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Two Solo Flights – To Carlisle, Bacon Buttie and back

Friday, September 18th, 2009

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!)

notquite

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.

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Lesson 23 – 6th August 2009 – 1440 – 50 minutes – Total so far – 25 hours 14 mins

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

Gorgeous weather today. I had, in my mind, an idea of what today’s lesson was going to be, namely some low level work (quick stops, autos and the like). It wasn’t to be, but I thoroughly enjoyed the alternative.

Steve suggested to maximise the weather and get a solo cross country in – Alnwick and back. Winds were mostly easterly and light – Runway 07 in use.

I plotted the course, and Steve went through the routing and features, which was helpful. 14 gallons of fuel required to allow for delays, taxi’ing, and I left with about 19 on board, so I was good to go.

I decided to use my iphone as the nav plan. It allowed me to easily time the legs and see when I should be arriving at the end of each leg.

Once we’d filled her up, we moved her well away from the bowser and other aircraft – a wise move !!! Actually, we’d have been ok for the liftoff, not so sure about the return bit though, but more on that later.

Permission to taxi to Foxtrot was granted with the clearance and I was asked to hold, which I did into the light wind. My first thought was to put it back down again on the ground, but then I thought that a bad idea as it’s good hover practice. After about a minute of waiting, I realised that I’d cocked up one of my checks. The door was open (my door). So, I had to put it down to close that. Silly me – done it before too. Need to ensure I do the checklists and don’t get carried away with the excitement of being solo.

With the door shut, Tower were on the blower asking me to perform a northerly departure straight away as they had an inbound. I was ready and I was off :-)

2300 feet was the intended altitude and i’ve realised that if I want to hold a certain altitude and I concentrate on it, I can do it, but when I want some sight-seeing or to check the map, then it can drift off.

With only me in it, I was maintaining more than the 75knots on 21 manifold pressure, more like 80-85 knots, so I arrived early at Morpeth, and similarly early at Alnwick. It took about 15 minutes to Alnwick. Quite a calm, non-turbulent flight.

Once at Alnwick, I travelled west for a bit over the golfball radar thingamajig, and then back to Alnwick. Then I took up the heading back to Morpeth, and mosied on back.

On the way back, I noticed that the Oil Pressure had gone into the red. Steve had gone through what to do in loads of scenarios before I left.

Steve :- If the clutch light comes on and stays on for 8 seconds or more, pull the clutch fuse out, and land immediately

He went through a similar spiel for every possible scenario you could think of.

Apart from this one, sod’s law !!!!

But, I was high up, circa 2500 feet, and I had the time to think it through logically. My thought process went something like this….

David thinking :- ok, it’s something to do with the engine, so if that stops, it won’t stop the rotor going because of the sprag clutch. ok, ok……erm……Pressure is high, too much oil, nah, there was only 4.7 litres in. What’s the oil temperature ? It’s fine ! Oh, that’s good, maybe it’s a faulty instrument

At this point, I gave it a good bang. And nothing happened. But then about 20 seconds later, it came out of the red, and into the yellow, top of the green.

And relax……….

To be fair, I didn’t relax, and was on high alert for an engine failure just in case. I kept a very beady eye on the Oil Pressure. It did go back in the red again, but because the oil temperature was fine, I wasn’t overly concerned.

Steve had told me to ensure I was at least 2000 feet over Eschott (another smaller airfield). I was keeping my eyes peeled, and saw a light a/c (Cessna) which was quite close, but we’d seen each other, or at least I’d seen him/her, so there never felt like there was any danger there. Hopefully, that will be on the video that I’ll put up tomorrow.

I reported back to Tower once at Morpeth and was asked to join left base, which I did. I was number 1 to land, reporting finals. Before I had chance to report finals, I was cleared to land, but asked to expedite the landing as someone was on 4 miles final (behind me).

So, I kept the speed on and it ended up being a fast approach, 80/85 knots. I’d forgot to cancel carb heat, not drastic with just me on board, thankfully.

I ended up doing quite a high flare, with very little collective pulled and a 15 feet high taxi (should be 2 to 5 feet) to get out of the way of the incoming. Steve suggested that i was quite within my rights to say “negative” to the request to expedite my landing. I am definitely too polite at times.

Now, this is where it got messy (in my book). I knew where to park, Steve had told me and the taxi and turn went fine, but then I started doing my “fart around for a minute” landings. I think the fast “transition to taxi” had made me tense. I could sense I was holding the cyclic very tightly, never a good sign and not something I generally do any more, but obviously, I did today.

Well, as can be seen by the video that I’ll put up, it wasn’t pretty to look at, but it was safe. I was up and down like something that’s up and down a lot !!

Eventually, I was down. For a second, I thought I’m going to do that landing again, so I can end on a good note, but then I remembered the oil pressure issue and thought better of it.

So, really enjoyable flight. Next flight, next friday. I’ve booked one for wednesday too, but there’s an appointment with kp on wednesday, so I’ll need to cancel that one.

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Lesson 22 – 31st July 2009 – 1455 – 1 hour 25 minutes – Total so far – 24 hours 24 mins

Friday, July 31st, 2009

Today’s lesson was a cross-country navigation exercise. It was a round trip from Newcastle, flying overhead Seaham, Durham Tees Airport, Hexham and then returning to EGNT (Newcastle Airport).

It was in G-BZBU, the HP variant of the R22.

I was kicking myself before we even got started, because I’d charged up the camera, brought “film”, even got windscreen wash to clean the helicopter bubble window, only to find I’d forgotten the mount which straps the camera to my head ! Gutted !!

