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First Solo – An exciting day – YOU BET !

Saturday, June 27th, 2009

Lesson 14 – 26th June 2009 – 1115 – 1hr 00mins – Total so far – 14hours 45min
Lesson 15 – 26th June 2009 – 1300 – 1hr 48mins – Total so far – 16hours 33min

Well, today has been one of the most exciting days of my life and a huge learning experience, and not for the solo flight.

The day started off with a full cross country plan of the route to Carlisle. We worked out the headings to fly and how long to fly them. Scott came to help at one point, with a view how to plan it for the final exam to tick all the boxes. I went to do the checks and put some oil in G-MAVI. We had fuel for 2 hours and were good to go.

Once I’d started her up and got us nearly ready for the off, Steve came out and we did the final checks and we were on our way. Hold at Foxtrot, 07 takeoff, left turn after the fire station, and our first track of 310′ to the North of Ponteland (2 minutes). The weather was great at this point, although not quite great enough to fly the 1800′ we had planned, so we were down at 1400′.

Next was a 6-mile 272′ track to Stagshaw Masts and that went fine too. Finally the 17 mile 263′ track to Carlisle. I lost the heading by a few degrees quite a few times, but at our half-way point we were bang on where we should be, and with a nice tail-wind, we made Carlisle 25 minutes after departure from Newcastle. We then proceeded to do 35 minutes of circuits and autorotations, with me doing the last couple of circuits totally without input from Steve. I was pleased with my liftoffs, they had really improved, and they felt very smooth, and my circuits were generally ok. Not perfect 90′ turns and also, I forgot Carburettor Heat once and Steve gave a few coughs, and when they weren’t subtle enough, he looked down at the Carb Heat knob, and as I was concentrating so hard, I still didn’t get it, but when I did I was laughing !

So, with the circuits done, we taxi’ed to the fuel pump and while Mr Fuel Pump man filled her up, we went for a bacon buttie in Carlisle’s excellent little cafe. Cracking little airport Carlisle, scenery and wildlife (in the form of birds) are amazing !

Once we were refreshed, we checked the weather for Newcastle and it seemed to be getting worse, so Steve contacted another student who was going to come to Carlisle (Rupert) for some lessons to abort his lesson, so we could do what we had to do and then return before it got too bad. Weather-wise at that time, it was good for a return to Newcastle.

So, started Lesson 15, a Lesson I will never forget and probably the lesson I have learned the most valuable lessons from. Steve too I think.

So, I’m doing all the flying unless I say otherwise. Liftoff from the pump, taxi past Bravo to the grass hover triangle and then a few more circuits where Steve kept schtum. All good. One more autorotation (just in case the engine failed), I only entered it, Steve controlled the rotor speed and the final powered recovery. And then one last thing, before I went solo, we practiced an engine failure in the hover. We did about 3 of these, but Steve did them all, while I followed through. The way it works, we’re in the hover, Steve cuts the throttle, we apply pedal to counter the loss of torque and then a final pull on the collective to cushion the landing. Pedal-Something-Cushion. Pedal-Maintain stability-Cushion, something like that. Steve’ll remind me when I see him next.

So, with that done, it was solo time. I was as excited as a pig in sh+t. Gagging for it. So excited, I had forgot that the camera I had brought to ask Steve to record the moment for the blog was under the seat I was sitting on. Thankfully, Steve said he’d record it on his phone, which he did. So when I get the footage, I’ll post it on the blog. I reviewed it afterwards and some of it was great. He got my final landing and approached the copter with his camera video’ing and got the biggest smile on my face I have ever seen. The grin never ended. Can’t wait to see it again.

The solo’s were uneventful. Steve had said to do a circuit and if I felt comfortable with it, to do another couple if I wanted. He said not to worry about the spot turns, and just do 90′ turns to check we were clear, but I wanted to do them. He warned me that the heli would handle differently because of the different CoG. It did, the nose tended to lift up more if i recall correctly. I think the first liftoff was the worst, I seemed to spin round about 70 degrees, before I caught it, but once I’d sussed the differences, I was really pleased with how the 3 circuits went. A couple of the landings I did I was over the moon with, but the first one felt different (again, because of the CoG difference I suppose).

I didn’t forget Carb Heat once – result !

There were 3 helicopters doing flights around the airport at the time I was doing my solo. One taxi’ing, one inbound from the west.

Some nice R/T from when I was doing my solo bit….

Tower    :- Callsign, Approach from the west, caution the Robinson Helicopter doing his first solo left hand circuits to the left of (Runway) 07.
Callsign :- Approach from the west and good luck to the solo pilot. He’ll thoroughly enjoy it (or something like that).

Of course, I had to say thanks….I was genuinely chuffed…

dp :- Many Thanks, Northumbria01.

When I took off for the last circuit, I gave Steve a sign to say this was the last one. Each time, I’d picked a landing spot well away from Steve (who was in the Hover triangle), for safety, but also ‘cos I knew he would then know I was going up again. For the last one, I landed about 50m away from him. Thumbs up to Steve to show that I had the controls and it was safe to approach, and at this point, I became more aware of the surroundings. Once Steve was in, I noticed the fire engine was out and I pointed this out to Steve.

Steve :- Yes, that was for you.

And he was serious. Standard practice for first solo apparently.

