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With the ink still drying on his A&P licence Jerry landed a job at Robinson Helicopters and went flying on his first day on the job with Frank Robinson in R22 serial number 2. We cover several of the experiences from Jerry’s career in this episode.
Jerry Trimble is today’s guest and is the owner of Jerry Trimble Helicopters in McMinnville, Oregon.
Jerry’s experience includes fixed wing CFI, A&P mechanic (and still does his own maintenance), EMS, logging, fire contracts and instructing. He has several thousand hours on the R22 alone and a long association with the Robinson product having worked at Robinson Helicopters as a new A&P in the period leading up to FAA certification.
[Tweet “Once you get the bug, it never goes away. #helicopters”]
Along the way Jerry founded, built up and then sold Hillsboro Aviation which at the time had 40 staff and 25 aircraft.
Now along with his wife Alison, his focus is on training pilots in a smaller setting at Jerry Trimble Helicopters.
The school has a busy social calendar with different events. One of the events that has grown over time and built a following is the annual Touchdown Auto Competition. The 2015 event is on June 28th with $600 prize money (and bragging rights) going to the winner. The event is judged by a panel of well known industry names and looks to be a lot of fun. Full details on the competition here.
The Robert E. Trimble memorial award for mountain flying was given out by the Helicopter Foundation International for many years. There is an article about Jerry’s Dad further down the page that makes for some very interesting reading too. Robert was very much a pioneer of the helicopter industry.
In this week’s episode:
00:50 Cracking out the ugg boots for Queensland winter
01:30 ‘Train like you fly’ book – scenario based training
04:31 Robert Trimble, helicopter pioneer
07:15 Robert E. Trimble memorial award for mountain flying
08:55 Aeroplane rating out of high school
10:31 Bell 47 time in Jakarta, Indonesia
11:47 A&P mechanic licence
12:50 First day on the job at Robinson Helicopters – flying with Frank Robinson in R22 no.2
16:30 Struggle of certification and story about recovering R22 serial number 001
19:40 Pros and cons of the R22
22:59 Founding Hillsboro Aviation and growing it 40 employees and 25 aircraft
27:20 Jerry Trimble Helicopters
30:38 Alison – corporate Learjet pilot, fired Jerry as her instructor, runs the business
32:22 Children’s interest level in flying
33:55 Overseas students are a big market
35:50 Touchdown Autorotation Competition history
42:42 Tips on conducting autorotations
45:05 Tips on teaching autorotations
47:50 Poker run social event
50:15 EMS flight with boy’s mum in the front to hospital – made a difference
52:55 Low level engine failure over freeway
53:57 McMinnville, Oregon location – now Palm Springs, Texas and North Carolina
62:55 Episode Sponsors trainmorepilots.com
Links from this week’s episode:
Jerry Trimble Helicopters Website
Train How You Fly Book
Short video showing a landing at the McMinnville airfield, Oregon out the front of Jerry’s company.
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[Tweet “I had a stool, a desk and a #helicopter and ran an ad for helicopter training”]
[Tweet “If that engine quits, get that collective down and get in that aft cyclic – Jerry Trimble”]
[Tweet “Improve this product(R22) without adding weight to it, I don’t know how you could do it”]
[gview file=”http://rotarywingshow.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/robert-trimble-award-story.pdf”]
Be part of the conversation and get involved in the comments section below. What questions do you have about flight training or the early days of the R22?
