aka Wagtendonk’s “Principle of Helicopter Flight”
In preparation for next exam.
Reading the Helicopter Bible
Written by David Pollard on July 23rd, 2009Wind stopped play today
Written by David Pollard on July 22nd, 2009But, hopefully, lots of flying on Saturday, trip to Carlisle, weather permitting.
Lesson 20 – 20th July 2009 – 1445 – 1 hour 20 minutes – Total so far – 21 hours 59mins
Written by David Pollard on July 20th, 2009Some last minute Air Nav revision in the morning and then a windy ride in on the bike for the exam and a lesson.
Straight into the exam, which involved plotting a route darn sarth somewhere and then answering loads of questions (25). 92% score (2 questions wrong, 1 of which was stupidity on my part), but am happy with that.
Steve was out giving someone an air experience ride, so I chatted with some other pilots, which I always find intriguing.
The lesson plan for today was extensive………..
- Simulated Forced Landing (with Mayday call)
- Autorotations (normal + 180′)
- Steep Turns
- Precision Transitions
- Quick Stops
Think that was it, but we did even more than that 
Quite windy today. The METAR said 13 knots, but it felt a bit blowier than that at times. Surprisingly smooth trip given the winds.
I booked us out today (a first), and then went to get her started up. When I asked for startup, that was approved and they threw in a clearance too all in the same conversation. All good.
Taxi to Foxtrot and a request from ATC to expedite takeoff. So, no nicely nicely following the taxi line, it was straight over the grass, transition and away clearing the runway asap.
Off past Morpeth, and then the first of 2 autos. The first one went well. It only involved a left turn to get into wind. Once we were nicely setup to land in the field, I did the practice Mayday call. The Mayday call was a good one in my opinion, got everything in. And we could easily have landed in this huge field that we lined up with. All good so far.
The second attempt was, how can I put this, DIABOLICAL !!
We climbed back upto about 2000′. Steve did his “Engine Failure, Engine Failure, Engine Failure.” I rammed the collective down and quickly assessed that we needed a 180 degree auto to get back into wind, and I started setting that up, got us into a turn, and then the mistake I made was forgetting the flying and doing the Mayday call. Well, the flying went to pot. I hadn’t realised that we were WELL out of balance, I also saw the airspeed indicator reduce rapidly to show very LOW airspeed. Steve’s favourite saying and it’s a good one to know….
Steve :- Airspeed is MONEY IN THE BANK.
Well, we were next to skint (penniless) !!
My natural reaction was to nose forward to get some airspeed, but that wasn’t the problem. We were so out of balance that the pitot tube wasn’t pointing in the direction of travel and was misreading our true airspeed.
When we finally got rebalanced, the airspeed increased dramatically and speedily to about 85 knots. Steve reminded me about the balance and then I corrected it all, but all of this happened so fast that the Mayday probably got as far as the third rendition of the word Mayday and that was it.
So, lesson learned from this ……………. Aviate THEN communicate.
I shouldn’t have worried about the Mayday call until I was flying correctly.
Great learning experience though.
On the plus side, I did a much better job of controlling the rotor rpm. It got CLOSE to the red on one occasion, and we had a low rotor rpm horn moment, but I felt in control and recovered from these issues.
So, all in all, only a little disappointed in myself, despite the second atrocious attempt.
We then flew towards the plateau and did some Steep turns (30 degree). They went fine and I kept within 100′ of the altitude for 2 out of 3. We then did a couple of 45 degree turns. They were uneventful. We pulled some G there !!
By this point, we arrived at the plateau and we did some of the funnest flying you can do in a helicopter, aka precision transitions. We must have done about 4 or 5 of them. Steve did the first one to demonstrate.
Hover taxi’ing is slow as you remain below transitional lift (approx 12 knots). So if you need to taxi a long way and get there on the same day, we do this precision transitioning, basically we fly fast enough for transitional lift (approx 30-50knots), but very low (about 30 feet). The important thing is to start it into wind, and FINISH it into wind, despite probably flying with the wind along the way. So, we spent about 10-15 minutes darting around the plateau very fast, very low. It felt absolutely awesome. The best bit was when you’d be flying with a tailwind at 40 knots, but a groundspeed of 60 knots and then you’d do a big turn at the end back into wind and you can literally feel the ground speed just DROP AWAY to next to nothing, as then you are flying at 30 to 40 knots INTO a wind of 20-30 knots. It felt great.
