Application for Crow

Hey Viktor, or Crow from now on!

Welcome to BSD! I think you will like it here, all choppers all the time. And a few of us here are pretty good with Eu timezone, as Gizzy and I and one or two others are UK based.

Hi Crow! The initial idea for BSD was to gather the Americas chopper community together, but we have very active British pilots who joined and who don't mind staying up late, or have missions set up on Sundays afternoon. If we can get regular activity on the UK side, I hope you will  be able to jump in easily. Are you flying with other squadrons in Europe like the 132nd or 229th?

Belsimtek helicopters are apparently the most popular at BSD. And we are all dying waiting for the Mi24 of course. The Huey is a favorite for learning the helicopter basics. The Mi-8 is a bit trickier to master. And I am so jealous that you were able to see some real ones everyday!

We are asking you to be able to cold startup manually and fly patterns and hovers with the Mi-8. Not a big deal for people with minimum flight time. (maybe a bigger deal to cold start up the Mi-8, but this is to show that you took time to read the manual and know where the switches are and what they do). Knowledge in mission building is important to us for our survival. We all want to fly cool missions whenever we want, but it doesn't need to  be always the same people who make those missions. They will eventually get tired and loose interest. Then no one will fly anymore and the community will die.

We are spending a lot of time on training (a bit like IRL). There is a training system in place at BSD that may look a bit off putting but once you get your RL2 (you are RL3 right now), you will immediately see the benefits. RL2 will allow you to take part in simple missions. RL1 in more complex ones. We have a couple of awesome instructors that are willing to spend a lot of their free time teaching what they know. And they know a lot! They deserve 

Take some time to read the "about BSD" section (maybe you already did). Whenever you are ready, we will set up a quick check out flight for you. Let us know your availability.

Mole, BadCrC, 

thank you for the warm welcome. Yes, I've read most of what I could find on this site. I'm looking forward to those training sessions. Personally I know the Mi-8 already a bit. I have learned it with the manual and Russian video tutorials created by a real Mi-8 instructor. At some point I have made an instruction on flying the wide rectangular pattern on youtube. If you like, check it out: https://youtu.be/1Cnyj9bsUIo

So, I'm familiar with the Mi-8 startup, basic flight maneuvers, hover, pattern work etc. When it comes to IFR flight, maybe I can contribute a bit of knowledge, since I fly fixed wing aircraft for a living. So, flight planning, routing and ATC is something I know well. Also, I have used the GNS430 for about 100hrs on real aircraft.

I just don't know your procedures and I have not yet flown DCS online (so it's also the first squadron for me). I'm looking forward to learning combat tactics and weapons employment and some more in depth helicopter stuff. 

Greetings,

Viktor

Hi Viktor, nice to meet you Sir.... looking to forward to some flying together... UK based and regularly fly in the evenings and weekends.  Give me a time some evening when free and we'll meet up and have a chat..

/Giz

   Hope you like BSD, Crow. Once the Hind comes out I'm gluing myself to the cockpit

Hi Crow, welcome to BSD!

I know we chatted about the timezones on FB and I think you will find on the weekends more of the US pilots on as well.

Looking forward to flying with you!

BK

So, I had a nice, relaxed flight with Mole and Gizzy yesterday. Really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to a "get to know" online session with the rest of the bunch!