We had good luck with Lycomings in the Army and put more hours on them than anybody on other makes. I don't know about cold work, but expect the Army did something to handle that. Some things in the Army are not official at first, just a workaround. I was never in really cold conditions like MTV and others here, but I thought a lot of the Herman Nelson heater all Army units used. We heated engine and transmission, but what I really appreciated was the nice warm office to go to work in, the cabin.

Crop dusters, on the other hand, didn't like the Lycomings. I couldn't understand the large number of hot starts they didn't write up on their Garrets that didn't automatically delay the drop of fuel until the required percentage of N1. And I didn't see many APUs around.

tcj wrote:Cry of the Wind, great story. I love watching helicopters and run outside to see what it is every time I hear one. I had to chuckle at the reference to sand blasting fire fighters as it has happened to me a few times. My term for the Astar is 'Wind Machine".

Interesting about the Moose being curious of the cameras. I worked in the woods laying out timber sales with flagging for a while. The Elk are attracted to flagging and like to pull it down. Sometimes an Elk will even follow and pull the flagging down right behind you. I'm anxiously waiting for your next story.

Astar dusty takeoff. Not the same one that sand blasted me though.

Not to be picky (well, okay, to be picky) that’s not a squirrel…..chipmunk…..and that was a Canadian aircraft….and a great one!

MTV

Excellent story! Well written and thoroughly engaging. That was a two-cups-of-coffee great read!

Waiting for the next adventure story!

tedwaltman wrote:Excellent story! Well written and thoroughly engaging. That was a two-cups-of-coffee great read!

Waiting for the next adventure story!

Thanks, just reformatting my stories to fit this forum. Have quite a few of them already done so also don't wanna over load you guys with a huge dump at once!

@MTV love that Astar you've shown off a few times. Not enough companies do more exciting paint jobs, even most tour companies are boring. https://phoenixheliflight.com/our-fleet/ those guys in Ft Mac know how to be snazy though.