Was offered a cracking opportunity to get some R44 time at £120 an hour today. The R44 is a 4-seater sibling of the R22 and at a quarter of the normal price, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse. Unfortunately, some film work that was destined for friday which required the R44 to make this trip today, had cancelled and the knock-on effect was no R44 time.
But, as a friend commented, onwards and upwards 
dp
Didn’t expect to be flying today, but I managed to get a lesson in.
The weather looked bad for lunchtime and afternoon, but Steve rang and said we could fit one in, in the morning. And we did ! Quite a challenging and fun lesson.
Order of the Day was :-
When I went out to check G-MAVI over, the windsock was limp. Surface Wind = Variable, less than 3 knots. Boy, would that change !!!!
The Lightspeed Zulu headset is really paying dividends these days. Today was a good example of it being worth the money. I heard everything that was said, not needing to ask Steve “what did they say ?” at any point.
So, 25 departure, right turn to Morpeth. The winds may have been calm on the surface, but it was like riding a bucking bronco at 1000 feet. I normally like to go upto 2300′, but the cloud prevented us going higher than about 1500′. At times we skirted the cloud, which is so much fun !!
With VORs, what you’re supposed to do is to TIT.
T une
I dentify
T rack
Once past Morpeth, Steve Tuned the VOR to St Abbs VOR, and we tried to listen to the morse code to Identify it was St Abbs and then we tracked some radial. This went fine. Conveniently, this led us to the plateau where we did a 180′ auto to a powered termination at 5 feet. By this time, the wind had really picked up. Over the plateau, it was showing as 20 to 30 knots, which makes for a much easier ending to an autorotation. It’s the first auto I’ve done which felt good – NOT perfect, but it felt good. We’d have been alive at the end of it, for sure, although Steve may have chipped one of his nails Would the helicopter have been ok, well, not too sure about that ?! 50/50 !
I felt I did the entering fine, the throttle fine, maintaining rotor rpm fine, hitting the spot fine, the flare went really well, AND the pop too. The only negative is once I’d done the final flare and POP (of the collective), I didn’t push the cyclic enough forward to get us level for the final (cushion to the ground). In hindsight, I think this is because I know we’re not going to land, so I’m doing it with a view to ending in a hover. But I need to do the steps as if we were going to do the final level and cushion that we would do if the engine quit for real. Will work on this next time.
With that done, we did a very entertaining 360′ turn. The wind doesn’t half make it hard !!! Steve spotted some fast jets in the distance. My mind was too much on the 360′ turn to see ANYTHING. We did another 360 and I could see them this time.
With them in sight, we headed off to do some confined area approaches. We did two, each to a different confined area. They went fine, although the surface wind was no quite turbulent, so it made for quite challenging moving around the confined areas once down.
With the confined areas complete, we headed back with a view to doing some more autos on the way back. Not one of the autos did I remember to do the fake Mayday call. It’s not that I forgot, more that I was concentrating on the actual flying of the autos. Will try and get the Maydays in next time.
These remaining autos were to a 500 feet recovery. We did two max range ones. That’s where we take rotor rpm to 90% (gulp) and maintain 75 knots. Slight change to the recovery in that Steve said to lower the collective, do a little flare to bring rotor rpm back up and then power away. Worked ok I think.
With all of that behind us, we side stepped back to the field and we rode the horse as it jostled us around the sky. It really was quite a ride. 
We were asked to do some orbits to allow Tower to get some flights away and 1 flight in. Here is a gps track of the whole flight and you can see the 2 orbits on the right hand side (just to the North west of Seaton Burn (bottom right). These were 2 turns in the air, but you can really see how the wind made them 2 turns in totally different spots. Shows the wind direction quite well.
Once the last flight was in, we headed closer to the field and did another orbit waiting for a departure and then we were given our cue.
The windsock, that was previously limp, was now horizontal and the wind was nicely down the centre of the runway (very kind of it), so it took about a minute (or two) to fly from one end of the runway to the end !!
