Tag Archives: communication

Say Goodbye to Land Lines

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We decide to drop all of our “regular” telephone lines except one.

This past week, after much nagging from me, we finally agreed to get rid of most of our telephone land lines. There just doesn’t seem to be a need for them.

But it wasn’t always like that.

Our History with Telephone Lines

There was a time when there were six telephone lines coming into our house.

it was right after we moved here. Both Mike and I had offices in the house. He had an office number (1011) and so did I (1233). We shared a fax (3965), which he mostly used for his work. And I needed high-speed, reliable Internet with a fixed IP address. Ten years ago, that meant ISDN, which required two telephone lines (with Phoenix phone numbers to save money).

Are you counting? That’s five so far.

And, of course, we needed a “house” phone number (3537) to make and receive non-work calls.

When we bought our house, it wasn’t wired for six phone lines. (Do you know any house that is?) It was wired for two. And because the phone lines (and electricity, for that matter) run underground in a conduit from a telephone pole at the edge of our property, the phone company couldn’t simply run four more lines with them.

Instead, they sent a crew of Mexican workers with shovels and a ditch digging machine. These guys worked out in the hot sun and dug a trench from the telephone pole across my neighbor’s driveway (on our property; long story), across the wash, and up alongside our driveway. When they got to the top of our driveway, they used a concrete cutter to put a thin slot in the concrete between their trench to the telephone box on the side of our house.

Then they ran the wire — a six-pair — through the trench and connected it at either end. Because running the wires inside the walls to my office on the other side of the house was impossible, they ran the wires over the roof of the garage, down the corner of the house, and through a hole they drilled in my outer wall. If I remember right, they did the same for Mike’s office in the other spare bedroom.

They connected it all up and we had service.

The work crew buried the wires.

The wires didn’t stay buried. The first time they were unearthed and cut was when my neighbor was playing with a backhoe in the wash. He’d rented the thing to do some work around his property — we don’t just use shovels around here — and he was smoothing out an area in the wash for his wife to ride her horses when he cut through the wire. He didn’t even notice. The only way we noticed was when we were trying to use the phone. I distinctly remember going into Mike’s office, which faces the road to our homes, and asking him if his phone was dead. We both looked up to see Danny driving that backhoe up the road to return it to the rental place.

We didn’t call the phone company for that repair. We were worried that either we or Danny would have to pay for it. So we got some wire and some soldering stuff, and some shrink wrap wire stuff and did it ourselves. Twelve wires needing a patch between them equals 24 separate solders.

It took a long time.

The second time, Mike did it with a backhoe. You’d think he would have remembered the first time.

Another time, a flood in the wash took out the wires. That time, we called the phone company to complain that they hadn’t buried them deep enough. They sent another Mexican work crew to replace the wires.

Meanwhile, Mike and I moved our offices out of the house. I own a condo in town and got seriously tired of tenants trashing the place. So I moved us into it. The ISDN and our three office lines (two voice, one fax) went with us.

That left one phone line at home.

It didn’t take long before we realized that we needed a fax line at home. So we added one (2015) — heck, we already had all the wires in place.

Last year, we moved our offices back into the house. By that time, I’d replaced the ISDN with 5-6 Mbps DSL at my office and wireless “cable” at home. No DSL or even regular cable at home, so I’m stuck with 512 Kbps wireless cable. (It could be worse; I could have dial-up.) So that was two less phone lines. Mike was doing less and less work with his office phone — in fact, he’d forwarded that number to his cell phone — and I talked him into dropping that number. We also dropped the home fax number.

So when we moved the offices back to the house, we had only three phone numbers: the house (3537), my office (1233), and the office fax (3965).

And that’s where things stand now.

But Why Have Land Lines at All?

I got my first cell phone in 2001. Back in those days, I never expected my cell phone to take the place of a land line. Cell phones rates were too costly. Roaming charges were outrageous. But over time, I got the right plan to make it a bit more affordable. And with the purchase of my Treo last summer, I realized that a cell phone can be far more than a tool to make phone calls. It connects me to the Internet when I’m off-the-grid. It collects messages, it enables me to send voice or text messages to other cell phone users. And since it’s a “smart phone,” it’s also a mini computer, holding information about my contacts, calendar events, and more.

I find that I’m using it more and more as my primary verbal communication tool. In fact, more often than not, my office phone line is forwarded to my cell phone so I don’t miss any calls while I’m out and about.

Last year, I began putting only my cell phone number on printed advertising materials for Flying M Air. I was starting to think about getting rid of my office line.

Meanwhile, about six months ago, I started noticing that incoming calls from Mike’s family were going to his cell phone. His family simply didn’t call the house very much at all. And my family tended to call my office line. It got to the point where 90% of the phone calls coming to 3537 were telemarketers — despite our inclusion on various no-call lists.

I started thinking about the cost-benefit of having a house phone number. Cost is $30 to $50 per month, depending on how many long distance calls we make. Since our cell phones don’t charge by the minute until we reach our quotas and off peak/weekend calls and calls to other Verizon customers are free, we make most of our long-distance calls from our cell phones.

Benefit was tough to figure out. Sure, it was a “local” number for our friends and local businesses, but most of our local friends used cell phones. Since Verizon works so good around here, they’re all on Verizon, no matter where their number is based. Besides, my cell phone number was local. (Mike’s is a Phoenix number.)

But the number and type of calls we get on that line tells the true story: 90% telemarketers. And the phone can go for days without ringing.

The Decision Finally Made

Unfortunately, all this logic was still a hard sell to Mike. It had been hard to get him to turn off his office number, too.

So I began asking other people what they thought whenever I was with Mike. Friday was the turning point. We were in Macy’s, ordering a chair with the furniture sales lady. She asked for phone numbers and we rattled off a bunch of them for her. Then I said, “We have too many phone numbers. I’m thinking we should get rid of our land lines.”

“I did it a year ago,” she said. “Best thing I ever did. The only calls I got on my land line were from telemarketers.”

This was coming from a woman roughly our age — not some trendy kid bouncing through the early stages of life. Someone who lived in the same place for a long time and grew up with land lines, like we did.

Later, at dinner, the phone rang and Mike got up to answer it. It was a telemarketer.

A while later, as we sat watching a movie on television, the phone rang and Mike got up to answer it. It was a telemarketer.

I told Mike I wasn’t going to answer that phone anymore. It was always telemarketers.

Later, I came up with a plan and talked Mike into it. We’d use a two-step process to get rid of two of our three land lines.

First, we’d remove the house line (3537). We’d wire the fax line (3965) to the phone jacks where the house phone currently is but turn off the phones’ ringers and the kitchen phone’s answering machine. Result: we’d have a handy local phone number throughout the house to make outgoing calls. But the fax machine would still receive faxes, since none of the handsets would ring or answer. The phone company would play a recording on 3537 saying the number has been changed to my cell phone number.

Meanwhile, I’d continue to remove my land line from advertising materials, Web sites, business cards, etc. I’d also start informing people of the upcoming change. Then, in phase two of our land line removal project, I’d turn off my office phone number (1233). This would probably happen in September 2008. We’d wire the fax line to my office handset so I had a handy land line to make outgoing calls. (Actually, it’s already wired to my handset as line 2 and to my computer for outgoing faxes.) The phone company would play a recording on 1233 saying the number has been changed to my cell phone number.

That would bring us down to just one land line, which we’d use for incoming faxes and outgoing voice calls and faxes.

I estimate that this will save us an average of $70 per month. That’s $840 per year. I can use that savings to increase the number of minutes on my cell phone calling plan (if I need to) or spring for faster Internet service. Or just save it.

The Death of Land Line Business?

I heard a story on NPR recently that a big phone company — my brain is telling me it’s AT&T but I can’t confirm that — is getting out of the long distance land line business. They’re losing customers and want to concentrate on wireless services.

So the idea of dropping land lines isn’t anything new. It’s just a bit new to us.

It’s ironic that the overuse of land lines by a phone company’s biggest customers — telemarketers — is a big part of what’s driving other customers away from land lines. While my cell phone isn’t completely free of telemarketing calls — after all, the phone number is listed in so many places, including the Yellow pages — I get far fewer. And since I’m usually wearing the phone, it isn’t a big bother to answer it. And it’s just as easy to hang up.

