Reported. Not once did I see a tuna flying a helicopter! 🤣🤣❤❤ from Brisbane!

I truly miss the boats. I flew off the PNG Nupla Kumul in 2015-16. Barefoot flying is the best.

Hey mate, nice videos and enjoyed reading your blogs, keep it up and enjoy life out there. 🍺🍺👍

@AerialAttraction

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks, will do!

Such a cool video dude. Fly safe!

@AerialAttraction

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Will do!

The best , thank you Sir

Got hella goosebumps when Years came on!!! Fantastic song, and even a better reminder of how fortunate we are as pilots!!! Here’s to blue skies mate! Wonderful production! ps-huge fan of electronic music! What other artists are you into?

thats gotta be the greatest job ever.

Great video!!! How do you apply for this kind of job?

very nice video, good editing & good music, look nice fly there, just in the middle of my cpl(h), with how many hours you were able to apply? do you need to convert your license if holding an easa? thank you very much in advance, already following you, fly safe!

What song is that. I think it makes the video pretty cool.

Well here is a job I never knew existed. IS that a Hughes 500?

@AerialAttraction

2 жыл бұрын

It sure is! Being a tuna pilot has been an awesome experience. Let me know if you have any questions!

Hello, how do you keep track of the ships position when you are out of sight?

@AerialAttraction

2 жыл бұрын

The helicopter has a garmin GPS that is slaved to a garmin GPS which remains on the boat. So as long as both systems are functioning I can always see my heading and distance back to the boat. In case of GPS outage the boat has radar and can provide a heading and distance to you as well. Thanks for watching!

Nice MD! Are those inflating floats? We have something similar on our all our aircraft. I'm in the middle of my CPL(h) training

@AerialAttraction

2 жыл бұрын

I wish they were! Unfortunately they are not. They are permanently inflated, the result is an ABSURD amount of drag and above 90 knots...some pretty gnarly vibrations.

@kobrapromotions

2 жыл бұрын

@@AerialAttraction I fly a Guimbal Cabri G2 as a student atm, they get pissed when i go above 100 knots lmao, we have self inflating floats on all our choppers at the school, I feel like with ocean winds and stuff having those permanent floats would be the WORST to fly in on some days. Why can't they change them. Also is there a reason most tuna pilots ive seen fly the MDs? Why not squirrels or robbies, like wouldnt a r22 with extended fuel tank and self inflating floats be cheaper to maintain etc? Do the MDs have service life limits on startup/stop or is only hours?

@kobrapromotions

2 жыл бұрын

@@AerialAttraction like in heavy winds wouldnt the floats just try point the chopper around in direction, youd be battling your pedals

@kobrapromotions

2 жыл бұрын

@@AerialAttraction on the plus side the way I fly, one of my trainers who services powerlines here, says I'll make a good cattle pilot

What is your watch model? I have old casio dw 340 dw 300, dw 240, but none of them can wake me up and yours is pretty laud and nice sound. Best work, best pilot

@AerialAttraction

Жыл бұрын

I'm currently wearing a Garmin Instinct Solar (great watch BTW). It's the dumbest and most rugged smart watch you can get with a 1 month battery life (bit pricey though!)

@mdybos

Жыл бұрын

@@AerialAttraction Thank you :) safetyFlying

Is your primary role spotting schools of Tuna and guiding the boat to them? What kind of Tuna YFT, Albacore etc...

@AerialAttraction

2 жыл бұрын

Great Question! The primary goal is to guide the boat to schools of fish. We also look for rafts or "FADs" (Fish attracting devices) so we can drop GPS buoys on them which the boat can track. In my time out here I have also done a number of supply runs to other boats.

Dude, what and where u flying now? Medevac, ag, or gulf?

May I ask how many flight hours a year one could expect from a job like this?

Nice mate what ship you on? Miss that job alot!

@AerialAttraction

2 жыл бұрын

FK866. I'm really enjoying boat life. Thinking I may just have to extend my contract!

