Tag Archives: Washington

Aerial Views from Yesterday’s Flight

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A few screen grabs from GoPro video.

I did a 3-hour charter flight yesterday, taking a good client to visit cherry orchards between Wenatchee and the Tri-Cities area of Washington. Along the way, we overflew the Columbia River and vast deserts and orchards. I had two GoPro Hero cameras hooked up: one on the helicopter’s nose and one on the right skid.

Here are a few screen grabs from my flights.

Ancient Lakes
These are the Ancient Lakes at Quincy Lakes, shot by my nosecam as I descended into the area from the Quincy Basin. If you’ve ever heard of the Ancient Lakes AVA for wine, these are the lakes that name refers to.

Rock Island Dam
I like this nosecam image of the Rock Island Dam, mostly because of the cloud reflections.

Rock Island Dam
A view of the Rock Island Dam from my skidcam.

Bridges
The bridges across the Columbia River between Wenatchee and East Wenatchee, shot from my nosecam.

East Wenatchee
A bird’s eye view from my skidcam as we flew over the bridge to East Wenatchee.

Columbia River at Richland
Crossing the Columbia River from west to east near Richland, WA. This time last year those islands were almost completely submerged with snowmelt floods. This is a skidcam image.

Richland Airport
A nosecam view of Richland Airport in the Tri-Cities area.

Desert
It might be hard to believe, but this area of Washington is desert. This nosecam image, shot east of Pasco, proves it.

Orchards
In this nosecam image, you can see the Snake River just upstream from the Ice Harbor Dam. My third landing zone was at a shop in the clump of trees on the upper right. You’re looking at thousands of cherry and apple trees here.

Even More Trees

Did I say thousands of fruit trees? There are millions in this skidcam image shot near Saddle Mountain.

Rock Island
This early evening skidcam shot of Rock Island and Malaga offers a good look at the terrain of my future home. I’ll be living at the base of those cliffs across the river by Christmas.

Bees, Please

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I consider, reconsider, and prep for a new hobby.

I started my beekeeping hobby in June 2013 and have been blogging about it periodically. If you’re interested in reading the other posts in this series, follow the Adventures in Beekeeping tag. Keep in mind that the most recent posts always appear first on this blog.

I don’t know exactly when I started thinking seriously about keeping bees as a hobby. I know it was within the past few months, but if I had to give you an exact date, I’d come up empty.

I think it started as a tiny germ of an idea, like a speck of pollen clinging to a bee’s wing as it buzzes around, going about its business. Somewhere along the line it was noticed and moved to a place where it could be closely examined and considered. I immediately realized that I needed more information to make a decision one way or the other and I got to work gathering that information.

Doing My Homework

I started by querying my friend Tom, who has been keeping bees for some time now in Vermont. He has nothing but good things to say about beekeeping and I was very encouraged. He gave me a few details, but it all went over my head. I didn’t know enough. Yet.

Beekeeping BookI bought a book — as I usually do when I want to learn something. I chose The Complete Step-by-Step Book of Beekeeping by David Cramp. It’s a nicely illustrated, hardcover book that covers all the basics of beekeeping, written in a way that folks who know nothing about it can quickly grasp. It was published in the U.K., so it has more information about beekeeping in Europe than I’d find in a U.S. published book. It didn’t go into much depth on any topic, however. This might be because of constraints related to the spread-based presentation of the material — each topic had to be covered on one 2-page book spread. (This is something you notice when you’ve worked in publishing long enough.) But, in general, I highly recommend it to anyone who is clueless and curious about beekeeping — as I was.

Tales from the HiveI also rented NOVA: Bees – Tales from the Hive from Netflix. This video offers some amazing footage that clearly shows some of the more interesting aspects of bee life. I admit that I fell asleep halfway through it — I really can’t watch TV late in the evening anymore — but I fired it back up early the next day and watched the part I’d missed. I recommend this, even if just for the quality of the footage. NOVA documentaries are usually very good and this was no exception.

