September, 2009

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Lesson 31 – 15th September 2009 – 1005 – 1 hour – Total so far – 33 hours 22 mins

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

Another great lesson today.

We started with a discussion about what to do. It was clear I need to get my solo hours up as I’ve only got about 2.25. The prospect of going to X and back without landing didn’t really appeal to me, so I suggested a trip to Carlisle and back to land away and Steve said that was ok. Sadly, the weather precluded the trip, but it’s an exciting thought for the future :-)

Instead we did some more instrument work (I need to get instrument hours up too) and some confined area landings which made out for an excellent and fun lesson.

Steve came out with me today to see how I was checking her over. That was good because it was some reassurance that I was doing 90% correct, but also reaffirmed and refreshed some of the names of helicopter parts and their function and things to check. I was quite surprised to find out that this isn’t tested in the General Flying Test (GFT). But, I expect it’ll be needed for the commercial test, so all is not lost and this is essential stuff anyway.

We started her up and we’re off to Foxtrot to hold for a 07 departure. Quite busy for departures so we held in the light aircraft warm-up area. Here I was presented with the choice of hover practice or putting her down. I felt the need for some landing practice, so whilst we waited, we did some landing/liftoff combos, probably about 3 or 4. I did a 10/10 one which always leaves me feeling warm inside, and a couple of 6/7′s. We were then asked to line up and wait.

No sooner had we “lined up” we were given the go and off we jolly well..….

Once at level flight, Steve had me don the instrument goggles so I could only see the instrument pedestal. He asked me to …..

  • Hold a heading
  • Climb 300 feet
  • Descend 300 feet
  • Turn 90′ to the left
  • Turn 90′ to the right
  • Do a 180′ descending turn

All on the way to the confined area.

It all went well.

Then we approached a different, more confined area than previously.

The wind was a Northerly wind, but the area was naturally west-east, which meant it was a bit of a challenge. The wind was also quite light about 5 knots, so given the direction that was probably a plus.

We did the powering back to 53knots level to find the available MAP. We had 6.5 in hand. This reminds me, before I forget, a joke from yesterday. We had the same amount of MAP available yesterday (6.5 inches).

Steve :- So, you have 6.5 inches in your hand, I mean “in hand”

LONG 5 SECOND PAUSE as dp is concentrating so hard.

The joke hits. Late laughter ensues !

Steve finds the time it took for the joke to work funny. I’m laughing at the joke etc etc…..We have a laugh for sure !

Anyway, back to today. After doing the S’s checks and with our 6.5 inches IN HAND, we were spoilt for choice for the approaches. We initially tried a west to east approach to make the most of a gap in the trees and the more lengthy runway-like shape of the confined area, but at the decision altitude, it didn’t feel right so I suggested going around. The wind was more northerly than forecast.

With the wind being so light, Steve suggested a southerly approach as there were less trees on the last few yards of the approach. This made it a downwind approach which always gets my heckles up, but Steve (as always) was bang on. The lack of trees (small shrubs instead) allowed us to get lower and use the confined area for more of a flare. It worked well.

So, once in the confined area in the hover, we did the “move to the right, turn right” routine and then taxi’ed to a point close to the edge of the area. We had enough power for a towering takeoff and Steve had me pick a 12pm, 3pm reference. Once I had them, we pulled 24.5 MAP and we shot up. Once clear of the trees, we transitioned away. It should look great on the video.

We did another orbit and approach and picked a different location in the confined area for the towering takeoff. For the second one, I started the transition a little early, but you live and learn.

We then headed back to EGNT. Steve did an “Engine Failure Engine Failure etc” on the way back. Did the “entering” fine, totally forgot the Mayday call which come to think of it, I forgot yesterday too. It was a 180′ auto, and the field I picked wasn’t as good as the one Steve had picked, so we changed to his one. It was a big field of newly harvested wheat awaiting the farmer to come round with his combine.  Steve said to go to “powered termination” so we went right down to 5 feet or so. The flare went really well and the pop of the collective and subsequent recovery are a bit of a blur, but there was a lot of yawing, but we made it back into a hover. Still need lots of work on the powered termination and the Mayday call. But, I’ll get there. Steve looked back as we transitioned off and said we’d made a mess of all the nicely rowed hay and that the farmer wouldn’t be best pleased and we should give it some wellie. It made me laugh. We had made a big circle of hay. Hope it shows on the video.

We then headed back home.