@FMK_tv

2 жыл бұрын

@@AerialAttraction Yeah man, that fishmaster used to be one of the best, not sure if its still the same guy. The real world is nothing to go back to ;) Stay safe

@AerialAttraction

2 жыл бұрын

@@FMK_tv Short guy, only wears pajamas 24/7. Sound familiar? Rumor is they took his helicopter away so he bitched to FK until they moved him to a boat with a heli.

@FMK_tv

2 жыл бұрын

@@AerialAttraction haha theyre all short and wear pyjamases! His name is Y** Fu L*n. I know there was a pilot who had problems with him back in 2015-16. We ve all had our problems with the fishmasters 😂 part of the job 😂👍

Looks like a pretty interesting job. To be honest, there really isnt a day to day video out there, or maybe I have missed them. Just about to inquire about a job with tropical helos. Which one do you work for? To be honest, it would be good to see the living conditions, sleeping arrangements and more about your food as well. Also wouldnt mind getting a general idea on the pay scale. Looking forward to hearing from you. Fly safe and have a blast.

@AerialAttraction

2 жыл бұрын

Next month I'm planning on posting a sort of video walk around of the boat so you can see what living conditions are like. Of course, keep in mind each boat is different. For more information you can look at my website, AerialAttraction.com there you'll find some blog posts that may help shed light on some of the questions you're asking. There's also a link to e-mail me directly if you have more questions or comments. I'd be happy to give you all the information I can. Thanks for taking an interest!

@FMK_tv

2 жыл бұрын

Dont go for Tropic. There isnt much of day-to-day to make its more like sleep-fly-eat-sleep repeat. 😄

@layne6967

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, pretty much gave up on looking for a gig like that. Thanks for the reply. It’s looks fun for about a month and then, um, not so much.

@FMK_tv

2 жыл бұрын

@@layne6967 well Id say its the adventure of a lifetime. Such a wide (and wild) experience. One of the best jobs I’ve had. Company was great, good money and fun flying. 😜👍

@johnrambo7313

2 жыл бұрын

@@FMK_tv Hi fmk, i'm from china, want to learn fly a helicopter then find a tuna boat job like you. i would like to know do i need a work visa to work on tuna boat ? And which contry these company belongs to ?

What kind of training did you receive upon landing the gig? Seems pretty cool to make approaches to moving targets. Landing with ETL seems nice? Is it easier than it might look to a 60 hr student? Cheers

@AerialAttraction

2 жыл бұрын

Landing on a moving vessel has its challenges, keep in mind aside from forward movement the boat also moves up and down as well as side to side. Additionally the deck can offer some strange up and down drafts depending on where the wind is coming from when it hits the side of the boat. I'll be doing an in depth video on how to land on a moving boat next month. Stay tuned!

Not to be critical or the "safety police" but most aircraft I've ever been around have a NO SMOKING requirement immediately around them, especially where they are fueled, which I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that that would be right there. Also, I'm sure the sea life love finding your cigarette butts in their house. Other than that, nice video. Looks like an amazing job with beautiful scenery.

@AerialAttraction

2 жыл бұрын

You're completely correct. There are inherent dangers to smoking in a helicopter or any aircraft for that matter and around jet fuel. I'm in the process of quitting. Wish me luck!

@dereksmith1803

2 жыл бұрын

@@AerialAttraction Good luck. My sister and brother in law both were heavy smokers for 20÷ years, and they both were able to quit. In sure you can too. Think of it as an instant pay raise.

@Deploracle

10 ай бұрын

Kerosene isn't terribly flammable unless under the pressure provided by the turbine engine. I'd be more concerned with a piston engine helicopter.

@embededfabrication4482

7 ай бұрын

​@@Deploracledon't ruin their Karen moment

Putting on your helmet prior to ignition will prevent ear smokage, please try not learning that one the hard way.

@AerialAttraction

2 жыл бұрын

Just personal preference, I prefer to hear the engine on start up so i can listen for any anomalies. Additionally, incase of engine fire, already wearing your helmet may prevent a quick egress. However, you certainly have a point! Thanks for your input!

