Blue Hill Helicopters

Santa is real for the non-believers !

2011-12-20T04:29:00.000-08:00

Yes its true, Santa Claus is real ! we know this because he was in our offices at the Norwood airport!

Santa was here on a mission .... He needed a helicopter to drop gifts off in the local area , sometimes he needs to make early deliveries to people who wont be around on Christmas day!

Santa is also very very good with making things with baloons and he even made the instructors at BHH a baloon helicopter!

Santa had a safe flight and delivered many gifts from the air. We were lucky that the Schweizer helicopter is able to carry a lot of weight so we could carry santa and his gifts!

Merry Christmas from everyone at BHH and thanks to all of our friends who are also our customers, good luck in 2012.

The British school of Boston

2011-12-16T07:16:00.000-08:00

Thirty one children greeted us on Thursday morning, yes 31 ! They arrived in two minibuses from The British school of Boston.

Martyn Langley called us several weeks back about a project that the children were doing on airports, they had been working on how airports operate and how aircraft fly. We decided that a visit to the airport would be great for the children and they would be able to get up close to the helicopters and a private citation jet .

They arrived at 9.30am and we split them into three groups , the first group went over to the jet and were amazed at just how big it was ! They took turns at sitting inside and pretending to be rock stars ,well the teachers did anyway !

We showed everybody the Helicopters and they had fun pressing buttons and talking to each other on the intercom in the helicopters. Thanks to Kilian, Adrian and Johann for the help in keeping things from getting broken !

It was an amazing sight seeing thirty one children sat on the floor in the offices eating lunch ! We gave them all pens and keyrings and they went back to the British school to talk about what they had seen !

More blogs to come , plenty going on here at Blue Hill Helicopters including a first solo from Scott Gannon , Great job Scott , as soon as we have the pictures we will Blog about your journey to going solo !

We would also like to welcome our new edition to the team Kilian Szulmirski, he joins us from Germany and will be one of the new CFII's here at BHH. Welcome Kilian.

Happy holidays everyone and dont forget it is not to late to get a gift certificate for christmas. We can send gift certificates for helicopter flights or for the simulator .

All at BHH

Johann sweitzer Instrument pilot !

2011-11-04T12:26:00.000-07:00

Once again Blue hill helicopters reports a check ride pass! Johann started with BHH and completed his private then moved on to instrument . He passed his Instrument check ride on Friday and is keen to start on the commercial program ASAP !

Johann completed 15 hours of his requirements in our FLY-IT simulator . Saving him time and money and allowing him to fly in any weather ! and we have had some bad weather the last couple of months !

On this occasion Johann used the Schweizer C model for his flight test but the simulator is approved to complete the instrument check ride in. Johann has been ready for the check ride now for several weeks but with scheduling conflicts and weather he could not complete it until Friday. He was however able to maintain his ability with regular sessions in the simulator and aced the check ride.

BHH is now offering contract positions for the use of our simulator and the first regular user will be announced in the next few weeks, a very large helicopter operator indeed !

Keep checking our blog for the latest news and events from BHH , several students are getting ready to solo in the next couple of weeks !

A Day in the life......10/22/11

2011-10-25T15:25:00.000-07:00

ATypical day at Blue Hill Helicopters starts with opening up the office andlooking at the schedule for the day, today the schedule went off the computerscreen for all four of us that were instructing/flying that day !

Jen’sday started with one of our regular aerial photographers needing aerial shotsof downtown Boston. She completed the preflight washed the canopy and removedthe dual controls ready to load the photographer and all of his gear, theSchweizer C model works well for this with space in the middle for a camera bagwhen the collective is removed not to mention the ability to carry 4 hours offuel !

Adrian’sday started with the same preflight but a different passenger. John is aregular Saturday student who is just about ready to solo, he already has afixed wing license and just needs to refine a couple of things before he headsout for his first solo mission. Both helicopters are in the air by 8.30 andwhilst Jen heads of to the northeast to join the Fenway route into BostonAdrian and John head over to the numbers of runway 28 for some pattern work.

Backin the office Dave lines up his first student for ground school before he takesone of the helicopters at 10AM for a flight with Hugh, a new student to BHHHugh is loving every minute of his training with Dave and looks forward to theweekends when he can get back in the air and work towards his private license !

At9.45 Adrian Returns and has a different task ahead….Teaching in the new Fly-Itsimulator, the new addition to the BHH fleet, he is working with two moreregular students that recently started and drive from Martha’s vineyard ! Jen tells him to “leave it running andthe heat on !” The simulator isboth air conditioned and heated for those winter mornings. Saturday was notwarm !

Adrian, Jen and Dave continue to 6pm with a myriad of different missions !

Nowfor my day … It started at 6.30am when I headed from my home in Plainville MAto our private helipad in Worcester to pick up the Robinson R44, I had fourdifferent missions to complete in it by 4pm and the first was out of Norwood(KOWD).

AKorean TV station that I had been in communication with for several weeks hadchosen BHH because of our close proximity to Boston to complete a video shootof Harvard for a Korean TV documentary, we loaded up the photographer thedirector and the translator , that’s right a translator ! We headed into Bostonand over to the site in Harvard for the shoot , as soon as we headed in on thefenway route and talked to skyways I knew it would be hard work , 2 banner towaircraft , the state police and another helicopter making a movie in the cityjust for starters ! We were soon joined by another tour helicopter with a veryscratchy radio and another tour helicopter who had no idea of their position !45 minutes over the site and we headed back to Norwood. Back on the ground were attached the doors and back to the office……

Nextup was a couple from Randolph taking a tour of the city, we headed in andquickly found that a flight restriction had been placed within a four mileradius of Harvard giving us limited access to the city , we managed to get thefinancial district in and then flew out over the harbor islands and back toNorwood via some pictures of their house in Randolph !

NextStarbucks coffee and Lemon Loaf………

Aquick check on Adrian, Jen and Dave and off again to the helicopter. I Almost forgot, I dropped our newoffice assistant Austin in the hangar to work on his endless sweeping job….

Thenext flight took me to our other tour location, Marlboro airport . On arrivalat Marlboro a tumbleweed greeted me rolling down the runway, not to much goeson out there except helicopter noise complaints (not from us) I picked up mynext couple and took them andtheir 2 year old daughter for a beautiful foliage tour of the watchusettreservoir , very relaxing and a $25 tip ! that pays for at least my dinnertonight !

Thelast flight of the day was Tait who wanted to propose to his now Fiance overhis house in Boston where he had laid out signs on the roof “will you marry me “. Reaching the edgeof Boston’s airspace we were greeted with the radio reply of “Unable, HarvardTFR still in affect “ Oh no …. I had to get into Boston , I tried asking Bostonapproach for higher …. No reply we just weren’t high enough … I could not letTait down…..I climed to 3500 feet and asked if we could get over the TFR andover Fenway . “ Report over the station “ was the reply and relief ! unfortunately we couldn’t see thesigns from that altitude but it still worked out and she said YES !

Idropped the happy couple back at Marlboro still complete with its tumbleweedsand headed back to the helipad to put the helicopter away, some backgroundmusic courtesy of My Iphone and Maria Callas (opera singer) made for afantastic flight back to the pad near Worcester.

Wecompleted a total of 16 flights/ on Saturday between us all , well doneeverybody , another great day at the office, we topped it all off with theusual crowd out to dinner in the evening …..

Nowits Sunday night and I am writing this on a plane to Arizona where Helen and Iare heading for our next adventure !!!

A Long term student gets Commercial !

2011-10-20T13:29:00.000-07:00

Pete and I go back a long way, in fact I helped Pete get his private helicopter rating back in 2006 !
Pete is already a commercial multi engine instrument fixed wing pilot with plenty of experience flying for cape air. We have been friends for several years and ride motorcycles together on the weekends. If we ever need help at a fair or open house you can always count on Pete !
Pete got his Instrument rating with BHH almost 2 years ago and has been chipping away at his commercial add-on, working his full time job as a car mechanic it was tough for Pete to find the time to train. Eventually Pete was coming in twice a week and soon got finished with the help of Adrian.
Congrats again to Pete and thanks for always being around to help out !

Blue Hill makes the AOPA EBrief and Mass High Tech !

2011-09-23T13:25:00.000-07:00

Mass High Tech

Fly-It Carlsbad CA for training on the sim !

2011-09-20T09:25:00.000-07:00

Sunday was the start of a four day trip to Carlsbad CA and the home of Fly-It simulators. The Simulator we recently purchased was designed and made in carlsbad CA by Fly-It simulators who have been in business for more than 20 years and a leader in helicopter simulation.

The Fly-It helicopter sim is approved as a level 5 device and the only simulator approved for the following.

7.5HR VFR.

HALFTHE IFR TIME REQUIREMENT.

THE ENTIRE IFR CURRENCY REQUIREMENT.

IFRRECURRENT TRAINING.

INSTRUMENTPRACTICAL TEST.

50HOURS TO COMMERCIAL.

25 HOURS TO ATP.

The guys at Fly- It were very knowledgeable and answered every question over the two days we spent at their facility. We were trained on every aspect of the simulator, from replacing components to software updates. Construction of the simulators is all done on site at Fly-It and shipped in its own trailer to the purchaser .

More to come on the simulator included in our training programs and saving you more money than any other school in the northeast.

BHH

Darren Konkus - Instrument pilot !

2011-09-02T10:26:00.000-07:00

Congratulations Darren !

What a great day for an instrument check ride. Darren passed with flying colors, well trained by Adrian in 300CK and the sim. Darrens ability to fly the Schweizer 300C under the hood was obvious to the examiner as he flew the approaches. Practice in our FAA Approved flight simulator helped Darren develop his skills in the helicopter.

Well done Darren from all of us and keep reading the blog for news on many more check rides coming up.

Come and fly with BHH !

The BHH Team

Updates... Believe the Hype !

2011-09-01T19:31:00.000-07:00

First of all I wanted to post a picture of our star girl 300CK parked at the Killington ski area. She has been working hard on checking storm ravaged ski condos.......

Check Rides
One of our Instrument students will be taking his check ride tomorrow (Friday). He has been taking advantage of some time in the sim to brush up on his approaches for the big day! where else can you fly an approach AND log the time during a hurricane ? up to 15 hours can be logged in the simulator towards your instrument rating, huge savings on any helicopter ! (more on that later when I go into detail on what you can log in the FAA Approved FLY-IT sim). So expect another blog congratulating Darren on passing his Instrument ride !

Next week will see two more check rides. Johann and Pete will be taking Instrument and Commercial rides in the Schweizer. Pete has spent some time in the sim as well working on confined area procedures at MGH helipad, also practicing some real tail rotor failures and engine failures .

Johann is getting ready to take the Instrument and CFII written tests at our approved CATS testing center here at our offices at Norwood airport. He will be completed with them by the time he takes the check ride next week .

Thats it for now, dont forget to come and try our new FLY-IT simulator at our open house on Saturday September 10th, We dont care if its raining !

The BHH Team

New Englands ONLY Helicopter Simulator is here ! TRY IT FREE !

2011-08-24T04:57:00.000-07:00

The Simulator finally arrived from its 2600 mile journey from Boise ID. The 19 foot enclosed trailer was specially transported by an RV transport company. Such a large unit required a tow vehicle that was able to apply trailer brakes and an 'anti sway' system .The Toyota tacoma will be fine for moving the Simulator locally in the area to events and training days.

