The Red Rocket in PA and Ohio

We had been waiting for this moment for many months now.  When we were down in Puerto Rico with Big Blue on the Hurricane Relief efforts, we noticed a sad looking R44 stuffed in the back of a leaky hangar.  After many weeks of walking past it….Aaron decided to do what he does best and “make a deal!”  The gentleman that owned it had been meaning to overhaul it but just never could find the time….so Aaron made him a ridiculous offer….and well, the rest is history!  The biggest hurdle was how were we going to get it stateside in order to overhaul it.  I had already returned home so I was pretty much useless..but Aaron and his infinite wisdom got a sea container and arranged the container to be shipped to New Jersey via the good old Atlantic Ocean.  Ha…what possibly could go wrong!!!  After figuring out all the logistics in getting the container (which remember wasn’t easy as the entire Island was still recovering from a hurricane)…the logistics then became…how are we going to LOAD IT into the container!  Well, with enough educated coworkers around him and Aaron being Aaron…it got loaded without any damage and sent off to New Jersey where it would then be offloaded and head to Altoona, PA to get overhauled.  Once in New Jersey, the container was officially lost in the shipyard for 4 days, but once found, the only minor damage was a scrap to the passenger window!  Not too bad for our first ocean cargo voyage!  

After about 6 months, the overhaul process was complete and it was time to pick it up!!!  We had planned at some point down the road to finish up my Major League Baseball journey in an Epic Trip and take the R44 all the way down the East Coast and hit up the last remaining stadiums….which may happen at some point, but we didn’t have enough time allotted for that epic trip so we did a mini epic trip instead!  We got weathered out for a few days in Altoona, PA, but that gave Aaron a lot of time to look things over and get his check ride.  Once the weather lifted, we headed to Beach City, Ohio where we surprised my grandpa and circled over his house with the help of my Cousin Kelsey!  We stayed the night in Ohio and took everyone for a few rides out at the Beach City Airport.  The next day our plan was to head to Perkasie, PA to Carson Helicopters where we would leave the R44 until we made new plans, but we noticed a light flickering on the dash and we needed to get it checked out.  So back to Altoona we went…stayed the night and then left for Perkasie the next day.  

There is nothing better than flying 500 to 1000 above the deck….seeing everything from the air like a soaring Eagle….absolutely surreal.  Aaron never ceases to amaze me how he can jump in the Cherokee 6, the Cessna 150, the SK-61, and then the R44 like it’s no big deal.  He’s a pretty amazing pilot…but don’t tell him I said that as I need his head to fit through the doorway!!!  

We made it successfully to Carson Helicopters, pulled in the Red Rocket for safe keeping…caught up with the Carson crew like old times and then took a day and explored downtown Philly which was awesome!  We will have to come back…not only to pickup the chopper but to hit a Philly game as they weren’t in town when we rolled thru! Thanks for the ride Red Rocket…..until we pick you up…hangar well!