Law enforcement aviation differs from most flying in that one must multitask. Many was the time that I acted at the observer (TFO) while I ran the radios and the map location terminal, all while providing flight instruction. It's the nature of the beast.

@@Tom-zs6bb My opinion stands. Running maps and the like and radios and such is all part of flying,,,, "texting" however is not necessary and definitely not something indicating paying attention to flight related activities. Especially when you are in an active instruction of manuevers.

@@TowMater Are you a flight instructor?

@@Tom-zs6bb No but I know several instructors and all of them say texting is NOT a needed function to flight instruction and should pay attention to the student and the flight. So, again, I repeat, " My OPINION stands"!!!! Keep in mind I said "My opinion"!!!!. Thank you have a nice day!!! Good bye!!!!

@@TowMater Did those instructors (it's interesting that you know "several" of them, what with there being only about 11,000 of us in the United States) watch these videos? I did, and as a CFI I noted several things. One, was that the "student" started the engine. There are several mistakes that can result in a hot start of the RR (formerly Allison) model 250 turboshaft engine, and the bill for a hot start can easily exceed "100,000. Therefore, the left-seater wasn't a new student. That was also apparent as the CFI was not taking the controls to demonstrate maneuvers, as is standard practice. In fact, the maneuvers performed, with the exception of a series of quick-stops over that patch of low vegetation, were only those related to a typical helicopter cross country flight. There were no hover patterns, no autos, no slope landings, et cetera. My feeling was that he was a rated pilot who was just transitioning to his first Hughes 369 series aircraft. Two, a note in one of the videos indicated that the "student" was the new supervisor for that aviation unit, and one cannot effectively supervise an aviation unit if not a rated pilot, and an experienced one. Three, at the time the CFI was using his phone, the helicopter was not engaged in a maneuver that required the instructor to immediately take the controls to prevent a disaster. Four, we are told that no message is so important that we need to split our attention to our devices while driving. That's true because there are, contrary to flying, a lot of things to bump into. Law enforcement communications, however, are different. Many of them are very important and time sensitive. Addressing such communications when there is little to no danger of adverse complications is understandable and, in MY opinion, okay. Your opinion is noted, as I have noted the opinions of individuals in these forums who insist on opining on subjects with which they have little of no familiarity. Interestingly, the two subjects that suffer such comments are aviation and law enforcement. Congratulations for rendering your unlearned opinion on both! You are mush more efficient that most commenters! By the way, "goodbye" is one word.

TransferAir because MD owns the patent

@@TransferAir realistically helicopters are an incredibly small business, the most popular helicopter the R44 or R22 I'm not sure which has about 6000 units world wide which is small compared to car companies selling ten's of thousands of units so it's just not worth finding contracts like this

@@TransferAir I also agree that the Robinson design is ugly but if I had enough money for one I'd still buy it but I'd much rather a MD520 or a squirrel, greetings from down under in australia

In a strange way it kind of reminds me of noisy vacuum cleaners. There was a vacuum cleaner that was invented that was just as efficient and much, much quieter but it failed in the market place because people were not able to get past the fact that it made very little noise. They thought that because they couldn't hear the vacuum cleaner working it wasn't working as well as the loud vacuum cleaners. I suspect a similar fate has been experienced by the Notar line of helicopters. I'd much rather have one of these Notar models than the twin buzz-saw models.

The tail boom is hollow, it has an internal fan that sucks in air from the sides up front and then shoots it out a nozzle in the back.

It has a NOTAR system. Explained by the guy above me 👆

Is that not normal? All Helicopters I've flown, PC is usually right seat?

Louisville

Boring flights are safe flights. We can't all live in Norwegian fjords or High Rocky Mountains or tropical paradises!

this is why heli flying is the most fun, because at least on the "boring" flights you are still a part of the earth. Now imagine doing this for Delta 35,000 feet high. Talk about boring, all you see is clouds, haze, and checkered farm land below.

The good ones always are!

....eu também

Greg Timinski it's a police department owned helicopter. I was recently transferred in as the commander of the Air Patrol unit and have just begun my training with the current pilot staff.

@@jackhagedorn4717 this is why heli pilots get to transition to turbine so quickly, since most commercial rotorcraft are turbine powered the operators have no choice but to train you in them.

Yes. You may see us quite a bit soon. We are moving our operation to Bowman Field at Central American Airways on the West ramp. Good luck with your training!

narcomason thanks and I'll keep an eye out!

PIC is on the left, this is our only helicopter and we don't use it for initial training, so this is only "familiarity" training. My official training is done in a R22. It is nice though!