When we’d done these, we did a real one as if we were going to land at a certain point, and then did a fake landing. Loved it. As we came into (fake) land, there was a low flying bright yellow Sea King at our height but about 1/2 a mile away. We’d both seen each other early on, a new experience for me 
Once we’d (fake) took off, I tried to do a 360′ clearing turn to check for any other a/c, but it was VERY ugly with the winds being so strong. But, Steve didn’t step in and I got it back, although I think he nearly stepped in at one point.
I asked Steve to do a 360′ clearing turn so I could see how it should be done. I learned some stuff which I’ll apply next time.
We then did some more precision transitions but this time with some quick stops. Steve demo’ed and then I did 2 or 3. They are lots of fun too.
And then it was return to base time.
Bit of a queue to land, so we were asked to hold over the northern boundary of the airport (close to the tower). The wind was at least 30 knots at 800 feet, so we could enter a near hover by flying at 40 knots into wind. So much more fun than dizzying orbits.
We had to expedite the landing, but Steve didn’t step in which was great.
Final landing and then shut down concluded a great lesson.
Heavy Rain all day today
Written by David Pollard on July 17th, 2009Not eased for a second.
No Heli lesson, so exam will have to wait until next week (weather permitting)
Air Nav Revision – First Mock Test Done
Written by David Pollard on July 14th, 200980.5% is the result.
Harder than I thought, but pleased with that for 1st attempt
Double Lesson – 13th July 2009
Written by David Pollard on July 13th, 2009Lesson 18 – 13th July 2009 – 1420 – 36 minutes – Total so far – 20 hours 9mins
Lesson 19 – 13th July 2009 – 1510 – 30 minutes – Total so far – 20 hours 39mins
I know I’m going to sound like a record, but great lesson(s) again !!
Quite a few CBs around (Cumulonimbus (Thunder) clouds)), but very isolated, so we could still proceed.
First lesson of the day was for Steve and I to fly out of the Control Zone (via Morpeth), do a couple of autos and then fly back – but with a difference. The difference was that Steve wouldn’t say a word. Sounded like the perfect lesson
No Steve talking, no Steve “jokes” –
Noone to remind me about important things – 
So, with enough fuel for both lessons (R22 Beta, not HP model), we took off. I was about to hover us at Foxtrot awaiting departure clearance, but no sooner had we started (hover) taxi-ing than we were given clearance to take off (Runway 07). For the first time, I thought I’d try a transition and turn onto the runway, in basic terms, a bloody fast taxi. This is the fun fly by the seat-of-your-pants kinda stuff. All went well.
We were off. Steve not saying anything didn’t last long
Steve :- “Are we climbing Dave ?”
David :- “We are climbing Steve and by that you mean…………..” (trying to think what I hadn’t done)
I’d set the trim, I’d set the transponder………erm……..
He meant the speed. I was going 75knots, but standard climb is 65knots.
Sorted.
Bit annoyed that he’d had to remind me, but heigh ho.
We continued up to about 2200 ft. Although Steve wasn’t talking to me, I was telling him my thought patterns so he didn’t think I was flying aimlessly. I’d say I was going to 2200feet. Later on, he said that when there are CBs around or rain clouds generally, that I should fly lower. He was dead right.
Once out of the Control Zone……………
Steve :- Where is the wind coming from ?
I answered correctly.
Steve :- Practice Engine Failure! Engine Failure, Engine Failure, Engine Failure
David :- So, do you want me to do what I’d do if the engine failed.
Steve :- huh huh (yes)
So, I did the auto down to about 500 feet and a power recovery. He’d picked an awkward spot, which meant I had to do a turn and I forgot to check the revs during the turn, Steve had to step in.
But, we made the field.
Power Recovery and then Steve explained what he meant by “Engine Failure” (repeated 3 times). What he meant was, when he says it the first time, that’s when the engine has failed, I need to take action by the 3rd time otherwise it was too late. Well, I was happy now I understood it and laughing at how stupid I must have sounded to Steve.
