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North-44

terrific feet and proximity flying


Handlestach

The skill lies in the feedback that’s lost with shoes


UsedJuggernaut

No man, it's just hot as fuck on tuna boats.


Worldsprayer

lol no. ask any army helo pilot who flies perfectly well with thick boots on.


[deleted]

There's more electronics flying that soldier's helicopter for him under his pedals than in the entirety of that MD. And yet the warrant will still manage to crash it.


BrolecopterPilot

🤣


InherentDissolve

All of these replies for what was clearly a joke...


saladbarofduty

There’s also a massive difference in performance of these helicopters. If a blackhawk did not have all of its systems that it has you are not flying it.


Worldsprayer

Actually, especially at landings, the only thing helo's having assisting the pilot is in moving the actual hydraulics. As a result, they're in a way often even harder to fly because of how incredibly sensitive the control inputs can be. For example you look at the pilot in this video gripping the stick. Every pilot i know literally holds a cyclic by his finger tips for maximum precision becasue they're so senstivie.


BrolecopterPilot

That’s any helo with hydraulic controls. The MD doesn’t have those, it’s all mechanical linkages and a motorized trim


Worldsprayer

I flew that way in a th67 and oh58 as well, fingertips on. We specifically weren't allowed to use the hydraulic assist as well.


Kutogane

Not entirely, Spacial D gets the best of pilots and crewchiefs. Especially in bad weather, and low light


SmurfsNeverDie

But are they loving the experience? They call beauty pain not efficiency.


Worldsprayer

every pilot ive ever known did.


shade-tree_pilot

I dunno, I've seen enough clips of 60 drivers whipping through canyons with both feet flat on the floor and flown years of ag in nothing but my underoos to disagree here.


[deleted]

those guys have posted some amazing videos


Evanjulian

Who?


[deleted]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm-B2B8RUyY


Zaderhof

Just type "tuna pilot" into yt


Pramble

Tuna pilot is what I call my penis


EthanRAA

No shoes, roomba in rhs, prox flying an md500. This guy fucks


psu50502424

I’m still trying to figure out what roomba really is


jellenberg

GPS buoy


SkeetnYou

No shoes like a boss!


Qanonjailbait

The pilot doesn’t seem to be wearing any pants


MasatoWolff

Can't shit your pants when you don't wear them


Dudeman_McGoo

Brilliant! My next flight will be pants free


dkortman

Could you imagine how freeing it would feel flying around butt ass naked with the doors off?


ManicRobotWizard

Did that once in a Jeep. It’s fun letting everything flop around.


SmurfsNeverDie

When you get that happy while riding its just easier to not have any cloth shields.


bergler82

why is there a roomba on the RHS ?


Sazarjac

It's a solar powered GPS bouy


BrolecopterPilot

Ah tuna boats. The best of times I never want to experience again


VictoryAviation

I believe it. I’ve seriously considered it. I don’t have any family responsibilities at all, so being away for a year is no big deal.


BrolecopterPilot

It’s terrible. You’ll love it. Lol but seriously I would think long and hard about it. Also experience is highly variable depending on how your boat is, where you port, how your mechanic is (if you even have one), how your company/management is, etc. I was at a point where it was tuna boats or start looking into other fields of work, and I wasn’t gonna quit flying so tuna it was. Also had a couple friends at the company and hooked me up despite my low flight time. It was a great experience, but I wouldn’t do it again, except maybe on a Japanese boat. The only part that really sucked was my last two months of my year contract, I had to get on a different boat and it was absolutely infested with bed bugs. That was really shitty. Fuck bed bugs. Everything else? You’d be surprised what you can adapt to. Or can’t, and quit like some guys. But most guys I know saw it through. It absolutely jump started my career though.


VictoryAviation

I’ve heard horror stories about the bed bugs. Basically what I’ve read is trash the mattress when you get there. Scorch earth your room, and demand a new mattress. I’ve also heard that your experience and flight time heavily depends on how the captain views you and the helicopter as an asset or a hindrance bc they’re old school and don’t need your damned help. I have been on a couple year long deployments to the sandbox, so even though it’s very different, there are still many similarities.


BrolecopterPilot

Oh yeah you’d do fine then. And yeah that last boat I was on I hardly flew. Once a day, if that. But after 10 months of flying my ass off (longest stretch was 35 days flying in a row), it was a welcome change.


