Nickel Ride

Jareth is experiencing an exciting part of his training.  On Monday he got to fly a helicopter for the first time ever.

This experience for all flight students is called their Nickel Ride.  When Vietnam pilots came back from war, they were unable to find jobs and started giving civilians helicopter rides for a nickel, thus the term Nickel Ride. 

Jareth was instructed to bring a nickel from the year he was born for his instructor in exchange for his expertise and assistance with his first attempt at flying.  After 4 rolls of nickels and 20 minutes getting to know the ladies working at the bank, we had his nickel.

After a sleepless night Jareth went to the flight line with no idea on what to expect.  When it was Jareths turn he had time to try to hover and then fly around learning each of the controls, gaining some time to familiarize where all the gauges were, and try to handle watching all directions while answering questions and tackling small obstacles along the way.

Hovering is more difficult than actual flying but after about 8 hours they say almost everyone will find the right touch and will be able to hover well. To learn, the instructor starts them off and then hands over controls.  First, the pedals (side to side movement) Secondly, the collective (up and down) Lastly, the cyclic (forward and backward) and the student must try to stay in the exact same spot accomplishing a successful hover.

Here is a link to watch a student try to hover for the first time.  As I hear it, this is a very similar experience for all first attempts at hovering.