Natural BeekeepingIf that wasn’t enough, I bought and sat through (in two sessions again) Natural Beekeeping with Ross Conrad on DVD. This is an incredibly long video that isn’t particularly well-produced. It jumps from video footage of Mr. Conrad lecturing in a classroom about bees with very few visual aids to video footage of Mr. Conrad talking to the camera out in the field while showing off a few things. I wouldn’t recommend this video at all if it weren’t for the fact that it is jam-packed with detailed beginner, intermediate, and advanced information about keeping bees. If he could redo this video to show more than tell — and organize it into real chapters or segments on the DVD — he’d have a real winner.

Storey's Keeping BeesBecause I liked the Storey Guide series book about raising chickens, I figured I’d try Storey’s Guide to Keeping Honey Bees. I bought the Kindle edition so I could read it on my iPad and annotate it. I admit I was a bit disappointed. The book didn’t translate well to the Kindle format; illustrations and tables simply did not appear right. Sometimes paper really is better.

Beekeeper BibleBy this point, I’d pretty much decided that I wanted to move forward and give beekeeping a try. So I bought one more book, this one to use for general reference: The Beekeeper’s Bible: Bees, Honey, Recipes & Other Home Uses by Richard A Jones and Sharon Sweeney-Lynch. This 416-page hardcover book covers pretty much every aspect of bees and beekeeping. I’m certain I’ll turn to it again and again to learn as I work with my bees.

Join the Club

Of course, homework wasn’t limited to books and videos. I also wanted to meet with other local beekeepers — if I could find them.

So I asked all-knowing Google and, of course, Google gave me an answer: The North Central Washington Beekeepers Association (NCWBA) on Facebook. I “Liked” the page so I’d get updates.

I also posted a comment introducing myself and asking other members if I could see their beehives:

I am very interested in getting started with this as a hobby soon. Is anyone in the Quincy or Wenatchee area interested in showing a complete newbie their setup and giving her some pointers? I’ll buy lunch afterward. Let me know.

I almost immediately got a response that included an invitation to see a member’s apiary in North Wenatchee. The next day, I was pulling up to a complete stranger’s house on the edge of town and knocking on their door. I met Kriss and Jim, who escorted me out to their incredibly huge backyard to see Jim’s two hives. We chatted for a while about bees, took a walk in their yard, and checked out Jim’s honey extractor. They suggested I go to YouTube and watch videos by FatBeeMan. I left feeling glad that such nice people shared the same hobby so close to where I’d soon be living.

The NCWBA meets twice a month: once for an informal “chat” at an area restaurant and once for a formal association meeting in a hotel conference room. I was unable to attend the next chat, but I was able to go to the formal meeting. I met a bunch of great people and told them about my situation — that I wanted to get started with bees but didn’t have a place to put my hives yet. Soon, I told them, I’d close on a 10-acre parcel in Malaga. They talked about hive conditions now and what each beekeeper should be expecting. They talked about needing a webmaster for their website. (No, I didn’t volunteer. I have enough on my plate right now.) They talked about their involvement in the Chelan County Fair in September. (Can anyone lend them a mannequin with a head so they can dress it in a bee suit, hat, and veil?) And they talked about swarm season; I gave out my phone number and asked to be called if they went after a swarm so I could watch and/or help.

At the end of the meeting, Kriss and Jim offered to let me put my hive in their backyard so I could get started with my bees before the season is too far gone. We’d move the hive when I closed on my land. I accepted their very generous offer and started thinking about ordering my hive.

Another Friend with Bees

The following Tuesday, I was in Auburn, WA, picking up my sad little jet boat, which was in storage at my friend Don’s house. Don offered to take me to late breakfast at the Puyallap Airport. That meant flying over in his helicopter. He pulled it out of his hangar and preflighted it and we climbed aboard. While it was warming up, I told him I’d decided to keep bees. I then immediately suggested he and his wife might like to do the same — they’d make a good match for their goats and llama and chickens.