The next one, there was no dilly dallying. No sooner had he said Engine Failure than we were dropping out of the sky like noone’s business. The collective has never been pushed down so hard, well not by me anyway !
This time, ‘cos of the wind it had to be a 180 auto. We would have made that one no bother, but again I forgot to check the rotor rpm during the turn.
But, I think something has clicked now with autos. We’ll see next time we fly if that’s the case. In real life, if the engine did go, you wouldn’t worry about the rotor rpm, the more the merrier.
So, with the autos done, we returned to base, Steve told me where to put it down.
At which point, he got out and said he was going to book me out and I should shut the heli down, recheck the helicopter fluid levels and then await his return.
15 minutes later, I was starting her up again but on my own. It’s such an exciting experience being on your own, hard to put into words. I love it.
I got the clearance for startup, started her up, got the departure clearance, and then did the post-start checks. Now, this is when things went very differently to how it normally goes. Normally what happens is that when _I_ am ready, I say I’m ready for taxi and then I taxi to the Hold and then _I_ say I’m ready for departure.
But, it was VERY different. There was a light a/c in front of me to depart and I knew there was a big jet (not sure if it was Easyjet) also heading for the start of the runway. So, in my head, I’m after those 2.
So, I did the last checks and was ready for the off.
Tower :- Northumbria01 (that’s me), taxi to Foxtrot, Runway 25.
Well, this took me by surprise, but I was ready so………
dp :- Taxi to Foxtrot, Runway 25.
Off I went to Foxtrot, then………….
Tower :- Northumbria ZERO ONE, you cleared for takeoff, Runway 25. Surface Wind blah blah….
Well, I replied to say fine with that, and as I taxi’ed out to the runway, I could see the light a/c about 400 m down the runway, waiting for me, and behind it, at the very start of the runway was the big jet. I felt like a VIP.
I don’t think I was getting preferential treatment because I was on my own, I think it was more because of vortex wake. I give off the least, on a par with the light a/c and the big jet leaves a 5 or 6 mile wake vortex, so if it was any other order, it would have took much longer to get the 3 a/c off the ground.
The flight was uneventful apart from the dodging of rain showers. I went through a couple and dodged a couple. All good fun. Once past morpeth, I ambled for 5 minutes and then came back. I could see a big shower over the airport – a real downpour, but the visibility was such that I could see through it and by the time I got there it would have passed so I rejoined the control zone.
I was number 2 to some commercial airliner, and the passing shower had left the runway Wet Wet Wet, but the air was weirdly very calm. The hover taxi, the final hover and the landing were great. I was dead chuffed. I could have lined it up more with a line, but I thought if Steve was watching, he’d be fretting if I parked it too close to another a/c, so for his heart’s sake, I left a bit of space.
So, all good.
Next lesson not yet booked, but probably friday, and I hope to get another exam out the way (Air Nav). I think we’re doing Practice Forced Landings. I’ll have to brush up on my mayday calls.
dp :- Mayday Mayday Mayday, the engine’s stopped like, we’re ganning doon like a stone.
Yes, that should do it !!
Lesson 17 – 10th July 2009 – 1400 – 1 hour – Total so far – 19hours 33mins
Written by David Pollard on July 10th, 2009Today was Exercise 16 and 17. (Simulated Engine Off Landings and Advanced Autorotations).
CAA Inspection going on at the flying school today, so quite a busy place. It was the HP R22 today again as G-MOGY is due her 2200 hour overhaul and G-MAVI is having some engine work done.
We wheeled her over for fueling, and Steve let me do it. I’d remembered from last time to get the rotor in line, but as we pushed it, the wind caught the rotor and it started turning, so tip number 2 —-> Hold your shoulder in such a way the tail rotor doesn’t move, and if it doesn’t move, the main rotor can’t move.
Once fuelled up and pushed back, Steve left to check her out as I did all the checks, started her up etc…..
Runway 25 when we left, right turn to Morpeth after the car park. Magnetic compasses have a tendency to overread or underread depending on which direction you’re turning through, but I can never remember which direction they under or over read. Steve gave me a good way of remembering it…..