We were amazed at the condition of the unit after such a long journey , 2600 miles of road dirt soon came off with a hose and some aircraft soap !

We wanted to try it out right away but that was for Monday morning when everybody would be around !

Monday morning could not come quick enough and we all headed into the sim to look over Adrian's shoulder as he fired up the computer systems at the control desk.... all kinds of lights cam on and the simulator was ready for use ! We will be heading out to 'FLY-IT' for training on every aspect of the unit in September but for now we can use the less complex modes. One local law enforcement agency will be using the simulator several days a month and wish to have some specially programmed scenarios in the simulator . This particular unit has the NVG upgrade so that it can be flown whilst wearing NVG goggles, a must in the real world for EMS and Law enforcement , our NVG training course will come in early 2012.

Two of our full time students Darren and Johann will be taking Instrument rides this week or next so they were first up to try it out . We used the jet ranger model first to show them how to start a turbine helicopter ... very funny to see them ' Hot Start'. Jenn quickly stepped in and with her Jet Ranger experience showed them how it was done ! again the girls show up the guys !

We are working now to get the sim on the regular schedule and start saving students money along with giving them experience that they could never get in a helicopter. Keep reading for more information on the simulator and some Instrument check rides next week !

Thanks for reading the Blue Hill Helicopters Blog, come and train with us and fly with the school that is doing something different !!

BHH

What is your flight school doing for YOU on this rainy day ?

2011-08-15T05:51:00.000-07:00

Sure, its raining outside and it will be tomorrow and it was yesterday ! So you call up your flight school and say-"I guess we are not flying today" The instructor grumbles and replies -"No but we can do ground !" Grrrrrr Of course you need to complete some ground school, you need to work towards that oral section of the check ride and even the written test (Blue Hill Helicopters is a CATS testing center). Ground school is just as important as flying the helicopter , even more important in some cases BUT who likes doing it ! we want to fly !

What if you could fly on that day when its overcast at 200 feet ? What if you could fly in a thunderstorm ? what about a snowstorm ? what if you could land at Logan airport ?.......... At Blue Hill Helicopters you can! In the next week we will be taking delivery of our FAA approved FLY-IT simulator, the only FAA approved helicopter Simulator in the northeast. You will be able to fly on those 'no fly' days and even log the flight time in your logbook ! Log up to 7.5 hours towards your private license and even more towards instrument and commercial ratings, even your ATP check ride That alone will save thousands of dollars on any flight school hourly rate . You can also experience real instrument conditions without wearing a view limiting device !

Tired with flying around in an old R22 ? maybe you cant even fly it because you are too tall or too heavy? Thats ok, our FAA approved FLY-IT simulator has both Robinson controls and conventional controls, we will even set the panel up to something that you are used to.

Any potential new student receives 1 hour free in our simulator, when you take a demo flight in our helicopter.

The Industry is changing, we need to find new ways to save students money and its not with old outdated part 141 training programs they just dont work. Fly the simulator at only $70 per hour + Instructor . Are you a qualified Helicopter CFII ? We will train you for free on the use of the simulator and you can teach in it for free ! just bring your student and they pay $70 per hour.

We have so much to talk about with this new simulator, we will talk more in the next blog when it arrives.

Have a great rainy day ...........We will !

Did we mention that you can do a turbine transition in the FLY-IT simulator ?

Open House success and Skydiving !

2011-08-07T08:32:00.000-07:00

Blue Hill Helicopters is the longest established Schweizer school in New England with the newest most up to date helicopters. We exclusively use the Schweizer 300 C and 300CBi for flight training although we do have a 2008 R44 Clipper 2 that we use for transition training and tours, complete with air conditioning.

Last Saturday was the first open house in quite a while and it was great to see so many people with an interest in helicopter flying. Several people have since began flight training with Blue Hill and two of them will be making a career from it ! Great news for the helicopter industry that has seen a down turn in flight training schools in recent years. Good luck Jarrett and Scott.

The next few months will see the arrival of our FLY-IT simulator, this will save thousands of dollars for those of you that will be part of our pro pilot program. After dropping our little used part 141 program we will be working towards part 142 approval with the arrival of the simulator in the fall. Those of you flying the R22 helicopter can jump right in to the simulator equipped with Both Schweizer and Robinson controls. Perhaps you would even like to try flying the Bell 206 in the sim and learning how to start a turbine ? More on the sim in future blogs but I am sure you will agree that it will be an asset to the helicopter industry in the northeast, its time somebody did something to save students money !

SKYDIVING !

Every year we get asked to head up to Pepperell for the first of two skydive "Boogies" !, skydivers jump out of the helicopter at 5000 feet and pull at 3000 feet , they say that jumping out of the helicopter is like 'base jumping' with 0 airspeed when they exit the helicopter !
It takes the R44 about 12 to 15 minutes to get to 5000 feet with the doors off and the skydivers on board. Its really important that they exit together to help with the weight and balance of the helicopter. Every single person that jumped loved the experience and we will be heading back up to Pepperell for the next 'Boogie' what a great bunch of people ! see you on the 24th !

Cameron, THE youngest pilot in New England !

2011-07-16T05:23:00.000-07:00

Cameron started training with us over a year ago on a part time basis, he wanted to start training in preparation for the military. Cameron decided that the Schweizer 300CBi would best prepare him for the military with its conventional controls and 'Real helicopter' feel.

Cam was only 15 when he started training but recently turned 16 and obtained his medical/student pilot certificate. He was already to solo when he turned 16 but knee surgery held him back for a while, however we continued to teach him ground school in the downtime and got him ready for that all important solo !!

Cameron has now completed two supervised solo's and this weekend will fly from the ramp on his own !

WELL DONE CAM !

Keep reading the blog for Cams progress to his private license , he will be working hard up to his 17th birthday when he will hopefully take the checkride.......

Dont forget the open house on July 30th !!

BHH

Another Instrument rating at Blue Hill Helicopters ...

2011-07-03T06:03:00.000-07:00

Francisco is a long term student here at BHH , Francisco only fly's once a week or so and has a full time job at Logan airport.

We always advise new students that training once a week can be a difficult option. With loans being very difficult to come by for flight training. Many people can only afford to train once a week with the need to keep a full time job, Francisco has worked very hard at his Instrument rating and many hours of study have payed off for him.

Francisco chose the part 61 route to his instrument rating, after some discussions he decided it was the most efficient route to obtaining an instrument rating, it allowed him to build that valuable cross country time for a future job and gain some experience of other airports instead of flying multiple approaches at the same airport ! Approaches at New Bedford and Plymouth completed the check ride on a very nice weather day. The schweizer 300C is THE best instrument trainer with over 4 hours of endurance available, even the examiner agrees ! Well done Francisco !

Stay tuned for 'Game changing' news from Blue Hill Helicopters ...... NO we are not getting a new location or adding more helicopters ! NO we are not going down the Part 135 route.....we have our sister company www.bostonexecutivehelicopters.com for that !!!

Who is trying to save money in this economy ? who would like to get the helicopter instrument rating for 50% less than any other school in the northeast ? what about saving 30% on your private ? what about 75% on your Commercial ?....... any potential student would !

The industry is changing..... watch this space !

Happy 4th of July

The BHH Team

When other schools cant get the job done !!

2011-06-16T12:55:00.000-07:00

When other schools cant get the job done we step in.........

Barry Compton had been flying with a local Robinson school on the north shore and needed to get his SFAR completed so that he could teach in the Robinson R44. Not a big task but he needed some training and an aircraft to complete the training and checkride in. Call after call returned no response from the local flight schools except 'Blue Hill Helicopters' ! I spent some time in the aircraft with Barry and he flew very well. We did the required maneuvers and Barry got ready to fly with the DPE that was able to give him his sign off.

Smiling faces returned an hour later (and dry thanks to the air conditioning) and Barry was a new R44 instructor !. Our clipper II is the perfect aircraft for Helicopter tours in the new england area . We can also complete training in the smaller Schweizer 300C and 300CBi helicopters including instrument and ATP.

Well done Barry and good luck completing your instrument training in the Schweizer , and to answer your question "Yes we can take more than 10 gallons in the Schweizer when we go on instrument flights !"
Its not an R22 !

Yet another instrument pilot !!!

2011-06-13T12:12:00.000-07:00

First of all congratulations Derek ! Derek gained his private rating with Blue Hill Helicopters over a year ago and decided to come back to get his Instrument rating. Derek chose to complete the rating under part 61 , a more efficient way to get the instrument rating if you are moving on to commercial.

Derek completed the training and check ride in the Schweizer 300C. Blue Hill Helicopters has the only 300C in the north east equipped for instrument training. With dual tanks and an endurance of over four hours the 300C is the only way to get your instrument rating. The R22 just cannot compete ! The 300C can accomodate two 250lbs guys and still carry over 2 hours of fuel !

Back to Derek .... He passed today with no mistakes and walked away with a smile, Derek worked with our senior instructor Adrian who has over 1600 hours teaching in Schweizer helicopters. It took Derek only 12 weeks to get his Instrument rating , I am sure you will agree that this was great achievement !

Keep reading the Blog for news on our FLY IT simulator arriving in the Fall . This will be a revelation in the northeast in the helicopter world.

Have a great week , we are !!!!!

BHH

What will you get Dad for fathers day ?

2011-06-13T08:51:00.000-07:00

Good morning everyone ! are you undecided what to get your father for fathers day ? socks wont cut it this year ....

You only have one option .... A $99 helicopter flight at Blue hill helicopters in Norwood MA !

Call today and get you flight booked , we will take your father up in the helicopter and fly him over Gillette stadium for only $99.

Call today 781 688 0263

More Check rides !

2011-06-09T18:18:00.000-07:00

We have been very busy with check rides here at Blue Hill Helicopters ! This week was the turn of Colin Colby. Colin has been a student at Blue hill for some time but a motorcycle accident gave him some time off. He quickly recovered and recently finished his instrument rating and moved on to completing his commercial rating. Colin choose to complete his Commercial under part 61, saving him time and money over any commercial completed under part 141 which can take up to 50% longer ! Dont be fooled by schools offering part 141 and FITS programs that can take 50% longer and cost you 50% more . Here at Blue hill helicopters we have instructors that can train you using real life scenarios and let you meet the standards required to be a commercial pilot quickly and efficiently. Colin experienced this training and passed his commercial check ride with no problems - first time. Well done Colin !

We will be blogging about Francisco and Derek over the next few days both completing Instrument check rides.

Boston Tours

2011-05-15T07:25:00.000-07:00

With the tour season hotting up I wanted to give a good write up on choosing a good operator to take your tours with . Our partner company Regis Helicopters strives to provide the best tours in Boston and the south shore. They have bases in Worcester , Marlboro and Norwood . Norwood is THE closest tour departure point to Boston and a tour departure from Norwood will get you into Boston quicker than any other tour operator. It's not just about who gets you into Boston quickest , its about quality of ride including helicopter type , helicopter age , pilot experience and of course the route flown.

Lets first take a look at the distance each airport that provides tours is from Boston center, very important if you dont want to spend most of your tour looking down at the highway !

Norwood Airport - 12 Miles - about 7 minutes to the center of Boston.

Marlboro Airport - 23 Miles - about 14 minutes to the center of Boston.