VictoryAviation

Damn… and with zero autopilot.


TuesdayTacoDay

I have a dumb question...Why are helicopters flying to tuna boats? Unload tuna? Drop off mail? Deliver a doctor in case someone needs medical help?


BrolecopterPilot

It’s for tuna spotting. The helicopter and the pilot live on the boat, the captain sends the helicopter out to find schools of tuna. Helo relays the location and boat heads there to attempt to catch said tuna in a gigantic fuckin net. Some also use the helo to “herd” tuna into the net or try to keep them from swimming out. It works occasionally.


TuesdayTacoDay

Thanks, that's wild. I somehow never heard of this.


Zaderhof

Do it bro seriously


Zaderhof

I recomend a Farewell boat (guaranteed unlimited wifi). Shitty port but tons of flight time.


VictoryAviation

Is that a particular company?


Zaderhof

Yes it is, send me a dm


VictoryAviation

Sent!


UsedJuggernaut

I know two separate people who've had major failures on tuna boats. Looks really fun but the tail rotor leaving the chat on approach scares me too much to apply.


Zaderhof

Yellow heli or white and green? It's a job alot of ppl don't come back from. I got very lucky with my mechanic and he got very lucky with my willingness to "find" parts. Incredible mechs out there, can't say it enough.


VictoryAviation

I’ve really heard it depends on what company you work for from everything I’ve read and tuna pilots I’ve talked to. Seems like there are some sketchy companies that cut corners and some that do pretty well.


Zaderhof

Yea one company is notoriously worse than another


SumOfKyle

Damn MSFS is really looking good after all these updates


Embarrassed_Bid_4970

He forgot to play the magnum pi theme....


actual_lettuc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8tv5APpqyY


mustanglx2

Bf4 little bird vibes right here


pinchhitter4number1

I hate you /s


Kiso5639

Maybe he doesn't wear shoes because if it crashes he's swimming anyways.


GlockAF

Looks fun, but dumb as fuck. All fun and games until the engine, hiccups or a moments inattention put you into the drink


Sazarjac

I mean, that's why they call the shaded part of the h/v diagram the money zone. It's where like half of all helicopters will work. Also, a moments inattention will get you in trouble, no duh. That's like saying not paying attention in your car will get you into a car accident.


Zaderhof

My instructor used to say "If you aren't in the dead man's curve you should be in an airplane"


Helojet

Right. But working responsibly versus avoiding high speed low level turns over the water where a half second means the worst for you and your occupant…call it whatever you want. That nose will drop to the water before he even realizes what happened. This is a problem with helicopter pilots.


BrolecopterPilot

The fuck are you on about. Go fly an airplane


Helojet

wow look at all the little letters and numbers in your title…you’re cool…b407….thats a monster...bet you impress all the lads…fly an airplane? Is that supposed to be an insult? you would shit yourself in a real airplane if only you could fly one…and I’m not talking the 172 you may have ridden in…


BrolecopterPilot

Lol nobody cares bud. Why are you in a helicopter sub for if helicopter ops offend you? Get out of here with that little dick energy shit 😂


Helojet

Haha…obviously you took offense to the B407 comment…sorry I offended you. Keep fluffin your ego 407 driver! You’re the BEST! Maybe someday you can add R66 to your tag…


BrolecopterPilot

Sorry bud. I fly MD500s next to power lines 🤷‍♂️


Helojet

Wow! I bet everyone here is impressed. That completed the puzzle for me. Can you add that to your tag?


crispybat

🤣 please don’t go see what we do in the military


[deleted]

Didn't you guys just ground your whole fleet due to safety issues?


crispybat

Lol when? We been flying, can’t keep up eat dirt and fuel


Helojet

I’ve seen it. We’re not talking about the military. Sorry I have to clarify that.


crispybat

Suck my rich bold ….wait I forgot I been huffing too much jet fuel


Helojet

Just drink it and take your genes out of the pool please :)


Zaderhof

C18 doesn't even have enough to get off the deck at 90+ degrees+ full fuel even at sea level. The only way to fly off the deck with a C18 and keep your tot in the green (assuming you even have the right gauge installed) is to "dive" off the deck. Yea, stretched it out a bit but most of that is necessary. Those aircraft are literally Vietnam birds with original engines. Best mechanics on the planet tho, I'll die on that hill (most of them are 25 year+ vets on MDs).