Quite an uneventful flight as flights go, but good pratice nonetheless.

We departed south over the Tyne Bridges, and headed to Seaham. I’d plotted the route the day before and updated the headings with the Spot Winds earlier in the day. The route was a very easy route. Halfway between EGNT and Seaham is a windfarm. In fact, each of the 3 main legs had windfarms half way along the legs, which made navigation a breeze. I held headings ok, but my altitude varied +/- 300 feet depending on how much there was to distract me on the ground.

The only eventful things were some amusing R/T banter. Someone had had a bird strike at EGNT after we had took off, and someone sounded like a 12 year old girl, which we found amusing and then someone else sounded VERY laid back, not so funny when you just read about it, but funny to us. Oh, and while I remember, EGNT Tower hadn’t received our booking out form, so I had to book out on the radio, which was a first.

On the leg from EGNV (Durham Tees) to EGNT, Steve said something like……..

Steve :- Do you remember the adverts about Martini ?
dp :- Anytime, anywhere, any place, that’s…………
Steve :- Engine Failure, Engine Failure, Engine Failure.

Well, by the time, I was answering him, my heckles were up, and I was ready for something unexpected, so I don’t think he even got his second Engine Failure fully out, and we were autorotating. It still took me a bit by surprise though, ‘cos I hadn’t thought through what I had to do, so although I had rammed the collective down, I’m not so sure I would have caught the rotor rpm if Steve hadn’t done his spiel where he reminds me about that and balance.

But, I caught the rotor rpm, I even caught the balance, but then as things were going so well, I started doing the Mayday call, and then I lost track of the balance, and the speed “appeared” to drop off, but that was soon corrected.

When Steve asked which field am I going for, I had a nice one into wind, but it was an uphill slope, so when Steve told me of this, I chose another next to it. Lesson learned !  When I used to fly microlights, I would often land on uphill slopes, but I expect this is much trickier in a helicopter.

We did a power recovery at about 500-600 feet and then continued to Hexham. On the way back, I called Newcastle Radar, and their reply didn’t make any sense. I think they told us to not go any farther south than Blyth. Well, we were 30 miles south of Blyth when we called ?!

A little later, it was very clear that he had us confused with another aircraft, even after I had told him we were over Tow Law (10′s of MILES south of Blyth). Eventually, he asked our intentions, once I told him what they were, he seemed happy with who we were.

We had to hold for about 7 minutes overhead the Northern Boundary as some a/c landed and departed, but then we were cleared to land on Taxiway Foxtrot (not the runway), which was nifty. It was the first time I’d done this, and it was nice to do a transition that carries on in the same direction as a taxi to the stand.

Sorry there is no video footage, my bad.

Here’s a photo of Steve about to fill up G-BZBU.

stevefillinggbzbu

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Lesson 21 – 25th July 2009 – 1455 – 1 hour – Total so far – 22 hours 59mins

Saturday, July 25th, 2009

Well, I was gutted last night when I learned that the Carlisle trip (planned for today) wasn’t going ahead for various reasons. I found out when I was half-way planning the routing, just to make things even more frustrating. But, all is not lost, with a great lesson taking its place.

Sunderland International Air show is going on today at the seafront, so Newcastle Airport was hectic traffic-wise with all the departing show traffic. But, Steve said he could do a lesson nonetheless, so I went to EGNT.

He was still out on a trial lesson, so while I waited I planned the routing for a trip I wanted to do. Steve had said that the next lesson would be some navigation to a certain spot. I was keen to do some more autorotation practice, so I had planned a lesson in my head, that involved a navigation to Esh Winning (where we live), and then on the way back, I’d hope we’d do some autorotation practice.

I put the idea to Steve and he was very happy with the plan. He told me to book out via Blaydon VRP, which I did and then went out to check over the helicopter.

It was great being out on the General Aviation (GA) Apron as all the fast jets for the airshow were there. There were F16s, RAF Hawks, Apache Helicopters, a Chinook taking off, some aerobatic planes taxi’ing. It was awesome. I took some video footage today of the GA Apron, and hopefully will post the edited highlights tomorrow. I also video’ed the whole flight today with a helmet cam, but that will need heavy editing, so again, hopefully tomorrow, that’ll be up.

So, I went out to check out the heli. It was VERY close to the bowser (about 10 feet from the rotor blade, and VERY close to a beautifully decal’ed Hawk (probably about 10 feet too). As I was doing the checks around the heli, the pilot was in the Hawk, prepping it for departure. He’d started up and taxi’ed off before I’d finish my checks. I think word has got around about my hovering skills ;-)

Busy on R/T today. I asked for startup, and was granted that straight away. Whilst I was waiting for things to get upto speed, I called for clearance, but was asked to “Standby”. 5 minutes later, Steve arrived, and still no callback, so Steve suggested a reminder call, and it worked, and we had clearance to go.

Once upto speed, call for taxi. I didn’t think Steve would let me liftoff so close to the bowser, but he did. Thanks Steve. I was pleased when we were clear of it. We taxi’ed past 4 fighter jets (2 on the left, 2 on the right), an Apache Longbow helicopter (I think) and a light a/c who’d taxi’ed ahead of us. And we hovered next to Foxtrot. Typical polite dp, I just hovered next to Foxtrot, thinking the light a/c was first and he should go first, but Steve just said to tell Tower we’re ready for departure and sure enough, we were given immediate takeoff clearance. Footage to follow……

For the first time ever, we headed south ! Exiting the zone overhead Blaydon (Visual Reference Point). And then following the headings I’d worked out to get us to Esh Winning. Although I did set the headings and fly them, I was too much in awe of seeing the geography of the south of Newcastle to properly do the navigation. I had forgotten to time the legs, and was just navigating (with Steve’s help), by the 2 (bloody) big aerials between Newcastle and Esh Winning.

It took me 40-45 minutes to drive to the airport, it took 13 minutes to fly it in a helicopter. Straight line travel is awesome !

I’d warned kp that I was due (and what time), and she’d tipped off Tommy and Eileen (our neighbours) so when we overflew Esh Winning, I could see Tommy and Eileen in the drive, but couldn’t see kp and Michelle and Freddy who were visiting. I purposely had flown a safe height (probably about 800 feet agl), so they were just dots, but because I was looking for kp in the front garden, I didn’t see them waving in the back – I was too much concentrating on the flying.

We did a 30 degree turn out of Esh Winning and headed to the Windmill Farm at Tow Law, where we started the first of many autorotations. The first one was a simple (no turns) job. I was pleased that I controlled the rotor rpm correctly, and would have made a field into wind fine.

The next one was a 90′ turn autorotation. Again, that went fine, and then I think we did a 180′ turn auto somewhere near Kielder reservoir. That went fine too.

It wasn’t all good though. Although I had done what I told myself I MUST do, AVIATE then COMMUNICATE. I had totally AVIATED correctly, but had forgotten to do the Mayday call. But Steve did it each time, so it gradually sinks in to me !!!

I’ll get that next time.

A lot of learning to fly helicopters is getting so comfortable with something that it requires zero thought, that you can then concentrate on something else. For example, hovering used to take 150% of my CPU cycles to do it badly and now I can do a half decent job on 20% of my CPU cycles. In fact, at times, I’m not even thinking about it, which is great.

Once i get to that stage with auto’s, I’ll be able to do the Mayday call no bother.

So, all the autos went well. These were all autos with powered recoveries at about 300-500 feet.

Once we were getting close to the Newcastle Zone, we stopped doing them and I made the call for rejoin instructions and we were told to hold overhead the Tyne Bridges, which we duly did. The reason for the delay was the most sophisticated fighter a/c ever built (Typhoon) was on final approach and for some reason he had priority landing ;-)

With him down, we flew onto left base leg for Runway 25, and then unusually Steve said something to Tower. I couldn’t hear what he said, just as he can’t hear what I say to tower, because of the headset setup G-MAVI has. We can hear each other without having to push any buttons (live setup I think he calls it), but it means we can’t hear what each other say on the radio.

It turns out he’d got permission to do an autorotation final approach to a powered recover at 5 feet and I’D be doing the whole thing. So exciting !!

I’d asked Steve before we left, if he’d mind if I call out what I’m doing and when I’m going to flare. Normally Steve does a running commentary, saying “Not Yet, Not Yet, Not Yet, Flare” as we come in without engine power.

I thought if I did it, Steve would feel more able to relax knowing that I WAS going to do the flare at the right point.

So, as we were coming in with a very fast descent rate, I was calling out “Not Yet, Not Yet, Not Yet, Nearly going to Flare, Flaring Now” or something like that. I did the flare and the flare (I thought) was good. We ended up with zero ground speed and zero vertical speed, so all was left was the final cushion. So, as Steve says, it was then time for “Pop”, pull the collective up and recover to a 5 feet hover. Well, there was a bit too much yaw, but that was my bad. Overall, I was really pleased with it. Steve later told me that the rotor rpm went a bit high. I have NO idea why it did this, so will have to ask next time.

This was the first time I’d done the whole thing from entry to recovery with no Steve input. As Steve later said, it’s a good autorotation if you can walk away alive and he said we would have done. Good enough for me.

The final bit was the best bit. The GA apron was still chocka block and the Hawk was back, meaning I had 10 feet (if not less) either side of me to get the heli down. Steve let me do it, credit to him. I went in nose first, and then had to do a 180′ yaw. It felt very close for the tail close to the fence and the bowser. Not sure if it will feel that close on the video footage. We’ll see…. But, I did the turn and landed it. It was a hard landing, but Steve said it was safe and it felt safe. But I didn’t fancy farting on for one of my 30-second kiss-of-a-touchdown landings with so little room for error.

So, great lesson. Loved it and the first one was some video to watch back.

Next lesson is more navigation, but more thorough next time. We going to (or I should probably say I am going to) navigate to Seaham, Durham Tees Valley airport (passing overhead), then Hexham then Newcastle.

Not sure when this week, but I’m already looking forward to it !

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Lesson 20 – 20th July 2009 – 1445 – 1 hour 20 minutes – Total so far – 21 hours 59mins

Monday, July 20th, 2009

Some last minute Air Nav revision in the morning and then a windy ride in on the bike for the exam and a lesson.

Straight into the exam, which involved plotting a route darn sarth somewhere and then answering loads of questions (25). 92% score (2 questions wrong, 1 of which was stupidity on my part), but am happy with that.

Steve was out giving someone an air experience ride, so I chatted with some other pilots, which I always find intriguing.

The lesson plan for today was extensive………..

  • Simulated Forced Landing (with Mayday call)
  • Autorotations (normal + 180′)
  • Steep Turns
  • Precision Transitions
  • Quick Stops

Think that was it, but we did even more than that :-)

Quite windy today. The METAR said 13 knots, but it felt a bit blowier than that at times. Surprisingly smooth trip given the winds.