We operate from theses two airports for the Boston tours, A standard tour from Norwood gives you around 25 minutes to see the sights of Boston and the south shore islands. with the trip in and out over some very interesting landmarks that I will talk about in a moment.

Now some other airports that offer tours ...

Lawrence Airport - 22 Miles - about 13 minutes to the center of Boston.

Bedford Airport - 14 Miles - about 9 minutes to the center of Boston (However this is the busiest airport and you can be waiting up to 10 minutes for take off clearance )

So clearly Norwood airport is the airport of choice when it comes to proximity to the center of Boston.

Now lets tak about the Helicopter ......

Regis Helicopters/ Blue Hill Helicopters uses a 2008 R44 Clipper 2. This aircraft has leather seats, 2 GPS units ,live weather maps, collision avoidance and satellite radio installed. Being a Clipper model it also has the ability to land on water in the event of an emergency with the deployment of 'pop out' floats .In Boston we spend 50% of the tour over water , so nice to have unless you want to go swimming !! The clipper 2 is also equipped with air conditioning , a must in the summer months in Boston especially when starting the aircraft up at a hot airport ! Most people that take tours are going to dinner afterwards and dont want to look like they just left the gym when they get out the aircraft ! Oh and did I mention your can bring your ipod and play your own music whilst on the tour ?

All the other operators use the Raven 1 or 2 , neither of these aircraft are equipped with floats or air conditioning, probably not even collision avoidance or GPS ! In fact they are all used for primary flight training when they are not flying tours , we have training aircraft for that.....

So choose your airport, close to Boston or Not close to Boston ?

Choose your aircraft, leather seats ,air conditioning, classical music in the background etc etc

OR

Old aircraft with cloth seats and no air conditioning ?

Next lets talk about running costs .... Regis Helicopters and Blue hill helicopters own its aircraft outright .We do not use leasebacks period..... some tour operators have aircraft as old as 2001 ! do you really want to be 1500 feet up in a 10 year old aircraft that been overhauled several times ?

An R44 can be leased from spitzer leasing for $225 per hour + fuel + insurance + maintenance .This is what some tour operators are doing, So to provide tours so cheaply where are they cutting costs ? fuel is almost $6 per gallon so no savings there , how about Maintenance ? How about a pilot that needs the flight time and will work for nothing ? all factors to consider when you are choosing an operator.

There are two pilots that fly our tours , Chris and Steve . Chris is an Ex Military pilot with over 25,000 hours of flight time in many types of helicopters and fighter jets . Steve is a flight school owner and ATP with experience all over the world and over 3000 of helicopter flight experience. Check out other operator pilots , have they ever landed on golf courses because they ran out of fuel ? do your research !

Finally some facts and figures about the tours we offer in Boston and the south shore.

Squantum Point Park to right – just left of marina and to right of the gas tank. There were originally two tanks. One was painted in 1971 by Corita Kent, a peace activist and some say that the image was of Ho Chin Minh who worked as a baker at the Parker House Hotel in 1912. That tank was demolished and the remaining tank was repainted to match.

UMASS Boston: Home to 12500 students., and JFK Library 10 acre library and museum on Columbia Point completed in 1979.

Islands in Harbor: There are about 30 islands in the Boston harbor. Thompson, (outward bound) , Spectacle, (where they put all the dirt excavated from the Big Dig), Long Island (social services for over 100 years – almshouses, home for unwed moths, chronic disease hospital, nut farm, etc), Deer Island (see egg shaped waste digesters and 2 – 190 ft wind turbines on the treatment plant), Georges (large fort that was used for Civil War prisoners), The Brewsters: Little Brewster (Boston Light 1716 – oldest light station in the US), Peddocks (Fort Andrews, harbor defense until WWII)

South Boston: Old Harbor beach & Pleasure Bay/Castle Island: Fort Independence on Castle Island began construction in 1834 and is the 8th fort to occupy this site.

Logan Airport: located in East Boston. Named after General Logan, a Spanish American War officer from South Boston. Opened in 1923 with a 1500 ft cinder runway and first known as Jeffrey Field. Built out of landfill and incorporates three former harbor islands.

Griffins Wharf (original site now filled in): Site of the Boston Tea Party in 1773 on the tea ships Dartmouth, Eleanor and Beaver where 342 chests of tea were thrown in the water rather than pay the tax. (Just to left of Seaport Blvd

Rowes Wharf: Gateway to Boston completed in 1987. Bosotn Harbor Hotel and 100 luxury condos where a 2 bed penthouse goes for $2.5m. Condo fees alone are over $2 grand a month!

New England Aquarium: built in 1969, it includes an IMAX theater and whale watch tours. Known for it’s 200,000 gallon Giant Ocean Tank which simulates a Caribbean coral reef. 1.3 million people visit each year.

Boston Harbor Cruises leave next to the museum.

Coast Guard:

USS Constitution: Built in Boston, named by George Washington and launched in 1797. It is the oldest floating commissioned naval vessel in the world. Saw action in the War of 1812 and retired in 1881. Berthed at the former Charlestown Navy Yard and one end of the Freedom Trail.

Bunker Hill Monument: 221 feet tall, built in 1827 to commemorate the Battle of Bunker Hill 1775. Colonel Prescott coined the phrase “don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes”. Actually on Breeds Hill. They lost the battle but won the war.

TD Garden: Home of the Celtics and the Bruins. Originally the Boston Garden which dated from 1928 and designed by the same person who build Madison Garden in New York. Rebuilt in 1997 for $160 million and has had a succession of bank names.

Zakim bridge: Leonard Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge. Built as part of the Big Dig in 2003, it is the world’s widest cable stayed bridge with 10 lanes. Zakim was a civil rights activist who championed “building bridges between peoples”.

Museum of Science: Founded in 1830 by a group of men who wanted somewhere to display their trophies and skins from their travels to Asia and Africa. Now has the domed Mugar IMAX theater and Hayden Planetarium.

Longfellow Bridge: Known as the Salt and Pepper bridge. Combination rail and road bridge opened in 1906 and named for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1927. In 2008, two state employees stole over 2000 feet of decorative trim from the bridge and sold it for scrap. They got $12,000 from the deal but it has cost over $500,000 to replace. They only received 208 days jail time, half suspended and to be served on weekends.

Boston State House: Houses State Legislature and the Governor’s offices. Situated on 7 acres of land once owned by John Hancock, the first Governor. Built in 1798 and covered in copper by Paul Revere. It was gilded in 1874. During WWII it was painted black to help with air raid blackouts. IN 1997, it was re-gilded with 23k gold.

Boston Common: dates from 1634 and the oldest city park in the US. 50 acres of land that has been used for public hangings until 1817, public cow grazing until 1830.

Hatch Shell: Replaced wooden and metal shells and finally this one in 1940. Hosts the Boston Pops 4th of July concert. First used in 1929 by Arthur Fiedler, conductor of the BPO for 50 years.

MIT and the Stata Center: Stata: Opened in 2004, this is a Computer Science and AI Lab designed by Frank Gehry. The Stata's appearance is a metaphor for the freedom, daring, and creativity of the research that's supposed to occur inside it. It cost $283 million. MIT: Founded in 1861. Campus extends for 1 mile along the Charles River. Over 10,000 students

Fenway Park: Built in 1912 and the oldest park in the US. Named after the ‘fens’ that were drained to make the land dry. Every home game has been sold out since 2003. Holds just 40,000 – one of the smallest of the majors. Lone Red seat: right field bleachers – Ted William’s home run hit of 502 feet in 1946.

Fort Hill Tower: Actually an old water tower for Roxbury built in the 1860’s and restored in the 1980’s.There was never a fort, just a land encampment for General Henry Know who placed captured cannons captured at Fort Ticonderoga NY there and this persuaded the British to leave town.

Another CFI Checkride passed 1st time at Blue Hill Helicopters

2011-05-14T14:55:00.000-07:00

When Joel McCarthy came to us from the Boston police we were delighted to begin his training !

Joel has over 2000 hours flying Blackhawk helicopters and wanted to fly the most solid reliable training helicopter on the market today - the Schweizer 300CBi. Joel began his CFI training part time at the beginning of the year. He quickly progressed through the 1 on 1 ground school and passed both written tests right here at our FAA approved CATS testing center at the Norwood airport. With the ability to test students under our own roof , students can take the written test anytime.

Joel was able to work with some real life students here at Blue Hill Helicopters and they were all very happy to talk to him about his missions in Iraq. Joel and I worked part time on his teaching technique and quickly progressed to advanced autorotations and then on to touchdown autorotations , a requirement for the CFI rating. Joel was soon ready for the check ride and on Friday the 13th he spent the day with the examiner . After 4 hours of oral examination he went out to fly on a challenging flight !

Two hours later he returned with a smile and an Instructor rating ! Congrats Joel ! Joel will be teaching part time for Blue Hill Helicopters , if you want to know about flying Blackhawks in combat , come in and see Joel.

Monday will see yet another commercial check ride here at Blue Hill Helicopters ,watch this space for the outcome !

Another check ride passed first time at Blue Hill Helicopters !

2011-04-24T16:20:00.000-07:00

Yet another check ride was passed here at Blue Hill Helicopters on Friday. Johann Sweitzer has been waiting for a good weather day for what seems like weeks !

Friday turned out to be a great weather day and Johann arrived early to complete the remainder of his planning and a weight and balance. The examiner (Don) arrived soon after and they quickly worked through the ground portion of the private check ride. The ground room door opened with a smile and they grabbed headsets and took the golf cart out to the helicopter .

A 1.3 flight later and they both returned with smiles, Johann had performed perfectly and passed with flying colors !

Well done Johann from all of at BHH and good luck as you move on to the instrument rating.

Open House April 16th 2011 !!!

2011-04-18T07:21:00.000-07:00

What a fantastic open house ! We could not have asked for a better turn out at Blue Hill Helicopters .
We had students which we had not seen in years ! It really feels like the economy is improving and people are wanting to get out and fly again. At one point we could not have fitted anybody else into the offices, over 30 people both new and old students waited to talk to somebody about starting to fly again or beginning a new course of training.

One student arrived in his new ferrari 458 (of course I drove it ! )

The next big arrival of the day was our very own Mark Musgrove. Mark started his career at Blue Hill and still maintains a presence to give industry advice to students, something no other school in the area can offer ! Mark works for Air Methods at Umass Worcester and fly's the Eurocopter EC145 . He landed the helicopter at Norwood for everybody to see and to meet the doctors that crew the helicopter.

Thanks to everyone who attended the open house , it was an amazing day despite being very cold on the ramp !

We would also like to thank the new Part 135 operator at Norwood airport, Boston Executive Helicopters Chris Donovan brought his AS350 out of his newly refurbished hangar for everyone to see, some people managed to get a free ride !

House Hunters International..

2011-04-15T09:33:00.000-07:00

Many of you may remember us talking about a video shoot last summer. This video shoot was for HGTV and a show called House Hunters International. The show aired in February this year and featured our own Adrian Mansfield with a part time student Matilda. Matilda was being featured on the show as she was moving to Poland and needed a house .We got some great publicity and will be tracking Matildas progress in Poland where she will continue to fly !

Be sure to stop by our open house on Saturday at the Norwood airport and meet Adrian and the other instructors Jon and Jenn.

Mark Musgrove will also be here on Saturday with the Lifeflight EC145 from Umass Worcester, you can talk to Mark and get a hands on look at the helicopter and the equipment.