I made the call to rejoin the Zone quite late (my bad), so we started doing an orbit as there was so much radio chatter going on, I couldn’t get a word in edge ways. But, half way through the orbit, we were cleared to join.

The trip back was uneventful. The landing was a 6/10.

Next lesson is Friday and I may be going solo to Carlisle (weather and machines permitting). Looking forward to the most expensive bacon buttie you can buy. That’s not because the cafe is expensive at Carlisle….It’s a poor helicopter costs joke.

While I remember, I’m already starting to put my training head on. When I used to be an IT trainer, I used to have to think of ways to get concepts across to students in an easy to visualize/remember way. Subconsciously, I’m already starting to think about how to get helicopter concepts across. I’m sharing this in case it will help others with a problem I had. Occasionally, we fly in the HP model of the R22. It lifts off and lands differently to the non-HP variant because of it’s more forward CoG. I was sharing this with Steve as it helped me get my head around the difference. To experience the difference, try the following…..

  • Take your shoes off and put them together in front of you while you sit down, toes facing away.
  • Grab both shoes with one hand in such a way that when you lift them gently and slowly off the floor, the toes of the shoes are the last thing to leave the floor.
  • You now have your own R22 HP.

As you lift them off the floor each time, analyse the angle of the shoes.  When the heels are 1 inch off the ground and the toes still touching, how would you get the shoes level again, what movement of your hand (cyclic stick) would be needed to get the (shoes) heli level.

Also, you can mirror the double landing of the R22 HP. Lower the shoes until the toes are touching, think about what movements are needed as you get the heels down, to stop the helicopter moving backwards. Hard to explain in a blog post, but have a play.

Here’s the video from yesterday’s confined area…….Today’s will be tomorrow.

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Lesson 31 – 15th September 2009 – 1320 – 1 hour – Total so far – 32 hours 22 mins

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

Absolutely brilliant lesson – Loved it !!

Got a chance to listen in Rich’s helicopter debrief as I arrived (another student). It’s always good to chat to fellow pilots and trainee pilots and it’s quite reassuring to know that others face the same obstacles and hiccups. Good to know I’m not alone !

Once Rich had gone, Steve did an in-depth briefing on Confined Area Landings. I was glad of hearing it a second time, because it takes a few briefings sometimes for things to sink in. I was overwhelmed before the last lesson and during it, but today the briefing cemented my knowledge and the actual lesson felt really good – kind of like everything came together.

So, Steve booked out, as I went out to G-MAVI (Northumbria01), checked her over and started her up. The ATIS was not very healthy today. It gave the surface wind, temperature, dewpoint and that was about it. No runway in use, no pressure settings and no Information designator. So, I was thinking how I could get that across to Tower without rambling on for 2 minutes, but thankfully some other pilot was already reporting it and from that conversation, I could tell they already knew there was a problem too.

Startup Checks are starting to flow much better now. I’m not fluid, far from it, and still have to check the checklist, but I’m getting to the point where I’m checking a section heading and remembering the X number of things in that section. So, I’m getting quicker at it, without forgetting things, which is good.

With Steve onboard, we taxi’ed to Foxtrot and then a left hand turnout from a 07 departure. Normally, I climb to 2300′ but today that would have put us above the cloud, so we kept about 1500′. We still skirted cloud which is a lovely feeling, don’t ask me why !

Once out of the zone, we headed to a wooded area next to a prison. En route, we rolled the power back to see how much was required for 53 knots level flight and I think we had 6.5 MAP available (plenty) and we then started the first of two orbits around the confined area. Steve had said to keep the confined area at 45 degrees at all times. Not too sure I did that exactly, but after a few more attempts I’ll get that. Certainly, I circled it working out angles of entry and departure. We looked for the S’s.

  • Site
  • Surroundings (inner/outer)
  • Surface
  • Slope
  • Stock (Livestock)
  • Sun

and some other S’s I’ve forgot. But basically, a handy way of thinking about all the things you have to be aware of.  There were some pylons on the approach, and some telegraph wires on the departure. But, it was like a mini runway as far as space was concerned and I was confident we could get in and out.

After 2 orbits around the confined area at about 500 feet, we made our approach. I’m not forgetting applying Carb Heat with any descents these days, but I am forgetting to cancel it at 500 feet, which is particularly important for confined areas where you need all the power available. Note to self !!