So, with Steve back in, we headed off to the East and back to Newcastle and the most memorable flight of my 250 hours flying, bar none.

At Carlisle, the weather was ok. Cloudbase was about 1000′, if not a little higher. As we headed East, it got progressively lower and lower. Each time, we would have to fly lower and lower to maintain “Clear of Cloud” and “Visibile with the surface”. At some points we were flying at 3 to 500 feet. Forward visibility wasn’t brilliant at this stage, but it was a good 2 or 3km, which is fairly decent and very flyable in. One of the beauties about flying in a helicopter is that you can fly as slow as you want to stay safe. So, when we’d go through a patch of 1km forward visibility, we could slow to 50kts, or even slower.

Stagshaw Masts was in cloud, so we tried to head north of it, but the cloudbase was too low, so Steve (rightfully) felt it best to come through Hexham and follow the low ground in the valley, so we could keep under the cloud. I am flying at all times at this point, with Steve instructing me heights and speeds to fly.

We picked up the A69 at Hexham and followed that, both of us keeping a beady eye out for pylons. Suffice to say, we saw a few. Steve told me to fly directly over the pylon at an angle, so we knew we were over the wires. Good tip !!

So, here comes scary moment number ONE. 3 incidents occurred on the way back, they get increasingly scary. This was the least scary….

At one point, we were about 200 feet above the pylons, but starting to lose forward visibility because we were skirting the cloudbase. It’s important to remember that I am doing the flying at this point, for when scary moment number two comes. So, once over the pylon and having crossed it at an angle of about 60 degrees, I started to descend to increase the visibility. Once the visibility was back to “ok” and we could see again, we both sighed with relief and continued on. A second later, the pylons reappeared, they had changed direction and were crossing our path again !! This was scary moment number ONE. We had to skirt the clouds again to safely get past the pylon.

But, we made it and things seemed to improve after that, the forward visibility was fairly good at about 2-3km. As we continued to follow the A69, it seemed to worsen a little and come down to about 2km.

Now, although I am doing all the flying at this point, Steve had took on all the R/T, which was a welcome relief from my workload. But, because we are so low, we are only occasionally appearing on Newcastle Radar. So, quite often, Steve would report our position when they asked where we were. They were very helpful actually, relaying latest weather at Newcastle etc……

Scary moment two – So, we’re flying along with the visibility ok, but with us flying at 3 to 400 feet to get that visibility. All of a sudden, our helicopter is pulling 3G and turning to the left. Steve had instinctively grabbed the controls pulled full collective and yanked us right over to the left. I looked to Steve’s side and see a green military Merlin helicopter coming from the left, that is within FIFTY feet flying at 90′ to us but on a collision course. Instantly, without thinking I also pulled my collective lever up fully thinking we’d need more than Steve could pull (silly really). It was the closest miss I have ever had while flying. 50 feet may seem like an exaggeration. I can assure you it was not. As we were banking SHARPLY away, the Merlin helicopter was putting in a half-hearted turn to the left. It felt like Steve had seen it before they had seen us. Here’s what a Merlin looks like….(Thanks to Scott for pointing out that the first Merlin image (now removed) was NOT a Merlin, but a Sea King.) To give you some idea how close we were, it looked bigger than this when we saw it !! And coincidentally, the turn the Merlin pilot was pulling was in the same direction as this, but a little less severe.

merlin3

That was scary moment no. 2. Sighs of relief doesn’t really do justice to the relief that we had after that. But, the scariest moment was yet to come.

What made this last incident funny, was the R/T that followed. This was pretty much the conversation that ensued AFTER that incident.

Newcastle Radar   :- Merlin Helicopter, we have a Robinson Light Helicopter who has just appeared on our radar in your vicinity.
Merlin Helicopter :- Yes, we have seen the helicopter, I think we gave it quite a fright.

Steve and I were laughing. They would have had the shits put up them JUST as much as we had !

Even though this moment was hairy, it didn’t really phase us too much, at this point, we were starting to discuss putting down in a field somewhere as our real concern was the weather. We were SOOOO close to Newcastle, but it just seemed to be getting worse and worse. If you’re reading this blog entry, you might recall a recent flight where the weather at Newcastle was gorgeous and everywhere APART FROM Newcastle seemed to be having horrible weather. This time it was the reverse, it seemed that Newcastle was the epicentre of the bad weather, but we only know this in hindsight. The ATIS (a radio service telling us the weather), was saying the weather at Newcastle was ok to proceed. No LVPs (low visibility procedures) were in force. LVPs would have stopped us going any further.

So, we push on, and as we do, we seemed to be skirting cloud more and more at lower and lower heights above the ground. But, we were still in sight of the surface and clear of cloud, although, AT TIMES, lower than we would have liked. We were having to fly slower so that we could avoid pylons if they appeared. I was back on the flying at this point and followed the A69 all the way to the A1. As we approached the A1, it seemed to be improving, and we were both a little relieved ! We were able to fly at 500 feet, and at 50-60kts. As we turned north, following the A1, we were 2 miles from the airport and within sniffing distance of a cup of coffee.

Scary Moment 3.

Suddenly, from following the A1 by sight at about 400 feet, we could see virtually nothing. We had entered cloud. We could JUST make out ground beneath us, but not the detail of the ground. It was quite frightening. For the first time, I was anxious and I could hear same in Steve’s voice.

Steve :- This isn’t good.
dp    :- Let’s just do a 180′ and pick up the A1 again

Steve took over the flying and really took command…….

Steve :- Full Carb Heat (we had entered cloud, therefore more moisture in the air, more chance of carb icing)

dp :- Full Carb Heat Set

He then flew a 180′ on the instruments and to our great relief, 20 seconds later, we could see the surface again.  Within a further 20 seconds, we saw a green patch of land and there was no doubt that we had to put down. Steve landed us next to the A1 and a housing estate at Blakelaw. Steve got out as soon as we were down to stop the inevitable crowd of onlookers from endangering themselves by approaching this weird flying thing that doesn’t normally land on their grass next to their houses. He also rang the flying school, while I shut the heli down.

Suffice to say, in Steve’s words….

Steve :- David, we’ve shared a special moment together up there

I knew exactly what he meant. He need say no more.

Once the copter was shut down, I got out and we chatted about what we could have done differently. Things like this happen in aviation. I had similar experiences in my microlighting days. Sh+t happens. The most important thing is to learn from those experiences and work out what we could have done differently.

What did we learn ? Well, the weather at Newcastle (when we left and a good part of the way there) was ok for us to approach and land safely. But the trend was a bad one, it was getting worse and worse.

At the same time, we were getting closer and closer. And so, you get this “nearly there, nearly made it” kind of mental attitude. In hindsight, we should have paid more attention to the trend and less attention to how close we were. That’s what we learned. Would we do the same again ? I am 100% confident that neither of us would let the situation get so bad in the future.

We were down on the ground, and we were safe. Or so we thought…… ;-)

It turns out Blakelaw isn’t the most safest place from a crime perspective to park a £100k helicopter.

Before the blades had even stopped turning, people were coming from everywhere. It was just before the schools finished for the day, so once they were done, we were bombarded from all angles with school kids of all ages. Then the parents, passers-by etc etc….

If I had a 1p for every time someone asked one of these questions…..

Question 1 – Why have you landed here ?
Question 2 – When are you taking off ?
Question 3 – How fast does it go ?
Question 4 – Is it yours ?

etc etc….To be fair, even though Blakelaw might not have the lowest crime rate in the Tyne region, everyone who approached was friendly, but we did have to keep our eye on the kids.

At one point, when it was pouring down, Steve and I took shelter in the helicopter. All of a sudden, the helicopter starts bouncing up and down. Some kids were at the back of the copter, pulling down on the stinger (a black bar to stop the rotor hitting the ground).

We both jumped out and “asked” them not to do that. After that we were a bit more attentive.

So, very friendly people, but quite a few of them warned us NOT to keep the helicopter there over night, as it would be on bricks the following morning.

One bloke who lived in a nearby house, offered us the use of his bathroom and brought out some coffee for us, which was lovely and welcome. But where was the BRANDY !?!?!??!

About an hour after we had landed, Scott came out, and then a little later, the big boss Neil came out and we pretty much spent the whole afternoon (from 2.50pm until about 8pm) standing in the rain considering options. Discussed were taking off and flying 200 metres to the local car dealership and asking them to put it inside, or the local bus depot. But, after visits to both, they weren’t viable options.

So, it was left as waiting for the best visibility possible and then Scott and Steve took off and flew the final 2 miles to Newcastle, with me driving back in Scott’s wife’s car.

It was good we had all made it back in one piece.

So, a memorable day (to say the least). A VERY valuable one to me (and Steve probably) from a learning perspective. My first solo faded to insignificance from a learning perspective, but I didn’t mind. Flying a helicopter on your own is easier than with Steve’s weight on board anyway. He weighs a LOT ! ;-)

It wasn’t just us affected by the weather. I had recently got in touch with an old friend from my RAF days (Hamish Mitchell) (http://www.scotlandonfloats.com/). He is an Air Traffic Controller for the upper airways, but also runs a floatplane company in Scotland. He was flying from Norfolk back upto Scotland with his floatplane and we had arranged to meet at Kielder Reservoir, where he was going to land and we were going to have a cup of something and catch up. But, Kielder refused him permission to land, so we were going to meet up at Carlisle airport instead. But, by the time he was as far north as Carlisle, the weather had got so bad, he had to fly to the west of the Lake District and from the email I got, he was pleased to be back home too !!

So, an incredibly interesting, exciting and valuable day. The kind of day, money can’t buy and one I’ll never forget.

Roll on the next flying lesson !

Here’s a piccy of where we landed at Blakelaw. Note the visibility.

heligathering

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Lesson 13 – 23rd June 2009 – 1430 – 1hr 12mins – Total so far – 13hours 45 min

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

Good Day today. No Solo, but still great day.

This morning, I did some last minute revision for the Meteorology exam. I was expecting a 40-question affair like the Aviation Law one, but it was only 20 questions. The revision paid off with a 100% pass mark. It makes a such a difference if you’re interested in the topic.

Today’s lesson was about emergencies. I thought it was going to be “the first solo”, but apparently, they are only done at Carlisle (cheaper landing fees), and less pressure on student (negative r/t). But today was very interesting nonetheless.

A lesson takes the form of a briefing, sometimes with some work on the whiteboard from the instructor, or sometimes we’ll go through one of the many manuals. Here is one of the pages that the manual said for today……

ex11b

Here is what was on the whiteboard…..

lesson100

As I rode into the GA part of the airport, the helicopter was taking off with another student, so I cracked on with the Meteorology exam. Once that was done, I went to the observation part of the flight school and watched the Harrier pilot mess on with his a/c. Apparently, 2 Harriers had been flying in the vicinity and one had a bird strike. It was over at the main terminal part of the airport. The one in the photo below is the one with no bird guts in the engine…..

harrier

Both a/c had a full set of ordinance onboard (a/g bombs and a/a missiles)…

It was intriguing to watch him do his checks and then he got in the cockpit and seemed to wait for something. Eventually a Newcastle Airport Fire Engine turned up and he started his engines. I assume, because it was loaded with bombs that they play it extra safe. It was great watching him taxi away and then takeoff in what must have been less than 300m.

Perfect timing for Steve returning with a student and “my turn”. :-)

Steve debriefed the other student and then briefted me for the lesson.

We wheeled it over to the bowser for some fuel and then wheeled it back and then Steve left to book us out and I did the checks. Here’s G-MAVI (or Callsign = Northumbria01)

weatherindistance

Checked over, I called for startup clearance, started her up and did all the checks bar the 2 where the rotor is going full pelt. I called for departure clearance and then awaited Steve. When he turned up, I did the last 2 checks with the rotor at full speed, called for taxi and we we’re off.

I did all the flying. In fact, assume I do all the flying now, unless I say otherwise. So, to the holding point, and then take off, left turn after the fire station and north to morpeth. The weather was absolutely perfect !!! And what was weird is that it seemed there was a circle around Newcastle of perfect weather, but Teeside and Alnwick areas were full of thunderstorms (Alnwick area visible in the photo above). When I say perfect, I mean perfect. The air was so still………..There wasn’t a bump of turbulence en route to the site.

We did a couple of autorotations en route, and then did one down to about 200 feet above the beach. I was desperately keen to do the whole “entering into autorotation” thing, as normally I don’t control the rotor speed, Steve beats me to it. With the exception of the first one, I did the rest and I was pleased with the whole thing.

Once they were done, we went over to the plateau and did some circuits (they were fine) with some fake landings/take offs ;-) . My takeoffs were much improved today throughout. My landings too, probably because the wind was only about 10-15 kts. We then did some more autorotations, but this time with turns to see the effect that had and Steve got me to follow him through as he controlled the end part where you recover with full power.

Fake Land/Takeoff, spot clearing turns to ensure no a/c in the vicinity (there was another fast jet today (RAF Hawk)), and then we flew back to Newcastle. Short wait for 1 landing and 1 departure a/c and then landing on 07. Hover taxi in. Not that graceful, but not bad and a nice enough landing apart from the position which was too far away from everything, my bad !!

All in all, a great lesson.

The next time it’s definitely solo. We’re going to Carlisle for the day on Friday (weather permitting). Full cross-country planning, flying, the works. Once there, cup of tea, and then circuits with Steve, and then he gets out, and it’s just lil’ole’me. Can’t wait. Then lunch, then plan flight back and it should be great :-)

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Lesson 12 – 18th June 2009 – 11.13am – 1hr 12mins – Total so far – 12hours 33 min

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

I really didn’t think today’s lesson would go ahead, but I’m glad it did.

The weather was in excess of the minimum required for me to fly solo (winds need to be less than 15 knots). Winds were at around 20knots, gusting to 30knots, which is quite blowy (35mph). But, Steve felt I would benefit from a lesson where the weather wasn’t quite as ideal and he was dead right.

First off was a cup of coffee and a brief. Dynamic Rollover was the topic of the day. I asked Steve if we could practice one of these, but it’s a “no” ;-)

So, I went out to check the helicopter over. Steve went to check us out with ATC. The helicopter needed oil and fuel, so I texted Steve to bring the oil when he came out, to save a trip back to the hangar. As he arrived at the helicopter, his phone went off with my message – doh !!  He is on the “3″ network, and we have quite a few family members on “3″ and they sometimes never get texts or get them ages later. Weird !

So, we went back to get the oil and it started raining, so we waited in the hangar as it’s not pleasant checking an a/c over while it’s p+ssing down. Once it had enough oil, I wheeled the copter over to the bowser (my first time pushing it) – surprisingly light. Note to self, get the rotor blade in line with helicopter before pushing it.

Steve filled her up and then we wheeled it back to a safe distance from the fuel bowser and continued checks.

Flying a helicopter for someone with my low experience is quite different in calm or low wind conditions than when it’s blowing like it was today. I was concerned about the takeoff as we were probably only about 10m from the fuel bowser. But, Steve let me do it remarkably. I taxi’ed to Holding Point F(oxtrot) got the “go” from ATC, (hover) taxi’ed her onto 25 and then transitioned us off. I did every bit of flying today again, which is quite a good feeling, but TOTALLY exhausting. 30 minutes flying a helicopter is quite draining. I _KNOW_ it will become effortless with time and experience, but right now, it’s like when you start driving abroad and at first, you’re quite tense, but by the end of a holiday, you don’t give it a second thought.