Thanks and have a great day

BHH

Cool Stuff with IR Cameras !

2011-03-30T05:07:00.000-07:00

When we received a call from a very large construction consultants and engineers company we started planning the flight.

Tony came to us from MKA to ask if we could film a large technical college in Lawrence MA. He wanted to go at night so that he could use an infra-red camera to check heat loss from the Lawrence technical college. During the heavy snowfall of the 2010/11 season the roof had been damaged by snow shovels during snow removal. Tony arrived and we headed up to Lawrence airport (KLWM) to take the door off the helicopter and fly over the site for the pictures. We arrived at Lawrence airport after flying through Boston and wondered if the tower controller had fallen to sleep! It has to be the quietest airport I have been to, not one aircraft in the pattern or in the area the whole time we were in the area, I think the controller was just happy to speak to somebody! We took the door off and John waited on the ground in the cold whilst Tony and I circled the site for the pictures. Tony had done this many times before and we quickly completed the job. We picked up John and the door and headed back to Norwood airport (KOWD) with a beautiful sunset in New England. We landed in the dark at Norwood and Tony took some infra-red pictures of the helicopter . If your looking for aerial photo or infra red shots in New England then call Blue Hill.

You can really see the engine and exhaust tips are hot, this is about 10 minutes after landing the helicopter. You can also see a warm area at the base of the mast where the transmission is. Have a great day and enjoy the blog , we have lots going on at the school so we will try and keep the blog updated more often. Dont forget the open house on April 16th when we hope to have Mark Musgrove here with the Umass worcester helicopter, weather and schedule dependent.

BHH

Another Instrument check ride passed 1st time !

2011-03-24T07:44:00.000-07:00

Colin Colby has been a student at Blue Hill Helicopters since 2010, he began training last year and then had a serious motorcycle accident which put a stop to his instrument training for some time.

Colin got back in the saddle this year and worked hard to get his helicopter instrument rating completed here at Blue Hill Helicopters. Yesterday was the day that we finally could call him an Instrument pilot !

It was an overcast day but the cloud base was high enough for him to complete the long ride in the Schweizer 300C, they departed OWD and headed out for the required approaches and hold. After almost two hours they returned with smiles and Colin a new Instrument pilot !

Well done Colin from all of us at Blue Hill Helicopters.

Greg Hren..... The 'Go-To' Guy for any kind of photography

2011-03-14T10:05:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post on our regular aerial photo guy Greg Hren, Greg will be making our flight school video this spring and helping with the launch of our new satellite location.

Here is a video from the fall that Greg made.

Behind the Scenes - Aerials w/ Blue Hill Helicopters from Greg Hren on Vimeo.

Thanks

BHH

A word to the wise about choosing your training !

2011-02-28T06:09:00.000-08:00

March is here and its time that many people think about getting back in the helicopter after the cold winter , although it seems like winter will never end in MA ! The warm weather should arrive soon and we will all feel better about wheeling those helicopters out of the warm hangar in the mornings....

As a flight school owner and commercial pilot I try a keep up to date with what is going on in the helicopter industry ,What are students looking for ,What do they need and what are we as a flight school doing to attract new students ? ,Should we do something different to try and bring new students ? Do people walk in the door and say " Hello I want to be a helicopter pilot here's $60K "
If we could answer these questions we would have 60 helicopters on the ramp like Bristow Academy in Florida !

What I have figured out is that as far as the training portion of the business goes , Students have some very normal questions before they choose to take the long road to being a pilot , I will try and list the most common questions and how we as a flight school can help them.

Question 1: What do I have to do to become employable as a helicopter pilot ?

I tell everybody that asks me this question not normally what they want to hear ! I start by explaining how to get the required ratings and what the industry is looking for at the current time ,We all know that we need Private, Instrument and commercial ratings. Of course we need to add Flight Instructor and Instrument flight instructor ratings to go and start that long road of building hours to whatever the industry requires , right now it seems like 1500 to 2000 and even more in some cases. I usually use the time frame of being a flight instructor in a busy school for several years. After this time you can start looking for your first job as a tour pilot in NY city or Alaska or even Vegas. You may also choose to work in the Gulf of mexico as a pilot flying to the rigs, with experience of this I can tell you its a very lonely place !

If potential pilots have not done their homework at this point they run for the hills ! The ones that stay already know what they need to do and move on to more questions .

Question 2: Do I really need an instrument rating ?

Very simple answer .... if you don't have an instrument rating you cannot be an Instrument instructor and you will not get hired , Every Instructor out there looking for jobs is an instrument instructor. you will also end up wasting hours working on you commercial ratings when you could have been completing an instrument rating. We use the 300C for instrument ratings and with long range tanks you can complete the rating in less flights and get more out of each flight, I never slam the R22 but you can barely carry enough fuel to get to the runway in an Instrument R22 !

Question 3: Will you give me a job if I train here ?

Another easy answer..... We will hire anybody even part time initially to work here IF you show us throughout your training that you are committed, arrive on time etc etc. Its much easier to hire somebody we know and trained than an unknown quantity ,However nothing is guaranteed , I make that very clear. All of our instructors are either trained here or from Bristow Academy ,the school I trained at and the school we model ourselves on, they are the biggest civilian school in the world and they use the schweizer helicopter.

Question 4: When can I get started with the training and can you get me a loan !

Like I mentioned earlier, this is the stumbling block for 75% of people , since the Robinson school "Silverstate helicopters" destroyed the loan industry for all of us then its very difficult to obtain financing for completing a helicopter license. Many Robinson schools are very unstable and "lease back" helicopters for use. Silverstate was one of them and took many thousands of dollars from un- suspecting students ,The owner ran off with millions and left students owing banks for training they never completed. (another story for another blog !). So obtaining financing is best done by talking to a wealthy family member or maybe savings. We do have some options for financing the private and instrument portions but they will not fund commercial licenses.

Some schools are trying new methods of enrolling students but beware ! They are offering students a new FAA developed 'FITS' syllabus .This new course backed by the FAA claims to offer students real world training. Operators talk about training in off site landings and preparing you for EMS missions. One of our instructors "Mark Musgrove" an EMS pilot for UMASS Worcester asked how a CFI with no commercial experience or EMS experience could provide this training ! and further more how a 100 hour student would even benefit from this so called 'FITS' training ? Any school with experience in training commercial pilots will have some "Industry pilots" on staff to assist in the real world scenario training and act as mentors to current CFI'S and students. This training including off site landings and confined areas is in the regular 'PTS' (Practical test standards) already required by the FAA.

Taking a course of training on 'FITS' syllabus will cost you 30% to 40% more and with money tight for most students this is not acceptable. The Biggest civilian school in the world did not adopt this type of training , I wonder why ?

So DO YOUR HOMEWORK ! don't be blinded by courses of training that sound cool , find out exactly what the school is going to do to prepare you for a an instructor position ,being an instructor will help you build confidence, experience and of course hours in a helicopter before you find that all important first job !

So back to the original Blog idea ,what are we doing to promote the career of being a helicopter pilot to new students ? Firstly... NOT blinding them with courses of training that take 30-40 percent longer to reach the same goal ...... Secondly offering very experienced staff and 'Industry pilots' always on hand to answer questions from students and finally offering a great environment to train in.

lastly ... The photo of the day ..... See you all at heli expo Florida !

EC120 to Baltimore PD Via NY City !

2011-02-11T06:45:00.000-08:00

We needed to take the EC120 to Baltimore for an annual/100Hr inspection. We arrived at KGBR at 8am ready for launch and pre-flighted the Helicopter for the 250 mile Journey. The hangar was warm and we were able to complete the inspection in comfort !

We used the heli mover to wheel the machine out to the ramp and did a final walk around before we jumped in and started working through the checklist . Battery master on , Generator On, Fuel pump On......... I cranked the turbine up and we soon had warm P2 bleed air pouring into the cabin on the 15 degree morning !

Our route took us down to KPOU for some jet fuel and then down the Hudson and through NY City, What a morning , clear skies and very busy radio !

La Guardia routed us over the numbers of 04 at 1500FT , the safest place for them with arrivals and departures , they wont do this unless you have some idea of what going on !

We continued with flight following down into KNTN, its just outside the exclusion area of DC. We picked up the technician and did some compass swings on the compass rose , part of the 100HR that needed me to fly . We packed the helicopter into the warm hangar and headed to KBWI for our flight to Boston !

What a great day and not the kind of day you will find at most flight schools in New England !

Steve

We will post some video as soon as we string it all together.....

Does anybody think we have had enough snow yet ?

2011-02-02T17:31:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of 'Blogging' in this very snowy 2011 but to be honest we have so much going on we don't know what to blog about !

A few things are lined up for the Blog;

Darren Konkus- Private Pilot !
Snow !
Roof collapse at Norwood airport
Plans for 2011
Blue Hill night out (we going to make it a regular thing...

DARREN KONKUS

So welcome to 2011, We have been greeted with a crazy amount of snow and being from England I have never seen as much in my life ! But we are very happy to fit in the flying around the storms and it sure does make for some interesting flying schedules on the days we can fly ! The first thing I would like to talk about is Darren Konkus, He has been a solid dedicated student and in the air or doing ground school whenever he can . His check ride went very well and we even had the pleasure of the FAA choosing to sit in on the ground school. Both Examiners were very impressed with his standards and passed him with flying colors. The pressure of pilots with 40,000 hours of cumulative flight time testing him just didn't phase him . Darren has already enrolled in the Instrument course and he will be working just as hard as he did on the private.

SNOW

Next up is the snow ! people ask "can we fly in the snow ? " I tell people that we choose not to fly in the snow, of course we can fly in light snow but some of the storms we have had recently just have not allowed it ! with vis at 1/4SM, We do however fly in those great bluebird days that always follow a good storm as the Low moves out and the High moves in, often windy but great flying .

ROOF COLLAPSE AT NORWOOD AIRPORT

Today at Norwood airport the roof of the swift aviation hangar collapsed. Several planes were damaged and a Robinson R44 helicopter.

Blue Hill Night Out
Last weekend 16 students joined us all for a Blue Hill Helicopters night out. We started off at kings bowling in Dedham with great plans of having a bowling competition, with a 4 hour wait ahead we moved on to Jake and Joe's on Route 1 for some good food and of course beer ! It turned out to be a great night and they served some great food , Thanks to everyone that joined us , we will announce the next BHH outing as and when we decide on a good venue. watch this space and for an announcement on flight schedule pro.

Finally..... Plans for 2011 where are we heading !
Seeing the school so busy in the winter months gives us great energy for improvements in the coming months, as we speak we are writing 4 more part 141 courses to add to our certificate. We are planning on opening a new location but will be very careful where we choose . We closely monitor where our students come from. We will for sure be staying with Schweizer / Sikorsky products and only using our R44 helicopter for some advanced training and tours. We also have a new Instructor joining the team, Jenn Mulkern will be helping us out initially on a part time basis and full time when the schedule allows , she is a Maine resident and recently graduated from our Mentor school Bristow Academy in Florida. We wish Jenn safe and happy flying.

I dont think we ever mentioned John Harris! another Bristow graduate. He started back in 2010 and is now very settled here at BHH. John is a flying machine and he has both CAA and FAA licenses. He has time in Large twin engine helicopters and always has the answer when students have a technical question. John is happy to fly any day with anybody so come on down and take a flight with him ! he already has a strong student following .