The approach to this confined area went much better than the previous ones with Scott where I had to abort the first one and it’s dawned on me why. When I did them with Scott, although we didn’t know it at the time, we were landing downwind (i.e. with the wind behind us). No wonder I struggled to slow it down and get it in. But, with the wind towards us today, it was so much easier. Once in the confined area (basically a strip of land surrounded by trees), we did some more of the turns where you move to the right, turn to the right, move to the right, turn to the right. They went fine. We then taxi’ed back to the trees at the downwind end, so we had ample space for the transition. I think we then did another power check and we had about 1.5 MAP available for the departure (again, ample for a vertical or towering takeoff).

And then we did a normal transition to leave the confined area and flew straight into another orbit (for practice). A second approach and hover concluded the second practice confined area landing. We didn’t actually land because….

  1. We’re not allowed to land away from a licensed aerodrome and
  2. The grass was so tall, the tail rotor would have been in the grass

So, with the second approach done, Steve suggested trying a towering takeoff. What a lot of fun. As the name implies, we pull full power (24.5 today) and then we zoom up and as we stop gaining height, start easing it forward and transition away. Awesome !

With that done, we headed back to the airport.

On the way back, Steve said we were going to practice an autorotation to a power termination. Basically

  • full lowering of the collective
  • throttling off the engine
  • enter autorotation
  • find a suitable field
  • setup an approach
  • Flare at the last second
  • POP the collective and
  • HOVER

The first one went well. I managed the throttle initially, all good, but as I stopped the rotor rpm from rising into the red (by pulling collective), the correlator told the engine to get back unto speed. So I learned that you have to HOLD the throttle off and stop it correcting itself. Good tip !!!

Steve later said that I’d done 95% of the whole thing. I was chuffed, ‘cos I’d put it more at 80%, but everything happens so fast, especially towards the end when you’re flaring 50 feet above the ground etc….

So, I thought we were all done. I made the call at Morpeth to ask for rejoin instructions and we’re heading back to EGNT. Totally to my surprise and completely OUT OF THE BLUE, Steve says “Engine Failure Engine Failure Engine Failure”. Well, without even thinking I instinctively lowered the collective, and turned into wind. I took a moment to think “what the hell” and then remembered to stop rotor rpm from rising into the red. I think I even remembered to hold the throttle off on this one. I did feel Steve do something at some point, maybe some minor throttle work, and then at about 300 feet we went around.

Loved it. It was a total surprise and a real test for the panic that would be there (but tenfold) were the engine really to quit. I was pleased that it was kind of instinct too. My only concern is if the engine really went and noone was saying outloud “Engine Failure Engine Failure Engine Failure” would I still lower the collective as quick. ;-) LOL.

Anyway, thinking the lesson over, we climbed and headed back to EGNT. We were asked to do a couple of orbits on left base for 07.

Here’s the GPS of the orbits over the Golf Course..….

orbits

With the landing aircraft down, Steve made a radio call and asked if we could do another auto onto the runway and that was ok with them, so we did another auto to a powered termination and that went well too. Steve said I did 99% of that one. I think he helped with the throttle on that one too.

So, brilliant lesson – one of my favourites so far and that’s with a landing rated 4/10 on the dp scale. The landing was safe, but one skid touched first and then when they both touched we clunked down, not graceful, but we made it ;-)

So, all good !!!

Here’s the trip we did..….

wholetrip

Here’s the confined area stuff in more detail..…The larger circles are the orbits and the more narrow oval things are totally rectangular circuits ;-)

approachorbits

Video to follow tomorrow if time permits..…

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Video of Confined Area

Saturday, September 12th, 2009

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Lesson 30 – 11th September 2009 – 1134 – 1 hour 6 minutes – Total so far – 31 hours 22 mins

Friday, September 11th, 2009

Yesterday, after the lesson with Steve I was confident that I could have done another lesson had I booked it. I was refreshed and ready to fly more.

So today, I had booked 2 lessons but I was so exhausted after one, that I called it a day. Why ? Because we did Confined Area Landings, and I found it VERY mentally draining.

Today’s lesson was with Scott. I normally fly with Steve. Scott and Steve have quite different training styles. Steve’s cool, calm (and fun) approach gets the best flying out of me (Yes Steve, that’s my best ! ;-) . Scott’s full-on approach is more challenging and although I probably learn more, I get flustered and don’t fly at my best, but I do enjoy the challenge immensely.

So, today’s lesson and another beautiful day for it. Hardly any wind at EGNT. Scott was there as I did the pre-startup,post-start checks. I was doing his checklist flow, but forgot about switching the radio off before starting. A good habit to get into in case I fly an older model where the starting current can blow the radio.

