Learn to Fly a Helicopter Near Portland

In 2019, my wife got me a helicopter lesson/demo ride for christmas, and being the slight procrastinator that I am, I had not scheduled the flight by my birthday in 2020. We all remember that I got a Global Pandemic for my birthday that year, and so I've been sitting on the certificate since then. Turns out they had no plans to be jerks about the thing and say it had expired or anything, but I still felt safer waiting until vaccines were available, boosters were rolled out, and the new vaccine resistant variant hadn't yet killed off all human life on Earth yet, and all the stars aligned to make this weekend the one. Got checked in, met the instructor, and sat down for the safety briefing, which included details about this model of helicopter (which is different than almost every other helicopter out there, in that you can actually strike the rotor, the vertical part of what keeps you in the air, with the main rotor blade, the horizontal part, which is a VERY BAD THING), but otherwise, this particular helicopter is designed in many ways to be easier to fly than most. Then we went out to the helicopter, which had already been pre-flighted (the inspection all aircraft *must* go through, EVERY TIME THEY FLY) so all we had to do was complete the start up check-list, and get off the ground. Which took about ten minutes. Seat-belts? Check. Hydraulics light? Check. Etc. Then, we finally started the engine, put on the headsets, and started talking about the mechanics of controlling the thing. This model comes with hydraulic assisted controls (Power steering for helicopters) which the instructor turned off, so I could feel how hard the thing would be to fly if that system went out, and then turned it back on,which made it almost too sensitive. I'm sure that if I had gotten more than .6 hours of flight time, I might get used to it, and things would just seem normal, but it was a bit scary, but ore on that later. Engine turning, rotor turning, it was time to fly. Skids up, we started moving off like an airplane (well, ok, almost) getting up to around 45 knots of forward speed before gaining any altitude, then we took off. Once we got up to about 200 feet she said "Are you ready to fly?" I said yes, and she said "You have the aircraft." "I have the aircraft." I replied, and I did! We flew to 800' and did some maneuvers, mostly landmark navigation, until we got over a river (no idea which one) and the instructor told me to just follow the river for a while. I did, until the river had a really tight series of curves, which I tried to follow, and while I'm pretty sure an experienced pilot would have had no trouble with them, I kinda got scared after a short while and said "I'd like to give you the aircraft back now." "I have the aircraft." she said. She then talked about the cool things helicopters can do that planes can't, like land on sandbars in the middle of a river, like this, as she put us down on a sandbar. She got us back to 100', gave me back the helicopter, and asked me to fly us back to the airport. As I couldn't see the airport, that meant a little piddling around until I found it, then headed back. When we got back we practiced a auto-rotation emergency landing, which simulates your engine going out a few hundred feet up, and is very easily survivable. The last thing we did was practiced hovering, which she said was pretty much the hardest thing of all to do in a helicopter, and unsurprisingly, I did not do well, but which she said I showed marked improvement from my first to my second attempt. My wife got plenty of before and after pictures. I'll never be able to get a license, the FAA is pretty unforgiving about the whole "had a stroke, can't be a pilot" thing, but I can fly a helicopter any time I want so long as I have an instructor sitting next to me, so this may well not be my last ride. EDIT: I left out something very important. It seemed that everyone working at the helicopter school as instructors was a woman. In what is probably yet another male-dominated endeavor, a place where women are thriving makes me very happy, because fuck the patriarchy.

It was a great experience. I was excited to go. Katie, the pilot, was great, she gave a pre-flight briefing and instructions during the flight. I was only anxious about whether I would remember how to use the controls. After getting to altitude, I was given the controls, it took a couple of times giving control back to Katie before I was comfortable enough to actually control the helicopter. I successfully made turns to follow the river and a road. I finally got comfortable enough to check the instruments to control speed and altitude. It's like any vehicle, each has its own feel, you need to get used to how it reacts. At the end we hovered at the airport before landing. I tried to hover several times, each time giving control back to Katie when I felt I was losing too much control. But Katie said I did quite well.

Alex, my instructor, was great. The whole experience was fun and well organized. I loved it.