Until the next blog !!

BHH

Christmas already and what a great year !!!

2010-12-24T14:29:00.000-08:00

First of all ,Happy holidays to everyone, student, renter, photographer or just a blog reader ! Its been a great end to a very strange year. I personally have had the biggest learning curve of my career this year in many ways . We have never been this busy in December, January already looks like it will be a busy month and John and Adrian are excited about working with everyone in the new year.

One of our biggest upgrades this year has been a new 2008 Schweizer 300CBi , its been a great helicopter so far and very reliable . We must not forgot the upgrades that N300CK has received including WAAS, Traffic and a new audio panel that records the clearances for the students to play back over and over again if they miss it ! what a great training aid. We thank our good friends at Nexair avionics for some incredible work in a very short time frame. Dave Featherston has done some great work in this helicopter and our EC120 earlier in the year.

We have so much to blog about and its very difficult to know where to start ! In the next Blog I will talk about some of the students that have gained ratings in the last few weeks.

Happy Holidays

The BHH team

Johann Sweitzer !

2010-11-02T05:30:00.000-07:00

How many Schweizer helicopter schools have a student with the same name as the helicopter ? Of course we have the standard 'Robi' school with students named Robinson ! but Sweitzer ? Nobody !

Johann came in for an Intro flight and he was hooked !, He flew in the schweizer and decided that was the helicopter he wanted to fly to gain his ratings. Johann has been with us only a few weeks and he is almost ready to solo , we will be sure to blog about that when it happens.

Every time I see Johann at the school he asks about the blog and tells me he reads it on a regular basis, I decided to snap a picture and told him that because he was an avid reader then I would include him in the next post, here we are !

Johann is also the only student that spends more money on his car (An Audi A6) than he does on flying ! We are very pleased to have Johann training with us at Blue Hill Helicopters and you can be sure that he will get his ratings with the best possible training in the North East .

Some days we just have fun !

2010-10-25T05:09:00.000-07:00

Saturday 10/23/2010 was a great day, too windy for some students but good for instrument training and some traffic pattern work for more experienced students. We decided to take the Jet Rangers to Martha's Vineyard for lunch !

We pulled out the 2 Bell 206 BIII on to the north ramp and got them fueled and ready to Launch, We decided to go as a flight of 2 and the first Jetranger with Larry and Chris would make the calls.

I fired up the turbine with no issues and we did our checks , hydraulics , fuel pumps Etc Etc .

We picked up from the dolly and made our departure directly from the north ramp out to the east turning into the strong wind. Our climb took us up to 1700 ft for the trip and over to Boston approach . We chose flight following as a flight of 2 because there was a lot of traffic heading in and out of the vineyard on such a nice day , we would also be crossing over several un-controlled airports.

Great Visibility soon allowed us to see the cape and beyond to the vineyard. Before we had time to enjoy the amazing views we were landing at the vineyard ! We parked the helicopters on the ramp and headed down to Edgartown for a great lunch at the navigator.

So as you can see , we have a lot of fun here at Blue Hill Helicopters ! Come and train with us and you could be in the Jet rangers on the next trip to the vineyard !

Have a great week

BHH

Mark and Rachel's Wedding 10/16/2010

2010-10-20T05:53:00.000-07:00

Ok ,so you may think this blog is a little strange but read on !

Mark and I met about 5 years ago when we worked at another flight school together as Instructors , I moved on and started my own business 'Blue Hill Helicopters' and Mark quickly followed to come and work for me .
Back then Mark and I were very new instructors and we had a great time working together, we even one day convinced Mark that somebody had seen rockets shooting from the skids of his helicopter whilst he was out on a training flight !
Mark is a true success story of the helicopter Industry, after gaining 1200 hours he moved to New York city and flew the Eurocopter AS350. He was laid off when the economy went bad and found himself out of work and back in MA with his then girlfriend Rachel.

Remember to always keep in touch with old pilot friends and never upset anybody ! This paid off for Mark when an old work Buddy told him about a position coming with up with 'Air Methods'. Mark and Rachel moved to Ohio and Mark worked as an EMS pilot flying an Astar again. After a year Mark moved on to flying the EC135 twin engined machine and then a new EC145 in West Virginia, so from instructor to EC145 captain in less than 3 years , a true success story !

Mark married Rachel on 10/16/2010 and 2 weeks before the wedding a position became available with Umass Worcester , Mark got the job and will be starting at his new base in worcester soon flying an EC145 . So remember if you work hard you can make it in this industry , Mark still maintains that his ability to fly the larger machines was helped by his time flying the Schweizer 300, he said that the conventional controls that the schweizer uses made the transition easy.
Thanks again to Mark and Rachel for letting me be the best man at the wedding .

I hope everyone will stop by and see him hanging out at the school on his days off, He will be happy to share his experiences of the helicopter industry and give you some great advice, Not many schools have success story's like this !

Rainy days and Mondays

2010-10-04T14:32:00.000-07:00

Ok, Its Monday and its raining with winds of 17k Gusting 25k... Not a great flying day !

Well its better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than in the air wishing you were on the ground ! Ground school is the only option but it can be fun , nobody likes ground school on a beautiful sunny day so it always seems better on a day when we cant fly.

We have a range of different students right now at all different levels, Joel is a commercial pilot working in law enforcement gaining his CFI and CFII and john is a private fixed wing pilot completing a helicopter Add-On. Today was the perfect day for Joel to try out some lesson plans on his fellow student John !

Its very obvious that Joel loves teaching and being in front of the whiteboard and will soon gain his CFI just as soon as he forgets about flying the Blackhawk ! John is a very competent fixed wing pilot and is adjusting to the helicopter well with the aid of his instructors Adrian and Salustiano.

Here at Blue Hill Helicopters we have a wide variety of students at different levels and you can always find a 'study buddy' many students come in and hang out just to study in the relaxed atmosphere here .

We are the only flight school in New England to have a 'smart board' to quickly show videos and internet links during power-point presentations. We are very pleased to have modern training facilities, stop by anytime and take a look !

Discovery Channel-'Shark Week'

2010-09-27T05:10:00.000-07:00

We took a call from Discovery channel weeks ago needing a Helicopter and pilot with experience of doing aerial video work. We do lots of video work here but this job was a little different ! They needed a 4 seat helicopter with a video mount to complete filming for a show they are making to be aired on discovery channel next August during 'Shark week'.

Arrangements took weeks of planning and the crew completed other aspects of the filming including time in a shark cage off Chatham MA. We had been waiting for the perfect day and Chris at Regis Helicopters
was out of town so I took the flight . We had both been listed as pilots for the shoot as they had strict requirements on pilots including about 10 pages of release papers to sign !!

I arrived in Chatham at 11AM ready to catch the mid day sun and meet with the other pilot involved in the shoot, he was flying a piper cub and was the spotter plane for the day. The retired airline captain explained the frequency we would be talking on and it was agreed he would circle over any of the great whites he spotted. I strapped Nick the Oscar winning videographer into the Helicopter and briefed him on the safety of flight aspects ,He would be wearing a full harness whilst shooting with the wide screen HD camera.

We soon let the cub depart and got into the air. We were straight onto the sharks and found the cub circling over an 18 foot great white about 1/2 mile off-shore. We watched and filmed as the shark chased the small seals up and down the beach , it was like being in a movie ! you just don't get to see this everyday in Boston !

We continued to film until we lost sight of the shark and moved on to where the spotter plane circled over the next piece of action.

The action soon slowed down as the tide came in allowing the seals to move off into deeper waters. Nick and the rest of the crew got some great footage and rewarded me with a great lunch at the Chatham airport , Our longest serving student JP Vario even joined us, He always has had a nose for free food !

Remember we now provide tours with our business partner out of Norwood and Marlborough airports and flight training from Norwood airport. We will soon have our Beverly location open but are waiting for the helicopter to arrive before we can move in.

keep reading the Blog for news on our other partner www.bostonexecutivehelicopters.com gaining the 135 certificate they have been waiting for and providing helicopter charters in the newly refurbished Astar and Twinstar helicopters.

Thanks

BHH

House Hunters International HGTV

2010-09-15T19:15:00.000-07:00

When the TV producers from HGTV wanted to do some filming for an upcoming show they chose Blue Hill Helicopters. We took a call here at BHH telling us that one of the 'House Hunters' was training to become a helicopter pilot overseas. Matylda had a bad experience with the Robinson R22 and wanted to step in to the schweizer to experience some of the great training characteristics that the aircraft has . The crew from house hunters arrived around 10AM and worked with Adrian to figure out the different scenes of the shoot and how best to put it together . We have several schweizers here at BHH and it was easy to use them all for different shots .

After filming almost 2 hours of video the whole segment will only be a couple of minutes !,We should see the footage on House Hunters International sometime this year on HGTV, we will let you all knlow when its going to air .

The schweizer is the best training platform for proffesional pilots. We will be seeing our 'House hunter' Matylda back here for more lessons as soon as she can get here ! Matylda was so impressed with the aircraft she signed up for our 141 private program, Well done Matylda and thanks from all of us at BHH for choosing us.

Blue Hill Helicopters will be opening a new location on the North shore in October , we will be providing tours with our partner Regis helicopters from all locations and Regis helicopters is now the exclusive tour provider at Marlborough airport .

Finally 398SH has arrived !!!!!

2010-08-11T18:10:00.000-07:00

After a very long 3 days flying, Adrian and Thom arrived back safely with 398SH ! The 2008 Schweizer 300CBi has been waiting on paperwork down in Oklahoma before making the 21 hour flight back to KOWD.

We are very pleased to have the CBi on the schedule and I am sure everybody will be eager to get there hands on it !. Adrian and Thom both reported that it flew very well and is a very smooth helicopter to fly.

Adrian and Thom on final to the north ramp

The Journey took them from Oklahoma up to Missouri for the first nights stay in St Louis with our good friends at Helisat . many thanks to Bill Hopper for taking care of Adrian and Thom !

The second day took them over to Ohio and a nights stay at Mansfield Ohio ,things cooled off a little at this point and they left behind the heat and humidity of Missouri, in fact Thom said when he stepped out of the helicopter in Missouri he had never felt heat like it !

Day three was the best day as far as Adrian was concerned and he was very glad to leave the corn fields behind ! "The rolling hills of PA were amazing" he said.

We were very glad to see them land safely at KOWD and it was the final step in what has been a challenging year .


Happy to be back and get rid of those doors !

Don't forget to join us for the open house this Saturday the 14th of August . We will have Food and drink and lots of advice for future pilots ! Best of all its free !

We wont bore you with seminars or lie to you about how you can get a license in minimum hours, but we will give you honest advice and real life stories of what we all went through to get where we are .

Thanks for reading the Blog ....

The BHH Team

Back on Track for the summer !

2010-07-05T16:24:00.000-07:00

After a very difficult time in June we have finally found our feet and we are back on track !

The students here at BHH have been fantastic and I want to thank all of them for the help and support over the last six weeks. We have been crazy busy and flew 100 + hours in the last five weeks. 300CK has just not a had a rest ! BUT we have a new helicopter on its way , its down in Oklahoma right now and we will be bringing it up to MA in the next 10 days . This of course is great news and brings us back on track again to 2 schweizers and the R44 , there is also the EC120 for the bigger jobs and the support from Boston Executive helicopters for charter.

