[Jared Hartzell]

I'll start off by saying I'm in no way shape or form an expert or highly knowledgeable about Rotorways, so take my opinions with a grain of salt. I'm not a builder so I don't have that first-hand knowledge and experience that many of you have. I've owned a 1998 build Rotorway 162F since 2018 that I purchased sight-unseen while deployed in Afghanistan at 23 years old, probably making me one of the youngest rotorway owners at that time?... Maybe. I'm 30 now. The helicopter sat at my property in a state nobody likes to talk about and I built a steel hangar for it in 5 days (too much welding...) while on leave once I got back from deployment. Unfortunately, I ran out of time to finish the door! But at least, it was kept out of the elements.

I got the opportunity to fly with Chris Tronaas when I was PCS'ing and we had a bit of an oil leak occur during the hover which ended our short flight, but Chris taught me a lot in that short amount of time! Then, I attended Jim Hardy's fly-in while stationed in El Paso, TX and he graciously gave me the opportunity to fly his rotorway! Jim became a good friend and is an excellent aircraft builder and a very respectable/highly knowledgeable pilot. It was actually quite easy to fly, so on my next leave block I finally took mine up in the air some time in 2020. Later, I took my Rotorway down from Oregon to Jim's 2023 MCG fly-in and spent a week there. Lots of flying and a lot of fun, I'd highly recommend it to anyone interested in helicopters at all! (Check the Calendar and Events forum to watch for any new events coming up!). 

Once I left the military after 6 yrs active duty as a helicopter mechanic, I moved to Oregon to finish my flight training and spent most of my hours flying Cabri G2's and later on Robinson R22/44/66 and Enstroms (480B) after relocating to Idaho. I still fly my rotorway but not as much as I'd like to, since I'm currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in Computer Science. 

Anyway, here are some pictures of my 162F: