Legs as follows……
First Leg – Newcastle to Durham Tees Valley Airport
Turning Point – supposed to be Testos roundabout, but was Nissan Car Factory
Second Leg – Durham Tees to Carlisle
Turning Points – our house & Hexham Racecourse
Third Leg – Carlisle back to Newcastle International Airport
Flight 37 – 8th October 2009 – 1210 – 42 minutes – Total so far – 38 hours 4 mins
Flight 38 – 8th October 2009 – 1335 – 1 hour 6 minutes – Total so far – 39 hours 10 mins
Flight 39 – 8th October 2009 – 1530 – 36 minutes – Total so far – 39 hours 40 mins
I had a lesson booked for 12.30pm today, but when I looked at the weather forecast, it was crying out to complete the solo qualifying cross country I have to do as part of the PPL(H).
When I did my PPL(A) 20+ years ago, I remember waiting MONTHS to get the weather fit for these solo flights, so I rang Scott to see if it would be possible and he rang back after checking the weather and it was GO GO GO !!!
I was in the flying school for 9.30am to plan the routes. Scott advised me the route to take and left me to work out all the headings/speeds/timings given the 290/20 spot winds at 2000′.
The legs involved were Newcastle to Durham Tees, Durham Tees to Carlisle and then Carlisle back to Newcastle. Weather was CAVOK with occasional FEW at 3000 feet.
I filmed all 3 flights and got ATC recorded for two of them (cocked up the first one), so hopefully I’ll sort the video tomorrow and get that posted to the interweb.
After planning the legs, Scott had a big checklist to go through which left me feeling very prepared for the whole flight.
He offered me a choice of aircraft. G-MAVI (old faithful) or G-DOGI (new helicopter). I opted for G-MAVI because I’m more familiar with it.
We filled her to the top with fuel and pushed her 1/2 a mile from the bowser (it felt like 1/2 mile) to Papa West helipad. I rang Carlisle and Durham Tees to get PPR (prior permission required), Scott booked me out and I was ready to go after checking her over.
It took me 10 minutes to get all the kit setup and get the flight in my head. Runway 25, LEFT hand turnout (for a change), flying over Newcastle City Centre, the Tyne Bridge, aiming for Testos roundabout. Unfortunately the GPS was unserviceable. I was half pleased about that as it’s a truer test of navigation, but it would have been nice to have it from a peace of mind perspective. Ironically, it actually came back to life for the last 8 miles of the 135 mile trip. Great !!! 
I found the first leg the hardest. It’s a leg I’ve not flown before, and my heading didn’t take me to Testos roundabout, but to the Nissan Car Factory (near Sunderland). It didn’t matter, I knew where I was. I managed to find 3 or 4 indicators to show exactly where I was and in no time I was above Sedgefield racecourse. The R/T side of things took me from Newcastle Tower to Newcastle Radar, to Durham Radar and then Durham Tower. No problems at all with the R/T on this leg.
I was given a landing clearance at Durham Tees Airport to land north of the runway and at the same time, another aircraft was landing on the main runway 200 yards from me, which was fun 
I was asked to park at Stand 9, and as I approached Stand 9, they asked me to reposition to the very corner of Stand 9 as another a/c was coming in. Fine by me
As I shut down the helicopter, a van came to pick me up and take me to the Tower. I went up and took this photo……You can just see G-MAVI in the background.
Here’s the view from G-MAVI….
On the solo qualifying cross country, the air traffic controller grades your airmanship and your landing. The results of the Durham ATC controller was …….
Airmanship :- Good
Landing :- Good
Wahey !
I was happy with that. I would have graded my first landing as an 8/10 and the approach was very good for my first landing at Durham Tees. I was well pleased (SO FAR!).
After a trip to the tower, the lady drove me to the passenger terminal where I paid the landing fee (£29). Ouch!
She then took me back to the helicopter and it was time for the next (and longest) leg of the trip. Scott had told me that this was the hardest leg from a navigation perspective, but because it was flying over the Durham area (where i live), it was the easiest for me. I’d tipped Karen (wife) off that I’d be flying over the house and I could see her waving from the front.
At Carlisle, things didn’t go quite so well. There was a LOT of fast jet activity around Spadeadam, so I stayed high (3000 feet). About 20 miles from Carlisle, I came down to 2000′. I kept Tower informed at all times about my position and altitude. When I got to about 15 miles out, I was asked to stay north of the 25 centreline as both circuits were in operation and I would be landing on the 19 threshold. I did just that , but for some reason I didn’t come down to circuit height (1000′) until about 2 miles out. So when I called in that I was 5 miles away at 2000 feet, they asked me to descend to NOT ABOVE 500 feet. Fine by me. I pretty much auto-rotated down to 500 feet, not wanting to conflict with the circuit traffic. All fine so far. The 19 threshold transition was spot on and I was asked to taxi to 1B, which I did. All hunky dorey (or so I thought).
Here’s MAVI with the control tower in the background…….
