The Adventures of Chopper Chick!

Hiking with Sammy and Sparky in Chatsworth

2009-11-15T18:26:00.000-08:00

Trying to see how far up the rocks we can hike off the trail.

Coming out of the other end of the rock cave.

Going into the Rock Cave.

Sparky finds a hole to rest in.

I went hiking today up at Rocky Peak Trail with Sam and Sparky. What perfect weather for a hike. Sunny and warm, but cool and breezy. I love the rocks up there on the mountain. By the way, for those of you don't know Sam, this is the guy who took the amazing shot pictured at the top of my blog(flying up the coast). Sam LaFoca is the SKY 5 cameraman who has worked for KTLA for quite some time including back in the Jennifer York days. Sparky is his one year old Golden Doodle.

Here's a link on the trail we hiked that I try to hike when I have the time.........http://www.lamountains.com/parks.asp?parkid=51

Cirque Du Soleil - KOOZA in Santa Monica

2009-11-14T15:02:00.001-08:00

Spent Saturday night with my mom going to Cirque Du Soleil in Santa Monica. I've been going to their shows for the past 15 years every chance I get in L.A. and Vegas. Words can not describe what one witnesses at Cirque Du Soleil. The strength, beauty, and talent the performers exhibit on stage is inspiring and magical. What they do is so amazing you can't believe that a human can actually perform these acts. Traditional circus acts such as juggling, bicycles, and walking the high wire are brought to a whole new level, and then some. Just like technology and the world we live in, each show every year is more amazing and advanced then the one before. The show I saw tonight tops every Cirque show I've ever seen. As simple as this show can seem in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica compared to the extravagant Cirque shows in Vegas which are amazing as well, this show was breathtaking. The comedy in this one was taken to a whole new level as well. Anyone who has never seen a Cirque show must really try to get to one. These performers to me are the most talented entertainment performers and best athletes in the world.

Awwwww, my computer is healthy finally.......

2009-11-14T08:23:00.000-08:00

So after deleting all of my info from facebook before deactivating my profile the other day, I used my spyware program and virus program to do a thorough cleaning of my computer. Both programs continually found things to remove, but this one took longer than usual. It seems the more time I spent on FB trying to delete my stuff, I kept getting the run around from FB, not allowing me to delete or untag photos. That extra time spent on FB trying to get rid of all of my data seemed to really slow my computer down even more. Not sure what it is with FB but ever since I got on I was always having issues with my computer. Now that my computer is clean and my programs found several issues and took care of them, it runs sooooo much faster now. FB was not only a time suck for my time, but a time suck for my poor little computer who had to work extra hard every time FB would start giving us issues. Yay, so happy to be free of FB and it's never ending issues.

Happy Friday the 13th from Desiree and her two black cats!

2009-11-13T10:17:00.000-08:00

Lou crashed out after playing outside this morning.

Both the boys relaxing inside with momma while she gets caught up on paperwork today.

Pedro inspecting the old fire hose in the yard chopper earlier this morning.

Lou and Pedro playing in their sandbox this morning.

Lou wondering if the squirrel knows he's there.

Squirrel figures it out but runs the wrong way.

Now which way do I go?

hahaha! Most people are superstitious and blame bad things that happen on them today based on the old superstition it's Friday the 13th! So I figured I'd disprove that by wishing you all a Happy Friday the 13th! My two black cats(another superstition) are enjoying the awesome weather we are having here in L.A. on this gorgeous Friday the 13th. It was supposed to rain the past two days here but once again the sun has taken over giving us warm gorgeous days to enjoy outside.

To all my friends on FACEBOOK, I was hacked last night

2009-11-13T07:28:00.000-08:00

I was going to be deleting my facebook account by the end of this week anyway as it consumed too much of my time, but it's deactivated as of earlier this morning. I was hacked by some crazy last night who was able to instant message all of my friends and tell them some crazy story so out of character for me, to get money from all of my friends.

I apologize for the hacker because some of you actually believed it and were offended by the actions, which I don't blame you, but that's not in my character, so sorry for those who believed him. Then there is those of you who were actually going to give this person money, wow, I'm really touched that those of you would bail me out like that.