For some reason, Tower had a problem hearing me. We weren’t sure if it was my headset or Tower was doing something else when I called for clearance. Later transmissions seemed to be heard fine. Although, Scott had problems hearing me. Will need to keep an eye on that. Or probably better to keep an ear on it !! I think we sorted it later by me pushing my volume up, but it’s a bit of a blur.

We taxi’ed to Foxtrot and were asked to Line up and Wait on 25. That’s a first for me in a helicopter.

No sooner had we got in position than we were given the “GO”. Once we were on the climb after the initial turnout, it was instrument time. We’d forgot the goggles, but to be honest it didn’t make any perceivable difference. Once you focus solely on the instruments, the scanning you need to do stops you looking out anyway. The only downside is you don’t know how much your peripheral vision is helping you out, but I didn’t feel like it was helping much.

So, we did climbs, turns by instruments and they went fine. I think I stayed within 100 feet of any altitude and the headings were +/- 15′, so I was happy with that. At this point, I was feeling in control of everything and on top form mentally.

As the flight progressed, the headset problems left Scott a bit frustrated. I was struggling to hear him over the radio banter. I think I needed to tweak some headset knob, but we were too engrossed to bottom it out, or at least I was. His frustration with my headset, started getting me on edge and my performance started to wane a little.

Once we’d done the instrument flying, we concentrated on Confined Area Landings. Scott had done an excellent and extremely thorough briefing before we even took off and I felt full with information, overflowing even. But, often, things are easier when you actually do them.

So, confined area landing as far as I can remember, involved a recce circuit to work out angles of approach the confined area, and possible departure angles. Then a lower circuit (approx. 1,000 feet) to look for any obstructions etc..….

Then an approach with an abort decision altitude to attempt a landing, but with a decision to abort if anything untoward is spotted.

On one of the downwind legs, we rolled back to 53 knots, maintaining level flight and recorded the power required, which I think was 17.5 MAP. Take that away from 23.5 MAP (max continuous for today), gave us 6inches MAP to play with. Ample for a confined area approach. The first attempt, I had misunderstood and thought we were going to go around, so I was too high to get in, which is what Scott wanted. With me now understanding we were going all the way in to a 5 foot hover, we did a tight circuit for a second attempt.

It felt quite a shallow approach given the steep approaches I did with Steve yesterday. My understanding after yesterday’s lesson was that it was a steep approach, but Scott had me come in quite shallow. But, we made it this time, although I did lose balance which nearly required Scott’s intervention. He was at full alert for a second before I got it under control. Not even sure why it got out of balance. Weird. I was pulling collective, which normally requires left pedal, but I had needed to give right. Bizarre !

Anyway, we came to the hover in this kind of dip in a hill and we had raised ground all around us. It was great. We then did some pedal turns, but cleverly, he had me move the helicopter to the right, before giving right pedal. In this way, we’re sure that the tail rotor isn’t going to hit anything as we’ve just come from the place the tail rotor is going to turn through. Then when we’ve done 90′ turn, we rinse and repeat until we’ve scanned the whole area. It worked a treat and the tail rotor didn’t hit anything ;-)

With the area now clear for departure, we needed to work out how much power we had available. I think we were showing 23.5 to to hover in ground effect (IGE), leaving only 1inch of MAP to spare, so we ideally needed to do an on-the-skids takeoff. But as we hadn’t landed, this wasn’t possible, so we had to do an IGE transition. It worked a treat and we headed back to Newcastle :-)

On the way back, we had a nice view of a Tornado streaking past. Hopefully, I caught it on video. Will check tomorrow if I get time. Steve was with his student at the plateau at the same time we were there and both helicopters were flying back at the same time. And I think Steve’s student had the better view of the Tornado, which isn’t necessarily a good thing ! ;-)

We followed Steve’s helicopter back and although it wasn’t quite a formation landing, we were only half a mile behind them on Base Leg and down the runway which was neat.

We taxi’ed back and then I did a shitty landing, rating of 4/10 on the dp landing scale. There was sideway’s movement at the just wrong moment, so I had to lower the collective to plant us on firmly, avoiding Dynamic Rollover.

All in all, a hectic, very taxing, but thoroughly enjoyable experience. I’ll need much more practice at these, but Scott was very complimentary about the first attempt, which was well received. I always think I’m doing worse than I am. I think it’s because I’m not flying my best with Scott generally. I haven’t done a good landing with him yet !

