Pulse Helicopters is a company based in Florida that specializes in sale of used helicopters. My name is Micheal Elliot, and I'm the current head of operations here at Pulse Helicopters. Second in command is my brother Tom. Flying helicopters has been with our family for several generations now. Both our granddad and our dad where helicopter pilots. While I'm spending time with my son I try to instill the same love for helicopters in him by playing around with remote controlled mini drones. So far he seems to be more interested in video games though. But I'll get him eventually. Currently Pulse Helicopters focuses on sale and purchase of used helicopters.

I first got the idea for starting a used helicopter shop after my stint in the Navy. That's where I learned how to fly helicopters. While working in the Navy I flied all over country and I noticed a lot of helicopters stored in hangars, waiting to be scrapped. We're talking both civilian and military helicopters.

As a pilot you spend a decent amount of time waiting in hangars. Killing time becomes your main preoccupation. I for example got hooked on FPV remote controlled gopro camera drones while playing with my son. Of course there were duties as well that had to be taken care of. Your gear, by that I mean the helicopter that you fly, has to be checked, refueled, etc. While doing that I got to talking to maintenance crews. They told me about all the decommissioned or broken down helicopters, both military and civilian, that are sitting in hangars and how they could brought back to life with minimum effort.

That's how the idea for starting pulse helicopters got into my head. After several years of talking with people, making sure a business of buying and selling used helicopters could be at least somewhat viable and taking care of paperwork I started this company with my brother Tom back in 2007. This was right before the big recession hit. Everyone was telling me that I was crazy for leaving a well paid job of a Navy pilot for such a risky business venture. What can I say, I had an itch that needed to be scratched. Luckily it was worth it. We're now one of the biggest sellers of used helicopters in Florida.

Many people are hesitant about buying used equipment and machinery. This is especially true for pricey investments, which helicopters certainly are. When we say that Pulse Helicopters buys and sells helicopters, we don't just buy and sell them right away for a quick profit.

Our process of buying and selling a helicopter starts with the initial inspection of a potential buy by me and a team of mechanics that work here at Pulse Helicopters. We check the helicopter to see what kind of work needs to be done on it to get it fully operational. Once we've made sure the helicopter isn't beyond repair, because not all are, we hash out the price, buy it and haul it back to our shop. Once the helicopter is in the shop, that's when the real fun starts.

We then strip it down completely, a complete tear down and replacement of faulty parts or parts that look like could be faulty in the near future. These types of rebuilt machines, once they are put back together, are then rigorously tested in order to make sure everything functions properly. We usually put up to 100 hours of flight while performing tests on all the equipment. That way we make sure that everything functions properly. Our rebuilds are practically good as new once they are put for sale. So far none of our customers complained and have only come in for the usual yearly tune up and checkups.

Another thing that's worth mentioning is the fact that when buying helicopters we try to focus on good name brand machines. We're talking models from Hiller, Sikorsky and Eurocopter's North American rebrands like the Twin Star. As you can see, we mainly focus on utility helicopters. Keep in mind that these are know as good quality birds, that need little work done on them even after long years of service. So if you ask me is it worth it, is it safe to buy used helicopters, then yes, I would have to say that it is absolutely worth it.