Thankfully the hacker couldn't pull it off when some of you started asking questions which finally led you to realize it was all a scam. I always had issues with picking up viruses and spyware from facebook, but an evil hacker just tops it off. I was considering going back onto facebook after some of my time frees up, but after last night, I will never use facebook again.

In the future, everyone should realize if they haven't realized it now, that if anyone, including your friends asks you for money over the internet, it's a scam, always has been. Try to remember a time when a friend really needed your help and asked for it online and didn't ask in person.

I'm just bummed that some of you really thought this was me. Only my close friends were able to be smart about it and ask questions to deter the hacker. I hope no one sent the hacker money on my behalf. Once again, if you did, you are an amazing friend, thanks and sorry you got scammed.

I really hope my friends from facebook will make the effort to say hello here on blogger. Miss you guys.

p.s. If anyone has the time and wants to report the activity to facebook or whoever handles cyberscams since one of you told me this hacker set up a Western Union account with an actual address to accept the money at. Maybe the FBI can catch this person.

http://www.cybercrime.gov/

VNY always an airshow

2009-11-12T10:15:00.001-08:00

I love flying out of Van Nuys Airport. I know I've said that before, but it can never be said enough. Just the other day while out on the ramp with our helicopters the group of T6's took flight, and before that a group of Gulfstreams and LearJets and Hawkers and others all seemed to take flight one after another. Then the cool vintage military jets, the aerobatic planes, etc. There was a sea plane I had never seen before take off on 16R. So many cool planes every day taking flight out of VNY, not to mention a group of 4 national guard Blackhawks that were here the other day as well. I love VNY!

Mission Flag makes it on my Wall of Fame

2009-11-10T12:43:00.000-08:00

At Aaron bros. they actually sell a nice frame just for the flag to be folded like this but I thought the box would be much nicer to put all the memorabilia together in.

My long hallway that I love framing photos in.

Most of my great memories make it into a frame and get placed on either my hallway wall or office wall and some others throughout the rest of the house. The big walls in my house that are loaded with photos are the office and the hall. I recall when I first bought my house or was actually looking at buying it, I fell in love with the long hallway as I knew I would clutter it with memories.

For those of you who are first time readers of my blog, I received a mission flag a while back, months ago, and took it flying in SKYFOX, then packed it in my fire bag in hopes that if we made it to a fire I would fly the flag in our Sikorsky on a fire mission as well as a news mission. But due to a slow fire season and being CWN, we didn't get picked up on any fires, so it was time to give the flag a home. It now rests in a photo box in my hallway along with many other great memories. Maybe I'll learn how to actually fold a nylon flag a bit better later on so it rests in there nicely. It's not the most perfect fold, but hey, I think it looks great and makes me never forget the men and women who fight for our country every day each time I pass by this frame.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to get a nylon flag to fold nicely, I'll take them. I refolded this flag several times over and over and the stars are still not even. They just won't line up.

Gorgeous photo to mark the gorgeous flight!

2009-11-10T12:13:00.000-08:00

This photo was taken by Sam LaFoca last week on our flight from San Diego back up the California Coast to Los Angeles. I love how this photo captures the moment. It's almost as if by looking at this photo you can imagine yourself in the helicopter with us. Thanks Sam! I love it!

Inspiring ways to start the day

2009-11-10T11:47:00.000-08:00

I've been fortunate to be keeping busy flying news the past couple of weeks for the morning shift. I had the chance to take a couple of photos of the sunrise while on the ground. Just about every morning has been gorgeous the past couple of weeks except for a few fog days. The weather has been great and as always flying around L.A. is fun.

Funny thing, the mornings always seem tough especially getting up at 230am for work, but when you see the sun come up, it makes it all worth it! Then you have your whole day ahead of you which you get more out of by being up so early considering the days get dark sooner this time of year. I love this shift!

PHPA Annual Membership Meeting and 4th Annual Social Mixer

2009-11-09T20:54:00.001-08:00

Join your fellow PHPA Members and Guests for
an evening of “hangar-talk”, food, and fun!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 1830.

Young Pilots, Come talk with and gain knowledge
from Pilots with years of experience.
Experienced Pilots, Come socialize with your
Colleagues and share your experiences with
up-and-coming Pilots.