I first want to tell everyone about Derek , he started our 12 week program to become a Private pilot and did it in exactly 11 weeks and 5 days with no previous experience in any kind of aircraft , Derek you did a great job and we are all very pleased ! Derek has proven that our 12 week program works . Derek had less than 70 hours when he gained his license.

The next news here at BHH is the arrival of the new flight instructor Salustiano Fragoso. Sal comes to BHH with almost 2000 hours of flight time in schweizers and Astars , He needed a break from NY City and moved back to his native Boston to enjoy some teaching time at BHH. He is on the schedule and is already giving Adrian some well earned time off ! Come by and meet him anytime , he can tell you all about flying in Ny City and his other love capoeira

So things are going well and we will be looking forward to the arrival of the new schweizer as soon as its ready ! stop by anytime and look for the next open house .

All at BHH

P.S For those of you have been asking , Rebecca is doing great and walking with crutches , she is still beating me at words with friends on the Ipad !

Steve

Photo flight

2010-05-06T17:55:00.000-07:00

Here at Blue Hill Helicopters we also do "Photo Flights"

We take photographers up to get aerial shots of a project they are working on . The versatility of the helicopter makes it a great platform to get those low and slow shots and in to some tight spaces !

Greg Hren is a very highly respected photographer all over the world and when he needs a helicopter he comes to us here at Blue Hill Helicopters, He first flew with us over 3 years ago.

Greg Just sent me over this quick note to post on the Blog !

"Just wanted to take a quick second and thank Stephen. What a great flight today! I work as a commercial photographer and have flown many hours in both fixed wing as well as rotary aircraft with both military and civilian pilots. I just wanted to say thanks for a smooth, effortless afternoon.

Stephen is a perfect photo pilot because he understood exactly what I was interested in, and worked to get me exactly where I needed to be in order to get the shot.

Thanks again!"

Greg Hren
http://www.greghren.com
http://www.greghren.wordpress.com

If you need Aerial Photography , Call Greg..........

Greg Hren Photography
http://www.greghren.com
http://www.greghren.wordpress.com
greg@greghren.com

68 Ralph Talbot Rd
Weymouth, MA
02190
(c) 617.308.5149

Its been a Busy couple of months at BHH !

2010-04-28T18:28:00.000-07:00

Thanks again for reading the Blog , We have been so busy here at BHH with many new students starting training on our part 141 program . We are very pleased that people have a great interest in flying helicopters for many different reasons ! Our latest student is 64 years old and always wanted to fly helicopters , she is living a life long dream and now has time to complete it . Another new student we have is a very experienced jet pilot who wants to learn rotor wing as the corporate flight department he runs is buyingh a Bell 430. He chose BHH as fast professional route to getting his rotor wing add-on .
We also have a few students completing our professional program and hoping to move onto jobs in the industry.

We collected the Eurocopter EC120B from Florida where it lives and works for the cold winter months !
The flight took us on a route through central Florida and an overnight stay in Savannah Georgia and a down town flight through New York city to name just a few of the sights !

I have posted some video of the trip up in the Ec 120 and of a landing in Virginia.

Dont forget to join us for the open house on May 8th , we are hoping for a great turn out of students old and new and anybody interested in Helicopter flying , We will even have tours available for those of you who interested , starting at $99 !

We are also now fully up and running in the new offices located across the street from the old offices in the pilot store building , we have over 2500 sq/ft of office space now including a lounge area and a very quiet training room equipped with a smart board and over head projector. We believe we have the best training facilities in the North East and the most experienced instructors .

Thanks for reading and please stop by for some giveaways and some great food from the grill !

The BHH Team

What do all these numbers mean when choosing a school ?

2010-02-10T08:22:00.000-08:00

What do all these numbers mean ? Well lets try and explain some things here.... first of all don't let any school fool you with all approvals etc etc that they have , many can be completed online in a few minutes !

Of course Part 141 approval is the real important one and can take several years and not minutes ! Part 141 is a part of the FAR "Federal aviation Regulations " that explains that you can complete a course of training in a structured format approved by the FAA . So if you walked into a school and told them you wanted to get a private helicopter rating and you had zero hours then you could do it two different ways. The first way is to look in Part 61 of the FAR to find out how many hours are required to be completed to receive the rating, in the case of a private rating 40 hours . If the school has a private program approved by the FAA under part 141 then you could complete it in 35 hours IF you enroll in that Part 141 program .

Everybody with me so FAR ?!

This is also very useful when it comes to training for an instrument rating as it again reduces the amount of training required in part 61 when training for the instrument rating under Part 141 .

The same is not true for a commercial rating or flight instructor rating , many times you will actually need to have more hours for the commercial license if you complete it under part 141 than completing it under part 61 ! crazy I know. The flight instructor rating can be added to a commercial rating and does not have hour requirements , However to sign a student off for a check-ride under part 61 the instructor needs to meet some strict requirements including holding a CFI for at least two years .Many schools will enroll you in a Part 141 certified flight instructor program so they can have you fly longer and with a much less experienced flight instructor . would you want to be taught touch down autorotations by a low time helicopter pilot with only 3 or 4 hundred hours ? Not me !!!

So the only ratings that are really worth completing under part 141 are private and Instrument AND the best way to get your CFI is with an Instructor that has at least 750 hours in helicopters and has been a CFI for at least 2 years .

Having said all this ,the best type of school to choose is a Part 141 approved school , you can guarantee that the helicopters have been maintained to the highest standards and that the school has to meet some very strict requirements unlike part 61 schools .

If you require more information then feel free to call Blue Hill Helicopters on 781 688 0263

BHH

Good Morning !

2010-01-25T05:49:00.000-08:00

Good morning everyone , thanks again for reading the blog !

Its been a while since I wrote last but things have been very busy around here for January, We took delivery of our new helicopter the Eurocopter EC120 B in Florida and have been back and forth to miami flying it around and training in Miami with the owner . Its a great helicopter, plenty of power for the Job its designed for and a great looking machine, makes that old Jetranger look like an R22 !. I am currently at American Eurocopter in Arlington Texas completing the Factory training course . The training is 5 days long and is required for any Insurance company to provide commercial insurance, as we will be using the helicopter for tours and charter this year then its a must, it also gives us a chance to do lots of "Touch down" autos with a factory pilot and get that all important factory sign off. The Ec120 is not a difficult helicopter to fly but as with any Eurocopter product it has some systems that are very different from other helicopters that you really need to know. I will post more when the course is complete with some factory pictures for those of you who are interested .

Lets move on......

I want to congratulate Thomas Laub and Paul Mahoney for passing private checkrides ! Paul and Thom sailed through the oral part and both moved through the flight with Ease. Thom was one of our part 141 students and has now began his Part 141 instrument rating here at Blue Hill Helicopters . Paul was a part 61 student and will move on like Thom to complete his instrument rating part 141 .Good luck to both of them and I am sure that we will be posting success stories about the instrument ratings very soon !

Thats all for now but we will make sure we don't leave it so long next time !

BHH

Choosing a flight school

2010-01-03T08:02:00.000-08:00

Learning to Fly--How to Determine What Aviation Training You Need and Want

At the beginning of your flight school search, it helps if you have a general idea of what you want from aviation. Why do you want to learn to fly? What is your ultimate, long-term aviation goal? Do you want to fly for fun, or are you seeking a flying career? Will your flying be local, or do you want to use general aviation aircraft to travel? Do you want to own an airplane or will you rent? These are questions you should answer before you start considering flight schools. And you should consider whether you'll train full time or part time; that can make a big difference in your flight school selection criteria.

Types of Flight Schools--Part 61 and Part 141 Schools, Flight Time, and Earning a Pilot Certificate

Flight schools come in two flavors, Part 61 and Part 141, which refer to the parts of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) under which they operate. The most common and least important distinction between them is the minimum flight time required for the private pilot certificate (sometimes called a pilot license)--40 hours under Part 61, and 35 hours under Part 141.

Considering that the national average for earning a private pilot certificate is 60-75 hours (how long you'll take will depend on your ability and flying frequency), this difference isn't important for initial pilot training. It does make a difference to commercial pilot applicants: Part 61 requires 150 hours, Part 141 requires 190.

What differentiates the two is structure and accountability. Part 141 schools are periodically audited by the FAA and must have detailed, FAA-approved course outlines and meet student pilot performance rates. Part 61 schools don't have the same paperwork and accountability requirements.

Learning under Part 61 rules can often give students the flexibility to rearrange flying lesson content and sequence to meet their needs, which can be of benefit to part-time students. Many Part 141 schools also train students under Part 61 rules.

Which type of flight school is best for you depends on your needs, available time, and other factors, such as veteran's benefit eligibility (only Part 141 schools can qualify for VA-reimbursed training) and location. When it comes to the FAA checkride, which is the same for all, it doesn't matter where you learned to fly, only how well--including your understanding of aviation academic material.

Although flight schools fall into two basic categories, Part 61 or Part 141, there is a third category that bears serious consideration by prospective pilots, particularly those planning a professional piloting career: nationally accredited pilot training institutions. Accredited flight schools must meet rigid standards of accountability for virtually every area of operation and must apply to an accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Aviation college degree programs also play a large part in today's pilot training marketplace. If you are planning a professional flying career, an aviation degree may make you more competitive. A plus in seeking a degree is that in many cases you are eligible for financial aid and scholarships that will assist you, not only in your academic endeavors, but in flight training as well.

Compile a List of Flight Schools

Once you've given some thought to what you want, start putting together a list of possible flight schools. Then request all available literature from each. Ask them to send an outline or curriculum for each pilot training program in which you're interested, and a copy of the school's regulations and flight operations procedures.

Don't base your decision on the literature alone! You're looking for informative substance, and this can be found as well in photocopied sheets as it can in full-color catalogs. While scrutinizing the material, take notes for use during the flight school visit, when you'll check the veracity of its claims. Some things to look for:

The school's philosophy, goals, and objectives, and how they match your needs.
Are there such benefits as housing, financial aid, and additional pilot training, such as aerobatics, that will broaden your experience?
How important is flight training to the organization?
How long has the flight school been in business?
What about the school's instructional staff, its enrollment numbers, and credentials?
How many and what types of aircraft are used in the school's flight instruction program?
What are the school's classrooms like?
What services are available at its airport (instrument approaches and control towers)?
What is the school's reputation on flight regulations and safety policies?
Take a Firsthand Look--It's Your Money

If you do nothing else in your flight school search--visit the school!

Your first contact will likely be an admissions officer or the chief flight instructor. Listen closely and ask questions about everything. Don't be shy. If you don't understand something, ask! During your tour, ensure that no area is left unvisited, from administrative offices to the maintenance area.

Interview the school's chief flight instructor or his or her assistant.

Some questions to ask:
Are progressive flight-checks given? (These checks evaluate your progress during the pilot training program.)
What's the instructor-to-student ratio? (Generally speaking, an instructor can adequately educate four of five full-time students, or 10 or more part-timers, depending on their schedules.)
Who schedules flying lessons, and how is it done?
What are the insurance requirements of the school, and how do its liability and collision policies work? Will you be responsible for a deductible, and how much is that deductible in the event of a loss? What is your coverage as a student pilot?
Who keeps your records? (This is important because poor documentation can cause you to repeat training.)
What happens when weather or maintenance problems cancel a flying lesson? Who's responsible for rescheduling lessons and reporting maintenance problems?
After the official tour, get away by yourself and talk to other students in flight training. Ask them to rate the training's quality and explain what problems they've had, if any, and how they were dealt with.

