Yesterday didn’t work out, but today did. Jeffrey has been trying to get me to go flying with him in his jet helicopter for nearly 6 months. Back in the summer, I wouldn’t go because he was getting out to the hangar in Mesa by 7:00 a.m. due to the heat of the day and the fact that his copter doesn’t have air-conditioning. As it cooled down our schedules simply weren’t coinciding to allow me to go up with him. Truth be known I also needed Jeffrey to get over 200 hours in the pilot’s seat so I could rest assured that he knew what he was doing.

Of course, I should have trusted him more than that, as he has been after this goal since October 2015 when he started flying lessons. So he and I met up and drove out to Mesa this morning and by 9:30 we were in the air flying out over Fountain Hills towards Carefree. His takeoff was perfect though I think he took measured steps when we began hovering while he gauged how much weight I added to his bird. Towards our east side, things were hazy and getting cloudy and by the time we reached our turn around point, we were only about 200 feet below the clouds which put us flying somewhere near 1,000 feet over the desert.

To the west, the sky was relatively clear and after passing over a V-shaped wedge in the McDowell Mountains just left of Tom’s Thumb we were soon over Fountain Hills again. From there we turned west to buzz a corner of Scottsdale and then pointed the helicopter southeast for the quick trek back to Mesa.

Was I nervous at all? Of course, I was. But it turns out that Jeffrey is an excellent pilot attentive to every detail with great focus on everything around him. From take-off to landing he moved assuredly through every maneuver. Prior to take-off, he went through a comprehensive check of all systems while visually inspecting all key areas that are essential to the proper function of this craft that is a million times cooler than any Ferrari.

Will I go up with him again? Absolutely and most likely that will be as early as next week. I shot some video today that I hope to edit into a short clip this weekend, though as I write that I’m thinking that I should consider something more in-depth that talks to him about his motivation and ambition that got him here. To that end, I gifted him a blog website on his birthday last year where he could write about his adventure. While he’s not very vigilant in that effort, it can be found at HeliJafar.