I booked us out today (a first), and then went to get her started up. When I asked for startup, that was approved and they threw in a clearance too all in the same conversation. All good.

Taxi to Foxtrot and a request from ATC to expedite takeoff. So, no nicely nicely following the taxi line, it was straight over the grass, transition and away clearing the runway asap.

Off past Morpeth, and then the first of 2 autos. The first one went well. It only involved a left turn to get into wind. Once we were nicely setup to land in the field, I did the practice Mayday call. The Mayday call was a good one in my opinion, got everything in. And we could easily have landed in this huge field that we lined up with. All good so far.

The second attempt was, how can I put this, DIABOLICAL !!

We climbed back upto about 2000′. Steve did his “Engine Failure, Engine Failure, Engine Failure.” I rammed the collective down and quickly assessed that we needed a 180 degree auto to get back into wind, and I started setting that up, got us into a turn, and then the mistake I made was forgetting the flying and doing the Mayday call. Well, the flying went to pot. I hadn’t realised that we were WELL out of balance, I also saw the airspeed indicator reduce rapidly to show very LOW airspeed. Steve’s favourite saying and it’s a good one to know….

Steve :- Airspeed is MONEY IN THE BANK.

Well, we were next to skint (penniless) !!

My natural reaction was to nose forward to get some airspeed, but that wasn’t the problem. We were so out of balance that the pitot tube wasn’t pointing in the direction of travel and was misreading our true airspeed.

When we finally got rebalanced, the airspeed increased dramatically and speedily to about 85 knots. Steve reminded me about the balance and then I corrected it all, but all of this happened so fast that the Mayday probably got as far as the third rendition of the word Mayday and that was it.

So, lesson learned from this …………….  Aviate THEN communicate.

I shouldn’t have worried about the Mayday call until I was flying correctly.

Great learning experience though.

On the plus side, I did a much better job of controlling the rotor rpm. It got CLOSE to the red on one occasion, and we had a low rotor rpm horn moment, but I felt in control and recovered from these issues.

So, all in all, only a little disappointed in myself, despite the second atrocious attempt.

We then flew towards the plateau and did some Steep turns (30 degree). They went fine and I kept within 100′ of the altitude for 2 out of 3. We then did a couple of 45 degree turns. They were uneventful. We pulled some G there !!

By this point, we arrived at the plateau and we did some of the funnest flying you can do in a helicopter, aka precision transitions. We must have done about 4 or 5 of them. Steve did the first one to demonstrate.

Hover taxi’ing is slow as you remain below transitional lift (approx 12 knots). So if you need to taxi a long way and get there on the same day, we do this precision transitioning, basically we fly fast enough for transitional lift (approx 30-50knots), but very low (about 30 feet). The important thing is to start it into wind, and FINISH it into wind, despite probably flying with the wind along the way. So, we spent about 10-15 minutes darting around the plateau very fast, very low. It felt absolutely awesome. The best bit was when you’d be flying with a tailwind at 40 knots, but a groundspeed of 60 knots and then you’d do a big turn at the end back into wind and you can literally feel the ground speed just DROP AWAY to next to nothing, as then you are flying at 30 to 40 knots INTO a wind of 20-30 knots. It felt great.

When we’d done these, we did a real one as if we were going to land at a certain point, and then did a fake landing. Loved it. As we came into (fake) land, there was a low flying bright yellow Sea King at our height but about 1/2 a mile away. We’d both seen each other early on, a new experience for me ;-)

Once we’d (fake) took off, I tried to do a 360′ clearing turn to check for any other a/c, but it was VERY ugly with the winds being so strong. But, Steve didn’t step in and I got it back, although I think he nearly stepped in at one point.

I asked Steve to do a 360′ clearing turn so I could see how it should be done. I learned some stuff which I’ll apply next time.

We then did some more precision transitions but this time with some quick stops. Steve demo’ed and then I did 2 or 3. They are lots of fun too.

And then it was return to base time.

Bit of a queue to land, so we were asked to hold over the northern boundary of the airport (close to the tower). The wind was at least 30 knots at 800 feet, so we could enter a near hover by flying at 40 knots into wind. So much more fun than dizzying orbits.

We had to expedite the landing, but Steve didn’t step in which was great.

Final landing and then shut down concluded a great lesson.

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Double Lesson – 13th July 2009

Monday, July 13th, 2009

Lesson 18 – 13th July 2009 – 1420 – 36 minutes – Total so far – 20 hours 9mins
Lesson 19 – 13th July 2009 – 1510 – 30 minutes – Total so far – 20 hours 39mins

I know I’m going to sound like a record, but great lesson(s) again !!

Quite a few CBs around (Cumulonimbus (Thunder) clouds)), but very isolated, so we could still proceed.

First lesson of the day was for Steve and I to fly out of the Control Zone (via Morpeth), do a couple of autos and then fly back – but with a difference. The difference was that Steve wouldn’t say a word. Sounded like the perfect lesson ;-)

No Steve talking, no Steve “jokes” – :-)
Noone to remind me about important things – :-(

So, with enough fuel for both lessons (R22 Beta, not HP model), we took off. I was about to hover us at Foxtrot awaiting departure clearance, but no sooner had we started (hover) taxi-ing than we were given clearance to take off (Runway 07). For the first time, I thought I’d try a transition and turn onto the runway, in basic terms, a bloody fast taxi. This is the fun fly by the seat-of-your-pants kinda stuff. All went well.

