John- I discovered a new thrill yesterday while flying. I was hovering just inches above "hostile" terrain, raw mud and areas of water just a few inches deep from snow melt. It isn't really hostile but hovering just inches away from muck, and keeping my skids nice and clean was a different feeling. Its like, "boy, if I had to set down here, what a hassle getting back home and figuring how to get back and retrieve my chopper". It was really a rush, then I would pull collective and go find several acres of very shallow water to hover over. It felt like I was breaking one of my rules of never flying over something I couldn't land in. But in these cases, I could easily set down from my hover into the muck or shallow water. ..............Then I would go hover over some remaining deep snow. Now there I wouldn't dare set down unless I know the snow is only a few inches deep. I could just see landing on some deep snow and having one skid fall through, not good! Anyway, I really enjoyed hovering over all this muck , and it was like I was escaping mud fingers coming up trying to grab my skids! I had never had this experience and it left a euphoric smile on my face every time I pulled collective and escaped.....................I would think. " God, if I had to set down in this hostile muck from a hover, my walk back to home would be an adventure in itself. My feet would be 50 pounds each as I would struggle out of these boonies I love to churn air over at one foot skid height. Then I would pull collective and escape back to my shop, land and roll it inside, skids still shiny. Vance could say what I took paragraphs to say, with just one sentence, and do it much better! But I think I got my point across about my love for simply hovering, then escaping. I am loving this machine more than any material thing I have ever owned. I am going to savor this last flight for awhile. My next flight I am going to mount my camera on my skid and just go hover over acres of mud, and shallow water out in the boonies, and capture this on video. Stan