Although I don’t think land lines will completely disappear any time soon, as a generation of telephone users grows up with cell phones, I’m willing to bet that most of them won’t see any point in getting a telephone line in their dorm rooms, apartments, or homes.

Frankly, if we didn’t need a reliable way to receive faxes, we wouldn’t have any land lines either.

What Do You Think?

Do you still have a land line? Why?

Or have you also gone completely wireless for telephone communications?

Share your thoughts with me and other readers. Use the Comments link or form for this post.

Christmas Off-the-Grid, Part IV

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Christmas Day, indoors.

It was cold on Christmas morning. 17°F outside and 53°F inside.

The heater was running at full blast, but it couldn’t keep up with the cold coming in through the cracks and crevices in the building’s joints. The blinds couldn’t keep the cold air from permeating though the single-pane windows. The plywood floor with its foam insulation radiated cold from the space beneath the building.

Up on the loft, it was nice and toasty. But we couldn’t stay up there all day.

I turned on the oven, partially to help out the heater and partially to warm up some apple pie for breakfast. The batteries had 11.7 volts stored, so I used my one-cup electric coffee maker to brew a cup of coffee. I heated Alex’s scrambled eggs on the heater.

It was a typical winter morning at Howard Mesa.

But it was also Christmas.

After breakfast, we started making our calls to family on the right coast. Mike called his mom, but was disconnected three times. His Razr phone doesn’t seem to get as strong a connection as my Treo. So he used the Treo.

I called my mother’s house in Florida where my mom, stepfather, sister, brother, and sister-in-law had gathered for the holiday. I talked to my mom, who thanked me for the Shark steamer I’d sent her. Then I talked to my stepdad, who was extremely excited about the Oregon Scientific weather station I’d sent him. Finally, I talked to my sister, who said she couldn’t wait to try out the iPod I’d sent her. I explained that she needed to copy the songs to her computer so she could put them on the iPod and yes, she would have to plug the iPod into her computer to charge it.

Mike made a few more calls: his brother, his sister, his uncle. He got a few more: his niece, his cousin.

Then we settled down to open the few presents we’d brought with us to Howard Mesa. I got a copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator and a new pair of slippers from my brother and sister-in-law. Both were on wish lists I’d shared with my family. (My sister ordered my presents on Christmas Day.) Mike got an aviation communications training software program from me. I suspect that there might be a few boxes on our doorsteps at home.

Outside, the wind started up. We could hear it whistling around the building. My 13-knot windsock spent most of the day stuck straight out. A thick cloud that had shrouded the San Francisco Peaks right after sunrise finally broke free and drifted off to the east. The sky was perfectly clear, the sun was bright. Although the temperature outside never topped 34°F, it got up to 76° in the cabin.

We stayed inside all day. I read the instrument training materials I’d brought along with me. I’m going for my instrument rating next month and have begun studying. For a while, Mike and I studied the Low Altitude En Route charts, trying to figure out what the heck all those symbols and numbers meant. (I know a lot more about those charts now than I knew last week.) Mike read Smithsonian magazine, which he’d brought along with him.

I made pot pies for lunch — another reason to use the oven. I also got dinner started. I made braised leg of lamb, which would simmer all day. The shed smelled very good.

Near the end of the day, Mike commented that it was the first time he’d spent a whole day relaxing in a very long time.

Dinner was good (if I do say so myself). We ate right after sunset. The temperature outside dropped rapidly once the sun was gone and began to dip inside, too. We played Scrabble before calling it a night. It was 12°F outside when we called it a night.

We stayed inside.

Telecommuting: One Solution to Slow Global Warming

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And I don’t understand why no one sees it.

Later this morning, I’ll have the joy of joining thousands of other drivers on I-17 as we head southbound into Phoenix from points north. It’s a typical Monday morning, so I expect traffic to back up in the typical places — a few miles short of the Loop 101 intersection, down around Glendale Ave, at the “Stack” and “Mini-Stack,” at the Durango Curve, etc. The only thing that’ll make this trip to the airport tolerable for me is that my husband will be with me in the car and we can take advantage of the HOV lanes set up for carpoolers along part of the route. We’ll speed by the thousands of cars with only one driver in each one, getting to our destination in an almost normal amount of time while they take 50% longer to reach theirs.

