My First Helicopter Ride! :-D

Sometime last century, I had got a hold of a helicopter game I thought was titled "Apache: Attack Chopper", but when I google that title I get no game results. I thought I still had the game, but I cannot find it. Instead, I found "Comanche 2", and Team Apache. While they are from the very same time period I am remembering, neither one validates the most important part of my memory about the game.

I have a very distinct memory of a helicopter game that came with a printable instruction manual. A very large manual. It took up something like 200 pages, printed on both sides, making it roughly 400 pages (sides) total. The first half was real flight instructions for piloting the particular helicopter (which I thought all these years was called an Apache Attach Chopper). Out of both game disks that I still have, only one has a printable manual, Comanche 2, but it is certainly not 200 pages. The second half was how to play the game.

Well, anyway, I loved that game, and, in particular, the first half of the manual, which, after I read, I honestly felt I could pilot the real thing. I have always loved helicopter flight simulators, but because of that manual, I have always wanted to learn how to fly one, or at least ride in a helicopter.

So, I discovered that there were rides available this year in conjunction with the Oneida County Fair, here in Malad City, Idaho. The rides cost $15 and as I watched, it seemed to circle the valley. So I grabbed my digital camera and walked on down to the launching area.

It was kinda worth it, but mostly it was a rip-off. I was told, by the pilots wife, that the ride was around the valley, but instead it was only around the block. And to make matters worse, all day yesterday the helicopter was flying around the city. It must have been a different pilot, but whatever the reason, I did get comparatively shafted.

And now I have discovered a shortcoming of Qumana, I cannot insert the iframe html code to have the video on my blog. So, if I haven't fixed this entry by the time you read this (using blogger's web editor) click the following link to view the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeeR4W-TNxM