When I walked in to get my grading, the Air Traffic controller wanted to speak to me on the phone. GULP. He said I should have joined the circuit at 1000 feet and not 2000 feet. He was right of course. I apologised and explained why I’d done what I had done, but acknowledged that I SHOULD have joined at 1000 feet. I’m really not too sure why I stayed high for so long. I think I had a mental picture of a very busy Carlisle (which it was), with both right-hand and left-hand circuits in operation and in my head I was staying clear of it. Dumb really, because I have to get to the ground to land, but it was my bad and I’ve been kicking myself since yesterday about it.
This time, the Carlisle scores………
Airmanship :- Satisfactory
Landing :- Satisfactory
Well, I’m not very happy with that, but it’s enough for a pass. The landing was actually good (7/10), but I think I’d ticked him off. He WAS right about the airmanship score, that’s my bad !!
Anyway…..time for a bacon buttie and a cup of coffee. Whilst I was ordering my refreshments, I noticed that Prince Harry had flown in a few days earlier (probably in an RAF helicopter) and had signed the guest book…….
Here’s the picture of him in the guest book with the cafe ladies
The last leg from Carlisle to Newcastle went very fast, because of the 20 knot tailwind. It’s a leg I’ve flown a few times and the one time I didn’t need the GPS, it sprang back to life. Sod’s Law !
As I approached Newcastle, they were changing the runways from 25 to 07 and I was told to expect 07. The wind was coming directly from the north, so it was a cross-wind landing. I tried to get as much a northerly direction on my approach to minimise the cross-wind element. But, although it felt right, I wasn’t sure if there’s a certain way I should have approached, so I’ll need to check this with Scott next time.
All in all, a great day’s flying with a dp cockup which is still bugging me. I have to accept that I will make mistakes, but it bugs me that this was such a basic one. Heigh Ho !
Onwards and upwards.
Here’s MAVI back at Papa East Helipad at Newcastle…..
Video to follow when done (hopefully today, but not sure how to combine ATC comms with video clips at the moment).
Newcastle to Carlisle
Carlisle to Newcastle
Newcastle to Carlisle
Carlisle to Newcastle
Flight 32 – 18th September 2009 – 1135 – 42 minutes – Total so far – 34 hours 4 mins
Flight 33 – 18th September 2009 – 1300 – 42 minutes – Total so far – 34 hours 46 mins
Got my solo hours up today. Did a land away at Carlisle.
The weather was good. Very calm. Surface Wind variable and low. 2000 feet winds were 180′ at 10 knots.
I’d mostly plotted the route and track before I got there, leaving only the magnetic track to work out, given the spot winds.
It’s been a while since I’ve solo’ed so I was a bit anxious walking up to the heli, but as soon as I started checking her over, all my nerves disappeared and I was in the zone.
My concerns for the trip before I left were……
Being handed to Newcastle Radar and what kind of banter would be involved
Working out where to land, taxi etc at Carlisle and being able to understand them ‘cos I’ve struggled with Carlisle a few times before.
The concerns were unfounded and the R/T went swimmingly throughout to my great relief. Actually there was one cockup on the R/T but I’ll come to that. But, from an “understanding the R/T” perspective , it went great, partly, I am sure, because of the new headset. And I suspect because Steve wasn’t there, I’m more alert to everything on the radio.
So, first thing of course, was checking the HP R22 out. Steve wasn’t there when I arrived, but he’d left it fuelled and oiled and left instructions with another instructor (John) to get me on my way. John rang Carlisle to get them to expect me and I booked out from Newcastle.
The heli was good to go. I did the checks, got the first heading in my head, got permission to start, clearance and permission to taxi and I was on my way. Here was where I cocked up on the R/T. I’d set the frequency for Newcastle Radar in anticipation of being asked to switch to Radar after departure. Unfortunately, I’d forgot to switch back to Newcastle Tower, so I called Newcastle Radar asking them for my clearance. They were canny about it though. So, taxi to Foxtrot, Runway 25 departure with a right turn. The visibility was about 6 miles, so it wasn’t brilliant, but VERY flyable, just not pretty to look at.
First Leg to the north of Ponteland, very short. The HP without the extra fuel tank and with only me in it, is like a rocket ! I’d estimated 75 knots (about 86mph) in my plan, but pulling 21 MAP, it was more like 90 knots most of the time. (approx. 104 mph). So, the whole trip including startup, shutdown took 42 minutes. So probably about 30-35 minutes from Newcastle to Carlisle.So, the extra power had made up for the 10 knot crosswind and more.
The handover to Newcastle Radar went fine as did the handover to Carlisle. On the way over, I was under a Basic Service, which means I get information (if they have time) about aircraft in the vicinity. They told me about a low flying Hercules en route to Spadeadam (big military area of land). I told them I’d keep my eyes peeled. They later asked if I had a visual and told me where it should be , but I just couldn’t see it. I’m normally quite good at spotting other a/c, but to my annoyance I couldn’t see it at all. 
Shame !