Nippy North, Sluggish South.
Nice one ! So, if you’re turning onto a northerly (or near northerly) heading, then stop the turn when it reads 330/340 and then the compass should settle to about North. It worked !
We went upto 2400′, and we’re tootling along quite happily. I was scanning the instruments and noticed we had ZERO oil pressure. I immediately told Steve and his response :-
Steve :- 20 Seconds
dp :- ? (puzzled look)
Steve :- It took you 20 seconds to notice that the oil pressure had dropped to 0.
He was pleased that I had noticed fairly promptly, so I was pleased. He’d pulled a fuse out.
I’ll have to watch him in the future. I suspect other such tricks up his sleeve.
Once we were close to the plateau, we did the Hasel checks (Height, Area, Security, Engine, Lookout), apply carb heat and we were doing Advanced Autorotations. So, a typical auto goes like this…..
- Lower Collective fully, Throttle engine down
- Lots of Right Pedal to counter lack of usual torque
- Cyclic Back so nose doesn’t drop too much and to maintain 60kts
- Control RPM (stop it getting into the red (too high or too low)
- Wait until the ground is 50′ feet away
- Flare (until Zero ground speed)
Now, then at this point, Steve always says “Pop” and I thought he was throttling up the engine again AND at the same time pulling the collective. So, when it came to my turn to do the whole maneuvre, the first bits went fine and we positioned for our forced landing, and then Steve had said I would be doing the final POP.
He constantly talked to tell me when to do it, and at the appropriate time, I flared, and opened up the Throttle and pulled the collective. It turns out, I wasn’t supposed to do any throttle work. The correlator sorts that out automatically. So apparently, (I was too busy to witness it), our revs went “quite” high !! And the subsequent hover was a bit erratic for about a second.
So, we did it again, and this time, I just did the collective, no throttle and I think there’s a 80% chance we would have lived, maybe 20% chance the helicopter would have been in good nick. I was too high and hadn’t flared strongly enough for the low wind speed that there was today.
The next one was better still. 95% chance of survival and 40% chance of a good helicopter remaining. No doubt, we’ll do plenty more.
What we then went on to do was advanced autorotations. In a nutshell, the standard auto detailed above has quite a shitty descent rate, probably moving 10 m forward for every 100m you’re dropping, so not much of a glide.
But, by altering the speed you fly, you can get more or less range.
Medium Range = Speed up to 75kts
Short Range = Speed to anything as low as ZERO knots, remembering to allow time to speed back up again as the speed will be required for the flare.
There’s also a maneuvre you can do to increase range even further. It sounded VERY risky to me, and that is to reduce rotor RPM to about 90%, giving more lift. Less than 90% and you’re in the danger zone and you risk the blades folding up, and then it’s death for sure, hence my worry. So, we did one of these, but all I was bothered about and focussed on was the rotor rpm. We were on or slightly above 90% and we’re getting a good gliding angle (by helicopter standards). I am sure as we flared, the low rotor rpm horn went off and that always puts the shits up me. But Steve wasn’t phased.
Anyway, we did various different advanced autorotations and then a fake landing and then we flew back. Runway 25, but the wind had changed and it was Runway 07 for landing. Another bit of non-standard flying which was fun back to the parking spot as there was a Dash a/c behind us on final approach, and then my landing today was MUCH improved over Wednesday when I made a right arse of it. I’d had a word with myself and didn’t fart on as much.
So, good lesson. Next lesson booked for Monday, and it’s more solo work. I’m flying to Morpeth and back on my lonesome after doing it once with Steve, so look forward to that.
I also managed to transfer Steve’s video footage that he kindly took with his phone camera of my first helicopter solo liftoff and landing. Here it is….
So, here’s the liftoff. Not very pretty at all !!! Major Yaw to the left on liftoff. But then the clearing turn is “ok”, could be worse, definately could be better.
It’s a bit grainy, but he got an excellent shot of me with the biggest smile I have ever seen on my face after I had landed for the final time on the first day of solo’ing. Here is that clip……
Thanks to Steve for getting the footage !
