Commercial Helicopter License

By | Published 16/06/2013

copit

My helicopter flying lesson was such a good experience! I thought about learning to fly a helicopter as a hobby, the instructor explained it takes about 50 hours flying experience to get your personal license (of which I can now tick off 30minutes!). Then another 150 hours if you want to get your commercial license.

Ok so some quick maths

Two Hour lesson = £250
x
50 hours ‘Personal license’ = £6,250
x
200 hours ‘Commercial license’ = £25,000

£6k for 50hours what! Hardly something I can afford as a hobby, so then I thought, well if I get my commerical license I can make the money back I suppose and it would be an interesting career.

Looking at helicopter pilot salaries is a hard thing to do. They vary so much based on location / country / experience / who you would want to work for and what you class as ‘good hours’ to be working.

For my own personal classification of a good helicopter job in the UK, I found the average salary would be £35-£40k. Now I know aeroplane pilots start at about £70k so I was frankly disappointed.

Saying that, it means you could technically ‘make your money back’ within two years of getting your commercial license.

hel2

In summary, I don’t have the money, nor the commitment to change my professional job role (from Software Developer to Helicopter Pilot), to take this on. I would like to get my personal license, I think it would be a nice achievement, but it is a bit of a steep price tag! Maybe I’ll reflect again in a few years.

For more indepth (and probably more accurate) research, you could start here: http://www.phoenixhelicopters.co.uk/training/

Posted in General | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Helicopter Experience

By | Published 16/06/2013

I was recently given a helicopter lesson as a birthday present. It was one of those gift cards and was pretty easy to organise. You just ring the number and choose your time and date. I have been mad busy and had kept putting the gift off for nearly 6 months, so it was about to expire in two weeks, I needed to book it fast. When I rang the number they had a cancellation the next day so I took that, great!

The gift certificate was from TreatMe.net and I originally had it booked for Blackpool but rang up and got it changed to Goodwood.
The flight school was Phoenix Helicopters and my instructor was very friendly and talkative.

The sat nav got us there with ease, on turning up at Goodwood there are two flight schools so I had to follow the signs for ‘phoenix’. The experience started with a 5 minute classroom lesson explaining the 3 controls in a helicopter, didn’t sound too complicated but at the same time completely alien to driving a car.

Helicopter Experience

The instructor takes you up in the helicopter, explaining how he is using the radio and land speed etc. The views are amazing, helicopter ‘windows’ are so big you get a great 270deg view around you. Once you are up in the air, you go through the controls one by one, trying them for yourself to see how they feel and what they do. Then suddenly he has let go of all the controls and I am flying the helicopter! It takes so much concentration it is crazy, I kept nearly making it nose dive but the instructor would just jump back in, explain what you where doing and help correct it.

It was an amazing experience and anyone who has never done any type of flying (like me). I would definitely recommend it. It is also a great gift for someone, you can make a day out of it.

Posted in General | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

New PC Purchase – Barebones

By | Published 08/10/2012

I bought my last PC in 2007. This was when I was at university and very skint. So I got myself a bog standard PC, then as I’ve been using it I’ve been upgrading the pieces bit by bit. Graphics card, new ram, extra HD. So now the next thing to replace was the motherboard.

When I looked into replacing my motherboard, I realised it was old! Looking forwards I would have wanted to replace the PCU next. I was stuck. If I replaced the mobo with one that fitted my current PCU I wouldn’t be able to upgrade to a decent one in the future. However if I bought a future proof mobo I couldn’t use my current PCU. Ok fine I’ll just buy a PCU as well … nope. Same scenario with my RAM, current RAM IS DDR2 and I would need DDR3 for current motherboards. This was getting too expensive.

I was planning on spending about £90 on a new motherboard. ( I like spending around £100 per component), but as I’ve just said I’d need RAM a PCU and then probably a PSU! Well I found an lternative, a barebones PC, these come as a motherboard, ram, PCU, PSU WIN! I just have to plug my current harddrives in, my graphics card, my dvd drive and away we go!

I went for the “Primo PLUS 500i” Intel H61 DDR3 Ready Barebones (Socket 1155). It is ACE. £125 what a bargain, granted I would have got a lethal mobo for £125 but I like the compromise for upgradeability.

Here’s the innards:

And the front on view:

System Specification

– Case: OcUK IMP microATX case – Black
– Motherboard: Asus P8H61-MX Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
– Power Supply: OcUK Value 500W PSU
– CPU: Intel Celeron G530 2.40GHz (Socket 1155) CPU
– Memory: OcUK Value 4GB 1333MHZ C9

Now it’s not the most top end PC, but it’s good. Now I can start my cycle again of upgrading each piece one at a time and hopefully this PC will last me another 5 years!

Installation was easy by the way. Simple if you’ve ever been inside a PC and straight forward if you haven’t. HD sata cables connected, graphics card into the PCIE, turn it on, done!

Posted in General | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ambigram Tattoo – Pleasure or Pain

By | Published 13/09/2012

Some people where asking about my tattoo, so here it is:

Ambigram Tattoo

Ambigram Tattoo – “The world is mine”

It is an Ambigram that says ‘The world is mine’ (read forwards or backwards).

I chose this saying as to me it means. I can do what I want, I am free to make any choice in my life and I won’t regret it because I have more choices to make after that. It is freedom and awe at the diversity of what we can do in the world and I as an individual am empowered to make those choices. To step up to the plate. ( A close second was going to be ‘cometh the hour – cometh the man’. Perhaps another time! ).

