Author Archive

Sep
23

Student Testimony: Kevin Klocke

Posted by: Todd Bennett | Comments Comments Off
Hi my name is Kevin Klocke and I live in Sedro Woolley, Washington (which is about 1.5 hours north of Seattle).  I have been flying heli’s for about 2 1/2 years.  I first learned about Todd’s class in March of 2009 and quickly signed up through the Cascade Helicopter Club in Snohomish Washington.  The big day arrived and I was a little nervous, but after meeting Todd and seeing how easy going he is I was able to relax and focus more on flying my Raptor 50 like a experienced pilot.  Before starting this class all I was able to do was hover and barely accomplish forward flight.  By the end of the two days I had mastered smooth forward flight, backwards and forward flips, loops and rolls just to name a few things.  To say that my confidence level was high after this was an understatement.  The Snohomish Fun Fly followed the class and it was nice to be able to really enjoy my new flying skills with the other pilots.

I enjoyed myself so much that I took the class again in 2010 and just recently finished my 3rd class in July of 2011.  During this time I have added a Raptor 90(there is nothing like flying a 90) to my hanger and  two of my biggest accomplishments the third time around was to learn to do an auto rotation and inverted flight with both birds.

I am so impressed with Todd’s ability to teach students how to fly heli’s in such a short time and to do it so well that I am planning on taking the class  a 4th time in 2012.  This by far is some of the best money that I have ever spent, I highly recommend to everyone that wants to learn to fly heli’s to take some flight lessons from Todd.   It does not matter what your skill level is, you could be flying with training gear or have 20 years of flight experience there is always something new to be learned.

Todd, I would like to thank you for all the time and energy that you put into this hobby and into teaching people how to enjoy the hobby as much as you do.

To all the rest of you heli pilots out there keep your bird straight, level and inverted at all cost and until next year Gods speed to all you.

Kevin Klocke
Sedro Woolley, WA
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Aug
02

YS120 News and Update

Posted by: Todd Bennett | Comments Comments Off
I was up in Seattle Washington last week for a fun fly and there were lots of questions with respect to the release of the new YS 120. I have been testing this engine for a long time now and working on many versions of mufflers with Tetsuo Hatori from Japan.
We went through a lot of work getting the muffler right for the new YS. All the test pilots that received the latest muffler for testing have been happy with it.  I was not sure of the release date of this new engine but I was told from YS today, 8-2-11 that it is coming out soon. Please check the YS websites for the release date of this engine; I am sure they will be posting it when they have solid shipping dates.
Todd Bennett
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Jun
18

Student Testimony: Don Kinnison

Posted by: Todd Bennett | Comments Comments Off
Well, it’s been 3 weeks since your heli school here in Denver, CO. Work and weather had conspired against me getting in any flying since you were here until yesterday. I was afraid that the time between would wipe out the progress I made, but as soon as I got back in the air, your words of “Just do it!” rang in my head. Here are some of my thoughts on the class.
I had heard from one of my local flying buddies that he had arranged for Todd to come out and teach a heli clinic and stay for our first fun fly of the season the following days. With only one slot left in the class, I snatched it up and am glad I did!
This is only my 3rd year flying helis and had not flown RC since my airplane days as a kid. I immediately became addicted to the fun and challenge helis provide and got into the hobby hard core, including becoming a local rep for a heli company. Like many of the rest of us, my simulator skills far exceeded my actual flying skills and while I was progressing, I felt I should be further along in my flying.
From the moment we all met Todd, it was like running into an buddy. His easy going style just made everyone comfortable. Day one was going over set up, which was good as the weather was a typical stormy Colorado spring day. We had good weather the next day and got right to flying. Todd got us comfortable flying much higher than I was used to and showed just how much time we had to recover from a screwed up manuever. My comfidence grew with each sesssion and now I am comfortable trying pretty much anything and will slowly work my way down in altitude as perfect each new trick. I don’t spend forever setting up for each manuever as I know I can recover when I blow it and flow different tricks together. Since I am usually the guy that helps new heli pilots at the field, Todd also taught me to buddy box others and have already been able to help others progress in the hobby.
If you are wondering if you should attend one of Todd’s schools, ask yourself if you are progressing as you hoped to or if your real flying skills are lagging well behind your sim skills. If you can answer yes to either one, Todd will get you further along in a couple of days than you would in months or years of practice on your own. On top of that, you will have a blast! “Just do it!” LOL
Don Kinnison
Denver, CO
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