Jman
Site Developer
Hey folks,
It's been a very long time since I've been active on the board. Life here in Jalalabad has been very very busy. A lot of flying and very little leisure time. The Internet connection here is not nearly as good as we were led to believe before buying into it. Some days it's good and some days it's not working at all. I'm not complaining because at least I have one. I fly over guys all day whom are lucky to get a call home once a week. It could be much worse.
Email is a difficult thing for me here so if you need to get a hold of me, please PM me and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. I'll send you an email address that is easier for me to access. The [email protected] account is barely operational due to the number of spam messages that I need to wade through. Sometimes the important messages get dropped.
The flying here is amazing. I'm not sure how I'll go back to flying over flat terrain again. Learning the in's and out's of mountain flying has been a real blast but humbling in many ways. Power management and visualizing the winds is key to the kind of flying we have to do over here. Many times we need to get the helicopter into positions and areas that take some planning and thought. Working your way into a tight draw on the side of a 10,000 foot mountain and knowing the only way out is a steep pitch-back-turn mere feet from the terrain is exhilarating. It's a feeling I doubt I'll be able to get out of my blood...ever.
I've attached a few photos from today's flight:
#1: These valleys are the closest thing Afghan locals in this part of the country have to a highway. A one lane road at the bottom of a very deep valley.
#2: A view looking south coming out of the Hindu Kush mountains where I spend most of my flight time.
#3: Myself being driven around by one of the new pilots. He is smiling because he's thinking "Yes! He finally let me fly right seat". I'm smiling because I've cheated death once again..... We also might be a little euphoric due to mild hypothermia because of the lack of doors!
#4: A shot of the bottom side of the Hindu Kush.
#5: Hopefully the resolution of this shrunken picture is good enough to see how amazing these people are. The terraced areas are farms 4000 feet above the valley floor, which is around 3000 ft MSL.
Anyway, I need to get going. Like I said before, if you need to reach me, PM me and I'll send you my email address. Happy building and flying folks!
It's been a very long time since I've been active on the board. Life here in Jalalabad has been very very busy. A lot of flying and very little leisure time. The Internet connection here is not nearly as good as we were led to believe before buying into it. Some days it's good and some days it's not working at all. I'm not complaining because at least I have one. I fly over guys all day whom are lucky to get a call home once a week. It could be much worse.
Email is a difficult thing for me here so if you need to get a hold of me, please PM me and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. I'll send you an email address that is easier for me to access. The [email protected] account is barely operational due to the number of spam messages that I need to wade through. Sometimes the important messages get dropped.
The flying here is amazing. I'm not sure how I'll go back to flying over flat terrain again. Learning the in's and out's of mountain flying has been a real blast but humbling in many ways. Power management and visualizing the winds is key to the kind of flying we have to do over here. Many times we need to get the helicopter into positions and areas that take some planning and thought. Working your way into a tight draw on the side of a 10,000 foot mountain and knowing the only way out is a steep pitch-back-turn mere feet from the terrain is exhilarating. It's a feeling I doubt I'll be able to get out of my blood...ever.
I've attached a few photos from today's flight:
#1: These valleys are the closest thing Afghan locals in this part of the country have to a highway. A one lane road at the bottom of a very deep valley.
#2: A view looking south coming out of the Hindu Kush mountains where I spend most of my flight time.
#3: Myself being driven around by one of the new pilots. He is smiling because he's thinking "Yes! He finally let me fly right seat". I'm smiling because I've cheated death once again..... We also might be a little euphoric due to mild hypothermia because of the lack of doors!
#4: A shot of the bottom side of the Hindu Kush.
#5: Hopefully the resolution of this shrunken picture is good enough to see how amazing these people are. The terraced areas are farms 4000 feet above the valley floor, which is around 3000 ft MSL.
Anyway, I need to get going. Like I said before, if you need to reach me, PM me and I'll send you my email address. Happy building and flying folks!