“We already have bees,” he replied.

I was dumbfounded. I didn’t know he had bees. We talked about them at breakfast. He told me that there was a woman nearby who did seminars and sold beekeeping equipment. Her place was closed just one day a week: Tuesday. Just my luck.

When we got back to his house, he showed me his two bee hives. He told me that they’d had one hive the previous year and that the bees had been killed by mites over the winter. He showed me the mite screen they’d just installed.

Two white molded plastic chairs were positioned in front of the hives, about five feet away, facing them. “Do you sit here?” I asked.

“Yes,” he replied. “It’s kind of fun to watch them come and go.”

I told him I was going to pick his brain about bees when I had questions. He didn’t seem to mind at all.

Prepped with Information

That was on May 21, less than a month after receiving that first bee book in the mail from Amazon.com.

At that point, I fully understood about 90% of what my beekeeping friends — both old and new — were talking about. Only a month before, I didn’t know much about bees other than that they lived in hives, had a queen, and made honey. Within a month, I’d learned the terminology and understood more than just the basics. I could communicate with others to ask questions and understand the answers. My homework — with books — had really jump-started my knowledge base.

It was time to make equipment purchase decisions. But I’ll save that for another post.

The Maiden Voyage of the Yellow Kayak

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An afternoon out with some friends and my dog.

I can’t remember exactly when I decided I wanted to try calm water kayaking. It may have been last fall, after losing all that weight, when I realized that I needed some upper body exercise to build muscle tone in my upper arms. It could have been in December, when I realized that a kayak would be an excellent way to explore the Intracoastal Waterway that wound past my mom’s house in Florida. I know it was before I moved my RV to the Sacramento area in late February to begin a frost contract. In fact, I was so sure I wanted a kayak back then that I brought along Penny’s life jacket and a floatation cushion when I headed south from Auburn.

My New Kayak
My new kayak.

But it wasn’t until last Monday when I actually bought a kayak.

It wasn’t anything special. It’s an Equinox 10.4. I think that means it’s 10.4 feet long. It’s yellow molded plastic. It has a comfortable seat — unlike the only other kayak I was ever in, back in my old life — and adjustable foot rests so I can keep my knees bent. There’s a watertight-ish compartment on the back and a smaller one on the front. There’s a cupholder on the seat between my legs. And lots of elastic straps to tie things down. It came with a standard kayak paddle and a 12-page instruction book.

I bought it at Costco.

A few of my friends here in Washington have kayaks. There are plenty of places to use them. In Quincy, there’s a place called Quincy Lakes that has at least 10 lakes carved out of the basalt desert in a coulee formed by ice age floods. This is about 5 miles from where my RV is parked for the beginning of cherry season. A little farther away is Crescent Bar on the Columbia River, which offers a sheltered cove and access to the river. There’s Moses Lake and the Potholes Reservoir to the southeast. And then other lakes, ponds, and rivers all within a 30-60 minute drive.

This isn’t Arizona. This desert has water.

I was looking forward to going kayaking, but the weather simply wasn’t cooperating. It’s been wicked windy since my return, with winds gusting to 40, 50, and even 60 miles per hour, depending on the day. Not the kind of weather I wanted to experiment with my new kayak. The only nice day was Thursday and I had a charter flight that day. I’m not complaining.

Today would be my last chance for a few hours out on the lake for at least a week and a half. I had to go back to Arizona, possibly for the last time, and expected to be gone for at least 10 days. But the forecast called for more of the same.

I was messing around on my computer, trying to design a new kitchen for the home I hope to build this summer, when I got a text from my friend Katie at about 10:30 AM:

Did you get a kayak? If so are you available today to go for a couple of hours to H lake. Tyson wants to go and fish and Cody might go too. (H lake is the smallest of the Quincy lakes.)

