In the photo above you can tell by the grass that the wind was blowing hard off the ocean toward the land. Bill had put that wind to his tail and must have been looking at his ground speed instead of his air speed. He made it this time though. Here Steve is on the right holding his hat, Bill is in the short sleeves, and Sheila and I are just enjoying the moment.

It was so cool to be able to land on an ocean over-look in our own helicopter on a beautiful clear California day.

Following our picnic lunch that we carried in our Exec 152/90 in the special luggage compartment inside the dog house, we blasted off into the wind and what a thrill it was as we cleared the cliffs with their sudden drop-off to the water. We then headed South back to Jenner and then East up the Russian River all the way to Healdsburg, California for a fuel stop

In the above photo we had all landed for fuel. Bill's black ship is in the foreground. Steve and I hover taxied in with a right cross wind and then turned our tails into the wind after we settled onto the pavement and just kept the ship light on the skids as we slid them tail into the wind for easier reach of the fuel hose.

Bill landed facing into the wind but got the tail rotor way too close to the up sloping land behind him as he flew over it and did a slight flare to stop there. Bill had several close calls on this and every other trip that we flew with him. Bill is also the person referred to in some of the stories in the Articles section of this web site. Bill was not one of my students, he had his own unique way of doing helicopter things.

In the background Steve and I are planning our flight back to our respective homes.

With Sectional chart in hand Steve knows where he will pilot his Exec 90 back to helipad one on the East range of the Napa Valley hills. I am looking on as Sheila and Pat hug goodbye after a wonderful day of fun in the air. We then board our respective helicopters and depart the Healdsburg airport.

The plan was that Bill was going to fly directly home while Steve and I would follow the highways and roads across the mountain ranges and then once we reached the Napa Valley, Steve would veer to the South for home while Sheila and I would cross two more mountain ranges to our home helipad in the Sacramento Valley.