No Flying Today
Written by David Pollard on July 9th, 2009One of the helis being serviced and other bookings got in before me. Air Nav Revision instead. Tried a mock test, only to find I need a 1:500,000 South England aeronautical map to complete most of the questions. So, have ordered it.
Lesson 17 – 8th July 2009 – 1500 – 1 hour – Total so far – 18hours 33mins
Written by David Pollard on July 8th, 2009Great Lesson – it was quite a jam-packed lesson with lots of different things covered.
First off, I went out to check the helicopter out. It was the HP R22 model (G-BZBU). This is a lighter version (one less fuel tank) and the battery is in the front, so the CoG is farther forward. This is the one where you feel like you do 2 takeoffs/landings for every normal 1 ie land the front of the skids, then the back and same in reverse for takeoff, but today I really noticed how much more power we appeared to have available because of the lower weight (less fuel).
I made a ballsup of the R/T today. As usual, I go out and check the heli out and start her up and get it so we’re ready for the off and then Steve joins me. But, I had forgot the callsign of the helicopter. All aircraft in the UK have a callsign something like G-ABCD and I knew that this helicopter was G-BZBU, but all the flying school’s aircraft have a more friendly name like “Northumbria ZERO ONE”, so when it came to asking for startup, it went something like this……….
dp :- Newcastle Tower, good afternoon, Northumbriaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. erm…erm……………. (I didn’t know the callsign and had to use the full name) “Golf – Bravo Zulu Bravo Uniform” at the Flying School with Information Juliet request startup.
Thankfully tower was very helpful !!
Newcastle Tower – “Golf – Bravo Zulu Bravo Uniform”, you have been booked out as Northumbria ZERO TWO. Information Juliet is correct. Startup approved”
dp :- “Startup Approved, MANY thanks. Northumbria ZERO TWO”
While everyone else is sounding dead professional, I come on sounding like a numpty. Ah well, live and learn.
Steve seems to be getting more confident in my liftoffs as he is crossing his hands on his knees now, whereas before he wisely always had a hand near the collective or the cyclic. Don’t get me wrong, he still often does at times, but not for the takeoff today, even though we were between a R44 and the fuel bowser. Taxi to Foxtrot and then we (I) basically hover-taxi’ed to a holding area next to the runway, awaiting an inbound a/c who was exiting at Foxtrot. There was one light a/c ahead of us wanting to depart too. Whilst we waited, Steve got me to practice a landing in the “HP” R22, just to feel the difference. I could kinda feel it, but to illustrate it better, he took control and very skilfully lifted off the skids and pivoted on the front of the skids. Quite amazing. It was like watching a ballet dancer go up on to the toes of her feet. He went up and down a few times, all the time pivoting on the front of the skids. I was impressed. Once done, we stayed on the ground awaiting another helicopter passing Foxtrot. Strictly speaking it was the light aircraft’s turn to take off first, but they couldn’t go because there was an inbound 737, but Newcastle Tower asked us if we could exit heading due North (past the control tower) going directly ACROSS the runway and not along it’s length (which runs from 070 to 250 degrees)
dp:- Affirm (with a big grin)
And we we’re off. We headed upto 2400′ and once out of the Control Zone, upto 3000′.
Today, we started off by doing Vortex Ring – Settling with Power. In a nutshell, a fixed wing aircraft can stall (fall out of the sky) if it goes too slow and the angle of attack of the wings is too high. The airflow gets very turbulent and the a/c loses lift because the airflow isn’t laminar (smooth) enough.
A very similar thing can happen in a helicopter. If a helicopter goes less than 30 knots (or more accurately has no transitional lift), and has a descent rate more than 300′ per minute, AND there is power being applied, you effectively stall a LOT of the rotor producing lift, and the helicopter, like a plane starts falling at a much higher descent rate. The more you pull power, the more you are pull dirty air through the rotor, the faster you drop. It sounded very hairy from the book, but at 3000′, you have quite a lot of time to fix it. The fix is easy (at that height), basically cyclic forward so the speed comes above 30 knots and then power and recover.
We did about four of them, and they were all event free. The controls go all mushy, there is a big yaw, and you drop like a stone, but you can’t feel it so much at that height. Cyclic forward, get speed, then power and recover.