Tyson and Cody were her sons. I knew H Lake pretty well. I’d hiked around that area quite a few times. I wanted to go, but it was windy. I replied:

Funny you should ask. I would like to go, but it’s it too windy? I don’t want to be a burden to you with my lack of experience.

She assured me that she was new to kayaking, too. She suggested about 1 PM but said we’d see what the wind was doing before we decided.

I checked the forecast again. Wind gusts up to 28 miles per hour didn’t sound good.

She called around 1 PM. It looked too windy. But she’d keep watching the weather. I shouldn’t put my day on hold for her.

At about 1:30, I realized I was wasting the day. I decided to take a hike down around H Lake to check conditions and maybe get a few photos. There was a chance that there were some wildflowers blooming. I changed into shorts and a tank top, put on my hiking shoes, grabbed my camera, and headed out in the truck with Penny.

H Lake
H Lake. You can see my truck parked in the parking area.

The first lake we reached, Stan Coffin Lake, was rough. Definitely not something I wanted to take a maiden voyage on in a new kayak. I turned down the road toward H Lake and parked in the small parking area. We got out. The lake had some ripples, but also some smooth areas. I took a photo and attempted to send it via text to Katie. But there wasn’t a good enough signal and the message failed. I figured I’d send it later. Penny and I went hiking.

I didn’t get a chance to take many photos. Penny and I had just reached the lake’s outlet on its northwest end when my phone rang. It was Katie. She wanted to know if I could be ready in 15 minutes. I told her I was at the lake and that I could run home and get my kayak. But the signal was bad. All she got was that I was at the lakes before the signal dropped.

Penny and I hurried back to the truck. We were just leaving the area — where the cell signal was good again — when Katie called back. She’d meet me at my trailer and we’d throw my kayak in back of her truck with hers and Tyson’s.

Tyson Fishing
Tyson’s kayak was rigged for fishing.

A while later, we were heading back to the lake in Katie’s Ford truck: Katie, Tyson, me, and Penny. We got down to the lake and parked. Soon all three kayaks were in the water. Tyson’s was rigged with fishing rod holders and two rods. While Katie and I paddled around the lake, he’d cast out his fly rod, pulling in one tiny bluegill after another.

Katie and I did pretty well. There was just enough wind to make us need to put a little extra effort into paddling when we wanted to move against it, but not enough to really make us struggle. We paddled around the edge of the odd-shaped lake, looking at the weeds and fish in the water, admiring the rocks and the desert terrain, and watching the occasional startled duck dart out from the weeds and glide away. We chatted about so many things that were interesting but not important. It was nice to clear my mind.

Penny the Kayaking DogPenny the Kayaking Dog.

Penny sat on the floor of the kayak between my legs. She was wearing her life jacket, which fitted considerably more snugly than the last time she’d worn it back in August. Although she seemed nervous at first, she was soon standing on her hind legs with her front feet on the edge of the kayak, taking in the view. I swear, this dog can get used to anything.

We circled the entire lake once, then just paddled around. Tyson kept pulling in fish and throwing them back. Two men showed up with rubber boats that they inflated and headed out on the lake with their fishing poles. One of them asked Tyson what he was using to catch all those fish. Katie took off to do another lap around the lake. I experimented with paddling the boat up to land, mostly to see if Penny would get out if given the opportunity. She did, but only to try to eat the weeds along the surface by the shore. She hopped back in when I told her to.

The temperature was perfect — in the high 70s — and the sun was bright and warm. The wind kept me from getting hot. I sipped ice cold bottled water. Penny lapped up the water droplets that got into the kayak when I paddled.

I tried some speed paddling and did pretty well. I really felt it in my upper arms and shoulders. I knew I’d be sore the next day and it made me happy.

In all, we were out on the lake for about two hours. I decided that on my next outing, I’d try a larger lake and I’d bring along a picnic lunch and possibly an umbrella for shade while I was eating. I figured I could also use it as a sail if the wind kicked up.

