Kenny Keller describes a trip to Las Vegas where he and instructor Taz Chrisman flew an R44 helicopter for mountain/high-altitude flying training and to support a November book signing. Keller—who normally flies at low altitudes in the Midwest—reports learning about decreased performance at higher elevations and heat, and praises scenic locations such as a prominent pinnacle and Hoover Dam. The episode promotes a five-hour mountain flying course taught by Taz in the Las Vegas area and gives a contact for bookings.
Questions this episode answers
574-767-1797
Five hours
Robinson R44
November (month stated)
Chapters
All right. Third time in a row I'm trying to shoot the same video. First two times I didn't hit record. How smart am I? We got a special offer for you. Some mountain flying with Taz Chrisman in the Las Vegas area. We did a book signing in November for our book top 10 checkride tips. So we flew the R44 out to Vegas. We wanted it there for the book signing, and I wanted to go out and have some fun in the desert and fly with Taz a little bit. And I'll tell you what, the the scenery is absolutely amazing. And not only is the scenery amazing, you can learn a ton by getting out there and doing some high altitude flying. I am a flatlander. My career has been here in the Midwest at 800ft for over 20 years, so I don't really have any experience in the higher elevations. And going out there and doing some stuff with Taz out in the desert really opened my eyes to how much the performance does go down as we go up in altitude and as the heat rises. So I learned a ton. We have a bunch of great footage. We'll insert some of that footage into here. And there's a really cool pinnacle just outside of Vegas that Taz uses, some ravines and some different mountaintops where he can teach you all types of things about flying in and around the mountains and flying in these higher elevations. I may or may not said this already. We're getting ready to bring the helicopter back. I can't remember this is my third time trying to shoot this video. But before we bring it back, Taz is like, man, let me do some mountain flying courses out here before you guys move it back to Indiana. So we've decided to start making plans to get the R44 back to Indiana. But in the meantime, we want to move a few of these high altitude courses so Taz can have some Fun playing with R44 a little bit before we bring it back. I want to go out and fly it another time or two to get some more experience out there as well. So you can reach out to Heather at 574-767-1797 by caller text and we can get you the details. It's the mountain flying course is going to be based on five hours. And of course, we could cater it a little more, a little less if you got something specific you want to do while you're out there. There's a ton of just amazing places to fly to. Hoover Dam, again, the mountains I already mentioned, the perfect pinnacle that they like to use for pinnacle landings. It's just absolutely amazing. So, again, reach out to by call or text, Heather at 574-767-1797. And let's get you flying out in the desert outside Vegas. Peace out.
When you feel the pressure to fly, but know the right decision is to stay on the ground, hit the hogs, no go. And live to fly another day. Helicopterground. Com.
All right, third time's a charm. I'm shooting this video, and I got to turn the goddamn camera around.
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