Welcome
Welcome to Pulling Pitch 52. Come share with me my journey of starting a second career (or is it third or fourth) as a professional helicopter pilot at age 52. Follow me as I take you on a thrilling ride, sharing my experiences and challenges as I chase my lifelong dream of becoming a pilot. Let's explore the world from 3,000' and see life differently. What rewards and challenges lie ahead? It's time to pull pitch and see where today's flight will take us!
Howzit?
I'm Scott R Stanley
I was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. Being surrounded by public servants in my family, all I ever thought I wanted to do when I grew up was be a firefighter or police officer. I ended up going to college with the idea of being a doctor. While attending college, I had a roommate that was in the aviation program (Really? You could go to college to learn to fly? Who knew?!?!) He needed to build hours so I would join him in the Cessna 172 and we would fly home to Cincinnati, have dinner with my mom, and fly back to school. From there I was hooked. I knew that I wanted to fly. Shortly thereafter I joined the US Army. Over 10 years, in
the US Army and US Naval Reserves, I was afforded the opportunity to fly on
many different types of military aircraft, both rotorcraft and fixed-wing. Each
time, feeling such a rush and excitement even though knowing once I disembarked
there were challenges ahead. While serving in Kuwait, we were co-located with a
medevac UH-60. I sat with the pilots and fellow 91B's (now 68W) and probably wore them out with all of my questions. They invited me on refueling flights when they could. Even the desert is beautiful from a few thousand feet in the air.
Kuwait City from a UH-60 circa 1992. Ops as a 91B supporting Operation Iris Gold.
Flight deck of USS Tarawa circa 1998. Ops with L Co 3/24 Marines as an HM2 FMF 8404
As with most people, life got in the way of following my flying dreams. I never stopped looking up, checking flight tracking apps to see what was flying over, and listening to LiveATC. I now have an opportunity, at the age of 52 to pursue my dream of becoming a commercial helicopter pilot. There will be challenges, it is a long process. There will be a period of working hard and building hours. I want to share my progress with you so you can see, that no matter how old you are, it is never too late to pursue your dreams. I may not have a 30-year career in aviation ahead of me, but each day I get to fly, and even if it is not a stellar, high-performance flight, it is still a flight. I was told by my first instructor to enjoy the journey and not to be so focused on the destination.
I will share my successes, challenges, highs, and lows (literally) as I progress through my flight training and into whatever adventure this new life leads me to.
So join me as I buckle up, run through my checklist, clear the area, and pull pitch to take off on a new adventure.
My first Instructor, Aditya Agrawal. Dhanyabaad Bhai