A Jet fuel shower.

Today at work, I experienced something a little more exciting than normal. It was so windy on account of a cold front moving in, that nobody wanted to fly. It was a clear and sunny day, just too windy. So, all flights for my shift for canceled. The mechanic, Mike, and I were talking about helicopters and how one goes about fueling one. I was told what to do if one were to land, but such landings were few and far between. I ended the conversation by saying that it'd be rare if one were to land when I was working.

A few hours later, I heard a noise on our radio. It sounded like someone was trying to radio in as if they wanted to land. Since nobody had taken off, I assumed that nobody would be landing. A few seconds later, I heard the sounds of a helicopter. Mike came running into the office saying, "Your first helicopter just landed!" Sure enough, as I walked out onto the parking area, a chopper was sitting there with its rotors still whirring.

It's kind of ironic that my first encounter with a helicopter that close was also the first time I was to fuel one. Luckily, the pilot was a jovial type of guy. When the jet fuel sprayed up out of the goose-neck fuel intake and all over me and the chopper, he simply laughed and said, "Whoops, I should have told you about that. At least you were upwind!" It wasn't hard to fuel, it was just messy with that type of intake. I am told that the jet fuel smell won't come off for about a week or so. The people sitting around me in my first class of the day definitely noticed the smell. They were getting light headed just sitting near me.

From now on, I'm wearing a rain jacket when I fuel helicopters.