Warbird Information Exchange

Recently I ran across a Montana based helicopter logging crew here in Colorado helping to stabilize the hillsides of the mountains after one of our big fires. They were using a UH1F I believe (It looked just like a B model to me). They were long lining nets with hay and bombing the hillsides from the air. It actually looked pretty cool when they opened the net in flight (unfortunately didn't get any pictures). They said it flew in the Limited category due to being a former military bird and as such they could not carry any passengers unless it was necessary.

My questions is, if that's the case, how do all the warbirds give rides?

Oh, and one of the pilots was an attractive very petite woman who might have stood 5' tall, weighed 95lbs soaking wet and looked to be about 25 years old. I gotta say it was kinda hot watching her throw that Huey around! lol

The majority of warbirds, helicopter and otherwise, are in the experimental category. Many operators have exemptions to carry passengers. Others skirt the system by giving ride in return for a donation. Stuff in the limited category are in it for certain, specific reasons. Firefighting, Logging and such have very specific limitations on their certificates because they do operate for "compensation or hire". One of those limitations is no passengers or other people in the machine unless they are required for the operation or undergoing training.

Skirting the rules by "giving donations" may have worked years ago, but it doesn't today. The FAA is way to 'observant'. No, the simple answer is that those airplanes giving/selling rides in a Limited Category aircraft are doing it on a Waiver issued by FAA HQ... and there is a new ruling due out soon on whether/ how those rides can continue. If your airplane is experimental then you will likely NOT get a waiver for rides of this type.

If you don't have a waiver letter and are doing these rides in other than a standard category airplane you will be caught.... it may take awhile but the FAA will catch up with you. Remember that everyone has a video camera on their phone and can upload instantly to Youtube.

Be careful out there....
gunny

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Scott 'Gunny' Perdue
http://www.eagleflyingmuseum.org

The correct answer to the question is that no military UH-1 is flying as a Limited category aircraft. It is a closed category that is limited to specific WWII types that were deemed to have commercial value after the war. Everything else that is not standard category is either Restricted or Experimental. The UH-1 you mentioned would be flying Restricted,agricultural.

Scott is right about folks flying bootleg ride flights. Eventually folks doing that will get caught. On the other hand, Scott mentioned the ride program and its future. The program is sanctioned by the FAA and is called the Living History Flight Exemption program. Per the FAA, the program will continue to be viable. Applicants must meet criteria clearly spelled out in the FARs. The Collings Foundation UH-1E is one of 3 Hueys that carry the exemption letter.

We had been told that the lifting of the LHFE moratorium to new aircraft would be listed by the end of August. We're still waiting.

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"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass..."
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto

Oops! I goofed. You're right. Now I remember it was labeled Restricted, no Limited. Thanks for the response. Just one of the neophyte questions I think up once and a while about warbirds.

I'm not sure if I didn't read this clearly or not, if I did, sorry, but for a Restricted certified a/c, AFAIK, it's no passengers while performing Restricted operations. Passengers are fine for non-Restricted flights.

I thought there was more than 3?

2 or 3 in Indiana, 1 at LSFM, 2 in California (Hayward & French Valley)

These guys have 2 airworthy & at least 4 others under resto ;
https://www.facebook.com/americanhuey369
http://www.americanhuey369.com/location.html

https://www.facebook.com/pages/HueyVets ... ref=stream

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wings-an ... ref=stream

http://www.iasar.org/ https://www.facebook.com/pages/IASAR-In ... 5157712476

Whats the status of these guys?

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sky-Sold ... ref=stream

Maybe they'll be as popular among warbird owners as P51's in the not too distant future.. imagine that *gathering*

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Those who can set that knowledge into motion in the physical world are rarer still.

The few who possess real knowledge and can set it into motion of their own hands are the rarest of all.