I’m writing this and sense myself being far too self-critical, but that’s me. It’s the way I improve I think by critiquing myself harshly. Always nice to be told that it’s gone well though.

Lesson booked for everyday next week apart from Thursday.

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Video of today’s cloud flying

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

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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

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A break from flying

Monday, September 7th, 2009

Diving in Eyemouth

Lessons booked for Tuesday, Thursday & Friday this week

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No flying today either – Weather remains truly autumnal !

Friday, September 4th, 2009

But been playing with the new Lightspeed Zulu headset. First impressions………

Pros

  • Amazing noise reduction.
  • Lovely fit

Cons

  • Thumping noise in either (or both) ears (with ANR on) if I turn my head in a certain direction. Seems to be only there when the headset is on a certain way. If I reseat the headset, it disappears.
  • With bluetooth on (and connected to my iphone) I get a constant hissing in the left ear.

So, first impressions are mixed. Have emailed Lightspeed, so will be interested to see if their support is as good as is reputed. Watch this space….

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Weather atrocious today

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

I’ve been umm’ing and arr’ing about getting my own headset for a few weeks and I’ve took the plunge. After loads of research, I’ve ended up on the Lightspeed Zulu. It’s already burning a hole in the wallet, causing near-physical pain !! I’m not known for being an easy spender of money.

But, if you’re gonna do something, best to do it right.

What else can I tell myself to feel better about it ? erm……

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Lesson 28 – 2nd September 2009 – 1330 – 1 hour 6 minutes – Total so far – 29 hours 10 mins

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Today was Quickstops, Autos, Simulated Engine Failure, Emergency Turns

G-MAVI was getting its 100 hour service, so G-BZBU was the bird of choice (HP variant), aka Northumbria02.

It has a David Clark Headset and was a much better experience on the R/T front than the old school headset in MAVI. I didn’t need Steve’s help with any R/T today, which is a bit of a change.

As per usual, I went out to do the checks and start her up. I used the new checklist that I’d done from the R22 manual after Scott’s comments from the previous lesson. It seemed easier for some reason.

When it came to starting her up, it was clear the starter motor wasn’t engaging and she wouldn’t start. After each attempt, I’d wait a while and try again, but nothing.

I got out and had a look and it looked ok to me, so I tried started it whilst I was outside the a/c and it turned over ?!?!?! Weird !!! I got back in to start it properly.

With Steve in and all the checks done, it was a Runway 25 departure, right turn out to Morpeth. En route to the practice area, we did a couple of autos to a powered recovery at 500feet with me doing throttle and controlling rpm, they went fine :-)

Then we did a steep descent to the plateau, but it was a bit too steep and to keep it safe, I overshot by 30 feet, rather than risk Vortex Ring.

Once in the hover at the plateau, we did 25 minutes of quickstops, precision transitions and clearing turn practice. The winds were quite strong on the plateau so the clearing turns were interesting, but I was pleased with them.

The quicksteps started off being too quick, my bad. But, as Steve said, they should be a gradual steepening nose high attitude to stop quickly (when you’re practicing them anyway). In real life, I expect you’d do them as steep as they need to be to stop before you hit whatever it was that caused you to have to do it in the first place.

By the 4th attempt, I was doing them ok and was happy with them. Between each couple of attempts, we were doing precision transitioning, which is seat-of-the-pants helicopter flying at its best. Whizzing along with a groundspeed of 50/60 knots, whilst being <50 feet above the ground is awesome. I _DID_ take the camera and set it all up, but because of the different headset in this a/c, it didn’t keep the camera angle, so all I have (footage-wise) is a couple of minutes of initial heli checks and then 1 hour PLUS of the ceiling of the helicopter. :-(   Gutted !!!! Because it would have been great footage.

On the way back, Steve surprised me with a simulated engine failure and it was definitely a surprise. But after a few surprise remarks, I pushed it down firmly and the first bit went well. Steve suggested a turn to get to a certain field and it worked out great. The last 5 seconds are full on, because about 50 feet from the ground, there’s a flare, collective, throttle and pedal work. It was over in a flash. I didn’t think I’d done anything at the end, but Steve said I’d done a fair bit, but definitely not the whole thing.

Absolutely bloody gutted that the camera was pointing at the ceiling, ‘cos I’d have learned so much by watching it back !!! And it would have been fun viewing too (for Karen).

Damn and blast it !

That aside, was a great lesson.

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