Obviously, one of the best ways to slow global warming caused by auto emissions is to reduce auto emissions. You can do that by encouraging people to buy more fuel efficient cars, but you’ll always find people who need that status symbol Hummer or other ridiculous SUV in their driveway. (You know, the one with the shiny chrome extras that has never been off pavement?) You can do that by encouraging car pooling by adding HOV lanes to the highways. (You can see how well that works on the commute into Phoenix each day; ask the folks in New Jersey about their HOV lanes.) You can do that by encouraging people to live closer to where they work. (But with people changing jobs more often than most folks change hairstyles, that’s difficult to maintain.)

But you can also do that by implementing a solid plan for telecommuting — making it possible to work at home or in a local telecommuting center instead of making the long commute to park their butts in an office or cubicle for the day.

The Benefits of Telecommuting

The benefits of telecommuting go far beyond keeping single-driver cars off the roads during rush hour. For example:

  • Telecommuters spend less time traveling to and from work, so they have more time to spend with their families and friends. This can improve their lives and reduce stress.
  • Telecommuters can easily “pop back into the office” to get a bit of extra work done when necessary, especially if that office is in their own home or neighborhood.
  • Companies that allow telecommuting can reduce the amount of office space needed because fewer people will be coming to a central office. This can save the company money.
  • Companies that allow telecommuting can pay lower salaries because telecommuting employees have reduced commuting costs. (My sister, for example, spends more than $500 per month to get from her New Jersey home to her Broadway and Wall workplace, which is less than 20 miles away.) Savings can be spent on the equipment the employee needs to work away from the central office, such as a computer, Internet connection, and/or telephone line.

Clearly a telecommuting program can help a business and its employees, as well as the environment.

Not Always Possible

Obviously, telecommuting is not possible for all kinds of jobs. A car salesman, for example, can’t meet and greet prospective customers while sitting in his home-based office. Someone who works in manufacturing, where job duties require assembling parts or checking quality needs to be at the factory with tools and materials to get the job done. Policemen, firemen, and ambulance workers must be on the beat or at their base of operations, ready to spring into action when needed.

But there are so many jobs — especially in our predominately service economy — where an employee’s physical presence is not required at a specific workplace. Salespeople can do much of their work on the phone and in front of a computer, with visits to customers and clients to close a deal or provide service. Customer service personnel can work from any location where they have access to a telephone and the Internet. (If we can ship these jobs out to India, why can’t we ship them to people’s homes or telecommuting centers in the suburbs?) Editors, writers, and production people don’t need to come to an office to get things done. As long as they have the tools to work, they can work.

And telecommuting doesn’t need to be an all-or-nothing proposition. An employee can work in a main office two or three days a week and work the remaining days at a home office or telecommuting center. He can share an in-office workspace (cubicle or office) at the workplace with another telecommuter on the opposite schedule. Just taking one day a week off a person’s commute — that’s 20% fewer miles driven — can make a world of difference.

The Mindset

Unfortunately, the mindset of employers and employees makes utilizing a telecommuting program difficult, if not impossible.

Many employers have a complete distrust for their employees. They feel that if they’re not looking over an employee’s shoulders, the employee must be goofing off.

While that might be true of some employees, it isn’t true for everyone. Many employees are responsible individuals who understand that they’re being paid to get a job done. It’s those people who should be given the opportunity to telecommute.

The way I see it, telecommuting is a lot like working freelance, but for one client: your employer. If your employer gives you a job to do and it can be done in the amount of time allotted, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to do it, whether you’re at a centralized workplace or at home with the necessary tools.

If an employee cannot finish a job at the office, he should not be given the opportunity to telecommute. Instead, the employer needs to understand why the employee is falling short of goals. Are the goals unrealistic? Is the employee simply not up to the task? This needs to be established before telecommuting is offered to anyone.

Employers can get peace of mind about telecommuting by granting telecommuting privileges only to proven employees and then monitoring workflow to ensure goals are met.