Hangar-Talk Key-Note Speakers:
Steve Smith and Torbjorn “TC” Corell of
Southern California Edison
“Flying in the Wire Environment”

Santa Monica Aviation
3159 Donald Douglas Loop South, (second fl oor),
Santa Monica, CA. 90405
(Santa Monica Airport)

This event is FREE to current PHPA members. $20.00 for adult guests, and $10.00 for guests under 12. All
guests must be accompanied by a current member or pay $40.00 at the door and become a PHPA member.
If joining the PHPA at the door, you will receive membership through June 30, 2011.
RSVP, before November 15th, and receive 2 free raffl e tickets. RSVP by e-mail to rsvp@phpa.org, with the
name(s) of those attending. You can also RSVP by phone to the PHPA message center (213) 891-3636 with
the name(s) of those attending and a telephone number, (Please speak clearly).
Admission to this event is free for Student Pilots
possessing a current Student Pilot certifi cate.

PHPA - P.O. Box 7059 - Burbank - CA -91501
213-891-3636
www.phpa.org

Awesome flight down to San Diego today for unfortunate circumstances

2009-10-30T21:44:00.001-07:00

morning sunrise over San Diego as we fly back up the coast towards home

photo from the flight back up to L.A.

Spent my morning flying to San Diego for a aircraft crash out at sea. Didn't fly out to the search of course, but spent the time over the mainland enjoying the change of scenery and the gorgeous coastline.

Keeping my blogs short these days as I have been extremely busy and haven't had time to keep up. I still enjoy blogging and want to spend more time keeping up on my blog these days then facebook, so having said that..........

Will also be saying goodbye to Facebook after a year of being on it. Had a great time on it, met amazing people, reconnected with old friends. Just don't have the time these days to spend on my computer to keep up.

I hope my friends will try to keep in touch with me here instead. :)

Thanks for reading! :)

Still on the go every week from flying in L.A. to adventures out of state

2009-10-25T13:06:00.000-07:00

My mom and I at Crate Lake

Travelled with my mom for her 70th Birthday last week up to Oregon. Then made a quick trip to Illinois before coming back to L.A. to get back to work again. Lot's of flying in and out of LAX these days. Happy to be home now. Flying SKYFOX today and so happy to be doing so. Missing out on the Wings and Wheels event at Los Al. Would have been nice to participate and help represent our PHPA booth we have down there. Hopefully many of you had a chance to go and can share your stories here.

News, News, News

2009-10-19T22:20:00.000-07:00

Flying news this past week for KTTV and KTLA for Helinet. Loving staying busy, so thankful for the work as always and having a great time flying in this gorgeous SoCal weather and working with my longtime Helinet buddies.

I've worked many places in all my 19 years of flying and I must say, my buddies at Helinet are the best buddies I have. I can be gone all summer and then come back in the winter and it's as if I had never left, we just don't skip a beat. I'm able to get right back into the groove with everyone and have fun and laughs about everything with them. I miss them all so much when I'm gone every summer, but so thankful to be working with them all winter. I've met so many great people all over the U.S. in the places I've flown, but no one can replace my friends here at Helinet. We just have the best times always.

Another great thing is flying at VNY. I love Van Nuys Airport. I can't even begin to describe all the wonderful things about why I love flying on this field. I was driving our aircraft tug across the ramp the other day to visit a friend of mine who flies for Erickson and a few other friends who fly for L.A. City Fire, and I thought to myself, this is great! I love my job. I sometimes can't believe I get paid to work for such a good company and do cool things. Then later I had dinner at the 94th Aero Squadron on my dinner break, it just doesn't get any better, well maybe it can, but I'm pretty content for now. lol.

Dirtbiking in Mammoth California before the snow, back to the rain then hot sunny warm windy days in L.A.