We came back into shore and stacked the kayaks back up in the truck bed with mine on top so it would be easy to remove. Katie drove us home. It was nearly 5 PM.

I considered my first kayaking trip a success. I’m really looking forward to the next one.

My Planned Home

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What I’m planning. What do you think?

I moved this post here from my private blog on Wednesday, June 5, 2013. Read about the hilarity that ensued that day to understand why I went public with this post.

A few people have been asking me where I’m going to live when the divorce is over and I leave my Wickenburg home. The answer isn’t simple.

RV Living

At first, I’ll likely live in my RV in Washington State, as I have for the past five consecutive summers. I’ll live at the golf course where I’ve been parking in May and June and much of July since 2008. My helicopter will be parked at the ag strip across the street, where I can see it from my RV’s back window and get to it for work within minutes.

In mid July, I’ll likely move up to Wenatchee Heights, where I’ve been parking in late July and August since 2010, when I first got my big fifth wheel. The owner of the land there was kind enough to set up an RV parking spot for me with 30 amp power, water, and even a septic hookup. With my helicopter parked in his backyard and the orchard I’m responsible for drying right across the street, life is very good indeed — especially the fringe benefit of being able to pick fresh cherries and blueberries every afternoon for the entire length of my stay.

A Hangar Home with a View

My New View
Having a view like this out the window of my home is something I can really look forward to.

Of course, that’s just my temporary living plan. I’m in the process of buying a 10-acre parcel of land in Malaga, WA, just downriver from Wenatchee. It sits on a shelf high above the Columbia River and Wenatchee Valley, with views of rolling hills, orchards, snow-covered mountains, and, of course, the Columbia River. It’s amazingly quiet and private, yet just 15 minutes by car from a great little city (Wenatchee) with just about anything I could want or need. I hope to close on or before my birthday — making this a much happier birthday than last year’s or any other birthday within memory.

I’m already working with a builder to construct what’s called a “pole building.” It’s a type of construction that’s simple and very popular for “shops” or barns. Sitting on a 50 x 48 foot concrete pad with a 25 foot apron/helipad out front, the building’s main floor will have two sides: one for my helicopter and RV to be parked side by side, and one for a four-car garage.

Front Elevation
Front elevation.

Garage Elevation
Garage side elevation.

One of those garage bays will be enclosed with a flight of stairs going up to a loft with a vaulted ceiling. That loft will be completely enclosed and insulated, with plenty of big windows and a deck on two sides. The 1200 square feet will have just two rooms with a bathroom between them. Windows in the vaulted wall will let in lots of light; windows below them will look into the hangar.

Downstairs Floorplan
Downstairs Floorplan

Loft Floorplan
Loft level floor plan.

My original plan was to use this as temporary living space until I could afford to build a real house on the property. But the more I look at my savings and the more I think about my future earning potential, the more convinced I am that this will be my only home on this property. So I’ve decided to make it very comfortable, with a dream kitchen that’ll put my old one to shame and a bathroom with the deep soaking tub I’ve always wanted.

And there’s plenty of space on the property if I ever do have enough money to build a home. I can then rent out this deluxe apartment to someone else and have some rental income.

So that’s the plan.

When? Who Knows?

The only thing I know for sure is that I’ll close on the land by July 30. That’s a must if I want to get the excellent price the sellers and I have agreed on.

As far as the building is concerned, the builders are scheduling out into September now. I can’t get on the schedule until I buy the land and come up with a 20% deposit on the building. Once I do that, and deliver another 50% when the materials arrive, they can complete the building shell in 6 weeks. Then it’s up to me — and some helpers — to turn that loft into a home.

Do you know drywall? Electrical wiring? Plumbing? Kitchen installations? Want a working holiday in a beautiful place? Call me! I’ll get you on my schedule this fall.

A Story about (Dis)Honesty in Business

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I can’t deal with people like this. Can you?

Drying Cherries
Here’s a photo of me in action over a cherry orchard in 2010.