Anyway, Carlisle was quite busy with most of the aircraft being given 07 approaches, but I was givem instructions to land on the threshold for Runway 19, which suited me better anyway. They included instructions to exit at Bravo. As I was about 600 feet on the approach, they asked me if I needed fuel. When I said I didn’t (“Negative”), they said cleared to land on the helipad. Cool !!! So, last minute diversion to the helipad, skipping over the grass. The landing was a 5/10 (still very safe, but not a kiss, more a fist in the face). It was so close to being a 10/10, but it just didn’t smooch onto the “H”. So, a dp special ensued where I played with the “H” (up and down) and in the end (about 7 seconds later), I thought of something Scott had said (“You need to commit to a landing and go for it”). So, I got it lined up with the “H”, tried for a 10/10 and missed, but then committed and we clunked down. Safe, but not pretty. But Bang on the “H” – ish!)
I shut her down and then went for coffee and a bacon sarnie. Yum !! Whilst there, I plotted my route back.
After a toilet trip, I was good to go. I checked her over again, got comfy and booked out over the radio. They gave me permission for rotor start and we were warming up.
When I was ready, I had a check of the whereabouts of Carlisle and where they may ask me to go hoping that may help my comprehension of them. But it didn’t prepare me for what they said at all.
dp :- Northumbria02 ready for taxi
Carlisle Tower :- Northumbria02, taxi towards the windsock at your 4 O’Clock position.
Strangely, I looked over my left shoulder ?! Then it dawned on me 4 O’clock is on my right.
Well, I understood what they’d said, and I could see the windsock but didn’t know what they were going to get me to do after that. But, I was happy with doing it, so….
dp:- Taxi to the Windsock, N02
As I approached the windsock, they were busy with other aircraft so I got into a nice hover. So much easier in calm winds. The windsock was very limp !!! There was no wind at all.
Carlisle Tower :- Northumbria02. With a departure to the South East, you’re cleared for takeoff.
dp :- Departing to the South East, cleared take off.
One last check. All instruments green, all the lights off. Go Go Go !!!
The flight back was uneventful. I kept checking on the map (in both directions) to make sure I was where I thought I was, but in the end, I put the GPS on, not so much because I needed it, but more because you don’t have to find your place all the time. It’s a pain taking your eyes away from flying to work out where the red track line is and then work out where you are. The GPS is just so much easier. When I did the PPL(A) many moons ago, I’m pretty sure GPS wasn’t available to civilians, certainly none of the aircraft I flew had it in. But then in a light aircraft it is easier to hold a map and fly than in a heli.
I was a bit eager when reentering the Newcastle Zone. They’d granted me permission to enter at Stagshaw about 15 miles before I got there. So I was already thinking/worrying about would they want me to do a right or left handed circuit for 25. So, once in the Zone, I said…..
dp :- Northumbria02, north abeam Stagshaw, QSY Newcastle Tower.
Which means I want to go to Tower. The sooner I knew which circuit it was and where I was joining, the happier I’d be.
Their reply….
Newcastle Radar :- N02, Are you visual with the field ?
dp :- Negative
Newcastle Radar :- Report field in sight.
That made sense. They wanted to keep me until I could see the field in case I needed directions probably.
5 minutes later, when I reported the field in sight, they handed me over and Tower gave me a right hand downwind join to 25.
I was number 3 to a Dash-8 and Lynx helicopter. I had visual with both, which is always reassuring.
The approach was great, as I was following the Lynx at about 1/2 to 3/4 mile. He went down Foxtrot, I followed him off.
Once vacated (the runway), I wasn’t sure where to park. There was no big wide spot, there was next to the Lynx and a businessman’s jet, or between the bowser and the R44. I went for the latter. It was a tight spot, but if I breathed in, I’d be fine. I knew I could do it cos the winds were so light.
It would have been nice to end on a 10/10 landing, but it was a 6/10. Again, still safe, no movement in any direction apart from down.
So, absolutely loved this flight. It had a purpose (Bacon Buttie) and was an enjoyable flight.
Nice chat with Steve on my return, before heading home with 1.4 more solo hours towards the 10 required.
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.
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 !
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.
One of the tricky things I am finding is to remember all the startup/shutdown checks to get the helicopter safely started and ready to go.
Initially, I found a checklist off the web, and it was good, but there was no logical order to it, that was conducive to the eventual remembering of all the items.
I then tried an app for my iphone called AirCheck. For a £1, it was worth a go, but I find securing the iphone on my kneepad a little unwieldy. And it got in the way of writing down bits and bobs from the R/T.
So, I decided to make my own in Excel. It’s here in case it may be of use to anyone following a similar path. It is customised for Newcastle (EGNT), with the frequencies on, but that’s easily changed.
I have grouped the items in such a way, that there’s a hierarchical structure, the aim being, that I hope to remember the top-level structure and then the smaller sub-items over time.
Click Here to download it. It’s been created in the latest version of Excel, so use that to maintain the formatting, although it may work in other versions.
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)…….
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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