I’m sure I’m gonna hear from a lot of people I used to work with for saying this, but it’s a reality: not every helicopter pilot is a great pilot. Safe, sure. Competent, absolutely. But a great pilot? What does that even mean? To most of us, so long as we can walk away from the landing without wearing freshly-soiled clothing, that’s a great pilot, but I disagree…that is a competent pilot, someone who knows what they are doing, flies with respect to limits, adheres to all safety margins, and keeps the bird in one piece. Or, in other words, unlike most pilots I know. A good pilot can handle basic manuevers. A great pilot knows how to handle manuevers that would scare a standard co-pilot bad enough that they will turn in their wings. They know more than the safety limits. They know the absolute limits of just what their machine can do and are still able to land it on the pad in one piece.

As you watch this video, understand that not all of what you are seeing is to the pilot’s credit. The Bo 105 is a light twin-engine bird that was one of the first helicopters that could pull off aerobatic manuevers like inverted loops, rolls and other trickery. The Bo 105 can be manhandled around with little to no issue. That doesn’t make it any less awesome to see as it weaves through this patch of trees…One tree in the middle of a gravel pit is more than enough, but a whole forest worth of sturdy pine is something else altogether!

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Look into the past and you will see a lot of ghosts of cars past, cars that were meant to make an impact. Some did, some didn’t. They were everywhere, then suddenly they were nowhere to be found except in the most forgotten corners of the lots in BFE, U.S.A. Some of these cars could’ve been the first evolution for markets that existed later in life, if it wasn’t for manufacturers that didn’t take them seriously. Actually, scratch that…even if they did, the market didn’t. But let’s look at the subject matter…

Remember the Dodge Daytona? No, not the Charger…the front-drive K-car that tried like hell to give the Fox Mustang and the third-gen F-bodies something to think about. Considering that Chrysler had narrowly escaped Death’s scythe just a few years ago, it was impressive that the company had cranked out a competent hatchback coupe front-driver that had style, power, and sex appeal. If it wasn’t for the torque steer, Mopar was on par for yet another early take on hot FWD performance, along with the Shelby GLHS Charger and Omni, the Shelby CSX, and other hot takes. Mopar got Shelby to tweak their cars and you would think that with the hot turbocharged 2.2L four, that they would’ve stuck around a little longer than they did.

The Ford EXP is harder to quantify, but you have to understand: these things were EVERYWHERE for years, before they all suddenly turned to dust and ceased to exist. The EXP never really tried to be a true performance machine…you either bought one with a touch of luxury flair, or one with a touch of sporty flair. And unlike the Daytona, the EXP was a two-seater, which was a problem unto itself when it came to insuring it. Yeah…two-seater equals sports car, regardless of how mundane the roots are. It’s an Escort through and through, bug-eye or AeroEXP, and the benefits and problems of that base bled through. The EXP did have one thing going for it: for the size, it was properly useable for an all-around daily use. You had a huge cargo compartment, you had an engine that would move it…kind of…and if you didn’t try to kick it around, you had a competent, economical car that didn’t look bad.

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