucky. I needed the part to replace the fuel pump that had gasped its final gasp on Friday, right at the end of a flight. Although the pump is redundant in flight (so there was no danger during the flight), I do need it to prime the engine at startup. I couldn’t fly without it. And I had three relatively lucrative gigs lined up between Sunday and Thursday.

The fuel pump cost $1,500. Add another $40 or $50 for overnight Saturday delivery by UPS. Then add the cost of the mechanic who graciously agreed to come in on Saturday — one of his usual days off — to install it. I told him to charge me extra. He said he would. Hell, it’s only fair. He could have said it would have to wait until Monday. Then I’d miss out on one (which turned into two) of my gigs.

Doing the Math

Unexpected repairs like this are only part of what makes operating an aviation business a lot more expensive than people think. How many times have I been at a rides gig where people asked how much fuel the helicopter burned? Every single one. I tell them it’s 16 to 18 gallons an hour and sometimes they ask how much fuel costs. I tell them $4 a gallon. They do some math in their head to come up with $64 per hour. Then they see us loading people on board for $30 a head, sometimes three at a time, and figure I can get 6 10-minute flights in per hour. That number comes out to $540/hour. Jeez! I must be making a fortune!

The truth of the matter is, fuel is among the least of my expenses.

What people always fail to consider is insurance (at about $11,500 per year); regular maintenance like oil changes ($120 each), 100-hour inspections ($2,000 each), annual inspections ($2,000 each); and the cost of the oh-so-important overhaul due at 2,200 hours that costs (currently) a whopping $182,000. (Do the math on that: $182,000 ÷ 2200 = $83/hour.)

And then there are things like this fuel pump. The original pump lasted only 416 hours. If the final cost of replacement is $1,700 (with all labor and expenses), that works out to another $4/hour. Add that to the cost of replacing my primary radio, which is currently in the shop and may be declared dead: $2,100 for a used one plus several hundred for troubleshooting the old one and swapping them out. And the cost of that clutch down-limit switch that had to be replaced 200 hours ago: the $8 part with $800 labor. And, oh yeah, let’s not forget $120 just to make sure my transponder is working right — that’s something I’ll be paying for every two calendar years.

How about the support stuff that doesn’t go on my helicopter? Like the $1,200 tow bar and the $600 golf cart (used, thank heaven) to pull it? And monthly rent for the hangar to keep it safe and dry and out of the sun? And the charts and other FAA publications I’m required to keep up to date, including sectionals (twice a year per chart), terminal area charts (twice a year per chart), airport/facilities directories (every 56 days), and the FAR/AIM (once a year)? Or how about my annual medical exam, which is required just to keep my license? Or credit card fees just so I can accept credit cards for payment?

And how about marketing? The $1,600 I just spent on 4-color, tri-fold brochures and the $459/month I spend during the high season to get them in brochure racks throughout the Phoenix area? And the cost of the trade show I’ll be attending later this month to sell my multi-day excursions to folks looking for a different kind of vacation?

And how about the cost of my ground crew on those outdoor ride gigs and the cost of permits and commissions just so I can do them? And the cost for operating the helicopter just to get to and from the gig — sometimes more than an hour each way? And the cost of the table and chairs and shade structure and signs that we use on those gigs? And those orange cones and all that yellow Caution tape? And overnight lodging and meals for me and the ground crew on distant, multi-day gigs?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining. I knew I was in for it when I launched this business.

But it does explain why I have to charge $450/hour for flight time. I’m not pocketing nearly $400 in profits as most people may think. I’m barely covering my costs.

Paying for It

Today is Sunday and Zero-Mike-Lima is sitting snug in its hangar, all ready to fly. I picked up a second tour today, one of my Ghost Towns & Mines air tours. Right after that, I’m doing my first ever Swansea Town site day trip. On Tuesday, I’m taking a winter visitor to Scottsdale for some upscale shopping. And on Thursday, I’m taking some folks to Sky Harbor so they can catch a flight to Canada. The total revenue for these four flights is estimated at $1,895. That’s revenue, not net income.

Just enough to cover the cash outlay for that fuel pump and labor.

Would I give it all up? Hell, no! But I do hope the new fuel pump lasts longer than 416 hours.