It is placed down my left hand side over my ribs and side and stops just above my hip. It took three hours to complete and I did it in one sitting.

I would say my pain threshold is pretty high so bear that in mine when I tell you what it felt like. I had to lay on my side with arm resting over my ear and above my head.

First they draw a stencil in ink and discuss exact positioning. Then they ‘transfer’ the stencil on to your body. You then check it out in the mirror and if you like the position the artist will start. If not you just wash it off and try again. (Mine was great first time).

It was outlined starting from my ribs and working down. I thought it felt quite nice, like a dull vibration on my side making my ribs shake, when the artist got down to my sift side (in between my ribs and hip bone) it was a bit more.. noticeable.

After two hours the artist asked did I want a five minute break, as I stood up I suddenly realised my whole arm that had been resting across my head was ‘dead’ and it swung loose as I stood up. Five minutes later we were back at it.

When the outline was finished he started colouring it in (all black), this was noticeably more intense than the outline. It was like a scraping motion but again I could deal with it on my ribs. It was then about 2 hours 30 minitues in and he was doing my soft flesh omg it started to really hurt, the time dragged and I was wincing slightly. I was scared to move incase it ruined my tattoo but the artist was holding the piece of skin he was working on steady so it was all good. Then it was done!

Bepanthen rubbed over it kept it moist while it healed, roughly three days later I stopped doing that (iirc).

I didn’t rush into this tattoo I’ve wanted one since I was 18 and got it when I was 25. There are multiple websites out there you can use to create / design / choose an Ambigram tattoo so I would take a look around.

Hope you found this maybe just slightly informative!

Posted in General | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I like to do things!

By | Published 25/08/2012

I’m all about bettering yourself. I’m trying to learn and do as many life enhancing things as possible. Here’s my list incase something inspires you or you think I should do something new.

So far:

I can drive a car.

I can program in Java.

I’ve done a 10km ( Mens Health Survival of the Fittest)

I’ve ran 10 miles (ToughMudder)

I’ve done an Eating Challenge.

I can ride a motorbike.

_________________________

I’m aiming to:

Learn Arabic

Juggle

Handstand pushup

Backflip

Learn Spanish

Wheelie a motorbike

Learn how to play golf

__________________________

Whilst I might not ever get all of these done, I like to aim high! Plus anything else I can think of!

 

If you have any ideas for inspiration please tell me 🙂


Posted in General | Leave a comment

Do you do the lottery?

By | Published 25/08/2012

I’ve started doing the lottery (thats the National Lottery in the UK). I started buying tickets, then I noticed on the website you can setup a direct debit so it automatically comes out your bank each other. Wether this is a good or bad thing is another matter. So now I don’t even have to remember to buy my lottery ticket yay! I just get an email if i’ve won (which I have once £10). The email has a title something along the lines of “National Lottery has something to tell you. I got so giddy when I read it. Then you log into your Lottery account to check to see how much it is, I’m praying for the millions I’ll take £10!

So now the EuroMillions has been rolling over to a ridiculous sum, I’ve started to take more notice and bought a few tickets. Then I thought I know I’ll add it to my DD 😀 but no you can’t direct debit the EuroMillions! How strange is that?

So I was just wondering if anyone has any idea why you can’t set the EuroMillions up as a Direct Debit but you can the National Lottery?


Posted in General | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Contemplating a new Tattoo

By | Published 25/08/2012

I want a new tattoo! I’ve been thinking this for a while. My current (only) tattoo is an ambigram (meaning you can read it forwards or backwards) and I don’t know if I should get another like that. Ambigrams are cool it gives a bit of ‘mystique’ to the tattoo and I think makes it original. Therefore if I got a second ambigram I wouldn’t be being original!?
If I don’t get an ambigram I’m liking the phrase “Cometh the hour, cometh the man” it’s like saying I always step up to the plate when it matters. I do what needs to be done. I believe in myself. The more I think about it the more I like it.
Where shall I get it? I’ve got this vague memory that the human body has ‘natural lines’, contours that make sense to other people, they like them on a subconscious level. You know like the way people enjoy faces that are symmetrical and in proportion. I need to google for this and find where these are. For example say it was the V of your back muscles (deltoids?) then I could get a tattoo in this V shape running along this edge. I don’t know it’s just an idea.

This is still up for contemplation. I need to figure out where I want it / what wording or symbolism / what design.

There are some cool websites you can photoshop your tattoo onto your body, I did that last time. I’ll probably go through that again before I commit to anything drastic.

We’ll see.


Posted in General | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Insta Apology – My Inglish Sucks (Joke)

By | Published 26/06/2012

My english sucks and I am english! I was just creating this blog and I typed my name “Blundell’s” then I got a red underline. Hmmm is it Blundells or Blundell’s or maybe even Blundells, I’m thinking Blundells now actually because Blundell’s would mean “Blundell is” right?

I only learnt their, there and they’re a few months ago (and I’m 25). I used to just put there all the time. Actually they’re was never a problem because that is obviously they are, but it was their that I now know means”possessive” to someone and there means a place… I’ve just remembered why I learnt my 3 th’s I was doing my TEFL (Teach English as a Foreign Language) course, that is a whole other post, and yes I did pass it!

So here I am starting my blog and the first thing I am to do is apologise for my spelling and grammar over the whole site. Please use my blog as informative and enjoy the content don’t get caught up on my grammar, duz it reely matta anyw4y?


Posted in General | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment