maybeim
Senior Heliman
Location: Stockton, California
My Posts This: Topic Forum | Hello All,
A little post and shameless recomendation for FreeStyle3D school. Left my home in northern Caifornia friday late morning and drove 6 1/2 hours to Simi Valley, California. Arrival time was 3:20pm at the Grand Vista Hotel, which is located 10 minutes from the school field utilized by Todd Bennett and Jason Krause.
The hotel was $100 to $195 for a room, depending on your budget and needs. There is several restaurants located in the hotel and room service is available also. Rooms were clean and the one I stayed in was big and cozy, my wife went with me to lounge in the room. I also understand, but I could be misinformed, that Hollywood is not to far away and could be a side trip if interested.I was not.
When entering the Los Angeles area Friday afternoon the winds where blowing 40mph and gusting to 60mph, which was not a good sign. Called Todd to let him know I had made it and we talked about the wind for 10 minutes and hoped that Saturday would be a better day for flying.
Saturday came and it seemed that the winds were blowing harder and I was getting that sinking feeling. Todd arrived at the hotel at 9:00 am. I loaded my new fury .91 and gear into the back of his truck and off we went to the field, to meet George from Australia. The damn wind was not cooperating and Todd decided that it was best to live to fly another day. He suggested that we go to his home and we could have a question and answer period and also take a look at my fury setup. George and I agreed.
The time spent at Todd's house was quite educational and relaxing, with some humor thrown in for fun. We looked at one of the school furys and it was pointed out that this machine had no special modifications and no great electronics. The point being, to show students how a stock fury can really fly. We talked for about 5 hours and at about 2:00 pm we made a plan to arrive Sunday morning at the field at 6:30 am to try and catch a window of no wind for some lesson flying. Todd drove me back to my hotel and I awaited Sundays arrival with much anticipation. Jason had to work Saturday some where in Hollywood flying a camera helicopter for a production company. So was not there. Todd assured George and I that Jason would be there Sunday.
Sunday morning, at 6:30 am, I meet George at the field and the winds were only clocking 15mph to 20mph. Todd had said he would be there around 7:00 am and would get Jason out of bed and drag him down to the field to help with lessons and take a look my fury with a test flight thrown in to boot. The lessons began shortly after thier arrival, as most of the safety reminders were disscused yesterday, but were mentioned again and George went first. It was quite a relief for me and I believe George to finally get into the air. Jason worked with George and Todd spent time with me.
Todd does the takeoffs and landings (autos all the time) and I did most of the flying. He checked my flight skills to assess my needs and we started. I could nose in hover and tail inverted hover, 540 stalls and simple turns and small loops. He stressed flying a straight and level line into a manuver and same coming out. Once a manuver was started, complete it and do not freeze on the sticks. Todd had me try a moving tumble which was new for me. We succeded with that and went on to flips and some quick lessons on learning autos.
Jason flew a solo for George and I ,in between our lessons,to show us the capabilities of the fury. WOW! even Todd was oh'ing and aw'ing a little, and giving Jason some peer pressure,put in at the right times for a few laughs. Jason is quite amazing and the trip would have been worth it alone for me just to watch his demo.
I had to leave Todd, Jason and George at 10:00am to check out of my hotel and head home. Although I did not get the time flying I wanted,it was worth every dollar spent. Todd and Jason are good guys with great teaching skills and flying abilities. I will come back to the school in the near future and if your looking for a little professional help, go see Todd and Jason.
regards,
Paul A.
p.s. I am writing this right after my 6 1/2 hour drive back home, so forgive my grammatical mistakes and spelling. Hell i cnat' spell annyway. |