So, we flew north, past Morpeth to “the plateau” as Steve calls it. It’s an area by some working quarries where we can “land”. We can’t land per se, but near as damn it ;-)      So, in our heads, we look at the wind, and pretend the hover landing spot is at a certain spot and then do circuits. My circuits still need to be tighter. This is where it would be easier with a runway, because it’s easy to know when you’re going downwind, base leg etc…. ‘cos you can compare it to the runway. With a plateau of grass which has no distinct shape, it’s less easy, but I did my best. Everything went fine, and I was pleased because the last blowy day (less windy than today), had seen my hovers be ALL over the place, but today, they were “ok”.

Steve is a great instructor. He had me in stitches today and at a time where I needed to really relax. When a helicopter comes into land, you do a transition from forward descending flight to the hover, before putting the heli down. So, I did that, got us to the hover and then “landed”. So far, so good. Taking off is trickier than it sounds as you need to be in a hover before your skids leave the ground, failure to do this correctly and we get the Dynamic Rollover thing, which we don’t want. So, I take off and get us in the hover, all good.

Now, then what we need to is to do a 360′ turn whilst hovering to check that the sky is clear of any a/c before we start a “take off”. Even in calm winds, this can be tricky, but in calm winds, I can do it. In these winds, and it was showing as 35kts on the instruments whilst we were hovering, it’s not quite as easy. The tricky thing is that you need to keep the cyclic constantly with some pressure in the direction of the wind. Not too tricky by itself, but then you need to use the yaw pedals to do the turn, but when you initiate the turn the wind wants to blow the tail back to the same position (like a weather vane) , so you need quite a lot of foot pedal work. Also, once the tail goes across the wind, it catches the wind and then you need the opposite pedal to stop it from whizzing in the other direction. Foot pedal work (depending on the direction of the turn)  needs more or less collective. So, it’s quite a balancing act. So, here’s the funny bit…..

Imagine the most ungraceful 360′ turn you possibly can imagine. That’s the turn that I did. In fact, it was probably 480′ turn and then a correction back again. But it included a climb of 20 feet, a movement to the side of 40 feet. It was quite a nightmare. Once I’d got it back to the hover and Steve was adamant that I fix the problem I made (nice one Steve), he said……..

Steve :- So, did you see any aircraft ?

Well, of course, I wasn’t paying attention to anything but getting the hover back. I chuckled at the time, but on the way home in the car, I was reviewing what we’d done in my head and spontaneously burst out laughing thinking of that moment.

So, although this particularly 360/480′ turn was horrendous, there were some that were more controlled, I’m pleased to say, but FAR from graceful. But, I was pleased with my performance given the wind.

So, after about 4 or 5 circuits, we did 2 autorotations. They were both just about me getting into autorotation, not the full thing. EVERY time I do the autorotation, I can get us into autorotation fine, but EVERY time, I say I will try and stop the rotor from overspeeding, but for some reason, Steve does that bit before I get chance. Will have to ask him about this. One of the autorotations was to a powered recovery at about 300′. The other was a powered recovery at about 5 feet, which Steve did.

Once done, another less than graceful 360′ turn and then I flew us ALL the way back, down runway 25, lovely transition to a hover and then hover taxi’ed us back AND landed but NOT by the fuel bowser like the last time and I’m more than happy with that, given the winds.

All good.

Steve got out of the helicopter as soon as it landed and left me to shut it down. I really appreciate the trust this shows.

Once back, debrief and then we sat for about 90 minutes listening to one of the helicopter engineers tell us all about which are the best helis from a service perspective – very interesting. Schweizer 300′s sounds like they should be avoided from a cost point of view. Very interesting.

2200 hour service on a Robinson R22 (if you send it back to the USA to get it done) is about £60k, but it effectively comes back a new helicopter. Interesting stuff.

In summary, a very enjoyable lesson. The weird thing is, I probably didn’t “learn” a lot, but the experience was invaluable.

Next lesson booked for tomorrow, 9.30am.

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Lesson 11 – 12th June 2009 – 12.15pm – 1hr 20mins – Total so far – 11hours 21 min

Friday, June 12th, 2009

Well, first off, the Aviation Law exam. The first few questions were all about the Chicago Convention, and the very kind of questions I was dreading. So, not the best start, but after that, they were more practical and I enjoyed it. Well, perhaps “enjoy” is a little strong !

Anyway, 88.5% with a pass mark of 75%, so I am a happy bunny.

One of the examiners said something which made me think that my theory tests from when I had the PPL(A) (25 years ago), might still be valid and I needn’t have resit the exam. I was pleased on the one hand, ‘cos it meant I wouldn’t have to resit all the exams, but on the other hand, I learned so much by resitting this exam.

I rang the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on my return home, and I DO need to retake them ‘cos it’s been 10 years where I haven’t been current. So, strangely pleased at that AND disappointed.

After the exam, it was Lesson 11. Today was going to be more circuit work. It went brilliantly 90% of the time ;-) And with a cracking ending !!

Steve booked us out and told me that it was going to be a different model of Robinson R22. It was the HP model.

dp :- “High Performance ?”

Not quite !

It was a model which had less weight and less endurance. 20 gallon tank, compared to 30 (over 2 tanks). It also had the battery at the front of the helicopter. What difference does all that make ?