The taxi’ing back from the runway to the parking spot was a riot !!!! You’d think I’d been drinking (it should be on the video !). It was like the helicopter had a mind of its own. But, Steve let me take it all the way back in and the landing wasn’t bad considering. 7/10, better than some of the ones I’ve done with NO wind (and they’re easier).
Great lesson. Felt like a lot of stuff really came together.
There may be a chance on Thursday of a cheap lesson as we pick up a brand new helicopter (for the school) from somewhere near Stratford and bring it up. Fingers crossed for that. Be nice to see a different part of the UK (from the air).
Newcastle to Carlisle
Carlisle to Newcastle
Newcastle to Carlisle
Carlisle to Newcastle
Flight 32 – 18th September 2009 – 1135 – 42 minutes – Total so far – 34 hours 4 mins
Flight 33 – 18th September 2009 – 1300 – 42 minutes – Total so far – 34 hours 46 mins
Got my solo hours up today. Did a land away at Carlisle.
The weather was good. Very calm. Surface Wind variable and low. 2000 feet winds were 180′ at 10 knots.
I’d mostly plotted the route and track before I got there, leaving only the magnetic track to work out, given the spot winds.
It’s been a while since I’ve solo’ed so I was a bit anxious walking up to the heli, but as soon as I started checking her over, all my nerves disappeared and I was in the zone.
My concerns for the trip before I left were……
Being handed to Newcastle Radar and what kind of banter would be involved
Working out where to land, taxi etc at Carlisle and being able to understand them ‘cos I’ve struggled with Carlisle a few times before.
The concerns were unfounded and the R/T went swimmingly throughout to my great relief. Actually there was one cockup on the R/T but I’ll come to that. But, from an “understanding the R/T” perspective , it went great, partly, I am sure, because of the new headset. And I suspect because Steve wasn’t there, I’m more alert to everything on the radio.
So, first thing of course, was checking the HP R22 out. Steve wasn’t there when I arrived, but he’d left it fuelled and oiled and left instructions with another instructor (John) to get me on my way. John rang Carlisle to get them to expect me and I booked out from Newcastle.
The heli was good to go. I did the checks, got the first heading in my head, got permission to start, clearance and permission to taxi and I was on my way. Here was where I cocked up on the R/T. I’d set the frequency for Newcastle Radar in anticipation of being asked to switch to Radar after departure. Unfortunately, I’d forgot to switch back to Newcastle Tower, so I called Newcastle Radar asking them for my clearance. They were canny about it though. So, taxi to Foxtrot, Runway 25 departure with a right turn. The visibility was about 6 miles, so it wasn’t brilliant, but VERY flyable, just not pretty to look at.
First Leg to the north of Ponteland, very short. The HP without the extra fuel tank and with only me in it, is like a rocket ! I’d estimated 75 knots (about 86mph) in my plan, but pulling 21 MAP, it was more like 90 knots most of the time. (approx. 104 mph). So, the whole trip including startup, shutdown took 42 minutes. So probably about 30-35 minutes from Newcastle to Carlisle.So, the extra power had made up for the 10 knot crosswind and more.
The handover to Newcastle Radar went fine as did the handover to Carlisle. On the way over, I was under a Basic Service, which means I get information (if they have time) about aircraft in the vicinity. They told me about a low flying Hercules en route to Spadeadam (big military area of land). I told them I’d keep my eyes peeled. They later asked if I had a visual and told me where it should be , but I just couldn’t see it. I’m normally quite good at spotting other a/c, but to my annoyance I couldn’t see it at all. 
Shame !