For example, suppose a support staff member is expected to handle 30 support calls in a day. If given all the right tools at a remote workplace, he should still be able to handle 30 calls. If his output drops to a consistent average of 20 calls a day, this should set up a flag for the employee’s manager. Why has the output dropped? Are there additional tools the employee needs? Or is he wandering away from his desk to chat with neighbors or do errands?

Output will always tell the story and that’s what should be used to evaluate the success of a telecommuting program or a specific employee’s participation in one.

I also think that while in some businesses, telecommuting can be used as a reward for hard-working employees, in other businesses, it can be the way to do business.

After all, why do employers pay employees? To spend a certain number of hours sitting at a certain desk in a certain place? Or to get a job done?

Conclusion

These are my thoughts about something that has been on my mind for years now. My ideas are a bit disjointed and perhaps idealistic. But two of my three primary editors are full time employees for publishers who allow them to telecommute. One editor lives and works more than 1000 miles away from her main office. Both editors are able to get all of their work done in home-based offices. While this is just one example of telecommuting in action — editors in the publishing industry — there can and should be more.

Telecommuting can solve so many problems. Why don’t more employers consider it?

Grammar Is Important

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Note: Okay, so I’m recycling this one. It first appeared on May 10, 2007. In the past few days, it’s gotten a few comments. And since I’m thinking about writing — being in the middle of a book revision for my 70th book — it’s the kind of thing that I would write now –that is, if I had time to write. But I do have time to recycle, so here it is again. If you’ve already read it, why not read it again? I did and I liked it better this time around. – Maria

Some advice for people who want to make money as a writer.

I’ve been writing for a living since 1990, when I quit my day job to become a freelance writer. Since then, I’ve written 68 books and literally hundreds of articles about using computers and other topics.

One thing that amazes me is the number of people who claim they want to be writers but can’t get something as simple as grammar even close to right.

I’m Not Perfect, But I’m Okay

Okay, so here’s my disclaimer: I never claim to have perfect grammar. On the whole, my grammar is pretty good — certainly better than average — but this isn’t because I study grammar. It’s because I read a lot and always have. I believe that reading teaches good (or decent) grammar simply by example.

I use Microsoft Word with the spelling checker turned on (mostly to catch typos, but I admit my spelling skills have slipped over the years) and the grammar checker turned off. My grammar skills are better than the checker inside Word and I consistently find errors in its preprogrammed logic when it’s turned on.

My opinion: Anyone who must rely on a computerized grammar checker to get grammar right should not pursue a career as a writer.

(Allow me to digress for a moment. Back in the early 90s, when I was struggling to make my writing career work, a friend of mine was working as a temp for a company that hired out people with computer expertise. She encouraged me to check out the temp company and sign up. I went to their office in Manhattan with a copy of my first book in my briefcase. Silly me: I thought being a published author would help me get my foot in the door. They made me fill out a form that had the same exact information as my resumé — I never could figure out the bullsh*t of making a person rewrite his resumé on an application form — and then gave me a grammar test. Yes, a grammar test. They wanted to see if I could write. I guess carrying around a 450 page book with my name on the cover wasn’t enough evidence for them. So I took the test. And can you believe it? I got one of the 20 questions wrong. It was the old who’s vs. whose. To this day, I still struggle with that one. In case you’re wondering, they never called me. And I admit I’m pretty glad about that. The whole experience was completely demeaning.)

An Example of a Wannabe Writer Who Needs Help

A while back, I received a communication from a blog reader who wanted to be a writer. Here’s what she wrote:

Thanks for sharing how you make it as a writer. I have always had the dream of being a writer, but just never seem to get with the program.

This is America so I ask my self why not write. I really don”t have a style of my own yet so it will be easier for me to do things the way that publisher want them done.

I just need a topic, or an area of intrest. I heard it said that after you get a topic you will write. (Hope this is true.)

I draw your attention to the second paragraph’s first sentence. Not only does this wannabe spell myself as my self, but she’s completely screwed up punctuation in the sentence, leaving the reader to figure out what she means. The disagreement between noun (publisher) and verb (want instead of wants) could be a typo, but I can tell you right now that publishers don’t want typos.

