Here I am in the left seat of a Bell47G2. In most small, piston-engine helicopters, you fly from the left seat, just like an airplane. Some of the larger turbine ships, such as the Bell 206BIII JetRanger, seat the pilot on the right side. In helicopters, the flight controls are positioned the same on both sides.

Here I am in the left seat of an Enstrom F280F, lifting off and turning away from the pad. You have to really watch those shifting winds as you back up and turn.

Here I am in the left seat of an Enstrom F28A, smoothly picking up and transitioning into a 3 foot hover. Hovering is definitely an intense exercise of energy management and torque balance.

A little about us...

Hello, my name is Rex Jester (aka 'Rexbo') and I am an FAA licensed Commercial Pilot, with Airplane Single-Engine and Multi-Engine Land and Sea, Rotorcraft-Helicopter and Instrument Airplane ratings. Helicopters and Seaplanes (I prefer 'floats' to 'hulls') are my favorite forms of flying.

I am an FAA Certified Flight Instructor with Single-Engine, Multi-Engine and Instrument Airplane ratings, as well as Advanced and Instrument Ground Instructor ratings. I am currently working toward the Rotorcraft-Helicopter CFI rating.

I am an FAA licensed Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic currently serving as a Senior Aircraft Quality Control Technical Specialist/ Inspector with a major air carrier. I hold systems and powerplant qualifications on all our fleet aircraft along with being run and taxi qualified. Our current aircraft fleet includes various B727, B747, B757, DC-10, MD-11, A300 and A310 types. We previously had B737 and DC-8 aircraft in the fleet as well. I am a firm believer in education and recurrent training to hone skills and enhance safety. I participate in the FAA AMT Awards Program and strive to maintain the Diamond Level.

I am a current member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Seaplane Pilots Association, Experimental Aircraft Association and a gold-card carrying member of the National Association of Flight Instructors. I am an active participant in the FAA WING's Program and regularly attend safety seminars. One of my favorites is Operation Raincheck, which gives a lot of good insight into the other side of the radio ... the ATC side. We got a lot of information on their expectations, equipment and capabilities, as well as good information on local area airspace and flight procedures. They informed us on many common mistakes that pilots make in our local area and gave us good contact numbers if we had any questions. I encourage all fellow aviators to take advantage of the FAA sponsored safety seminars...it's a team sport.

My formal education includes Associate of Applied Science degrees in Aviation Maintenance Technology, Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Engineering, a Bachelor of Science degree in Professional Aeronautics, a Master of Business Administration/Aviation (MBA/A) and a Master of Aeronautical Science (MAS) degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. My minors are human factors,safety, and management, all of which play a major role in our daily aviation environment.

So, with that said, you can see that I am totally emersed in aviation and have been since I was a very young man. I have a picture of my father holding me in the front yard when I was around two years old and I am pointing up at a DC-3. I was an airport kid and spent most Sunday afternoons walking around the airport ramp, with my old 'Juliette' aircraft and police band radio in my hand (they didn't have scanners in those days) tuning from approach to tower to ground and listening to the pilots talk on the radio and watching the aircraft come and go. While this may have seemed to be a waste of time to some, it taught me early on how to communicate on the radio and has served me well over the years. So, the next time you see that kid walking around the airport with his radio in his hand... smile...because he may turn out to be a very good pilot someday.

I have a beautiful wife of 16 years who holds a degree in Computer Science and works for the same airline in the computer business systems section. She is currently serving as a Senior Business Systems Analyst working with our global computer network.

My beautiful wife, Carol

Carol has been my support over the years and she has helped me to obtain my goals. She is a wonderful person and means the world to me. I would like to publicly acknowledge her value to me, as her love and support through all these years have been 'the wind beneath my wings'. Without her love and support, I would not be successful.

We are blessed with a precious, 2 year old son. My son is already quite interested in airplanes and 'cop cops', as he calls helicopters, and I hope that he too will share my love for aviation. He enjoys our local zoo and we can't wait to take him to Walt Disney World and SeaWorld (he loves animals!) to watch his face light up!

Rexy and his proud Mom

A love of aviation...

As you can surmise, I have a true love of aviation that I am eager to share with others. I have found the aviation community to be filled with many fine professionals and good-hearted individuals.

We hope to provide you with more great aviation information in the near future.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Cap'n Rexbo

March 2004 update: We now have three wonderful children in the household!!! We have added Carly Simone, our daughter, who is now twenty months old, and Jacob Michael who is just six months old. Rex, Jr. is now five years old!!! They are all keeping us quite busy!!!

Carol and I have now been married for 20 years. My sincerest thanks go out to my beautiful wife and co-pilot for these 20 wonderful years. Carol has helped smooth out the bumps in an otherwise trecherous journey. She is a great partner to have onboard for the flight.

June 2005 update: We just returned from our annual trip to the Orlando area for our family vacation and everyone had a great time. Carly turned three while we were there!!! We got in lots of water time at the pool and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the water slide!!! We went to Sea World and everyone got to see lots of sea life. The underwater shark tube was amazing and even Jake enjoyed it at his young age. Rex and Carly went up in a Robinson R44 helicoper with 'ol dad while we in the Orlando area. Jake was not real sure about the helicopter, probably because of the noise, so he stayed on the ground with mom. But I'll bet he'll go next year!!! By the way, mom is certainly no stranger to flying, especially in helicopters...she loves 'em!!!

Our Three Beautiful Angels

August 2007 update:We just got back from our annual vacation in the Orlando area, and as expected, all of the kids had a great time. We got to meet the Disney characters for breakfast this trip, and of course we had to stop by Sea World for a visit with our sea friends. The kids have all taken to aviation and enjoy flying very much. We had the opportunity for all of us to go up in a Bell 206L LongRanger while we were there this time and everyone loved it!!!

Our Three Angels 2007

Virtual Aviation and Flight Simulation...

If you can't fly in the real world, try flight in the virtual world. There are several flight simulators that offer a lot of fun and training for very little cost. For example, "Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 - A Century of Flight" allows you to fly anywhere in the world under any conditions that you can imagine for a purchase cost of under fifty dollars. You can also fly online with others, or practice by utilizing the ATC services of VATSIM (Virtual Air Traffic Simulation) online. This allows for a very realistic flight experience and will allow you to practice procedures that will enhance your real world flying. I find that simulated flight helps me to keep my instrument procedures polished between my real world flight activities. There are many 'freeware' add-ons to further enhance your simulation environment. Rotorcraft, fixed wing, and seaplanes are all modeled and many variations are available for download at the major download sites.

Bring down the ceiling and visibility, crank up the ice and snow, and let's shoot some approaches!!!

For a little insight into the virtual world:

For general information about virtual aviation, check out:

Avsim

and

Flight Sim

and

Simviation

and

Hovercontrol

These sites offer a vast array of 'freeware' items that can be installed in your flight simulator program adding more fun and realism to your virtual world. You may find soon yourself becoming so immersed that you begin to modify aircraft and panels, and you may even choose to design your own custom scenery. The possibilities are endles and the sky is the limit!!!

You can learn more about our family on our family website:

The Jester Family Homepage

and our adoption website:

Adoption Dreams

As you can see in the pic of our three beautiful angels, the gift of adoption allowed us to build a wonderful family!!!

Please Email us with your comments or questions

Graphic Design by:

Thanks for being visitor number Please visit with us again soon!

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws