It wasn't until Thanksgiving weekend, the builder was a month late and my move was once again on hold that four days loomed with no plans. The Enstrom leapt into my mind and I scheduled my first demo flight. Yes, I was immediately hooked and my training began the following weekend. Flying a helicopter demands infinite patience on the part of both student and instructor, learning not only the control inputs, but also about terms such as ETL, settling with power, retreating blade stall, all the performance numbers and would you believe, four, yes four operating envelopes - all with different max airspeeds. This helicoptering was far more demanding than I ever imagined.
Little things are big things.
As the hands are totally occupied from the moment of pickup, tower frequency is set and ground never used. An itchy nose stays that way. This 99 finds that a thorough preflight still takes 25 minutes. There's lots of windshield to clean and a plethora of bolts to check for. This is not a time to hurry.