Flight of the Amos

 

Mike had a surprise for me last night. He took me up to the mine and told me to go talk to the helicopter pilot! Yaaaa-whoooo! I got to fly in the helicopter all over the mine site last night! 

I have never flown in a helicopter before so I was very anxious and the pilot, Robbie McKenzie was really great! He was very professional and allayed all my fears about the whole thing. It helps that he's from Fiji and has a very soothing and confident accent to his voice. Boy, it turned out to be the coolest thing to happen to me in a very long time! He was as steady as a rock and made sure that I understood all the instructions before we went up and talked to me through the whole flight, even though my mouth was too dry to talk back! I actually went through 64 fl. oz. of water in about an hour! 

 He took me up and over to where Mike was working, landing on the very hill where I broke my wrist a couple of years ago, and dropped me off so he and Mike could run supplies back and forth between the staging area and the up the cliff where the drills are hanging while they drill for minerals. I have to say, I got a kick out of watching he and Mike work, it was like they had been working together forever! His flying was so smoothe he was able todrop the hook from the long-line right into the palm of Mike's hand.

Once they had everything exchanged he picked me up again and then flew me to the edge of the mountain to pick up two other guys. I have never seen anything like it! (except in the movies).

He actually parked the front of the skids on a little 5' wide trail with the butt-end hanging off in the air and held that thing so steady while these two guys jumped in the back. It looked like the blades were just a few inches away from the hill above us but I'm sure there were a lot of feet away!

As we pulled away from the mountain in reverse he took us out in a wide half-circle back to the landing pad over by the Geologists shack.

 

It was just a little three minute flight but it was great fun! I am really glad Robbie and the Geos let me have a ride on their dime! I'll never forget it!