Flying!

Matt is in phase 3 (of 5) of the Apache course called "the bag".  Basically that means the only way he can see is using his HDU (Helmet Display Unit that shows infrared images).  All the windows in the his section of the cockpit are covered so he can't see out.  Apparently it's really hard.  In the picture you can see a person sitting in the front (instructor) and then the white covered windows (Matt).  The circular part on the very tip of the nose is where his viewpoint is.

He took the camera with him and got some video.  The first one shows him hovering.  I cut quite a bit of the video and when I did lost all the audio.  I guess that's not too important watching him fly, but I'm going to have to figure that out for other videos.  The second one is him doing a rolling takeoff.  I thought they just went straight up, but apparently sometimes they do rolling takeoffs because it requires less power.

E