The third paragraph (also with a typo in the word intrest which should be interest), also has a grammar problem. Can you spot it? Think about it.

Take My Advice

If you want to be a professional writer — that is, if you want to write and get paid for it — you need to understand the basic rules of grammar.

Here are three tips for improving your grammar:

  • Read. Read a lot. Read good quality writing. There’s plenty of it online, on quality publications such as newspaper Web sites, Slate.com, Salon.com, and numerous others. All of these sites have editors who check the grammar, spelling, and punctuation of the writers. Don’t read just blogs. The average blogger is not a writer and very few blogs are edited. Worse yet, many bloggers have their own “style” that shuns standard grammar and spelling.
  • Elements of StyleIf you still think you need help, read a grammar or style book. Lots of people like the Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. (I prefer the illustrated hardcover version.) But there are lots of other books out there. The Elephants of Style by Bill Walsh is lots of fun and very educational. Go to a bookstore (you know, the place you hope to find your name on the cover of a book) and check the Reference or Writing sections. You’ll find plenty of options.
  • When you finish writing something, read it out loud. Unless the language you’re writing in is not your first language, grammatical errors should jump off the page at you as you read them. Simply said: Your writing should sound good when you read it aloud. That’s not just grammar, either. It’s also the rhythm of your writing, the combination of long and short sentences. That’s something that comes with a lot of experience as a writer.

Don’t worry about developing your own personal writing style. It’ll come to you — if you don’t try to force it. Learn the basics first.

Then just write, write, write — until you get it right.

Flying with Cars, Take 2

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Another gig at the Proving Grounds.

I spent yesterday afternoon sweating my brains out, flying in formation with cars.

I’d been hired once again to take a film crew around a proving ground tracks to get some footage for a internal marketing video. Last time, there had been one car. This time there were two. Last time it had been in September. This time, it was July.

The Flight Down

Mike came with me from Wickenburg. We topped off the tanks at the local airport here and took all four doors off. We’d filled a cooler with ice and bottled water and Gatorade to bring along. I also had a hand-held radio for Mike so he could listen in while we were flying. The flight from Wickenburg took about 50 minutes. It was hot — about 110°F/42°C — and even the wind through the open doorways did nothing to cool us. I had a small spray bottle and would douse my loose-fitting cotton shirt down with water as I flew. 2 minutes later, it would be completely dry again.

It was also bumpy. The desert, baked throughout the day by the broiling sun was sending waves of thermals straight up. But a 10 to 20 knot wind from the southwest was breaking all that up. As a result, the flight was like riding on a poorly maintained road with big, fat, soft tires. Bumpy but seldom jarringly so. Someone prone to motion sickness probably would have puked.

There were also dust devils: towering updrafts of swirling dust blown laterally across the desert floor. At any one time, looking out at the open desert, we could see at least two dozen of the damn things, some of them at least 500 feet tall. We were flying at about 500 feet above the ground, so dodging them became part of our flight path. If it looked like we’d hit one, I’d alter course to pass to the west behind it. This probably added a few minutes to the flight, but I wasn’t the least bit interested in getting very close to any of them.

By the time we got to the proving ground and landed on a piece of road where everyone waited, I was tired and red hot — literally! — my face was completely flushed — and partially dehydrated. It was a good thing we had an hour to kill before the film crew would be ready. I spent it drinking water and Gatorade in the air conditioned comfort of the facility’s lunch room.

The Film Crew

The film crew consisted of the same director and photographer as last time. The photographer had a big, professional video camera that he sat on his shoulder as he taped the action. The camera was attached by a cable to a small monitor that the director could hold in his hands during the flight.

The photographer was strapped in not only with a seat belt by with a rope that tied the harness he wore to the bar between the two front seats in the helicopter. In addition, they rigged up a come-along strap on the helicopter’s frame between the left and right side of the helicopter and had the camera attached to that by two separate straps. We clearly would not be dropping either the photographer or camera out of the helicopter.

Everyone on the film crew wore black shirts. These are obviously people unaccustomed to life in the desert. It doesn’t take long for a desert dweller to realize that black might look cool but it doesn’t feel cool with the sun shining down on you and a UV index of 10. They also drank a lot of Pepsi. No matter how many of us “locals” recommended water, they’d guzzle Pepsi and some weak tea looking concoction they kept in one-gallon plastic water jugs. I didn’t ask what it was.