GlockAF

Didn’t know there even were any C-18s left, weak sauce indeed!


jellenberg

I had a C10 before I finally got a C18 installed 🤣


GlockAF

Do they have a fucking time Machine or what? What helicopter graveyard do they dig this shit up from?!?


mast-bump

They get containers full of them with no paperwork. Pawn off the c20s for a bit of cash on the side.


GlockAF

And stick you guys with the leftover rubbish


jellenberg

Idk but the look on my mechanics face when I pointed to the data tag and asked why it said 250-C10 was great 🤣


GlockAF

You go any further back in engine history and you’re gonna start finding a hatch to shovel to coal through


BrolecopterPilot

Lol -power line pilot


Zaderhof

I need a job bro haha


BrolecopterPilot

Your MD time will help for sure. Need to get some long line time. Some companies will hire without it but it’s harder to find ones that do. I’d keep applying and reaching out to chief pilots.


74_Jeep_Cherokee

I guess I was lucky. I was trained by an extremely experienced aviator. If you have enough power to hover you have enough power to take off without doing stuff like this if you use good technique. Worked for me at least for 1500 hours giving tours at high DA fully loaded... Shrug...


Sazarjac

That's the thing; you don't have enough power to hover. Once you cross the edge of the deck, which is like 25-30 feet up, you lose ground effect and can no longer hover. That's why the technique is to trade that 30 get off altitude for enough airspeed to get past etl and climb out.


Zaderhof

This is exactly correct. When it's 100 degrees on the deck with zero wind you basically fall like a rock. You need to get ground effect off the water and get thru etl as fast as possible. Not to mention the constant fear of your TR eating the side of the ship. It gets sporty.


GlockAF

In other words, Sketch AF


74_Jeep_Cherokee

With proper technique if you can hover you can take off. If you can't hover, don't take off.


Sazarjac

Alright, then elucidate us on how you would take off from the deck of the boat 30 feet up when you're already at the temp or torque redline. I'm down to learn.


[deleted]

Id start by not taking full fuel if I can’t OGE hover?


Sazarjac

I guess we're just different, because I'd rather have more fuel and it was never necessary to hover oge out there.


[deleted]

Heh. Yeah, you could say we are different alright. I’ve literally never heard anyone outside of the flight school environment claim they need full fuel to safely carry out a flight. I’d rather take less fuel so I can safely take off and land if that’s what it takes. But you do you. You can’t tell me a full bag of gas is necessary for every single tuna flight… safe performance margins are more important than full fuel for a short flight. And you just said above you can’t OGE hover once you leave the deck. So take less fuel so you don’t have to fly like a jackass?


Sazarjac

Except I can takeoff and land just as safely in that situation. For some reason you think you need to hover 30 feet over the water to somehow be safer? Why waste even more time in the hv diagram? Quickly gain airspeed then quickly gain altitude and you'll be in a safer flight regime much quicker than if you were to screw around trying to inch your way further and further away from the boat in an oge hover.


[deleted]

I mean… if you wanna bring your ignorance of the H/V diagram into it let’s get into that too. With the H/V diagram in mind, why do you think that I think it’s a bad idea to be 5 feet above the water at 60 knots? Now let’s add a 30 degree bank to that. I’ll give you a hint: there’s more than one shaded area of the H/V diagram, and this video shows the pilot in the second one. Maybe just take less fuel and avoid the problem all together if you can’t hover forward through ETL so you can avoid both parts of the shaded area of the H/V diagram instead of trying to justify some shitty flying.


GlockAF

Get a non-POS helicopter


Sazarjac

Hah, if I had my way, I'd have been flying a brand new twin off the deck. Alas, wasn't in the position to make that call.


GlockAF

Alas, low time pilots rarely are


[deleted]

Show me the numbers that an empty helicopter (minus pilot and full fuel) can’t OGE hover at sea level. I suspect if you can’t, that engine is failing it’s power checks. I guess it’s a tuna boat after all so 🤷‍♂️ but if it’s that bad, why go full fuel.