2009-10-15T17:52:00.000-07:00

Wow, what an amazing time I had riding my dirt bike in Mammoth! I have been going to Mammoth for skiing and snowboarding since my early 20's, then spent two summers flying a fire contract up in the Inyo around the entire area up near Mammoth. After all these years of knowing how gorgeous it is and how amazing and plentiful the trails are up there and wanting to ride up there badly but never finding the time, I finally had a chance to go meet my friends up there at the end of my fire contract to go dirt bike riding around the Mammoth area and in Bishop. I was fortunate to get enough riding in before the storm came through dumping several feet of snow on the mountain now allowing for an early opening of Mammoth. They are supposedly opening tomorrow. Would be wonderful to go snowboarding this weekend, but I'm happy to be back here in L.A. flying news for FOX the rest of the week. Very thankful for the work. Talk about weird weather, flew in the rain and cold yesterday, now it's in the upper 80's and gorgeous today, just waiting to go fly! Okay, just went flying, nice! It was a gorgeous evening, super clear, always amazing flying over Los Angeles at night on a clear evening after the rain! Haven't flown in the day for a while, hahaha, all night flying in the early morning and late evenings the past couple of days. Gotta love it!

By the way, tried my new Spot GPS, didn't have any luck with it tracking my adventure riding up in Mammoth. When I have more time I'll have to look into it. I didn't have it facing up towards the sky on my ride since there isn't a good way to clip it on my pack, so that may have been why, but when stopped for long periods of time I layed it out and it still never showed any moments of tracking, bummer, very disapointing.

Mission Flag in the Pacific Flyer

2009-10-08T09:28:00.000-07:00

The Pacific Flyer made it's way to VNY (Van Nuys Airport) yesterday! Yay! I was so excited to pick up a copy and see the article on our mission flag in there. Thanks again to Vince Mac and Rick Dickert. Thank you Wayman for the wonderful write up.

Pyrocumulus Clouds

2009-10-03T14:16:00.000-07:00

So I recall a few people talking about the Pyrocumulus Cloud that formed above the Station Fire recently in which they seemed to comment on the fact that they had never seen anything like it nor did they know those types of clouds existed.

Well, I finally found some of my old fire photos from my early days of flying news in Los Angeles to share with everyone who hasn't seen the many pyrocumulus clouds that form from our fires.

Growing up in SoCal I had always seen these clouds hovering over our brush fires, but it wasn't until I starting flying news that I got an up close and personal view of these amazing formations. I was so intrigued by their many unique developments that I started taking photos on each fire I went on.

I can't tell you all of the names of these fires because there are too many to remember. As a news pilot, I flew over more fires than a fire pilot since fires in SoCal are a major news event and there are many of them.

All the while I was up there, wishing I was down below fighting the fire. hahaha. Some of these photos are from fires in San Diego as I do recall some of them. Most are up here in the L.A. area. Enjoy!

I ran out of time to try and upright some of the horizontal photos, so sorry about that. I accidently deleted a few really cool ones in the process, so I decided to just leave the rest alone.

Chopper Chick in the next issue of Pacific Flyer

2009-10-02T17:02:00.000-07:00

I had a great conversation with Wayman the Editor of Pacific Flyer earlier this morning. I'm so excited to let everyone know that our little story on the "Mission Flag" will be in the next issue which as far as VNY goes, should show up sometime this week according to Wayman. I always thought of Pacific Flyer as a local publication. I really never noticed that it was nation wide, but not only nationwide, it's world wide!

According to Wayman, he said "the Pacific Flyer is distributed, not only in the 50 states, we have subscribers, the last time I looked, in England, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Russia and China and we send out more than 1,500 copies to APO/FPO addresses in Iraq and Afghanistan, to squadrons (Navy, Air Force , Marines) on every aircraft carrier, to Coast Guard cutters, to guys stuck in tents in remote locations and others at the antarctic (delivered by Air Force C-130). In addition, airline pilots and military pilots take bundles along and drop them off as they travel around the world. They'll probably start a Desiree Horton fan club some where (I'll join). Most of the military subscriptions have been paid for by the readers (almost $600 this month) and close to $3000 has been sent in so far by patriotic readers so we get addresses from the military and send them off to troops around the world."

hahaha, love it! That's so cool.

Track Chopper Chicks Adventures, coming soon

2009-10-01T23:02:00.000-07:00

So I recently aquired a couple of Kayaks and with the purchase of those I receive a free Spot GPS with the purchase of a one year activation, so much for free as the annual subscription is pricey but worth it if this gps does everything it says.

Once I went online to claim my new toy I realized a newer model came out that my free coupon was not valid for. It was a little frustrating but after researching more on the two models I realize the older one may be a bit more tough for my kayaking adventures as it is waterproof more so than the newer one. But again, after I read the reviews of the unit on REI's website, I was a little more disapointed to see such poor reviews of the Spot GPS. There were some good reviews, but mostly poor. I'm hoping it works well for me.