So, with those over and with all the height we still had left, we did an autorotation down to the plateau. We were so high, I needed to do some turns to get rid of some extra height. The improvement today was that I completely did the entering. I think I’ve done this once before, but today, I really did the whole “entering into” autorotation. I also did the flare, but Steve did his final POP (as he calls it) and pulled the collective and then I continued the hover. We just did one of them. I’ll be pleased when I do one completely, ‘cos this is SUCH an important skill to have.
Once that was done, Steve asked me to fly to the centre of the plateau and for the first time, I didn’t fart on and hover at a snail’s pace. It felt like I “really” flew it there. It felt real good. A nice turn to finish and back into the hover. It felt sweet A special moment for all the right reason. In a way, it felt like the first time I’d flown the helicopter by the seat of my pants, solely feeling how it flies. Hard to describe in words. Normally when I fly, everything we do, like an approach is a set sequence of events that you do in a set order. But, this was just FLYING A HELICOPTER – loved it. Once back in the hover in the centre of the plateau, we did a (fake) landing and then we did a takeoff and a practice obstacle avoidance. So, in a nutshell, Steve took control flew us at about 60kts (quite fast, when you’re so low) at a mound of earth and then at the last second (all very safe!) sharp cyclic left and up and PULLED collective. The result was a very sharp turn. Quite a few “G” being pulled.
Of course, Steve, the comedian he is, had to get a few jokes in. “Imagine that mound is a Merlin Helicopter” (he said) (referring to the near miss we had a week or so back !). AND OF COURSE, me concentrating so hard, I didn’t get the joke until about 10 seconds after he had said it. But then we were laughing at that as well
So, Steve showed me one and then I did the second one. I felt Steve come on the collective, probably ‘cos he thought I wasn’t pulling enough of it (or too much), but I got the idea and was happy with the maneuvre.
Then we went straight at the mound but this time for a QUICK STOP (as they’re called). In a nutshell, this involves stopping the helicopter very quickly into a stationary hover. That was lots of fun. I was happy with that, but my turn comes another day. He just wanted to show me that one.
Once done, back to the airport and we were fortunate again for being a helicopter. Because there was an inbound Airbus. The Tower asked if we had a visual – we did, and then they offered us an expedited landing clearance ahead of the Airbus. Now, in the past, Steve has done this expedited landings, but he let me do it. Another seat of the pants bit of flying, so much fun !!!!!!
I need to get out of the fixed wing mentality. In a normal plane, you line up with the runway, and land on the runway, and most of the time, in a helicopter you do the same, but at times like these, when we’re expediting in front of a fast approaching airbus, I don’t need to “land” (transition) on the runway, so although I did a fast approach (about 80kts), I needed Steve to suggest use the grass next to the runway, but he was great and let me do the whole transition to the hover and then taxi clear, well in time for the Airbus landing.
This is where I’m disappointed with the result of my flying. I hover-taxi’ed to the parking spot. It was between the R44 and the fuel bowser. I positioned us nicely in the middle, spot turned it so it was lined up correctly, all good so far and then it all seemed to be MESSY !!! I think I’m being too much of a fanny when it comes to the touching the ground bit. I am trying to get ZERO movement in any direction whatsoever, but the end result is I am demanding (of myself) the absolute perfect hover before touching down. Well, of course, I would get to within an inch of the ground, detect a smidgeon of movement sideways and then abort, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat ! I was up and down like a Yoyo ! It must have took me 30 seconds to do the last ONE FOOT. Will have to ask Steve next time about this.
Credit to Steve, he didn’t butt in and sort it, which is great, ‘cos that would have left me frustrated. Anyway eventually, I got it down, but wasn’t too pleased with the landing. It was safe, but not as sweet as I would have liked.
All in all, great lesson. Lots of variety. Loved it, shame about the crappy ending, but that’s my bad, and I’ll have a word with myself before next time.
Thunderstorms Galore means No Flying Today !!
Written by David Pollard on July 6th, 2009But, I’ve had a great day nonetheless. Air Navigation Revision, PLUS I came across another commercial helicopter pilot blog, that makes for EXCELLENT reading.
It’s available by clicking here.
Well done to Alan !
