Kenny Keller describes multiple real-world examples of unsafe helicopter operations where owners/operators attempted to fly aircraft with known mechanical issues (inoperative cyclic trim, misreading VSI, cylinder-head temperature near redline, blown drive-shaft seal). He argues strongly that aircraft with unresolved defects should remain grounded, contrasts legal minimum-equipment allowances with a stricter safety-first practice, and recounts his personal policy of not flying broken helicopters. The video closes by promoting a paid professional pilot membership that bundles training courses and physical study tools.
Chapters
Seal balloon on a drive shaft where you could grab the drive shaft and go. And the owner's like, oh, just fly it down here and we'll have it work time. I'm like, nobody's flying this damn helicopter anywhere. Are you serious? You want to move the aircraft and fly it with a drive shaft going? Do you want to know about some of the seriously, seriously ridiculous stuff that goes on with helicopter training? Specifically operators flying with things on their aircraft that are broken and they shouldn't even be in the air? I'm gonna give you a real life example here. Had an aircraft that we were going to utilize and one day I went to fly it and I'm going to point out what was wrong with it. Number one, trim wasn't working on the cyclic and they're like, oh, well, we're trying to find parts, but just go ahead and fly, don't worry about it. So trim wasn't working. We had a. On the vsi, it was off. Sitting there on the ground where it should be zero. It was reading 300, which is A. They can really adjust that really quick and it's not really a problem. But still hadn't been corrected. And then here's the kicker. Most ridiculous. Cylinder head temperature, as you warmed it up, the cylinder temperature went clear up by the red line, almost touching the red line on the limitation. And the other pilot that was flying it told me, oh, I talked to the owner and he said the mechanic's okay, said it's okay. And I'm like, it's a new freaking engine. Oh, well, the gauge is off, it's okay. And I'm like dumbfounded going, okay, it's clear up at the limitation, but because the gauge is off, it's okay. Well then how do I know when it's actually too hot? How you can even release an aircraft to service or put it in service when you have multiple things that aren't working correctly? Stay on the freaking ground. Oh my God. And there's so much of this that goes on that's a real world example that I saw firsthand. People do this kind of stuff. And you know, we recently did the video where we talked about Mike Patey and we showed the screen and showed a clip of his video.
We have a three strikes, you're out. Maybe people have heard this before or done it. My three strikes are now anything is a strike and I don't fly. And that could mean that an instrument that is non critical to flight, that's 100% legal for you to fly without isn't functioning. Strike one. Why do I make that a strike? Because I should have that thing fixed. So I need to strike. Guess what? Nighttime, beautiful stars are out. Sky, everything is perfect. Smooth sky would be a beautiful night flight. It's nighttime. That's a strike. Two things that are totally non critical and it can be anything. I didn't get enough rest. I'm a little tired. Strike three. Anything can strike out.
Here's a case where there's three strikes just with an aircraft that these are guys you're trying to fly and put into service. I'm just making the point, right? Like I know when, early on, when I was younger and gung ho, I could put up with maybe this or that. Okay, well, we're going to get that. We're going to get it fixed. What? You know, oh, it's marked inoperative. Whatever. I don't want anything broken on that aircraft. Nothing. When I was in helicopter ems, the base manager said, if it's broke on the pad, don't fly it. Anything's broke and you don't go. And we talk about required equipment and minimum equipment list and all that. What can you do that's legal? Let's go beyond that. Right. Again my base manager going, if it's broke on the pad, don't fly it. I don't know, seems a little, you know, today. But just thinking back now at how many different things I've seen along the way where operators are trying to save money and along the lines of the videos we've been doing and talking about all kinds of things. And it does always boil back to money, right? It boils back to money. And usually when an owner starts cheating maintenance, it's probably because the owner's a little behind on payments. Cash flow is not coming in. So they say things like, well, we're going to fix that. Well, the, the new part's too expensive, so we're searching for a used part to put in there. I saw a seal blown on a drive shaft where you could grab the drive shaft and go, and, and the owner's like, oh, just fly it down here and we'll have it work time. And I'm like, nobody's, nobody's flying this damn helicopter anywhere. Are you serious? You want to move the aircraft and fly it with a drive shaft going? You don't think anything ridiculous goes on out there? You're wrong. There are so many ways that we can get ourselves killed by flying aircraft. That ain't right at this stage in the game, I'm Lucky to be where I'm at, where day to day flying is not my whole livelihood. I like to do it and it is part of what we do. But I'm never forced to fly. So if there's anything wrong with the aircraft that we have or that we're using, it sits until it gets fixed. I don't want to fly with anything broken, period. So on a happier note, we have a professional pilot membership where you get all of our courses. Private commercial instrument CFI where you can get all the online courses unlimited. And then we have an additional plus package. You can get all of that plus majority of the tools you're going to need. If you're going off the street to CFI and you're going to be teaching, you need an E6B. You need a plotter, you need a private pilot PTS, you need a commercial and CFI PTS private pilot study guide. Ours is a great bonus. You're going to need the Helicopter Flying Handbook. It's a must have Helicopter Instructors Handbook. It's great because it's going to teach you as an instructor common errors that students do and it's going to help you greatly with your training. Aviation Instructors Handbook. You have to know the fois before you can move on with your CFI checkride. You got to know them. So this is a must Aviation Instructors handbook and as a CFI you can use electronic versions and that's great. As a CFI I think you should have all the paper copies and with the big package with all the extra goodies. Hogs ball cap, knee board, standard old knee board with the clip and then underneath you can put your iPad in there and also the good old Hogs backpack. We just so thrilled with this thing. First couple people have got theirs in their mail with their profilot packages and they love them. They actually love them and I like it too. I started carrying one and I think they're great. So we'll have a link down for that below along with a bunch of free resources. All of our other courses are down there below. Keep liking and commenting and see you next video. 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.