Anyway, Carlisle was quite busy with most of the aircraft being given 07 approaches, but I was givem instructions to land on the threshold for Runway 19, which suited me better anyway. They included instructions to exit at Bravo. As I was about 600 feet on the approach, they asked me if I needed fuel. When I said I didn’t (“Negative”), they said cleared to land on the helipad. Cool !!! So, last minute diversion to the helipad, skipping over the grass. The landing was a 5/10 (still very safe, but not a kiss, more a fist in the face). It was so close to being a 10/10, but it just didn’t smooch onto the “H”. So, a dp special ensued where I played with the “H” (up and down) and in the end (about 7 seconds later), I thought of something Scott had said (“You need to commit to a landing and go for it”). So, I got it lined up with the “H”, tried for a 10/10 and missed, but then committed and we clunked down. Safe, but not pretty. But Bang on the “H” – ish!)
I shut her down and then went for coffee and a bacon sarnie. Yum !! Whilst there, I plotted my route back.
After a toilet trip, I was good to go. I checked her over again, got comfy and booked out over the radio. They gave me permission for rotor start and we were warming up.
When I was ready, I had a check of the whereabouts of Carlisle and where they may ask me to go hoping that may help my comprehension of them. But it didn’t prepare me for what they said at all.
dp :- Northumbria02 ready for taxi
Carlisle Tower :- Northumbria02, taxi towards the windsock at your 4 O’Clock position.
Strangely, I looked over my left shoulder ?! Then it dawned on me 4 O’clock is on my right.
Well, I understood what they’d said, and I could see the windsock but didn’t know what they were going to get me to do after that. But, I was happy with doing it, so….
dp:- Taxi to the Windsock, N02
As I approached the windsock, they were busy with other aircraft so I got into a nice hover. So much easier in calm winds. The windsock was very limp !!! There was no wind at all.
Carlisle Tower :- Northumbria02. With a departure to the South East, you’re cleared for takeoff.
dp :- Departing to the South East, cleared take off.
One last check. All instruments green, all the lights off. Go Go Go !!!
The flight back was uneventful. I kept checking on the map (in both directions) to make sure I was where I thought I was, but in the end, I put the GPS on, not so much because I needed it, but more because you don’t have to find your place all the time. It’s a pain taking your eyes away from flying to work out where the red track line is and then work out where you are. The GPS is just so much easier. When I did the PPL(A) many moons ago, I’m pretty sure GPS wasn’t available to civilians, certainly none of the aircraft I flew had it in. But then in a light aircraft it is easier to hold a map and fly than in a heli.
I was a bit eager when reentering the Newcastle Zone. They’d granted me permission to enter at Stagshaw about 15 miles before I got there. So I was already thinking/worrying about would they want me to do a right or left handed circuit for 25. So, once in the Zone, I said…..
dp :- Northumbria02, north abeam Stagshaw, QSY Newcastle Tower.
Which means I want to go to Tower. The sooner I knew which circuit it was and where I was joining, the happier I’d be.
Their reply….
Newcastle Radar :- N02, Are you visual with the field ?
dp :- Negative
Newcastle Radar :- Report field in sight.
That made sense. They wanted to keep me until I could see the field in case I needed directions probably.
5 minutes later, when I reported the field in sight, they handed me over and Tower gave me a right hand downwind join to 25.
I was number 3 to a Dash-8 and Lynx helicopter. I had visual with both, which is always reassuring.
The approach was great, as I was following the Lynx at about 1/2 to 3/4 mile. He went down Foxtrot, I followed him off.
Once vacated (the runway), I wasn’t sure where to park. There was no big wide spot, there was next to the Lynx and a businessman’s jet, or between the bowser and the R44. I went for the latter. It was a tight spot, but if I breathed in, I’d be fine. I knew I could do it cos the winds were so light.
It would have been nice to end on a 10/10 landing, but it was a 6/10. Again, still safe, no movement in any direction apart from down.
So, absolutely loved this flight. It had a purpose (Bacon Buttie) and was an enjoyable flight.
Nice chat with Steve on my return, before heading home with 1.4 more solo hours towards the 10 required.
