Was offered a cracking opportunity to get some R44 time at £120 an hour today. The R44 is a 4-seater sibling of the R22 and at a quarter of the normal price, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse. Unfortunately, some film work that was destined for friday which required the R44 to make this trip today, had cancelled and the knock-on effect was no R44 time.
But, as a friend commented, onwards and upwards 
dp
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.
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 !!
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…..
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 !
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.
Went to the flying school on the offchance of a lesson, but it was too blowy. So, instead, we wheeled G-MAVI into the hangar and Steve gave me the Robinson R22 operating manual and with Scott (examiner), we went through a complete external check of the a/c. They referred to it as a “Check A”.
VERY interesting. I learned so much and it was well worth the trip in on the bike.
Next lesson booked for Tuesday pm.
I really didn’t think today’s lesson would go ahead, but I’m glad it did.
The weather was in excess of the minimum required for me to fly solo (winds need to be less than 15 knots). Winds were at around 20knots, gusting to 30knots, which is quite blowy (35mph). But, Steve felt I would benefit from a lesson where the weather wasn’t quite as ideal and he was dead right.
First off was a cup of coffee and a brief. Dynamic Rollover was the topic of the day. I asked Steve if we could practice one of these, but it’s a “no”
So, I went out to check the helicopter over. Steve went to check us out with ATC. The helicopter needed oil and fuel, so I texted Steve to bring the oil when he came out, to save a trip back to the hangar. As he arrived at the helicopter, his phone went off with my message – doh !! He is on the “3″ network, and we have quite a few family members on “3″ and they sometimes never get texts or get them ages later. Weird !
So, we went back to get the oil and it started raining, so we waited in the hangar as it’s not pleasant checking an a/c over while it’s p+ssing down. Once it had enough oil, I wheeled the copter over to the bowser (my first time pushing it) – surprisingly light. Note to self, get the rotor blade in line with helicopter before pushing it.
Steve filled her up and then we wheeled it back to a safe distance from the fuel bowser and continued checks.
Flying a helicopter for someone with my low experience is quite different in calm or low wind conditions than when it’s blowing like it was today. I was concerned about the takeoff as we were probably only about 10m from the fuel bowser. But, Steve let me do it remarkably. I taxi’ed to Holding Point F(oxtrot) got the “go” from ATC, (hover) taxi’ed her onto 25 and then transitioned us off. I did every bit of flying today again, which is quite a good feeling, but TOTALLY exhausting. 30 minutes flying a helicopter is quite draining. I _KNOW_ it will become effortless with time and experience, but right now, it’s like when you start driving abroad and at first, you’re quite tense, but by the end of a holiday, you don’t give it a second thought.
So, we flew north, past Morpeth to “the plateau” as Steve calls it. It’s an area by some working quarries where we can “land”. We can’t land per se, but near as damn it So, in our heads, we look at the wind, and pretend the hover landing spot is at a certain spot and then do circuits. My circuits still need to be tighter. This is where it would be easier with a runway, because it’s easy to know when you’re going downwind, base leg etc…. ‘cos you can compare it to the runway. With a plateau of grass which has no distinct shape, it’s less easy, but I did my best. Everything went fine, and I was pleased because the last blowy day (less windy than today), had seen my hovers be ALL over the place, but today, they were “ok”.
Steve is a great instructor. He had me in stitches today and at a time where I needed to really relax. When a helicopter comes into land, you do a transition from forward descending flight to the hover, before putting the heli down. So, I did that, got us to the hover and then “landed”. So far, so good. Taking off is trickier than it sounds as you need to be in a hover before your skids leave the ground, failure to do this correctly and we get the Dynamic Rollover thing, which we don’t want. So, I take off and get us in the hover, all good.
Now, then what we need to is to do a 360′ turn whilst hovering to check that the sky is clear of any a/c before we start a “take off”. Even in calm winds, this can be tricky, but in calm winds, I can do it. In these winds, and it was showing as 35kts on the instruments whilst we were hovering, it’s not quite as easy. The tricky thing is that you need to keep the cyclic constantly with some pressure in the direction of the wind. Not too tricky by itself, but then you need to use the yaw pedals to do the turn, but when you initiate the turn the wind wants to blow the tail back to the same position (like a weather vane) , so you need quite a lot of foot pedal work. Also, once the tail goes across the wind, it catches the wind and then you need the opposite pedal to stop it from whizzing in the other direction. Foot pedal work (depending on the direction of the turn) needs more or less collective. So, it’s quite a balancing act. So, here’s the funny bit…..
Imagine the most ungraceful 360′ turn you possibly can imagine. That’s the turn that I did. In fact, it was probably 480′ turn and then a correction back again. But it included a climb of 20 feet, a movement to the side of 40 feet. It was quite a nightmare. Once I’d got it back to the hover and Steve was adamant that I fix the problem I made (nice one Steve), he said……..
Steve :- So, did you see any aircraft ?
Well, of course, I wasn’t paying attention to anything but getting the hover back. I chuckled at the time, but on the way home in the car, I was reviewing what we’d done in my head and spontaneously burst out laughing thinking of that moment.
So, although this particularly 360/480′ turn was horrendous, there were some that were more controlled, I’m pleased to say, but FAR from graceful. But, I was pleased with my performance given the wind.
So, after about 4 or 5 circuits, we did 2 autorotations. They were both just about me getting into autorotation, not the full thing. EVERY time I do the autorotation, I can get us into autorotation fine, but EVERY time, I say I will try and stop the rotor from overspeeding, but for some reason, Steve does that bit before I get chance. Will have to ask him about this. One of the autorotations was to a powered recovery at about 300′. The other was a powered recovery at about 5 feet, which Steve did.