As many people know, I now make most of my income in the summer doing agricultural work in Washington state with my helicopter.

Each year, my client base has minor changes, adding and removing acreage. It’s gotten to the point, however, that I usually need a second helicopter to help me during a one-month “crunch” period that runs roughly from the third week in June to the third week in July.

As I prepared to start my search for another helicopter with pilot, I was very pleased to get the following message via the contact form on Flying M Air‘s website:

Hello,
I was just wondering if you might know of a farmer who wants a helicopter for the upcoming season that you are unable to take care of? I have several helicopters available and have been doing frost abatement and cherry drying for over 5 years now.

An experienced guy with several helicopters? It sounded too good to be true. I replied:

I am looking for an experienced pilot with a helicopter for one month in the Wenatchee area. It would start around the end of June and run until the end of July. If you’re interested please give me a call.

He called. We spoke. He told me he had five helicopters: a JetRanger, a LongRanger, an R44, a Hiller, and an Enstrom. I told him I was interested in the R44 but only if the pilot had at least 500 hours in helicopters and 50 hours or more in the R44. He said all his pilots had over 1,000 hours.

At this point, a little nagging voice should have been whispering in my ear: This can’t be real. If this guy is experienced and has five helicopters, why doesn’t he already have contracts, especially for the R44, which would be anyone’s first choice of aircraft?

But if that little voice was talking, it may have been whispering. And since my brain is so caught up in divorce bullshit these days, I didn’t hear it.

Instead, I enthusiastically made him an offer for the R44, which he enthusiastically accepted. I told him I’d send a contract so he understood the terms and that I’d be able to give him more accurate dates in about a month. When we hung up, I remember thinking: Well, that’s one less thing to worry about. I even told a friend I’d already found a pilot to help me.

A week went by. I did some traveling. I didn’t get a chance to send the sample contract. There really wasn’t a rush; the work was still more than three months away.

I got another email message from the operator:

It was nice talking with you last week and thank you for the opportunity to work on cherries together in WA. Since our conversation I have had a chance to look a little closer at he numbers for an R44 and it looks like the lowest daily rate I can work with is $XXX per day but the $XXX per hour is the hourly rate needed so you were right on the mark with it. If you can’t do that as a daily rate I understand but I do have an Enstrom that I can get you for $XXX per day and only $XXX per hour.

I don’t want to give exact numbers here; I like to keep contract terms between me and the people I work with/for. He was telling me he needed $50 more per day for the R44 but only $25 more per day for an Enstrom, which I didn’t want. He could save me $25/hour of flight time on the Enstrom. So if I wanted the R44, it would cost me $1,500 more. Since my clients weren’t paying me that much, I’d lose money every day.

Classic bait and switch.

To say I was pissed is an understatement. I don’t like to be played. I know what it costs to own and operate an R44 and I know my offer was right in line with the going rate. So I replied honestly and politely:

Thanks for letting me know your requirements. I’m not sure I’ll be able to collect enough money from my clients to fill your needs. I’ll keep looking for someone else to handle the contracts for me. I don’t think the Enstrom will do the job. I’ll be in touch either way.

A few days went by. I got to talking to a friend of mine who also does cherry drying. He told me he’d been contacted by an operator who wanted to hire him and his Hiller to dry cherries in my area this summer. He told me that he was having a problem with the contract terms this guy was offering. Although the money was okay, this guy wouldn’t pay until after the grower had paid him. So my friend would be providing services with no guarantee of being paid if the guy who hired him didn’t collect.

You know what’s coming, right?

The guy who called my friend to hire him to fly was the same guy who had contacted me looking for work. He was acting as a broker — a middleman. He needed me to pay him more so he could pay the going rate to the guys who would fly for him and pocket money on the side. He wasn’t providing the services with his helicopters or his pilots.

A day or two later, I started writing a nasty email to him, but wisely deleted it.