I'm looking forward to receiving it soon so I can start sharing my adventures online. Not only is it going to be fun to show my progress but it will be a great safety tool to have the peace of mind that my last trackable point will be stored online incase something were to happen to me.

I signed up today for Spot Adventures, so you can see me as one of the newest members on their page. Looking forward to seeing if the Spot GPS can do everything it promises!

http://www.spotadventures.com/

A visit to "The Cat House" in Rosamond

2009-09-26T16:01:00.001-07:00

I've never been a fan of seeing animals in cages so you won't see me visit the local zoo, but I had to go check out the kitties in Rosamond since it was not far from Bakersfield and something fun to do.

The Cat House is dedicated to the protection of endangered felines. If you have some extra money to donate they are in need of donations. You can adopt or sponsor a cat so to speak. You pay a monthly fee to help support the cats there, pick your cat, and have your name on a plaque on their cage, it's kinda cool.

Their website...

http://www.cathouse-fcc.org/

My favorite cat there besides the black jaguar was a little fella called a jaguarundi named Aztec. She's a girl kitty. If I could have her as a pet, I'd be all over it. She's a really cool cat!

Chopper Chick Rides

2009-09-21T07:32:00.000-07:00

Wow, two Sundays in a row I finally made the time to take my bike out. haha. Last weekend I went with two friends to the higher ground riding up around Boquet, Lake Eliz and Lake Hughes Road, etc. I miss riding. Yesterday I took my bike along with a friend/coworker Jamie and his new R1(gorgoeus black bike)up the coast through Malibu up around Pt. Magu. What an amazing ride. Love riding along the coast. Rides like that make me really appreciate the weather and the beauty here in SoCal. It was a warm sunny gorgeous day to ride. After our ride we headed over to fellow pilot Brian's house in Thousand Oaks which is also a fun area to ride through. Really beautiful homes and nice curvy roads.

Still carrying the mission flag in my bag

2009-09-20T11:45:00.000-07:00

After it's mission in Iraq and in Skyfox I wanted to frame the flag with a photo of Steve Bennett by putting it in a shadow box on my wall as a reminder of the men and women who fight for freedom every day. But for some reason I feel the flag needs to stay out and airborne. I have it in my luggage with the photo of Steve and his CPG holding it. I'm just so honored to have this mission flag and I want to fly it again in support of our troops. I'm hoping to take it flying again in the Sikorsky before the end of the season on a fire before I hang it up on the wall at my home.

"Chopper Chick" descends on Bakersfield

2009-09-19T10:16:00.000-07:00

Check it out....

http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/bakosphere/49112

Thanks to Richard for pointing this out to me, kinda cool. I love how I wasn't interviewed or even contacted for this, but it's still cool because at least they now know we have our ship in Bako for Fire Season here in Cali. How does the saying go, any press is good press. hahaha.

I've certainly come a long way from being a "reporter first to an accomplished fire/lift pilot" in very little time, hahahaha, according to the article. Love that!

For those of you who are reading my blog for the first time, I was never officially a reporter. I've always been a helicopter pilot since 1990 and fell into being a pilot/reporter for a few years starting in 2001 through 2007 for various stations in L.A. such as KABC, KTLA, and KNBC. It was alot of fun and the money was fabulous but it didn't allow me to pursue my fulltime passion which is firefighting, so I eventually stopped reporting and flying as I went to work for a company that primarily did heavy lift construction and fires in Sikorsky's in Oct. 2007. I've never looked back, I love the path I'm on. I now work for an even more amazing company, Midwest Helicopters, Inc. based in Willowbrook, Illinois. I still live in L.A. but fly all over the U.S. working for them. I'm excited to have our ship out here in Cali so close to home.

I still fly news part time just as a pilot for a local company here in Los Angeles, Helinet Aviation. I haven't reported and flown since early 2007 last for KNBC. Helinet has been so great to me all of these years as I have been working for them since November 1998. I was with them fulltime for a couple of years then went contract. They have kept me in the loop so to speak and have me fly news whenever I'm in L.A.