Once done, another less than graceful 360′ turn and then I flew us ALL the way back, down runway 25, lovely transition to a hover and then hover taxi’ed us back AND landed but NOT by the fuel bowser like the last time and I’m more than happy with that, given the winds.
All good.
Steve got out of the helicopter as soon as it landed and left me to shut it down. I really appreciate the trust this shows.
Once back, debrief and then we sat for about 90 minutes listening to one of the helicopter engineers tell us all about which are the best helis from a service perspective – very interesting. Schweizer 300′s sounds like they should be avoided from a cost point of view. Very interesting.
2200 hour service on a Robinson R22 (if you send it back to the USA to get it done) is about £60k, but it effectively comes back a new helicopter. Interesting stuff.
In summary, a very enjoyable lesson. The weird thing is, I probably didn’t “learn” a lot, but the experience was invaluable.
Next lesson booked for tomorrow, 9.30am.
Well, first off, the Aviation Law exam. The first few questions were all about the Chicago Convention, and the very kind of questions I was dreading. So, not the best start, but after that, they were more practical and I enjoyed it. Well, perhaps “enjoy” is a little strong !
Anyway, 88.5% with a pass mark of 75%, so I am a happy bunny.
One of the examiners said something which made me think that my theory tests from when I had the PPL(A) (25 years ago), might still be valid and I needn’t have resit the exam. I was pleased on the one hand, ‘cos it meant I wouldn’t have to resit all the exams, but on the other hand, I learned so much by resitting this exam.
I rang the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on my return home, and I DO need to retake them ‘cos it’s been 10 years where I haven’t been current. So, strangely pleased at that AND disappointed.
After the exam, it was Lesson 11. Today was going to be more circuit work. It went brilliantly 90% of the time And with a cracking ending !!
Steve booked us out and told me that it was going to be a different model of Robinson R22. It was the HP model.
dp :- “High Performance ?”
Not quite !
It was a model which had less weight and less endurance. 20 gallon tank, compared to 30 (over 2 tanks). It also had the battery at the front of the helicopter. What difference does all that make ?
Quite a lot actually. The CoG is farther forward and as I found when I took off, It lifts off the back of the skids first and the front of the skids are the last thing to lift off. This affects takeoffs AND landings as I found out. It felt like we were doing 2 landings for every 1 real landing. Land the front skids, then the rear and then stop it leaning back. Very strange, but nice helicopter with little else different. This helicopter belonged to a pilot member at the club and he has an arrangement with the school so they can use it. I think one of this student’s headsets was in the helicopter as I could hear everything very clearly !!
Favourite Lesson so far. Hope that’s not going to be my new catchphrase !
So, Steve showed me the slightly different checks for this model. Without the extra fuel tank, I had a lot more visibility of the rotor gearbox and other bits’n'bobs. Once checks were complete. Steve left me to do all the checks and start her up.
I got the ATIS, called for startup. All going fine so far. But, I missed a critical step out of the checklist. Now, previously, I have been using a checklist on my phone where you tick when you’ve done them and I never missed a thing, but it’s a bit of a fart-on to get the phone out, secure it on the kneepad etc etc…. So, I had reverted to a paper one, but I kept losing my place.
Anyway, when it came to starting her up, she wouldn’t start, she’d tick over, sound like she was starting and then immediately conk out. I can sense people reading this, shouting what I’d missed ! Yes, You’re right !!!
I hadn’t set the mixture to rich, so there was no fuel. And strangely, engines need fuel !
Steve gave a wry smile !
So, with Steve’s help, I took off. He came straight on the controls when it was getting light, as he knew this model lurched forward ‘cos of the CoG, but once he’d stablised the hover, it was all me. Love it.
I hover taxi’ed to Holding Point F, called for departure. We were told to hold position pending a taxi’ing light a/c. And all this time, I am successfully hovering. This still amazes me ! Can’t believe I’ve cracked it given where I was 5 hours ago !!
Then we were given takeoff clearance and I transitioned it directly from the holding point straight across the runway and we were on our way north of Morpeth.
I made all the R/T calls. I misheard one thing, but steve kept me right.
And then we went to the plateau (next to a quarry) and I took us down, transitioned to the hover, and then we basically did circuit after circuit. Now, we’re not allowed to land away from a licensed aerodrome, so when I say we landed, I mean we got to a couple of feet above the ground (stationary) before taking off again. More circuits with some landings and takeoffs. And they all went great !! I was in total control.
Steve then picked a spot that I had to land on, and again then went fine.
After about circuit number 6 or 7, my concentration was going. I’d been up since 5.20am revising and I was a bit knackered. Steve (excellent instructor he is) sensed this and asked me if I was ok. Told him I was flagging and his response :-
Steve :- Take me home James.
Here comes the best bit. I flew us ALL the way home. Did all the R/T, transitioned onto the runway adjacent to the taxiway to the flying school and here’s the best bit………….
Hover-taxi’ed us back AND landed. Now, it gets better !!
The flying school has a fuel bowser, and 50 metres from the fuel bowser was another helicopter. I asked steve where he wanted it, thinking he would say miles from the bowser, but he said :-
Steve :- Put it between the bowser and the helicopter
And what finished the day off beautifully, was I did it and it was my best landing of the day !!
Awesome. Still on a high about it.
So, good day. 1 of 7 exams out of the way. Now to (re)learn Meteorology ready for a test next week. Thankfully weather is a topic I’m really interested in, so this should be easier.
I think I’ll be solo next trip. Think it would have been today, were it not for the medical, but that’s on Sunday.
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