Thank god that the really smart people do the boring work designing this equipment so you can spend all that time looking cool safely inside that height velocity envelope. Eh?

Nice vid. Except the music. I just don't get why people put music over this kind of thing. I want to hear the ENGINE, and maybe the dialog too. Sorry... I still enjoyed the visuals.

@AerialAttraction

2 жыл бұрын

I'll be adding a sort of unedited video in the near future that will have engine noise and cockpit audio. So keep an eye out for that! Thanks for the input.

@blave549

2 жыл бұрын

@@AerialAttraction Very glad to hear it. I'll be subscribing. To me the most beautiful sound in the world is a turbine engine spooling up!

why do you fly barefoot?

@AerialAttraction

2 жыл бұрын

The short answer is, "Because I can". The long answer is because if I need to put the helicopter in the water, its a lot easier to swim barefoot than it is wearing shoes or sandals.

@kobrapromotions

2 жыл бұрын

@@AerialAttraction thats an interesting but great answer. My flight school makes us wear enclosed steel caps in case we need to bail out in the bush or something. They do powerline inspection and testing mainly. We've got Squirrels, MDs, R44s & Guimbal Cabris, Im learning in the Cabri. Can I ask where you trained and how many hours you now have? Im definitely checking out the blog!

@VictoryAviation

2 жыл бұрын

@@kobrapromotions Why steel toes?

Getting off the tuna boats has been as much of a curse as it has been a gift. After 13 months , life on the boats eventually takes it’s toll on you. It happened to all of us. We found ourselves spending more hours of our life in uncomfortable seat looking at nothing but open sea only to return to a room the size of a prison cell, all in a helicopter put together with parts older then you. You sit around waiting for master to say “prepare for takeoff” in some language you don’t understand only to hope you actually catch the damn fish this time so you can fill up the boat and go to port. Hours waiting only to see the asshole master miss the the damn school and you have to spend god knows how many more days out at sea. You just wanna get out. You’re tired of the bed bugs, tired of eating the same old shit food everyday and dealing with the little stinking thieving crewmen, You wanna go home. You’re sick of the smell of fish and piss. You’ve been told when to fly, where to go and you just wanna be YOU again. And at first knowing that “this was my last trip” is amazing. You do 3 or 4 cartwheels as you walk off Dock and hold your Passport high and proud as you check out of RRE for the last time. But what you don’t know is that while you may be leaving the tuna boats, the Tuna boats will never leave you. Like a drug that controls you, your brain will constantly replay only the fondest of memories that you spent with some of the best people that you will ever know. And *poof*, just like that, you no longer dwell on the flight ops, shitty food or standing in REE not understanding why they the brownies and no ice cream or getting yelled at for doing exactly what the fish master said and the fish still got away. Instead, you think about your friends. You remember all of the things you did together. You remember that no matter where you go in life or who you may meet, the tuna boats will always remain a major part of the nucleus of your existence. You are Tuna Trash now and you will be a Tuna Trash 50 years from now. That’s why tuna pilots are different. That’s why getting out off the boats is like checking into rehab. You may never go back, but I promise you that you are going to relapse in your mind every single night. TTFL!!!!!

Is it true that the crew doesn't speak any English?

@AerialAttraction

2 жыл бұрын

That is correct for the most part. The Crew of the boat will come from places like Taiwan, The Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam. The common language on the boat is Mandarin. The only person on my vessel who speaks fluent English is the radio operator. My spotter doesn't speak any English at all, so you learn to communicate a lot with hand signals.

@johnrambo7313

2 жыл бұрын

@@AerialAttraction i'm from china, want to learn fly a helicopter then find a tuna boat job like you. i would like to know do i need a work visa to work on tuna boat ? And which contry these company belongs to ?

@AerialAttraction

2 жыл бұрын

@Rambo John There is a tuna pilot group on facebook. They can answer a lot of your questions. Check them out.

fish don't stand a chance, plunder

🚁⛴👍😄