Was a great experience! First time in a Helicopter, and Alex was a great instructor. Had a beautiful flight.

Awesome crew! Definitely made me want to come back

It was a great experience and yes I actually piloted the helicopter. I had never flown one before. The guide, Jeffery, was great.

The staff at Jerry Trimble Helicopters were amazing. They were extremely friendly, took their time explaining how to operate the helicopter, and made you feel at ease. It was a very enjoyable experience. They also offer tours and I highly recommend these people to anyone who may be interested in taking a tour or actually flying a helicopter.

It was amazing and Garrett was very helpful!!!! .

It was awesome. I got a call 30 min prior if I am already in the area. As I was I was able to start earlier and did not have to wait. Everybody in the office was friendly and nice. Heath, the pilot gave me clear instructions and it was just fun. Unbelievable how fast 60min are over. Will definitely do it again.

My instructor was amazing and made it a great experience. Thanks to Jamie!

Jamie was great, the whole experience was an absolute blast. I'd recommend this to anyone interested in flying.

I had an awesome time learning how to fly the Robinson R22 Helicopter with Jamie. It was a professional experience from start to finish, and I learned more than I ever thought I would in just 2 hours. He definitely loves what he does and it shows in his instruction. I would recommend this aviation school to anyone interested in learning how to fly!

Fun, thrilling and exciting! I got to mimic the pilot's actions while we took our flight over McMinnville. I was so nervous, I had a death-grip on the controls. Dustin (the instructor) talked about how easy the controls are. By doing this I started relaxing and we began our flight over the wine-covered countryside. Then we headed back to airport were we went to the landing hold location. Then got permission to taxi to landing location and set down, bringing our trip to an end. So give it a try, and you won't regret it! The people at Jerry Trimble Helicopters are professional and fun to enjoy this experience with. This was a gift and don't know about Cloud 9 Living, but with a happy outcome and ease of arranging my flight, it must be easy and that's a plus in my book!

Learning about what it takes to fly a helicopter was my goal. I learned so much, and the flight was awesome! I will definitely go back to Jerry Trimble Helicopters for further flight instruction.

Heath was my instructor, and he was very patient while we were flying. He constantly asked how I was doing.

Great experience and great customer service.

This was one of the most fun experiences I've had in the past few years. The Instructors were very knowledgeable and personable. Any unsettled nerves I had to begin with were shortly swayed when my instruction pilot showed quite an abundance of knowledge and ability.

It was great. There was a personal issue when I first tried to schedule my Helicopter flight. I am 6'3" and 225 lbs and there are height and weight limits for the RH-22, so I had to lose 5 lbs before I could fly. Eric, my pilot/instructor was unclear whether we were going for a ride or I was touching the controls. Once we got that cleared up I received some ground schooling, we ran through the preflight checklist, and were away, choosing to fly without doors. At altitude, I did some simple flying, gentle turns, maintaining altitude and forward speed. Eric landed us on a very small island in the river and then we headed back to the airport. I got to try and hover and failed to hold us still. We had 42 minutes on the meter. Eric was patient, enthusiastic, gentle and very competent. It was fun, intimidating, thrilling, and a wonderful experience

Ryan was amazing! Everyone there was really friendly and informative, and it was SO amazing to get to fly the helicopter. I think I have the "bug" now!!

I liked it so much I'm thinking of getting my pilots license!

I purchased this experience for my husband as a birthday present - he loved it. The Jerry Trimble team was very friendly, knowledgable, experienced and made the experience a blast for my husband. The flying was challenging and thrilling and my husband definitely learned quite a bit about flying and was much steadier on the flight back to the airport then when the left the airport. At first we thought an hour lesson seemed a little short, but with the disorientation that flying a helicopter can cause, the hour was a perfect starter time. After this, he's thinking of getting his license to solo in helicopters. Thank you Nick - you were awesome (he even spent time explaining how the helicopter worked to my interested little boys) and my husband had a great time. Would definitely recommend Jerry Trimble!

Amazing helicopter ride.