Other important flight training information resources can be the local FAA Flight Standards District Office, the Better Business Bureau, and the Chamber of Commerce. They may offer important insights on such topics as a school's safety record and business practices. Don't forget such applicable sources as the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, National Air Transportation Association, Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology, if so accredited, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, if you are an international student.

Don't Overlook Aviation Ground School

Learning to fly requires that you obtain the ability to manipulate the controls of the airplane and make it perform certain maneuvers. However, there is another aspect of learning to fly, and that is the academic knowledge required to understand how, where, and when to fly safely. This is accomplished in aviation ground school.

Ground school takes two basic forms: an instructor teaching a scheduled class or a self-paced, home-study program using video or audio tapes and/or a computer-based program.

Which is better depends on you. If you're a self-disciplined self-starter, the self-paced video programs can't be beat. You can "attend" ground school on your schedule and review the tapes as needed. If you need the discipline of the classroom, well, the choice is obvious. Perhaps the best option is a combination of the two. Many flight schools have a traditional classroom ground school and a resource room that contains self-paced materials for additional study.

Many local community colleges or independent ground schools are also an option. Although technically not part of ground school, instrument ground trainers (or flight simulators) are being used by a number of schools in primary training, and they are a real benefit in instrument training.

After aviation ground school and before you can take your FAA checkride with a designated pilot examiner, you must take and pass (70 percent or better) an FAA airman knowledge test at an approved computer testing site. A growing number of flight schools offer FAA-approved computer testing as part of their services.

Flight School Instructors

A good flight instructor is important because your life will depend on what he or she teaches you. Don't hesitate to ask questions about the training and experience of the flight instructors. You might ask what the average flight time is and what the pass/fail rate is among the instructors. (A pass rate of 100 percent doesn't indicate good instruction.) You might also talk to some of the other students at the school to ask about their flight instructors.

Your primary instructor should be at least a certificated flight instructor (CFI). Ensure that your instrument instructor has an instrument instructor rating (CFII). Instrument training received from a non-rated instructor can cause problems when it comes to meeting FAA requirements.

A good way to get acquainted with your flight instructor is to take an introductory flying lesson (not just a demonstration ride). During your lesson, assess your instructor's attitude. Only you can determine what personality best fits yours, but you want an instructor who expects perfection, who will work with you until it's achieved, and who cares about you as a person as well as a student.

Cost

Compared with most of your current activities, learning to fly and earning your pilot certificate (sometimes called a pilot license) may be expensive. But remember, you're investing in your education, in skills that will open new worlds and opportunities. Flying is an activity of purpose, productivity, and pleasure. It's also a never-ending learning process and as with all education, your initial pilot training provides the foundation for all that will follow.

Looking at the bottom line, you'll notice that, adjusting for location and differences in training programs, flight schools more or less charge about the same. Only you can determine if what you get for your money is fair. As with any other major purchase, if a deal seems too good to be true, it usually is.

When comparing costs, make sure you're comparing "apples with apples." Some flight schools base their prices on the FAA minimum-time requirements, such as 40 hours for a private certificate. Others base their prices on a more realistic figure that's the average of what their students accomplish. Some include books and supplies, aviation ground school, flight testing, and FAA written examination fees. Others don't. In other words, read the fine print, and ensure you're making a comparison of equals!

Because most schools require partial or full payment before training begins, financing your flight training, especially if you are in a professional pilot program, will be your greatest challenge. Some schools offer financing, and most have financing and loan information. AOPA, for example, offers its Flight Funds loan program to its qualified members. Schools also offer "block time" prices if you pay for a certain amount of pilot training, or flight time, in advance, which can often offer substantial savings.

Some schools guarantee their training — that you'll earn your certificate for a fixed price no matter how long it takes. Read the fine print carefully, because many of these guarantees expire after so many flight hours. If you haven't achieved your goal in this time, the school will still train you, but you'll have to pay for the flight training that takes place above the guarantee's ceiling.

Also inquire about refunds. Most flight schools require that you pay for part or all of your pilot training in advance, which prevents you from training and running before the bills are paid. But if you must stop training for some reason, you should know if and how much of your money will be refunded.

Unless your flight instructor's fees are part of a "package price" program, know how you are charged for his or her educational services, and how much you're charged for aircraft rental. Aircraft rental and the instructor time are usually charged by the Hobbs meter, which is a timing device activated by oil pressure. If the engine is running, so is the meter. Even if you're sitting on the ground, you're still charged for it.

Also learn if the instructor is paid for pre- and post-flight briefings in addition to flight time. These are crucial parts of every flying lesson, and if the instructor is not paid for them, you may get abbreviated briefings before you start the engine, and then get the rest of the briefing while the airplane engine and the meter are running.

There's an old saying that says, "Time is money." In your research, make sure that you're getting the best quality training for your dollar.

The Final Flight Training Decision

What flight school you ultimately choose depends on the quality flight training you desire in a method convenient to your schedule. In earning your private pilot's certificate, you will have achieved a "license" to learn. Aviation is an ever-changing activity, and good pilots are always learning.

Perhaps the final deciding factor between several schools that are running in a dead heat is personality. Like people, flight schools have personalities. Some are deadly serious, while others are more familial in nature. Only you can select the one that matches your personality.

A Checklist for Choosing a Good Flight School

Determine your aviation goals. Are you learning to fly for fun or do you plan to pursue a career?
Compile a list of schools to examine, and request literature from each. Review material from each school and answer the questions outlined earlier here.
Once you've done your "homework," visit the final two or three schools that pass the test. Ask questions and get a feel for the personalities of the schools. Ask specific questions and insist on specific answers.
Talk to other students and flight instructors.

Once you've decided on a school, be sure a written agreement outlines the payment procedures. never trust a school that asks for large amounts of money up front !

2010 Here we come !

2010-01-03T07:28:00.000-08:00

So , we have been hit by the weather recently and the helicopters have stayed in the hangar ! Plenty of frustrated students doing ground school........

We all want to fly as much as possible but the weather is something we just cant odds here in New England. An old saying springs to mind " Its better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than in the air wishing you were on the ground !"

This week the weather looks good and hopefully we can get the hangar door open and get them in the air !

Steve will be heading to Texas on Monday night to begin the trip of flying a New Eurocopter EC120B from Georgetown TX to Miami FL. The helicopter is Located in TX and will now be Moved to Miami for the winter Months, it will return to MA in April when the winter is over .

The trip will take about 10 hours in the air and will cover several states , As turbines are quick to start and shutdown then Fuel stops will be fast about every 2 or so hours .

When he arrives in Miami he will be Jumping into an R44 and flying right back to TX.

We will Blog about the trip as soon as he Returns with the Pictures and of course the all Important HD Video from our new Helmet Cam.

Happy New Year to everyone and see you all soon

BHH

Boston Helicopter Tours

2009-12-27T15:41:00.000-08:00

Back in the late summer we took a trip to Marthas Vineyard , it was a great day with light winds .

Just made a small video ....
A more interesting blog will be coming tomorrow !!

Why train in a Schweizer V R22

2009-12-21T16:57:00.001-08:00

Helicopter training - Why we train in the Schweizer 300 helicopter at Blue Hill Helicopters

Here at Blue Hill Helicopters, we train exclusively in the Schweizer 300. We are located just southwest of Boston, Massachusetts – the largest city in New England. We train in the city, and we also train in the mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont. We utilize both the Schweizer 300CBi and the Schweizer 300C helicopters.

Which brings me to the point of this article.

Why use the Schweizer 300 as a helicopter trainer for our helicopter flight school on the outskirts of Boston, Massachusetts?

It’s a good question to ask, as you begin your search for a helicopter flight school. Ask anyone in the helicopter training industry and you will more than likely get as many different opinions as the number of people you ask. For anyone that is willing to give you an answer to the question above, here are a few items which that “expert” authority should be able to answer a resounding “yes”:

1. Have you ever sat in a Schweizer?
2. Have you ever trained in a Schweizer?
3. Have you ever instructed in a Schweizer?
4. All the above apply to the Robinson as well…

The point Im getting at here is that the debate over which helicopter is better for training, the Robinson or the Schweizer, is endless. If you ascertain the background of the person giving the opinion, that should make it much easier to take what they’re saying as fantasy or reality.

Personally, our instructors prefer the Schweizer, which is why we use them at Blue Hill Helicopters. All of us here that spend time in helicopters agree wholeheartedly. But we have our reasons for training in the 300, which are outlined below.

So, with all that out of the way, here’s how we feel about the issue.

We’ve trained in both, and we’ve instructed in both. We know the pros and cons of each. They are both very capable machines, and they are both REAL helicopters, but when examining which is a better training machine, I can say unequivocally, the Schweizer is ahead of the Robinson in almost every category that defines a good trainer. Yes, it’s slower than a Robinson, but we’re talking about training, where 10-15 kts in level flight shouldn’t matter. You’re training – you’re not in a hurry to get anywhere! You’re not going far, maybe around the pattern or 50 miles (in 99% of the cases). There are those that say that you get to the training area quicker in a Robinson, but if that’s the strongest argument for the R-22, well….

When looking at a primary trainer, the biggest factor should be this – was the helicopter designed as a trainer, first and foremost? The Robinson WAS NOT designed as a trainer. They will tell you this at the factory. They will also tell you at the factory that Robinson does not want to be in the 2 seat training business. Last class I attended in late ’06, the official word was that the R-22 is coming to the end of it’s production life. Look at the stats – production numbers show that there is one R-22 produced for every 10 R-44 helicopters. Robinson designed the R-22 to be a commuting machine for wealthy executive types that wanted to overfly the traffic jams that plague metropolitan America! He did not design them for training. It just happens that at the time, Robinson filled a niche which was more generated by flight schools than desired by Robinson. The training industry needed a modern, inexpensive helicopter, and the R22 fit the bill perfectly. Again – look at the statistics. Early on Robinson had a totally dismal safety record. Why? IT WASN’T DESIGNED TO BE A TRAINER! It still isnt! Robinson was in business to make money, so instead of insisting that their one product not be used in an area which was generating almost all of their revenue, what could they possibly do…hmm…SFAR! Is there any other “trainer” on the market, fixed or rotary, which has such a detailed restrictions and requirements which is MANDATORY? Nope. Is there any other helicopter under 12,500 pounds which has special FAA requirements for operations? Not. Just the 22 and the 44. In the fixed wing world, the Cirrus, which is an amazingly complex machine, is quickly becoming a primary trainer, and there are no SFAR’s involved. What I’m saying is the SFAR’s are there for a reason. It just emphasizes the poor training record of the 22.

Price was once a major benefit for flight schools, but now a new R-22 is 225K, slowly closing the gap on the R-44 and the 300 series Schweizer. Again, the word at Robinson is that there are hopes that a stripped down R-44 can be used as a 2+2 trainer, reinforcing the rumors of the R22’s demise. Who knows when/if this will ever happen, but it’s an omen that Robinson doesn’t want the R-22’s around anymore. They have certainly moved on to bigger and better things.