Throughout the flight, the director would yell commands to me and the photographer through the helicopter’s intercom system. He had to yell because the photographer was hanging out of the helicopter to get his shots and his microphone was out in the 20 to 80 knot wind (depending on our speed, of course). The director also yelled into a handheld radio that the driver was tuned into, giving him directions.

Of course, the most challenging thing about communication was not the wind noise but the language. They didn’t speak good English.

The Flying

The kind of flying this time around was mostly chasing the car around the speed track (a large paved oval with sharply banked curves) and the dirt track (a smaller oval with a dusty dirt surface). I’d fly alongside, anywhere from 10 to 100 feet off the ground, but usually around 30. Speed ranged from a hover to as fast as 80 knots.

If you’re a helicopter pilot, you know that this kind of operation puts me in the shaded area of the height-velocity diagram or so-called “dead man’s curve.” I’m full aware of the dangers of this kind of flying and communicated them to my passengers.

But frankly, my willingness to do this kind of flying is what got me the job two years ago. They’d asked two other local operators to do it and they both said no. I think that the fact that they were flight schools played heavily into the decision. Wouldn’t be a good example to set for newly minted CFIs. Besides, I really think that this kind of “extreme” flying is best done by experienced pilots. Although I only have about 1,800 hours right now, that’s a heck of a lot more than the typical 400-hour flight school CFI.

The challenging parts:

  • Going from a near hover to highway speed in a very short time.
  • Keeping an eye on the car and the obstacles around the track, including poles with wires, antenna towers, tents used to hide cars from passing aircraft (believe it or not), and road signs.
  • Flying alongside the car at 20 feet above the ground, making smooth “hops” over lower obstructions (signs, tents, etc.) as necessary,
  • Swooping past the front of the car and turning so the camera didn’t lose sight of the car until it was past us.
  • Getting back into shooting position quickly after a technical shot so the photographer could maximize his video time.
  • Understanding what my passengers wanted me to do, especially on those occasions when they couldn’t agree and gave conflicting commands.

The best shots probably came close to sunset, when we were working with one of the cars on the dirt track. The clear sky, low sun, and dust combine to make magical scenes. Most of the shots used in the video from last time were ones from the dirt track. My job was to keep the setting sun, car, and helicopter in a line so the photographer could get sunset footage.

The Machine

I really enjoy this kind of work. Flying a helicopter from point A to point B is mildly interesting, but doing the kind of flying needed to photograph moving cars (or boats, for that matter), is extremely challenging. It takes all of my concentration to deliver what the photographer and director want.

But what’s probably best about it is the way my arms and legs go into a certain autopilot mode. I think of what I want and my body reacts to make the helicopter do what needs to be done. There’s very little thought involved. I’m just part of the machine — the brain, so to speak. And when flying — or doing anything with a piece of equipment, I imagine — becomes so automatic and thought-free, that’s magic.

The Trip Home

We finished up just after sunset. Rather than shut down and go inside for some refreshments, I decided to keep it running and head home. I wanted to get home before it was too dark. I was exhausted — I’d flown over 4 hours that day, including a flight from Howard Mesa and the ferry flight to the track — and was depending on the last vestiges of adrenaline to power me home. So the film crew got all their straps and cables out, Mike got in, and we took off.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that the Low Fuel light was flickering 2 miles from the nearest airport. Another plane was on final when I came in for my approach. I meekly asked him if I could land first because of my fuel situation. He gracefully pulled his twin engine airplane into a 360 turn to the right to give me additional room. By the time I set down at the self-serve pump, the fuel light was shining brightly. I thanked the pilot of the plane again after he rolled out from his landing.

It was still 104°F/40°C most of the way home — an hour-long flight in growing darkness. I’m accustomed to flying at night — I think every pilot should be comfortable with that skill — so it wasn’t a big deal. It was also very smooth; hardly any wind until we neared Wickenburg.

The only problem was the dust that had evidently gotten into my eyes during the last bit of shooting. It really messed up my contact lenses.