We were off. Steve not saying anything didn’t last long ;-)

Steve :- “Are we climbing Dave ?”
David :- “We are climbing Steve and by that you mean…………..” (trying to think what I hadn’t done)

I’d set the trim, I’d set the transponder………erm……..

He meant the speed. I was going 75knots, but standard climb is 65knots.

Sorted.

Bit annoyed that he’d had to remind me, but heigh ho.

We continued up to about 2200 ft. Although Steve wasn’t talking to me, I was telling him my thought patterns so he didn’t think I was flying aimlessly. I’d say I was going to 2200feet. Later on, he said that when there are CBs around or rain clouds generally, that I should fly lower. He was dead right.

Once out of the Control Zone……………

Steve :- Where is the wind coming from ?

I answered correctly.

Steve :- Practice Engine Failure! Engine Failure, Engine Failure, Engine Failure
David :- So, do you want me to do what I’d do if the engine failed.
Steve :- huh huh (yes)

So, I did the auto down to about 500 feet and a power recovery. He’d picked an awkward spot, which meant I had to do a turn and I forgot to check the revs during the turn, Steve had to step in.

But, we made the field.

Power Recovery and then Steve explained what he meant by “Engine Failure” (repeated 3 times). What he meant was, when he says it the first time, that’s when the engine has failed, I need to take action by the 3rd time otherwise it was too late. Well, I was happy now I understood it and laughing at how stupid I must have sounded to Steve.

The next one, there was no dilly dallying. No sooner had he said Engine Failure than we were dropping out of the sky like noone’s business. The collective has never been pushed down so hard, well not by me anyway ! :-)

This time, ‘cos of the wind it had to be a 180 auto. We would have made that one no bother, but again I forgot to check the rotor rpm during the turn.

But, I think something has clicked now with autos. We’ll see next time we fly  if that’s the case. In real life, if the engine did go, you wouldn’t worry about the rotor rpm, the more the merrier.

So, with the autos done, we returned to base, Steve told me where to put it down.

At which point, he got out and said he was going to book me out and I should shut the heli down, recheck the helicopter fluid levels and then await his return.

15 minutes later, I was starting her up again but on my own. It’s such an exciting experience being on your own, hard to put into words. I love it.

I got the clearance for startup, started her up, got the departure clearance, and then did the post-start checks. Now, this is when things went very differently to how it normally goes. Normally what happens is that when _I_ am ready, I say I’m ready for taxi and then I taxi to the Hold and then _I_ say I’m ready for departure.

But, it was VERY different. There was a light a/c in front of me to depart and I knew there was a big jet (not sure if it was Easyjet) also heading for the start of the runway. So, in my head, I’m after those 2.

So, I did the last checks and was ready for the off.

Tower :- Northumbria01 (that’s me), taxi to Foxtrot, Runway 25.

Well, this took me by surprise, but I was ready so………

dp :- Taxi to Foxtrot, Runway 25.

Off I went to Foxtrot, then………….

Tower :- Northumbria ZERO ONE, you cleared for takeoff, Runway 25. Surface Wind blah blah….

Well, I replied to say fine with that, and as I taxi’ed out to the runway, I could see the light a/c about 400 m down the runway, waiting for me, and behind it, at the very start of the runway was the big jet. I felt like a VIP.

I don’t think I was getting preferential treatment because I was on my own, I think it was more because of vortex wake. I give off the least, on a par with the light a/c and the big jet leaves a 5 or 6 mile wake vortex, so if it was any other order, it would have took much longer to get the 3 a/c off the ground.

The flight was uneventful apart from the dodging of rain showers. I went through a couple and dodged a couple. All good fun. Once past morpeth, I ambled for 5 minutes and then came back. I could see a big shower over the airport – a real downpour, but the visibility was such that I could see through it and by the time I got there it would have passed so I rejoined the control zone.

I was number 2 to some commercial airliner, and the passing shower had left the runway Wet Wet Wet, but the air was weirdly very calm. The hover taxi, the final hover and the landing were great. I was dead chuffed. I could have lined it up more with a line, but I thought if Steve was watching, he’d be fretting if I parked it too close to another a/c, so for his heart’s sake, I left a bit of space.

So, all good.

Next lesson not yet booked, but probably friday, and I hope to get another exam out the way (Air Nav). I think we’re doing Practice Forced Landings. I’ll have to brush up on my mayday calls.

dp :- Mayday Mayday Mayday, the engine’s stopped like, we’re ganning doon like a stone.

Yes, that should do it !!

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Lesson 17 – 10th July 2009 – 1400 – 1 hour – Total so far – 19hours 33mins

Friday, July 10th, 2009

Today was Exercise 16 and 17. (Simulated Engine Off Landings and Advanced Autorotations).

CAA Inspection going on at the flying school today, so quite a busy place. It was the HP R22 today again as G-MOGY is due her 2200 hour overhaul and G-MAVI is having some engine work done.

We wheeled her over for fueling, and Steve let me do it. I’d remembered from last time to get the rotor in line, but as we pushed it, the wind caught the rotor and it started turning, so tip number 2 —-> Hold your shoulder in such a way the tail rotor doesn’t move, and if it doesn’t move, the main rotor can’t move.

Once fuelled up and pushed back, Steve left to check her out as I did all the checks, started her up etc…..

Runway 25 when we left, right turn to Morpeth after the car park. Magnetic compasses have a tendency to overread or underread depending on which direction you’re turning through, but I can never remember which direction they under or over read. Steve gave me a good way of remembering it…..