Quite a lot actually. The CoG is farther forward and as I found when I took off, It lifts off the back of the skids first and the front of the skids are the last thing to lift off. This affects takeoffs AND landings as I found out. It felt like we were doing 2 landings for every 1 real landing. Land the front skids, then the rear and then stop it leaning back. Very strange, but nice helicopter with little else different. This helicopter belonged to a pilot member at the club and he has an arrangement with the school so they can use it. I think one of this student’s headsets was in the helicopter as I could hear everything very clearly !!

Favourite Lesson so far. Hope that’s not going to be my new catchphrase !

So, Steve showed me the slightly different checks for this model. Without the extra fuel tank, I had a lot more visibility of the rotor gearbox and other bits’n'bobs. Once checks were complete. Steve left me to do all the checks and start her up.

I got the ATIS, called for startup. All going fine so far. But, I missed a critical step out of the checklist. Now, previously, I have been using a checklist on my phone where you tick when you’ve done them and I never missed a thing, but it’s a bit of a fart-on to get the phone out, secure it on the kneepad etc etc…. So, I had reverted to a paper one, but I kept losing my place.

Anyway, when it came to starting her up, she wouldn’t start, she’d tick over, sound like she was starting and then immediately conk out.  I can sense people reading this, shouting what I’d missed ! Yes, You’re right !!!

I hadn’t set the mixture to rich, so there was no fuel. And strangely, engines need fuel !

Steve gave a wry smile !

So, with Steve’s help, I took off. He came straight on the controls when it was getting light, as he knew this model lurched forward ‘cos of the CoG, but once he’d stablised the hover, it was all me. :-) Love it.

I hover taxi’ed to Holding Point F, called for departure. We were told to hold position pending a taxi’ing light a/c. And all this time, I am successfully hovering. This still amazes me ! Can’t believe I’ve cracked it given where I was 5 hours ago !!

Then we were given takeoff clearance and I transitioned it directly from the holding point straight across the runway and we were on our way north of Morpeth.

I made all the R/T calls. I misheard one thing, but steve kept me right.

And then we went to the plateau (next to a quarry) and I took us down, transitioned to the hover, and then we basically did circuit after circuit. Now, we’re not allowed to land away from a licensed aerodrome, so when I say we landed, I mean we got to a couple of feet above the ground (stationary) before taking off again. More circuits with some landings and takeoffs. And they all went great !! I was in total control.

Steve then picked a spot that I had to land on, and again then went fine.

After about circuit number 6 or 7, my concentration was going. I’d been up since 5.20am revising and I was a bit knackered. Steve (excellent instructor he is) sensed this and asked me if I was ok. Told him I was flagging and his response :-

Steve :- Take me home James.

Here comes the best bit. I flew us ALL the way home. Did all the R/T, transitioned onto the runway adjacent to the taxiway to the flying school and here’s the best bit………….

Hover-taxi’ed us back AND landed. Now, it gets better !!

The flying school has a fuel bowser, and 50 metres from the fuel bowser was another helicopter. I asked steve where he wanted it, thinking he would say miles from the bowser, but he said :-

Steve :- Put it between the bowser and the helicopter

And what finished the day off beautifully, was I did it and it was my best landing of the day !!

Awesome. Still on a high about it.

So, good day. 1 of 7 exams out of the way. Now to (re)learn Meteorology ready for a test next week. Thankfully weather is a topic I’m really interested in, so this should be easier.

I think I’ll be solo next trip. Think it would have been today, were it not for the medical, but that’s on Sunday.

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Lesson 10 – 8th June 2009 – 4.30pm – 55mins – Total so far – 10hours 1 min

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Before I forget, one of Steve’s mates had flown in, in a Eurocopter. He used to work for the flying school and was explaining the good fortune of how he got his current job flying for the Ford Rally Team. He flies all over the world and it sounds like a dream job. Very interesting listening to him describe how hard the Instrument Rating was to get and how being 50 feet out had caused him to need to resit the exam at a personal cost of £4000+. Yikes !

He had lots of good advice and it felt 100% right, what he was saying. He told me to enjoy the PPL and not worry about the big picture ie the mountain I have to climb. It will all come in time !!! Words of Wisdom indeed.

So, the flight back was against a headwind, but we made good progress, but unfortunately arrived back at the airport at rush hour !!! So, we were asked to hold just north of the Emirates Control tower. I was flying in circles and must have done about 10 of them easily in total. All the time, we had the best view in the world of all the departing and arriving jets. Awesome. At one point another light a/c was also waiting to get back to land. He was AFTER us, but was hinting at landing before us. Someone said “Patience” on the radio, which we both thought was funny. When our time came to land, Steve (AND ME!) didn’t want to lose the opportunity, so Steve took it straight in landing at Holding Point F. All good !!! He’s so skilled at flying helicopters – I am always in awe !

So, great day overall. An expensive one, I expect, although I haven’t paid for this one yet.

Next job – get the medical and get ready for the Aviation Law exam !

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Lesson 9 – 8th June 2009 – 13.30pm – 50mins – Total so far – 9hours 6mins

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Loved this lesson. It was hovering/transitioning/circuits and autorotations, and my favourite, landing/taking off. I did everything bar the autorotations.

So, Steve caught up with Rupert and he had a chat with him about how his cross-country had gone – interesting to listen in on.

