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Lesson 29 – 10th September 2009 – 1125 – 1 hour 6 minutes – Total so far – 30 hours 16 mins

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

The whole of the UK enjoyed a magnificent day of September sunshine today due to a massive high pressure system. It was gorgeous for flying. As smooth as a mill pond !

The order of the day was mainly instrument flying. It’s an area I feel quite comfortable with, probably due to my fixed wing days.

So, slightly different start to the flight as Steve accompanied me out so I could test my headset in various different helicopters and different radio/helicopter headset combos. It worked swimmingly in each. With that complete, he headed in and I did the startup checks.

The Lightspeed Zulu headset felt great on, a real comfy fit and when ANR is switched on, a lovely calm settles in your ears, quite an eery silence. Even with the rotors turning, it was a huge improvement on a school headset.

Usual startup done, the headset had their first real test. Normally, I am straining so much to hear what’s being said, that there is a sense of slight panic as I try and catch every word Tower is saying to me. Today, I could hear them so clearly, I could actually _listen_ to what they are saying even if it was different to what I was expecting. And that happened..…

I had got the QNH from the ATIS, and it was a very high 1038mb. When Tower gave it me with the taxi clearance, they gave it me as 1033mb. Now, normally, I would just be so grateful to have understood what they said that I would have repeated it back to them. But today, I had the wherewithal to ask them to confirm the QNH was 1033mb. They corrected the QNH to 1038mb and I was chuffed that the painful purchase was already paying dividends.

As Steve did his final walkaround under the fast-spinning rotor, I did the final “Low RPM Horn” checks and we were ready for off once he’d took his seat.

Steve wanted me to do all the checks once in the hover (lights out, temps etc in the green) and then record “power required to hover” and state “CoG and Controls feel fine”. I did that. Before I even took off, he checked I knew the maximum Manifold Pressure we could tax the engine to. It was 24.5 for 5 minutes, because of the high pressure system.

Short Taxi to Foxtrot with Steve now onboard. The hover lift was fine, and so it should have been with the Surface Wind less than 5kts. Today, I had decided I was going to do things more by the book. Hold altitudes, follow taxi lines etc etc…. Normally, I don’t tax myself too much and enjoy the moment. But, as I found today, I can do both.

For the first time, once we were cleared for takeoff, I didn’t skip the corner (over the grass) as I normally do, we did a precision transition, akin to fast taxi following the taxiway line (ish), turn into wind and off we went. It was so smooth today. Today’s are the kind of days you don’t want to come down.

At 500 feet, I had Scott’s FREDATT (Fuel, Radion, Engine, Direction, Altimeter, Trim & Transponder) checks running in my ears, so I did them.  And then off we flew to the North. Initially 2300ft but once out of the zone, it was instrument time. We first did a couple of turns (180 degree at 15′ rate). They went fine, and then it was time to put the goggles on. They are goggles that allow you only to see the instruments and a bit of land either side of the instrument pedestal, but nothing that would help you fly. I suppose if you see blue sky either side of the pedestal column, it’s a clue to commence panicking.

I had to remove my headset to put the goggles on – WHAT A RACKET !!!!! I’ve never removed any headset before in a helicopter, and blimey, you can tell why you need them. So with the goggles (and headset) on, Steve gave instructions. First off a 180′ turn to the right (15′ rate), whilst maintaining the current height. And then same in the other direction. They went fine.

Then we did a climbing 180′ turn and a descending 180′ turn. Again, they went fine, although I did notice they were getting sloppier and I could sense I was losing concentration. But, they were safe.

We ended up at about 3200 feet and Steve suggested we leave it there as he didn’t foresee any difficulties with instruments and for us to do some autos, but first he suggested going upto 4000 feet to see what it looks like from that altitude.  Off we jolly well went to 4000 feet and WOW !!!!!! There were a few clouds about and we were above them. That’s a first for me in a helicopter.  It felt awesome. I suggested to Steve that we land on one as they were nice firmly shaped puffy ones, but he didn’t seem keen. :-)

Once past the clouds, we did a 180′ autorotation with me doing the throttle again. They still feel so new to me (autos). Whereas it doesn’t tax me much to fly the helicopter generally, even to hover now is RELATIVELY stress free, but autos seem to need 100% cpu cycles. So, HASEL checks then collective down and roll off the throttle. I rolled it off, but they crept back on because I hadn’t rolled off enough and the governor was kicking in. But, eventually I got it to a steady 70-75% rpm. We were nicely in autorotation, now the turn. Whilst the turn was under way I called the fake mayday. I seemed to get everything out. Pretend to turn the fuel off, the magnetos, the master switch after first pushing the ident button and we were down to picking a field to land in. With that picked, we came out of the auto at about 1000 feet and proceeded to the plateau. Just as I write this, I have remembered that I forgot to “check above” (for the climb away) which is the last thing I’m supposed to do in an auto. I did remember cancelling carb heat. Note to self!