Nippy North, Sluggish South.

Nice one ! So, if you’re turning onto a northerly (or near northerly) heading, then stop the turn when it reads 330/340 and then the compass should settle to about North. It worked !

We went upto 2400′, and we’re tootling along quite happily. I was scanning the instruments and noticed we had ZERO oil pressure. I immediately told Steve and his response :-

Steve :- 20 Seconds

dp :- ? (puzzled look)

Steve :- It took you 20 seconds to notice that the oil pressure had dropped to 0.

He was pleased that I had noticed fairly promptly, so I was pleased. He’d pulled a fuse out.

I’ll have to watch him in the future. I suspect other such tricks up his sleeve.

Once we were close to the plateau, we did the Hasel checks (Height, Area, Security, Engine, Lookout), apply carb heat and we were doing Advanced Autorotations. So, a typical auto goes like this…..

  1. Lower Collective fully, Throttle engine down
  2. Lots of Right Pedal to counter lack of usual torque
  3. Cyclic Back so nose doesn’t drop too much and to maintain 60kts
  4. Control RPM (stop it getting into the red (too high or too low)
  5. Wait until the ground is 50′ feet away
  6. Flare (until Zero ground speed)

Now, then at this point, Steve always says “Pop” and I thought he was throttling up the engine again AND at the same time pulling the collective. So, when it came to my turn to do the whole maneuvre, the first bits went fine and we positioned for our forced landing, and then Steve had said I would be doing the final POP.

He constantly talked to tell me when to do it, and at the appropriate time, I flared, and opened up the Throttle and pulled the collective. It turns out, I wasn’t supposed to do any throttle work. The correlator sorts that out automatically. So apparently, (I was too busy to witness it), our revs went “quite” high !! And the subsequent hover was a bit erratic for about a second.

So, we did it again, and this time, I just did the collective, no throttle and I think there’s a 80% chance we would have lived, maybe 20% chance the helicopter would have been in good nick. I was too high and hadn’t flared strongly enough for the low wind speed that there was today.

The next one was better still. 95% chance of survival and 40% chance of a good helicopter remaining. No doubt, we’ll do plenty more.

What we then went on to do was advanced autorotations. In a nutshell, the standard auto detailed above has quite a shitty descent rate, probably moving 10 m forward for every 100m you’re dropping, so not much of a glide.

But, by altering the speed you fly, you can get more or less range.

Medium Range = Speed up to 75kts
Short Range = Speed to anything as low as ZERO knots, remembering to allow time to speed back up again as the speed will be required for the flare.

There’s also a maneuvre you can do to increase range even further. It sounded VERY risky to me, and that is to reduce rotor RPM to about 90%, giving more lift. Less than 90% and you’re in the danger zone and you risk the blades folding up, and then it’s death for sure, hence my worry. So, we did one of these, but all I was bothered about and focussed on was the rotor rpm. We were on or slightly above 90% and we’re getting a good gliding angle (by helicopter standards). I am sure as we flared, the low rotor rpm horn went off and that always puts the shits up me. But Steve wasn’t phased.

Anyway, we did various different advanced autorotations and then a fake landing and then we flew back. Runway 25, but the wind had changed and it was Runway 07 for landing. Another bit of non-standard flying which was fun back to the parking spot as there was a Dash a/c behind us on final approach, and then my landing today was MUCH improved over Wednesday when I made a right arse of it. I’d had a word with myself and didn’t fart on as much.

So, good lesson. Next lesson booked for Monday, and it’s more solo work. I’m flying to Morpeth and back on my lonesome after doing it once with Steve, so look forward to that.

I also managed to transfer Steve’s video footage that he kindly took with his phone camera of my first helicopter solo liftoff and landing. Here it is….

So, here’s the liftoff. Not very pretty at all !!! Major Yaw to the left on liftoff. But then the clearing turn is “ok”, could be worse, definately could be better.

It’s a bit grainy, but he got an excellent shot of me with the biggest smile I have ever seen on my face after I had landed for the final time on the first day of solo’ing. Here is that clip……

Thanks to Steve for getting the footage ! :-)

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No Flying Today

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

One of the helis being serviced and other bookings got in before me. Air Nav Revision instead. Tried a mock test, only to find I need a 1:500,000 South England aeronautical map to complete most of the questions. So, have ordered it.

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Lesson 17 – 8th July 2009 – 1500 – 1 hour – Total so far – 18hours 33mins

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

Great Lesson – it was quite a jam-packed lesson with lots of different things covered.

First off, I went out to check the helicopter out. It was the HP R22 model  (G-BZBU). This is a lighter version (one less fuel tank) and the battery is in the front, so the CoG is farther forward. This is the one where you feel like you do 2 takeoffs/landings for every normal 1 ie land the front of the skids, then the back and same in reverse for takeoff, but today I really noticed how much more power we appeared to have available because of the lower weight (less fuel).

I made a ballsup of the R/T today. As usual, I go out and check the heli out and start her up and get it so we’re ready for the off and then Steve joins me. But, I had forgot the callsign of the helicopter. All aircraft in the UK have a callsign something like G-ABCD and I knew that this helicopter was G-BZBU, but all the flying school’s aircraft have a more friendly name like “Northumbria ZERO ONE”, so when it came to asking for startup, it went something like this……….

dp :- Newcastle Tower, good afternoon, Northumbriaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. erm…erm……………. (I didn’t know the callsign and had to use the full name) “Golf – Bravo Zulu Bravo Uniform” at the Flying School with Information Juliet request startup.