I also fly as a contract pilot for a few other companies here in the L.A. area doing fire seasonally as well as charter, etc. Elite Aviation, HP Helicopters, and Air Resources on occasion.

Iraqi Freedom Combat Mission Flag flies over the skies of Los Angeles in SKYFOX

2009-09-15T11:20:00.000-07:00

Pretty cool to know that the flag I flew today had flown over the skies of Iraq on it's last flight before coming to the United States to be in my possesion and take flying in SKYFOX.

Today I flew my mission flag from CW2 Steven Bennett. I brought it up in the helicopter on our news mission in SKYFOX with Rick Dickert the reporter and Vince Mac the cameraman. Rick actually did a little segment on the story behind our flag which was really cool. Thank you so much to Rick for doing that. What an honor to have flown Steve’s flag in SKYFOX today. Thanks Steve!

The low down on the mission flag……

Chief Warrant Officer 2, Steven Bennett flew a mission flag over Iraq on Thursday August 27, 2009 with his copilot/gunner. Steven is an AH64D Apache Pilot in the Army currently deployed in Iraq. It’s a tradition for them to take American Flags on missions with them in the helicopter and present them as gifts to family and friends. Steve and I became friends on Facebook. Thank you Facebook for connecting me with friends and meeting new ones all the time.

The photo with Steve and his CPG was taken after they landed. Without giving too much operational intel away the flag was flown in their AH64D Apache throughout the MND, Multi National Division, North area of operations in Iraq, everything north of Baghdad. CW2 Steve Bennett had this picture taken of him and his CPG holding my flag to be given to me in front of the aircraft it was flown in just after they landed. He mentioned it was 44c in the shade, about 118f or so.

The mission we flew the flag over started out of VNY and cruised the skies of Los Angeles landing at LGB for fuel then continuing around the L.A. area and up the coast through Malibu and back into VNY at the end of our show. By taking the flag Steve Bennett flew on his combat mission over Iraq to the skies of L.A. in SKYFOX showed my support as well as my crew Rick and Vince's support for our troops over in Iraq and everywhere serving our country. I can't even describe how cool that was today flying our flag!

Steve Bennett is in the 1-10 Attack, the 1st Battalion of the 10th Mountain Combat Aviation Brigade. He is in the B Company, and the company is called “Killer Spades”. His call sign is Killer Spade 14. Being that they are Tiger Sharks, as you can see on the helicopter in the picture, the aircraft proudly displays sharks teeth. The lineage of this unit traces it’s roots back to the American Volunteer Group, AVG, that fought in China in WWII under General Chennault, and was known as the “Flying Tigers”. Those were the P-40’s that were painted with the same shark teeth on the nose. Carrying on that tradition, they paint sharks teeth on their aircraft as well.

By the way, anyone correct me if I'm wrong but I am pretty sure today we were the first helicopter in Los Angeles, at least news helicopter, to do something like what we did today. Thanks again Rick and Vince and KTTV for making this special honor a news event and a little part of history in our eyes.

Received my Mission Flag from CW2 Steve Bennett

2009-09-14T18:02:00.002-07:00

I don’t know how many of you are familiar with “mission flags” so I will explain just incase. I became friends with CW2 Steve Bennett on facebook. He offered up a mission flag as it is something they send to family and friends, so I’m honored to be a friend of Steve and I thank him for his mission flag. I am excited to take it on it’s first mission with me flying which will apparently be news here in Los Angeles since it is an extremely slow fire season. The irony in this whole thing is that I received the flag the day before 911 on Sept. 10, 2009 at my office address, so I unfortunately wasn’t able to pick it up until today, but guess what, tomorrow it will go flying as I am flying news for a couple of days here in L.A. for KTTV SKYFOX.

Animal Planet live on SKYFOX

2009-09-14T18:02:00.001-07:00

Neither Vince, Rick, or myself had ever seen live two deer locking antlers and fighting in real life. We all have seen it on TV many a time, but there we were, hovering over the 405 freeway in the Sepulveda Pass where there were at least ten deer that we could see frolicking around on the Mountain Gate Golf Course. What a cool site. In all my years of flying I’ve seen many deer, but never two deer locking antlers and fighting for several minutes. It was quite the sight to see. Very entertaining to say the least.