So, once at the plateau we practiced a steep approach. 30 knots indicated and a steep angle of approach. I was aiming for a certain point, but overshot it by about 50 yards, but I’m good with that. It was good practice keeping 30 knots and the high angle of approach. Apparently, these skills will be used shortly for Confined Area Landings shortly.

Once in the hover at the plateau we did a hover taxi back along the plateau, a 180′ yaw and then we did a practice quickstop. That went ok. It was then time to head back to the airport.

An uneventful trip back (we like them) and a chance to catch up with a bit of chatting. We were asked to report overhead Stannington, which I did, and then to report base leg. A bit farther on and before I had chance to report base leg, Tower advised us we were number 1 to land, to report finals and be aware of an Easyjet who was entering the zone from the south and who would be coming in behind us.  So we kept on the speed (about 90kts). I said to Steve, it would have been better if they’d let us join midway.

Steve :- Ask them Dave. Say “Northumbria01 request midjoin”
dp :- Tower, Northumbria01 request midjoin

And we got it, which basically meant we didn’t have to cross the numbers at the bottom of the runway,and we could cut the corner and “land” midway up the runway. We did that and transitioned to a taxi just before Foxtrot and then taxi in. We didn’t even get chance to fully vacate before Tower was granting the Easyjet landing clearance.  All good though !

The landing was ok. It wasn’t a dp spesh i.e. up and down 10 times, but neither was it a 10/10 like I have done before. It was an 8/10 in my book. I went down to land and sensed sideways movement and then pulled up and went down again for a toe landing. It felt like the front skids touched down first and then the rest gently touched down after that. It felt very safe and I was pleased.

So, great lesson. Days like today are meant for flying. I would have had another lesson, but they were fully booked. I’ve turned my single lesson tomorrow into a double. Already looking forward to it !!!

Video to follow

Tony Wells’ Poems

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Just came across some poems written by my former microlight instructor Tony Wells. They’re so good, I felt I had to share in his honour. He died of cancer, aged 65, in 2004 :-(

A remarkable aviator, a remarkable man, and a remarkable poet too !!

My friends
There are two gentlemen of the sky
In any weather they will fly
One is grey and the other bald
Collectively they are quite old
They will fly and show no fear
This bothers me of friends so dear

The instructor
Oh-five thirty is the time
When out of bed I do climb
To look upon the morning sky
Is this the day that I will fly?

Oh it looks so good to me
As I drink my first cup of tea
It will be a glorious day
Not for in bed to stay

Boil the kettle, flask to fill
Egg three minutes just the thing
Ready to dip my soldiers in
Ring Airmet then the weather forecast I will get

Twenty five knots at a thousand feet!
Hail and thunder and possible sleet!
Off back upstairs I creep
To find her there still fast asleep

Now I think that I was wise
For it will give time for other things
Beside the wind to rise!

The Self Made Man
I am forty five years old and a self made man
I have a wife, two kids and a car as well
Now there is something I promised myself before I die
That is to be an aviator, you know, to fly

Now I am a self made man
And I am pretty smart
So an answered an ad in the Exchange and Mart

I went along and made my bid
Got this lovely thing for two hundred and fifty quid
Now I am a self made man and pretty bright
I am now the owner of a microlight

It’s got a wing and a trike as well
And the bloke I bought it off was loathe to sell (I’ll bet)

Lessons, not me, I am a self made man
I’m off to the beach you see I can
At beach waiting for the wind to drop
Photos first, then off I got

Now the wife said it flew
But not a lot
It ran on the ground and shot in the air
Oh it gave her a hell of a scare

Now I am a self made man
I know this is a bit of a hitch
I will be okay
But the plaster does itch.

Crystal Clear Day
Two thousand feet above the farm
The air is crystal clear and calm
Five thousand feet above the bay
Hills and Lakes not far away

Three six zero is what I steer
Upon the day that’s crystal clear
Over Cark and Barrow near
Ten more miles to Windermere

Lakes Coniston, Wastwater, Bassenthwaite
Hills and Valleys still bathed in morning dew
Oh give me the words that I may speak of
Speak of this fantastic view

And I think of pilots gone
Of Ian, Simon, Dick Clegg and John
And so I dedicate this to you
This crystal clear day that I flew.

A cog in time
If I could re-live this life of mine
In other words, nudge a cog in time
Would I be good at school
And use an education like an academic tool?

What opportunity I know I could have
If I had done more with what I had
Oh it’s so short, this life of mine
Can I but nudge a cog in time?

Oh the frustration, is life passing me by
Can I do more before I die?
Is there time for me to put the clock back
Re-deal the cards from a brand new pack?

Well I cannot nudge the cog in time
I cannot shed this old frame of mine
Oh death, Do you know what I mean?
But to face you at night I can beat you in my dreams

But in the broad light of day
That cog of time it ticks away
There is no second chance for this life of mine
For there is no one who can nudge the cog in time.