Enstrom Helicopter Heli Expo 2018 Part 1

Hey, it's Kenny with Helicopter Online Ground School. I'm going to give you some highlights from Helicopter Expo 2018. First shot here is of a BK117. It was cool seeing that. I got to fly one of those for about two and a half years and I really, really enjoyed flying that aircraft. I'm going to show you a bunch of highlights and we're going to run through this kind of quick. There's so much that went on for the three days that we were there. I'm going to hit some of the highlights in the first few minutes of this video and then we're going to do a series of videos because there's so much content that I want to show from things that we saw we learned, like the people that we met and members and old that we talk to. So give you some of the highlights. We spent some time at the Instrum booth this year and that was cool, talking with the people from Instrom and checking out the helicopters there. Taz Christman met me at the show, which is our instrument instructor in Helicopter Online Ground School. Had a blast hanging out with Taz. We went to a Schweitzer party and had some cool treats. And later in the week, Taz takes me out flying in a Switzer. So that's pretty awesome. We have a bunch of footage from going out in the desert and doing a pinnacle landing and a confined area landing. So that'll be in another video. I also have to mention that I met our operations manager, Brian Rutledge for the first time face to face face. You'll see here him in the picture along with Taz and Taz's wife Sheila. I met Brian five years ago online, helping him with his CFI rating. We became friends. He became our operations manager. Hundreds and thousands of text messages and phone calls and different things over the last five years when we finally met face to face at the Expo. So that was awesome. So it's great having Taz and Brian both there with me out on the show floor, walking around, meeting people, checking out the helicopters. As I already mentioned, we met a lot of people, a lot of our ground school members, a lot of my past students, people I've worked with before in the past, and we have a ton of stuff to show you. So just to give you some of the highlights, I do have a bunch of footage from the show floor. I tried to get a little bit of video of pretty much every helicopter in the entire convention center and there's a ton. So there'll be a lot more video Coming up again of the helicopters on the show floor. Instrom is going to be kind of highlight of this video due to the fact of the years I've been flying Instrums and I have more time in Instrums than I do any of the other aircraft that I've flown. And we're kind of excited about a possible project with ENSOM coming up this year doing some video. We met some young guys that are trying to get a jump on their career and just within a matter of minutes made some connections for this one young man who's gonna be able to finish his training at a flight school and then they're gonna put him to work as a cfi, then put him to work flying tours, and then he'll eventually get into a turbine job. And this is something we've helped other members in the past do. This is a great opportunity with Sevier county choppers. So we're excited for this young man to get that opportunity. Taz Christman is from Indiana, now flies in Las Vegas. And they just so happened to use the Schweitzer that he flies at his flight school. Or one of the Sweitzers was highlighted there at the show at the Schweitzer booth. What a blast. The first night, all of us together went out to a local German restaurant and we had an absolute blast. And the next evening, another ground school member bought a supper at another really nice place in Las Vegas, had an awesome view, probably the best table in the house. We were really appreciative of that. So again, all the connections you make and the people that you meet is just awesome. So next I want to talk about what some say the best kept secret in the helicopter industry, which these are really nice aircraft. I've been flying instruments a long time. I'm teaching all their aircraft with exception of the new experimental aircraft that you'll see here. They're working on certification of that for that new aircraft. But the 280 Series and the F28F helicopters have been around for a long time. And then they have a turbine model that's a 480. And I really enjoy flying these aircraft. They have a heavy duty rotor system. It's a high inertia rotor system that is just really, really tough. And the odd rotation characteristics of these helicopters is truly amazing. When you do an auto rotation in the N strom, it really and truly is a non event. It doesn't take a lot of work. If you enter it nice and you do what you're supposed to do. Keeping the parameters of the way it's set up to do the auto rotation, it really is a breeze. And it's just actual or actually just. It's really a joy to fly. And it's a heavy duty aircraft that I can tell you, you know, you have little mishaps now and then over the years. And I can tell you that these can take a pretty good beating and still keep going. The whole thing about learning the instrument, flying the instrument, is learning to use the trim and flying them with finesse. These helicopters will almost fly themselves if you just give it the little hints and the little things that they. That it needs to know in order to. To fly real nice and smooth. You've got it licked. It's just knowing some of the little nuances that really makes them fly nice. That first one on the corner, if I was in the market to buy a helicopter, I would have been taking that thing home with me, but I'm not. And then here's the 480 model that PD is on the tail number. This one, this is one that they showed a lot of police departments. You can see it's outfitted real well, or you will see in the rest of the video. But the thing about the instrum 40 turbine is the visibility is absolutely incredible. And Brian was there with me and he's never flown an Instrum, so he's never really been around them. And he got looking at it and he's like, wow, that would really be nice. And Brian flies for a sheriff's department in California. He's been doing it for a long time. He's had 13 years, I believe, in the aviation unit. And he was really impressed. And hopefully at some point I'm gonna get to take Brian out and let him experience the instrument. Same thing with Taz. Taz has never flown an instrument. So his next trip back to Indiana, I owe him a flight in the instrument that we have here. So these aircraft are just a joy to fly. And it does seem like it's nice to get the word out about the instrument helicopter because it is a wonderful helicopter. We were talking to one of Brian's friends that actually taught Brian how to fly helicopters many years ago. And he's somebody who's been in the industry a long time. And he said, well, is Enstrom still around? And we go, yeah, their booths right down here, you know. And he goes, well, you kind of hear about them for a while and then you don't hear about them for a while. And so here's somebody in the industry that, you know, on the other side of the country. But he's like, well, I didn't know if they were even still making them. They are still making them. They're a great aircraft. I mentioned earlier we're looking at possibly doing a video project with them in the future. So I'm kind of excited about that. So I'm going to leave this footage roll. Please do us a like and subscribe to our channel. If you're interested in learning about helicopterground.com or helicopter line Ground School, go to the link below helicopterground.com and learn more about our training. We have private commercial, CFI and instrument training. Again, Taz Christmas that you've seen here is our instrument instructor for the online course who is now Flight Instructor of the Year. Brian Rutledge is there with us. That was awesome. So the next video. I'm not sure what we're going to put up, but there will be two or three videos following this one, so make sure you come back to check out the next video. Please subscribe to our channel. Click the subscribe button. Click that little bell beside the subscribe button so you can be notified of when our next video comes out. Click the like button if you like the video. If you don't like the video, click the like button twice. So joy the rest. Enjoy the rest of the footage. 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