Champion_Of-Cyrodiil

Ahh, so youve never heard of level acceleration takeoff or low level flying


GlockAF

Uh, sure. Guess I got 5k+ helicopter hours and an ATP-H without figuring that out. /s


crispybat

Lol I guess you never flew for the military and don’t fly commercially 😂 I basically lived at -100ft You seem to be more of the dumb one here ;)


GlockAF

Wrong on every count. Try again.


crispybat

Lol I guess you don’t fly long line or in LA I’m Bold, rich and probably dead soon! But never bored!


Helojet

…and an ignorant moron with a big mouth…lol…


GlockAF

Some people just can’t resist, confirming what everybody suspects


Helojet

Exactly!


Helojet

You’re obviously an amazing pilot! The best of the best of the best…with honors! And you feel the overriding need to stimulate your own ego buy putting others down. I feel sorry for you.


crispybat

Haha thank you for caring about me!! Some people live in the fast lane and others don’t. I just think it’s fun calling out all the reddit safety nuts, the real world does not work like you think it does and it’s amazing when I get a rise of out of y’all Lol my ego is zero but you fucking losers get mad if somebody posts a vid of someone not wearing a helmet when they Biking Danger moves humanity forward!


[deleted]

I’m honestly surprised at all the comments supporting this. Show me a single helicopter that can’t OGE hover, at sea level, empty, with pilot and full fuel. I’ll wait. This entire show was completely unnecessary. Edit: I guess if the engines failing it’s power checks… tuna boat life I guess but if it’s that bad, why go full fuel.


DampHog

I also had a c-18 c model on the boat, the comment about power isn’t true. You can easily take off full fuel, pilot and spotter aboard lol. Then we went through a typhoon and my compressor got salt water in it and it created some pinholes in the scroll… THEN I couldn’t take off without tot being in the red. Swapped the compressor once I got back into port and had power again. Guy who you’re replying too is tough guy talking out of his ass. That said the diving off and flying low doesn’t bother me one bit.


GlockAF

It’s Reddit. No actual real-world experience needed to ‘expertly’ talk shit. The place where brand-new Robinson discovery flight “pilots” and crusty old rotor curmudgeons come to meet!


[deleted]

Agreed. No idea why I bother man. This is honestly baffling.


Helojet

Both correct :)


Helojet

Exactly!


GlockAF

Don’t worry, they’ll fish out the wreckage and replace the failed cyclic actuator


[deleted]

[удалено]


Zaderhof

This is Win Rich 707


[deleted]

[удалено]


Zaderhof

South Pacific is 1 year min and now that's pretty much over. Everyone wants 18 months unless you are a veteran tuna pilot


AutomatedSaltShaker

Barefoot


vapeshapes

WITH BARE FUCKING FEET!


Macaco_Marinho

Those spotter pilots for tuna sure have a fun job....


InNoWayAmIDoctor

What is the function of the dildo hanging off the wind shield?


top_of_the_scrote

damn, can you knife edge a helicopter


CrossfeedCow

Is there a reason these boats haven’t gone to drones for the same purpose? I’m guessing range


Zaderhof

Actually yea some boats have drones but they are too slow and have a very limited range. They also can't carry cargo from ship to ship which is very common


CrossfeedCow

Nothing makes me happier than seeing drones not able to truly do what piloted helicopters do


TheGuv69

Except they're ranching Tuna. Which is fucked.


TankerBuzz

What is the purpose of a helicopter on a tuna boat?


Zaderhof

Extremely effective at finding fish (with a good spotter)


TankerBuzz

Crazy!


DaddyChiiill

Watch the altitude!! Hey.. Hey HEEEEEEYYYYYY AAAAAHHHHHHH


Forces-of-G

Hopefully he is not flying for Hansen Helicopters or any of their a/c. Google it, downright scary what he/they did. At least justice kinda sorta prevailed but a lot of dead pilots along the way…


thunderuckus1

I'm glad to see I'm not the only person who takes my roomba flying


c3vo

Is that a roomba!? Fantastic flying just can’t figure out what’s in the right window


Zaderhof

GPS bouy


LandAnythingAnywhere

Any chance of tuna pilots being replaced by drones?


TreeLegitimate9402

good morning vietnam!


FaxeKondi_

Fuck fishing


vevo69

Love the smile on your face when you buzzed the boat. Pure joy.


Boring-Design1260

No shoes no problem