…to Sin City!
The time with Monica in Los Angelos was really great, but actually too short. Unfortunately she needed to go home while I had a meeting…inside the country, in the desert….in Sin City…in – of course – Las Vegas!
Nicole has already joined our Flight Challenge weeks ago, and so finally I would get to her. Not by plane though but in the old-fashioned “UPS” way 🙂
Monica made me a great place to sleep before she sent me on my travels.
And there I am. In the hot, sandy, isolate Sin City.
Nicole shows me around. First the strip and then at her work: She is in US Air Force, based in Las Vegas, and we have some great encounters with her colleagues. I try her gear, but well…it seems that I still need to grow a little bit…just a tiny little bit :-))))
And then the day arrives when I go on my second helicopter trip. But this is not an ordinary helicopter, and I ahve to admit that I am a little bit scared. Well, not scared really, but…hmh…impressed!
My first helicopter flight with Angelika was already awesome and so different to all my plane flights, but a HH-60G Pavehawk is still something different…
The HH-60G Pavehawk is a Combat Search and Rescue Helicopter, and thinking about its mission makes me feel quite stunned.
“The primary mission of the HH-60G is recovery of personnel from hostile regions. The helicopter additionally executes search and rescue, medical evacuation, disaster relief, humanitarian assistance, security cooperation, counter drug activities, Nasa space shuttle support and rescue command and control missions.” (Source: Airforce Technology here)
Nicole seats me on the passenger seat and asks me to go ahead. I am sitting and staring at all these buttons. Still staring. Staring.
Nicole laughs.
Then she introduces me to Chelsey who is her co-pilot today. A very nice woman as well!
She hands me some earphones so that we are able to communicate while the rotor blades are turning. She and Chelsey mount her seat. Nicole gets her keys and what follows is the biggest uproar I have every experienced, even with these earphones.
The rotor blades start turning and I am really happy that Nicole buckled me up 🙂
We take off from the ground. I am impressed that Nicole can hold this big machine in that calm way. We fly higher and higher, and I see first the whole base of the US Air Force and then the desert around the Sin City. What a spectacular view!!!
I can’t get enough.
But again, it doesn’t last as long as I wanted, and we come down again….
Thank you, Nicole! It was a wonderful experience!!!!
This entry was posted in Allgemein, female pilots, Flight, Flight Challenge, United States Air Force, USA