I went out to do the checks, start her up, and Steve let me take off, hover taxi along the yellow taxi line cross all the way to a grass triangle (size of a football pitch (I NEED IT THIS BIG !!!)). And then using that as a BIG helipad, we did circuits and they felt much more polished this time, plus as a lovely twist, after each one, I landed and took off. Once I get it on the ground, I always have this huge sigh as I push the collective down as if to say “I’m still alive”, Steve always seems to find this very funny, which in turn makes me laugh. So, we probably did about 5 circuits and they felt really good. With only a minor thing wrong here and there (ie speed, tightness of turns) they went really well. And then we finished off with 3 autorotations. So, the first one, I followed Steve through – I did a circuit, but we end up very high on approach and then Steve did the first one and I followed through. Then the second one, I did it and he monitored the rotor rpm, and then a third ‘cos I didn’t get what he meant by “POP” which is what he says at the very end as he “POPS” the collective to bring the engine back in.

He let me hover taxi back and then he did the “park by the fuel pump” manoeuvre, although I’d loved to have seen the fuel guy’s face if he saw me hover park next to the pumps ;-)

It was then Rupert’s turn again. Whilst he was out, there was a lady in the cafe who was waiting for her son to fly in. He was one of the pilots who was flying a Lynx helicopter in a formation consisting of 2 Lynx and 1 Sea King helicopters. I think I overheard that they had come all the way up from Yeovil (Devon) to Carlisle, NOT ABOVE 200 feet !!! And sure enough, when she pointed them out (flying in), they were at about 200 feet.

Here’s a picture of them getting refuelled (rotor’s stll running and VERY loud).

lynxseaking

And here’s some video of them taking off beautifully and flying off (in formation).

Once they had gone, Steve and I had a chat along the lines of “You need to get your medical Dave”. That’s a sign that Steve thinks I’m nearly ready to go solo. He mentioned this the other day but I thought he was joking when he said “We’ll have you solo by 10 hours”. I thought he meant in 10 hours time, but I think he meant 10 hours flight time. Yikes !! But, compared to the other day, where I thought he was joking and one screw short of a full bag, when he said it this time, I thought, “Yes, I could do a circuit on my own, and there’s a good chance I can land it”. That felt good !

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Lesson 8 – 8th June 2009 – 10.30pm – 60mins – Total so far – 8hours 16mins

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Weather surprisingly good today. Wasn’t expecting much flying at all this week.

The plan for today was to fly over to Carlisle, do some circuits there (where it’s cheaper and less R/T required), some autorotations, take offs, landings, transitions and fly back. Sounds like a lot of flying, but another student pilot (Rupert) was going to be flying also, so we were giving each other breaks.

We didn’t plan the trip and legs as I thought we would, but rather, pretty much checked the heli over and set off. I suspect the full cross-country planning stuff will come later. I forgot to mention that on the last trip, Steve was confident enough in me to get me to do all the checks, initial R/T and start the helicopter up without him there, which strangely I found quite nerve-racking. It was the same today, so….

  • External checks
    Before Start Checks
    Get the ATIS (weather, runways in use)
    Call for Startup
    Startup
    Post Startup Checks

    • At this point Steve joined me and it was Run-Up Checks, call for taxi and then I took us up in the air and started the hover taxi off. Steve took over approaching the hold and he did the transition to forward climbing flight and then it was my turn :-)   I flew us to Carlisle, with Steve explaining the landmarks to look out for (Stagshaw Masts, Craggy Cliff in the distance, and then Haltwhistle). Pretty straightforward routing. We had to fly south of Spadeadam, which I think is a big army/air force expanse used for military training. The R/T was trickier, because we were passed to Newcastle Radar and then Spadeadam, and then finally Carlisle. I’d like to say I did it all, but Spadeadam was very hard to understand, and not knowing what to expect (comms-wise), there were a number of times, I had to say “Steve, can you get that ?”.

    On the routing from Stagshaw Masts to Haltwhistle (just south of Spadeadam), we were receiving what’s called a Basic (Information) Service. And in a nutshell, that’s them informing us of information that’s useful for the safety of our flight, eg weather, traffic. They called us and informed us of a fast jet flying south in our vicinity. VICINITY !!!!! Well, we scoured the sky and Steve spotted a Tornado which passed about 300 feet below us and 300 feet in front of us. Moments like this are just awesome. It had a full load of ordnance on too.

    Carlisle is a beautiful little airport, much more suited to private pilots. It has views of the Lake District, the sea, and the most amazing variety of birds. I know all the birds that visit our bird nut offerings, but didn’t recognise one of the birds that I saw. Must look them up. Anyhow, back to helicopters. So, arriving at Carlisle, we were ok’ed for circuits with negative R/T (a dream), no talking on the radio. Full concentration on helicopter flying ! I did all the flying from the transition to hover (which I feel much more confident in), and then from the hover to forward/climbing flight, turn left, left again and then left again and another transition.