Thankfully tower was very helpful !!

Newcastle Tower – “Golf – Bravo Zulu Bravo Uniform”, you have been booked out as Northumbria ZERO TWO. Information Juliet is correct. Startup approved”

dp :- “Startup Approved, MANY thanks. Northumbria ZERO TWO”

While everyone else is sounding dead professional, I come on sounding like a numpty. Ah well, live and learn.

Steve seems to be getting more confident in my liftoffs as he is crossing his hands on his knees now, whereas before he wisely always had a hand near the collective or the cyclic. Don’t get me wrong, he still often does at times, but not for the takeoff today, even though we were between a R44 and the fuel bowser. Taxi to Foxtrot and then we (I) basically hover-taxi’ed to a holding area next to the runway, awaiting an inbound a/c who was exiting at Foxtrot. There was one light a/c ahead of us wanting to depart too. Whilst we waited, Steve got me to practice a landing in the “HP” R22, just to feel the difference. I could kinda feel it, but to illustrate it better, he took control and very skilfully lifted off the skids and pivoted on the front of the skids. Quite amazing. It was like watching a ballet dancer go up on to the toes of her feet. He went up and down a few times, all the time pivoting on the front of the skids. I was impressed. Once done, we stayed on the ground awaiting another helicopter passing Foxtrot. Strictly speaking it was the light aircraft’s turn to take off first, but they couldn’t go because there was an inbound 737, but Newcastle Tower asked us if we could exit heading due North (past the control tower) going directly ACROSS the runway and not along it’s length (which runs from 070 to 250 degrees)

dp:- Affirm (with a big grin)

And we we’re off. We headed upto 2400′ and once out of the Control Zone, upto 3000′.

Today, we started off by doing Vortex Ring – Settling with Power. In a nutshell, a fixed wing aircraft can stall (fall out of the sky) if it goes too slow and the angle of attack of the wings is too high. The airflow gets very turbulent and the a/c loses lift because the airflow isn’t laminar (smooth) enough.

A very similar thing can happen in a helicopter. If a helicopter goes less than 30 knots (or more accurately has no transitional lift), and has a descent rate more than 300′ per minute, AND there is power being applied, you effectively stall a LOT of the rotor producing lift, and the helicopter, like a plane starts falling at a much higher descent rate. The more you pull power, the more you are pull dirty air through the rotor, the faster you drop. It sounded very hairy from the book, but at 3000′, you have quite a lot of time to fix it. The fix is easy (at that height), basically cyclic forward so the speed comes above 30 knots and then power and recover.

We did about four of them, and they were all event free. The controls go all mushy, there is a big yaw, and you drop like a stone, but you can’t feel it so much at that height. Cyclic forward, get speed, then power and recover.

So, with those over and with all the height we still had left, we did an autorotation down to the plateau. We were so high, I needed to do some turns to get rid of some extra height. The improvement today was that I completely did the entering. I think I’ve done this once before, but today, I really did the whole “entering into” autorotation. I also did the flare, but Steve did his final POP (as he calls it) and pulled the collective and then I continued the hover. We just did one of them. I’ll be pleased when I do one completely, ‘cos this is SUCH an important skill to have.

Once that was done, Steve asked me to fly to the centre of the plateau and for the first time, I didn’t fart on and hover at a snail’s pace. It felt like I “really” flew it there. It felt real good. A nice turn to finish and back into the hover. It felt sweet :-) A special moment for all the right reason. In a way, it felt like the first time I’d flown the helicopter by the seat of my pants, solely feeling how it flies. Hard to describe in words. Normally when I fly, everything we do, like an approach is a set sequence of events that you do in a set order. But, this was just FLYING A HELICOPTER – loved it. Once back in the hover in the centre of the plateau, we did a (fake) landing and then we did a takeoff and a practice obstacle avoidance. So, in a nutshell, Steve took control flew us at about 60kts (quite fast, when you’re so low) at a mound of earth and then at the last second (all very safe!) sharp cyclic left and up and PULLED collective. The result was a very sharp turn. Quite a few “G” being pulled.

Of course, Steve, the comedian he is, had to get a few jokes in. “Imagine that mound is a Merlin Helicopter” (he said) (referring to the near miss we had a week or so back !). AND OF COURSE, me concentrating so hard, I didn’t get the joke until about 10 seconds after he had said it. But then we were laughing at that as well :-)

So, Steve showed me one and then I did the second one. I felt Steve come on the collective, probably ‘cos he thought I wasn’t pulling enough of it (or too much), but I got the idea and was happy with the maneuvre.

Then we went straight at the mound but this time for a QUICK STOP (as they’re called). In a nutshell, this involves stopping the helicopter very quickly into a stationary hover. That was lots of fun. I was happy with that, but my turn comes another day. He just wanted to show me that one.

Once done, back to the airport and we were fortunate again for being a helicopter. Because there was an inbound Airbus. The Tower asked if we had a visual – we did, and then they offered us an expedited landing clearance ahead of the Airbus. Now, in the past, Steve has done this expedited landings, but he let me do it. Another seat of the pants bit of flying, so much fun !!!!!!

I need to get out of the fixed wing mentality. In a normal plane, you line up with the runway, and land on the runway, and most of the time, in a helicopter you do the same, but at times like these, when we’re expediting in front of a fast approaching airbus, I don’t need to “land” (transition) on the runway, so although I did a fast approach (about 80kts), I needed Steve to suggest use the grass next to the runway, but he was great and let me do the whole transition to the hover and then taxi clear, well in time for the Airbus landing.