Another week went by. Yesterday, I got this email from him:

I was just wondering if you have been able to find another 44 yet? If not can you do $XXX per day?

He was still looking for work for that R44, but now he’d dropped the daily rate to just $25/day more than I was offering. In all honesty, I could have made that work. But by then, I knew that I couldn’t trust him. And I didn’t want to work with someone I couldn’t trust.

Here’s where I’m different from most people. If you do something what bothers me, I will tell you about it. I want people to understand where I’m coming from. I’m not going to sneak around behind people’s backs and pretend everything is A-OK when it’s not. So I sent this message and BCCed it to my friend:

In all honesty, I’m not happy with the way you accepted my terms on the phone and then said you had to have more. I’m also not happy that you said that YOU owned the helicopters and I later found out that you tried to hire another pilot to cover cherry contracts for you. I’m thinking that you don’t have enough helicopters to cover your contracts or that you are trying to be a middleman. I’m also thinking that you’re not being entirely straight with me. I am not interested in working with someone I can’t trust. My clients are extremely important to me and I need to feel comfortable with the service I’m providing.

So I’m thinking that its best that we don’t work together this season. Sorry.

Too blunt? Probably. But that’s the way I am. I call it the way I see it.

It was obviously too blunt for him. He fired back:

Ok, so I never said it would actually work I said it may work on the phone. I never said I owned the helicopters, I have been doing this for over five years and have quite a few of my own contracts. I work with several other companies who are very happy with the service I provide. I never misrepresented what I do, just because you assume something doesn’t mean I said it or implied it. As far as being the middle man what are you doing?

Sorry, but I don’t agree with this. On the phone, he made it sound as if he had five helicopters. He even listed the models and told me all his pilots had 1,000 hours. And yes, he did say that the terms I offered would work — why else would I feel as if the job of finding another aircraft was done? I don’t have a recording of the conversation and I don’t have any notes. But I know what I heard and I know I was misled.

I replied:

I am not a middleman. These are my clients. I fly the contracts too. You misled me in our discussion and now you’re making excuses. I don’t deal with people I can’t trust.

And that’s when he showed his true colors:

ok, I should have listened to what people say about you but I thought I would give you a chance.

Yep. What kind of responsible business person makes a crack like that? Not only did he just slam the door on working with me in the future on cherries or frost (or anything else), but if any the other operators I routinely work with ask about him, I’ll tell them about this.

What should he have done? Well, he should have been a little bit apologetic, perhaps saying that he was sorry that he didn’t make the situation clear or sorry that I misunderstood him. He could have offered to start over with a more truthful account of his setup. But instead, he chose to take the line that I was at fault and that he should have known better to work with me after what he’d heard about me.

As if I give a shit what he and others say about me behind my back.

And him give me a chance? Jeez. How out of touch with reality is this guy? Aren’t I the one offering the work? The way I see it, I’d be giving him a chance.

Which, of course, I would now never do.

I got a call from my friend this morning. He had read the exchanges between me and the other guy. We chatted some more about this guy. Some details emerged. He had a helicopter last season and crashed it on a cherry contract. He apparently doesn’t currently have any helicopters at all. The deal he offered my friend for frost work required my friend to fly a certain number of hours for free or pay him for hours not flown. My friend would have lost money this season — especially since there was no frost flying to be done due to unseasonably warm weather all spring. He was glad he didn’t take the deal. And after our talk, he likely won’t be doing any deal with this guy in the future.

Sadly, this isn’t an isolated case. This business is highly competitive. People will say anything they need to in order to get a contract. They’ll promise the world. But when it comes time to deliver, they fall short.

Like the guy last season who said he’d work for me and seemed satisfied with the contract terms, but refused to sign a contract and refused to prove he had liability insurance. Needless to say, I didn’t work with him, either.

This isn’t a game. It’s business.

Oh, and if you feel like spending a month making good money with an R44 helicopter this summer, check this out. The only catch: you have to bring the helicopter.