Again, this is not to say that the R-22 isnt a good machine. It’s a great helicopter, but not for training. At the hands of an experienced pilot, the R-22 is an excellent performer. But most of it’s pilots in the real world are low time instructors and even lower time students. This is a dangerous mix for an unforgiving machine. All the instructors at Blue Hill Helicopters agree strongly that the 300 is far superior as a trainer. Among other things, take a look at the safety statistics for the R-22, they are far from satisfactory. The 300 series, however, has had no fatalities in over 200,000 flight hours, and it’s predecessor, the 269, was the primary trainer used by the US Army for many years 1950’s to 1970’s.

Here are some downfalls of the R-22:

Weight/CG considerations for larger pilots:
Now we all know that America is getting bigger, in girth and height. The R-22 is limited in space as well as seat weight. Step into the R-22 with two guys about 180-200 pounds, and the lack of space is evident. The maximum seat weight is very important, as the seat is part of the safety system in the event of a forced landing. And forget about baggage space – those little compartments under the seats? Not really much more than a place to put your fuel tester. At the factory course, they emphasize this by reviewing an accident in Australia where two instructors were fatally injured following an engine loss and a successful autorotation. The space under their seats was filled with gear and there was no compression space. The gear collapsed and all the energy was sent through the seat. And forget useful load in the R22. Two pilots and some fuel (key word some). Not much compared to the 300C which has almost 1000 pounds, which equates to 60 gallons and two 250+ pounders in the seats.

The ridiculous T-Bar cyclic:
Aesthetic considerations aside, have you ever tried to teach with this system? As an instructor, you have to rest your elbow on your knee and be ready to grab that cyclic from mid air, in space somewhere between your right rib and the front canopy. I know a very high time pilot that lost control in a hover lesson – the student let go and the cyclic went forward and left – typical for a 22, and the ship rolled over. This cyclic system was designed to allow easy entry/exit and to save weight and complexity. But it doesn’t do much for the instructor.

Low inertia rotor:
This is a great design to save weight, and from an engineering perspective, does what it should. But, not much time to react to an engine failure. I think Robinson calculated 1.5 seconds before RPM is unrecoverable. Don’t even consider a throttle chop on your student. The wrong reaction, causing that 1.5 second MR stall, could be deadly.

Instrument Training:
Not available in the R-22. Not anymore, at least. The few instrument trainers sent back to the factory are no longer being overhauled as instrument trainers.

Carburetor Heat:
Robinson noted that carburetor ice was such a big issue that they outfitted the 22 with a carb heat correlator. For personal use, carburetor ice is a hazard, but not quite the hazard it is in training. Lots of landing circuits, low power operations, etc. The 300CBi has fuel injection. One less thing for a student to forget.

Cost:
This was at one time a benefit, but with the price of the R22 around $225,000, it’s not too far off from a nicely equipped 300CBi. The few extra dollars for the CBi also gets you fuel injection. Another great feature for a trainer.

Trim:
Two position bungee trim, or full electric trim, usable in every flight envelope. The former is the R-22. Marginally useful.

Here are some cons inherent in the Schweizer: It’s slower. Well…yes it is, but is this an issue with a trainer? Shouldn’t be.

It’s more expensive to maintain. Debatable. More and more flight schools are selling the Robinsons. Don’t think they would be doing that if the two were vastly different in operating costs per hour.

It’s not as pretty as a Robinson. All in the eye of the beholder I guess.

It doesn’t have a governor. True. And the debate goes on about whether or not a governor is a feature which should be in a trainer. If you’re worried about controlling RPM manually, even though the 300 has a “analog randomizer”, (correlator), you shouldn’t be in a helicopter. With the forgiving manner of the 300, it’s a non-event. It’s definitely more work, but the heavier rotor system makes it a fairly easy task.

Ground resonance. This is something that is almost always avoidable through proper technique and proper maintenance. It’s a hazard inherent in the articulated rotor system, but it is avoidable in most circumstances.

When picking a trainer, the Schweizer comes out on top for many reasons, as listed above. The fully articulated rotor has less vibration (our 300C at Blue Hill Helicopters is smoother than most fixed wing recips), maintains RPM better then the 22, and is not prone to mast bumping like the 22.

The 300 is far more stable in flight and in a hover, and is also a bit more forgiving of student error in the pickup and setdown phases.

As a new student, it pays to do your own research. It’s most important that you are comfortable and have faith in the machine in which you will be training. Starting your helicopter training is a big investment in time and money, so look at the facts and make your decision wisely. If you need any assistance, feel free to call us at 781-688-0263 for more information. Our pilots are also Schweizer insurance check pilots, and we can answer any question you may have regarding helicopter training, training in the Boston, Massachusetts (and New England) area, and what to look for in a flight school.

Instrument Ride passed ! Part 141

2009-12-21T04:57:00.001-08:00

Well , another successful weekend here at Blue Hill Helicopters ! One of our Part 141 Instrument program students successfully passed her Instrument Checkride !

Rebecca D'Ambrosio completed the program with very minimum hours and was one of our first students on our Part 141 instrument program , she was waiting for us to get approved as she wanted to fly a Schweizer . Rebecca already had some R22 time but liked the stabilty and safety record of the Schweizer.

We use a S300C for our instrument training , it allows for long flights and carry's 64 Gals of 100LL gas allowing us long instrument flights without refueling like other trainers . we can finish the program in a much shorter time span this way .

Adrian and Rebecca departed for KCON (Concord NH ) at around lunchtime on Saturday to meet with the Examiner Joe Brigham .

They arrived on time and Rebbeca quickly sailed through the flight and oral Exam. They were heading back as it got dark and arrived back to KOWD (Norwood) in the dark , they put the helicopters in the hangar just in time for the big storm to hit !

Again , well Done Rebecca , I am sure you will sail through the Commercial and CFI just as well with your dedication and study.

Stay tuned for some more rating success stories over the coming weeks including a trip from Texas to Miami in our Eurocopter EC120B and a Blog on the flight from MA to Miami completed this month .

Happy Holidays !

Shooters World: Its OK if I rip up these gifts under the Christmas Tree right ?

You can make it if you work hard.........

2009-12-17T05:14:00.000-08:00

Back in 2005 I was working for a small flight school here at Norwood as an Instructor in a Schweizer.

The Owner told me that another Instructor was starting and could I show him around . I was just leaving for the day and walking to my car when a a bald headed guy was walking toward the office with a large duffel bag , I introduced myself and he introduced himself as Mark the new Instructor ! I asked Mark where he was staying that night being new to MA and he said " I dont know, maybe in my car !

To cut a long story short ,Mark and myself were soon having dinner at my house and thats where he lived for a couple of weeks whilst he settled in .

That was just the start of a career for a newly qualified flight instructor, I soon left and started Blue Hill Helicopters and Mark soon followed. He worked hard at Blue Hill Helicopters as a flight instructor and worked pumping gas at the airport to make Extra money in the early days .In a few months Mark was full time at Blue Hill Helicopters and getting 25 or 30 hours a week in his log book and some valuable Experience teaching both Instrument and VFR students.

Mark soon passed 1100 hours and landed a Job working for Liberty Helicopters in NY City flying tours , he worked a 4 day on and 4 day off schedule and quickly built time in the Eurocopter AS350 .

After our crazy economy went bad Mark was let go from Liberty with 7 other guys as the tour industry was bad and they didn't need as many pilots, He was bummed but began to look for another job , besides he had over 700 hours in the AS350 now and had some useful Turbine time . We all hear about how turbine time is valuable and is the hardest time to get throughout your whole career as a helicopter pilot, once you have it it makes job hunting much easier.

Mark got a Job with Air Methods and soon moved to Ohio with his then girlfriend to fill the position flying EMS in an AS 350. They were not fans of Ohio but Mark loved his Job and quickly got a transfer to West Virginia where he now fly's a Eurocopter EC135 , a very nice twin Engine helicopter , He has reached the top Job now and loves it !

Mark is just one success story of Blue Hill Helicopters and I am certain we will have many more in the coming years , Mark will be visiting us over Christmas so if anybody wants to talk to Mark and get advice on how he made it then Email me at steve@bluehillhelicopters.com he loves giving advice to future pilots and will help in any way he can, Well done Mark from all of us at Blue Hill Helicopters!

Mark will be lucky enough to get married to Rachel next year ,without her support he would have gone crazy in ohio ! I will be lucky enough to be "Best Man" and have some great stories to tell all at the wedding ........

Music Videos for up and coming Local Artists...

2009-12-15T05:11:00.000-08:00

Ok , so back in the summer on one of those barmy summer evenings (Remember summer ?) we had a film crew from Miami and some local producers use one of the helicopters for a music video shoot.

The Video featured on MTV and VH1 was shot in Providence then on to Norwood Airport (KOWD) for the Helicopter shots. Believe it or not the short helicopter part took about 3 hours ! I guess its always like this 3 hours of video and 2 hours 50 seconds on the cutting room floor !

Steve-"I remember the night well , there were so many mosquitos I had to go quickly to CVS and buy Fogger and Mosquito repellent !", as you can see from the video the girls were in very short outfits and were getting bitten all over !

Well here is the video , not my kind of music but the helicopter stuff turned out well .

Santa Video Ho! Ho! Ho!

2009-12-14T15:40:00.000-08:00

Blue Hill helicopters from Blue Hill Helicopters on Vimeo.

Just a short update on Santa's progress at wollaston Golf club !!

Santa and Students in the wind !

2009-12-13T05:36:00.000-08:00

What a day here at BHH , with over 10 hours of flying between us we had a busy day !

The day started out with reports of high winds and turbulence, we had a good amount of wind ,16k with gusts to 24 , of course our schweizer helicopters handle this very well unlike some trainers , we have a great stable platform for students with the schweizer ! Adrian was working with several different people all day including Paul Mahoney who is getting ready for a private checkride this week , He fly's very well and his ground is perfect . Paul will be taking his written test today at our "CATS" test centre here at the BHH office.

We also had a visit from Santa who dropped into the office as he does every year around this time . Santa requested that we dropped him of at wollaston golf club, Steve flew him in our R44 Clipper 2 ! with a difficult approach over some very tall trees onto a windy 1st hole ! , hundreds of children were waiting for Santa as Steve did a fly by for Santa to see just how many gifts he needed to bring !

The president of the course along with the GM took a short tour of Boston as Santa met all the children and gave them gifts.

Thanks again to Rick at wollaston for a great lunch for the 3rd year in a row ! see you next year Rick !

Plenty more to come this week , including details of Steve ferrying our 2nd R44 to florida for winter training and the collection of our Eurocopter EC120B.

Happy Holidays

BHH

Nearly forgot... Shooter the Dog says "I kNoW iTs cOLD Dad but I rEally neEd a wAlk so fiNish tHat BloG !"

Here we are

2009-12-10T07:45:00.000-08:00

Hi All

So this is the brand new shiny lovely, Blue Hill Blog page.

The team here are going to strive to keep this fella updated daily if possible, bear with us as we find our feet and rhythm and hopefully the updates and goings on will become a familiar cohesive source of info and amusement for all our students. Future students, photographers and anyone in general who would like to take an interest in the goings on of a busy Boston flight school.

Right now the big news is with 2 of our students who are nearing check ride time, watch this space, and wish them well

see ya.

All at BHH.

(Shooter the Blue Hill bow-wow will also be letting you know whats happening from his perspective)

Shooters world: KeEp iT DowN iN thERe, Im trYiNg to SleEp)