This is where I’m disappointed with the result of my flying. I hover-taxi’ed to the parking spot. It was between the R44 and the fuel bowser. I positioned us nicely in the middle, spot turned it so it was lined up correctly, all good so far and then it all seemed to be MESSY !!! I think I’m being too much of a fanny when it comes to the touching the ground bit. I am trying to get ZERO movement in any direction whatsoever, but the end result is I am demanding (of myself) the absolute perfect hover before touching down. Well, of course, I would get to within an inch of the ground, detect a smidgeon of movement sideways and then abort, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat ! I was up and down like a Yoyo ! It must have took me 30 seconds to do the last ONE FOOT. Will have to ask Steve next time about this.

Credit to Steve, he didn’t butt in and sort it, which is great, ‘cos that would have left me frustrated. Anyway eventually, I got it down, but wasn’t too pleased with the landing. It was safe, but not as sweet as I would have liked.

All in all, great lesson. Lots of variety. Loved it, shame about the crappy ending, but that’s my bad, and I’ll have a word with myself before next time.

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Lesson 16 – 29th June 2009 – 1500 – 1 hour – Total so far – 17hours 33mins

Monday, June 29th, 2009

Today’s lesson – more solo’ing. And thanks to Steve (the instructor), we got loads of video of it.

The lesson was basically in two halves. It consisted of 18 minutes of dual instruction with Steve and then the remaining 42 minutes of me on my lonesome.

With Steve onboard, I lifted off between 2 other helis, always an anxious moment, and then hover-taxi’ed to the Hover Square and did some taxi’ing to a point next to a concrete slab embedded in the grass where we put her down. We then did some liftoffs, and landings, with some 360′ turns, and after a couple of them went ok, we did some practice “engine failure in the hover”s. This is where Steve took over and I followed him through. They are very fast maneuvres, where Steve cuts the power and then uses loads of right pedal, a little cyclic and then some collective to cushion the landing, but all in the space of 2 seconds.

I find them very daunting, and when it came to my turn, I was piss poor. I did some right pedal (I remember that much), and I know I touched the collective in some way, but I am pretty sure Steve took over and saved the day. So, after 3 of them, 1 of which I “did”, Steve left the helicopter and it was my turn to practice some take offs, landings, hover turns, hover taxi-ing, etc…

So, the instructions were clear. I had to imagine a rectangle on the ground (75m long, 20m wide) and liftoff, 90′ turn, fly to the 20m corner, 90′left turn, fly to the 75m corner, 90′left turn etc etc until I was back at the concrete slab where I was to land next to the slab. And rinse and repeat.

Steve kindly offered to film it with my camera so he got some great footage.

My liftoffs are feeling much better and although I wouldn’t say I’ve cracked them by a long shot, I do feel they are controlled and relatively stable. My 90′ turns are a bit messy, my hover-taxi’ing is iffy, not very straight lines, and my landings, well, improvement needed FOR SURE. I seem to have a mental block on “touching down (landing)”. I remember (from my fixed wing days), I always wanted to go for the lightest kiss of a landing, and would flare endlessly, until I virtually stalled the a/c onto the ground albeit from 2 inches up.

Without realising it, I seem to have this mental subconscious attitude of doing a similar thing in the helicopter. I asked Steve later, if I was being too much of a fanny, but he seemed to suggest that there’s nothing wrong in getting it spot on. So, in some of the video, the landings last quite a while ;-)

I really enjoyed the lesson. It’s a wonderful feeling being on your own, and in control of your own life. Once you lift off, you really are on your own, and noone can help you. Steve told me to keep the hover high, and I thought I was. To me, they felt 5-10 feet off the ground, but after the first flying of the rectangle, Steve gave me a sign to say “Higher”. In my head, I went higher, but they still appear quite low to me when I watch them back. Bear in mind the grass is probably 2 feet tall, so it’s not as dangerous as it looks, well, I didn’t think so.

I think the wind situation made the whole thing a lot easier too. The winds being variable (direction) at 3 knots.

So, absolutely cracking 1 hour of flying, and to top it all off, the landing at the end was between 2 helicopters and was the kiss of a landing that I had longed for. Always a nice way to end.

Here’s where I parked G-MAVI (the middle one)…….

dpparking

So, the video……

First Liftoff

First Landing

Second Liftoff

Second Landing

Third Liftoff

Fourth Liftoff

Final (and worse) landing (must have been getting tired)…

While, I remember. When two aircraft have a near miss, there is a facility the CAA provide to report it. It’s called an Air Prox(imity) report.

They tend only to be filed if one party believes another party is at fault, but at the moment, it seems that all parties (Merlin, Us, and Newcastle Radar) are happy it was one of those rare things where noone was at fault.

The Flight Lieutenant of the Merlin was happy not to file one. Steve feels the same and Newcastle Radar seem to be happy that all parties were a victim of faster than anticipated weather changes.

However, the Wing Commander (the boss of the Flight Lieutenant who was piloting the Merlin) was sitting in the back seat and he has a different opinion apparently. So, we’ll have to see what happens, but the Merlin had 2 instrument rated pilots on board and instruments that allow it to fly in cloud, so an argument could be made that they should have been flying IFR (by their instruments in or above cloud). Interestingly, after this incident, they subsequently went IFR upto 3000′.

We’ll see.

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