    My first circuit was pretty poor (and that’s being kind). Steve told me circuits should have 3 x 90′ (90 degree) corners, whereas mine were more 2 x 180′ turns. I knew where he was coming from 100%. But, after the initial awe at getting back in a helicopter and hovering, they became better. I am sure I did about 4 circuits and the last one definitely had 3 x 90′ turns. All the hovers, at this point, were much improved. FAR FROM perfect, but safe and I was confident that I could bring it back to the hover if I lost it, which is key really ;-)

    Then, Steve let me hover-taxi to the apron and he took over to do the final parking next to the fuel pumps. I can’t think why he didn’t trust me to put it down within 10 feet of 20,000 gallons of aviation fuel ;-)

    That was Flight 1 of the day !!

    Steve left me to shut it down, which was nice, another sign he trusts me to stay alive and not damage the helicopter. I followed him in to the office the school has there and met Rupert (the other student).

    Rupert was further on in the course and he was going to be doing some cross-country solo work and some solo circuits.

    I followed them out to watch Rupert take off and get some pictures.

    gmavi

    Plus some video of his takeoff (very like mine!)

    Whilst they were away, I got chatting to some microlight aircraft pilots. I was asked where I did my microlight aircraft flying and who was my instructor, and was told that my instructor Tony Wells (one of the first microlight instructors) had passed away a couple of years ago. Very sad ! Nice bloke.

    When Steve had done a few circuits with Rupert, he got out, leaving Rupert to do his cross country and Steve and I went to the cafe for a cuppa ! We then went to have a look at the tower at Carlisle Airport. Very helpful crew in there who explained all the equipment.

    insidetower

    We saw Rupert return and land on the helipad…..

    fromthetower

    And then it was my turn again…..

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    Lesson 7 – 4th June 2009 – 3.25pm – 55mins – Total so far – 7hours 16mins

    Sunday, June 7th, 2009

    Today’s lesson was hovering and hover taxi’ing. It went great – one of those lessons where I left buzzing !

    This is the first lesson where Steve let me takeoff from the original position the helicopter was parked in and start the taxi off. I think Steve took over a few seconds later to get us to the holding point, and then we were cleared to enter the hover square, which is an area where we can practice hovering right next to the runway. The hovering wasn’t great but I was well pleased with it. There were a couple of maneuvres, where I impressed myself. One was where I was hovering and asked to do a 360 turn around the spot. This is trickier than it sounds as the wind affects the turn and can move you off the spot. It went really well, so well, I asked Steve if he was helping me, to which he replied the only thing he was doing was “praying”. Made me laugh.

    I lost the hover a couple of times, but I think this is the first lesson where I have got all the lost hovers BACK to a hover – really pleased at this !! It was going so well, we then proceeded to do some hover taxi’ing. Basically, we were (or I should say I was), taxi’ing from one point on the hover square (more a rectangle about 300 yards long) to the other side, turning round, back again and repeat until dizzy. I was really pleased. Not perfect, but I was happy with it.

    We also did some takeoff and landings. One of the landings had some sideways movement (NOT GOOD!), but we got down. Landing is HARD. It requires the perfect hover and a lowering of the collective, which changes the hover in itself – they will be a challenge.

    That aside, all good !! Steve then let me taxi back to the parking spot and attempt a landing, which I did. he then took off and got it 20 yards closer to the fuel bowser. Loved it !!!!

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    Lesson 6 – 3rd June 2009 – 11.45am – 1hr 15mins – Total so far – 6hours 21mins

    Sunday, June 7th, 2009

    Absolutely drained after this one !!! It’s always the ones where I don’t crack it that leave me drained. It’s as if my mind is going 100mph to work out what went wrong.

    Today was transitions. This is where the helicopter goes from a hover to forward/climbing flight and from descending/forward flight to the hover. I suppose it’s the equivalent of a takeoff/landing for a fixed-wing aircraft.

    The transitions themselves went “ok”ish, but of course, they involve a hover. We did circuits where you takeoff, fly back on yourself and then transition back into the hover and they went ok as well, but once I had got into the hover, the hover just WASN’T there today. I am disappointed in myself because it was worse than the other day.

    But, Steve could tell I was feeling dejected, and said that I shouldn’t worry. He explained that he was nowhere near my level by this time in his PPL and I was doing very well, which was just the pickme up I needed. Thanks Steve.

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    Lesson 5 – 1st June 2009 – 5.35pm – 50mins – Total so far – 5hours 6mins

    Sunday, June 7th, 2009

    Two weeks of a break (holidays and bad weather). Favourite lesson so far.

    And I felt THE BEST after this lesson. I felt I had cracked the hover. I was able to maintain a hover for two minutes and get all the hovers that I lost back to a hover. It felt great and I felt on top of the world. Previous hovers have seen me hold the cyclic with a grip of steel, and today I felt much more relaxed.

    The weather was gorgeous and very hot, so hot, we had to take both doors off the helicopter to keep cool, which made the R/T challenging.

    I felt so comfortable with the hover, that Steve suggested we do some takeoff and landings. As usual, I follow him through on the controls and then he let me do 2 landings and 1 takeoff. Landings are trickier (imho) as you don’t want ANY sideways or backwards movement at the moment you touch down, as this can cause the helicopter to roll over (dynamic rollover), which is bad. But, my efforts were “ok”, bordering on “poor”. Takeoff is easier, but again you don’t want to lurch to the left or right (or front or backward), so you, kind of, have to be hovering before you takeoff. Lots of fun !

    Bizarrely, the cheapest lesson so far, for the most fun !

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