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Calling it a day

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

Well, I think it’s dawned on me that I don’t want to continue on the road to Commercial Helicopter Pilot. I’ve lost the mojo for it all. I love flying helicopters, but I’ve come to realise I’ve achieved what I wanted to achieve, which is to be able to fly a helicopter. Another life experience in the bank and one I’m very grateful I’ve done. Big thanks to Steve and Scott at Northumbria Helicopters for putting up with me. It was a privilege and an honour to fly with you both. You’re very brave !!

Onwards and Upwards for me, or “Onwards and Downwards” – Skydiving is my next pursuit. :-)

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No Flying Today

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Scott, the instructor, off to Carlisle to do some commercial work :-(

Have booked for monday and tuesday next week.

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Fantastic Day’s Flying – Solo Qualifying Cross Country completed

Friday, October 9th, 2009

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.

egnvfromtower

Here’s the view from G-MAVI….

egnvtowerfrommavi

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…….

egnctowerfrommavi

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 :-)

princeharry

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…..
egnt_backatpapaeast

Video to follow when done (hopefully today, but not sure how to combine ATC comms with video clips at the moment).

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Lesson 34 – 21st September 2009 – 1050 – 42 minutes – Total so far – 35 hours 28 mins

Monday, September 21st, 2009

Well, despite poor weather, we managed to get a lesson in, albeit a short one (40 minutes).

We concentrated on instrument flying, but managed some autos and a demo’ed auto with power termination in a field near Morpeth.

Order of the day….I booked out, and checked G-MAVI over. There was some confusion with our callsign. I’m sure I put Northumbria01 on the booking out sheet, but Tower queried our callsign, they were happy for us to assume the mantle Northumbria01 instead of ZERO TWO.

Steve came out for the last couple of checks and we were told to hold at Foxtrot. That was good, because I got chance to do a couple of landings/takeoffs as we waited for a plane to land and taxi off the active.

Once he’d gone, we were given the go. Once we’d climbed to about 1600 feet (we couldn’t have gone much higher because of the cloud base), Steve had me don the instrument goggles. Usual…

  • hold a heading
  • turn 90′ left
  • turn 90′ right
  • Descending 180′

They all went fine.

Steve then took control and adopted an unusual attitude in the plane and with the instrument goggles on,  I had to get us level again. I got it eventually, but it took me 5 seconds to realise power was low. Once I’d sussed that, it was sorted.

Once the instrument flying was done, I was a bit disoriented. I had no idea where we were, what direction we were facing. And I’m pleased about this, because it made me think about where the wind was coming from and that normally I don’t have to do that. It shows me I’m developing a constant awareness of the wind direction without realising it at the time.

We did some autos to a powered recovery at about 500 feet. I needed reminding about the throttle. We did a couple of max range ones where we reduce rotor rpm to 90/95% whilst maintaining 75kts.

By this stage, my concentration was going, and I wasn’t benefitting from the practice, so I asked Steve if he’d demo an auto to 5 feet above the ground. We had a nice field with the only downside being some sheep in one corner, but they were totally unphased by us even after we’d climbed away. They were a few hundred yards away.

It was interesting to watch an auto being done all the way to a low hover. It allowed me to analyse and think it through, plus Steve through in a commentary. His commentaries, because they are the same language each time DO help learning a lot. It’s a set of instructions that gradually sink in, so that when I do it, I’m hearing Steve saying things like……

  • Balance, check
  • Rotor RPM, check
  • Reduce Throttle, check
  • Speed, check
  • Cancel Carb Heat
  • Not yet, not yet, not yet
  • Flare
  • Level
  • POP (that’s his favourite)
  • Cushion

He says these exact things everytime, and the fact I can write them down, tells me they are sinking in. Of course, doing them is another thing, but I’m getting there.

We’d been out 25 minutes and I wasn’t in the zone today, so Steve (rightly) suggested we head back. He’d spotted a fast low-level helicopter on the way back. We kept a visual with it until it was in front of us.

Tower :- Report at Stannington, join right-base for 25. QFE 1010.

We did that, and Steve said to use the approach to practice the approach sight picture. The sight picture is how an approach should look. I need to start doing this on every final to the runway, because, as Steve said, you don’t often get a mile long runway to practice your “sight picture”. Good tip.

The final landing was a pleasing one. I’ve decided not to fart on any more. Scott was right, get yourself ready for a landing and barring any sideways/backwards movement, commit to getting it down. I did it today, and it worked. It wasn’t 10/10, but it was 9/10. I was happy.

No lesson until friday, because of kp stuff. There may be an opportunity of a cheap cross country to Blackpool. All day job for a heli to have a service. So, I hope that comes off, as I did all my light aircraft flying from Blackpool, so that will be a trip down memory lane. PLUS Steve said we may get the chance to look around the Oil Rig helicopters there. Fingers crossed for that one.

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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 31 – 15th September 2009 – 1320 – 1 hour – Total so far – 32 hours 22 mins

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

Absolutely brilliant lesson – Loved it !!

Got a chance to listen in Rich’s helicopter debrief as I arrived (another student). It’s always good to chat to fellow pilots and trainee pilots and it’s quite reassuring to know that others face the same obstacles and hiccups. Good to know I’m not alone !

Once Rich had gone, Steve did an in-depth briefing on Confined Area Landings. I was glad of hearing it a second time, because it takes a few briefings sometimes for things to sink in. I was overwhelmed before the last lesson and during it, but today the briefing cemented my knowledge and the actual lesson felt really good – kind of like everything came together.

So, Steve booked out, as I went out to G-MAVI (Northumbria01), checked her over and started her up. The ATIS was not very healthy today. It gave the surface wind, temperature, dewpoint and that was about it. No runway in use, no pressure settings and no Information designator. So, I was thinking how I could get that across to Tower without rambling on for 2 minutes, but thankfully some other pilot was already reporting it and from that conversation, I could tell they already knew there was a problem too.

Startup Checks are starting to flow much better now. I’m not fluid, far from it, and still have to check the checklist, but I’m getting to the point where I’m checking a section heading and remembering the X number of things in that section. So, I’m getting quicker at it, without forgetting things, which is good.

With Steve onboard, we taxi’ed to Foxtrot and then a left hand turnout from a 07 departure. Normally, I climb to 2300′ but today that would have put us above the cloud, so we kept about 1500′. We still skirted cloud which is a lovely feeling, don’t ask me why !

Once out of the zone, we headed to a wooded area next to a prison. En route, we rolled the power back to see how much was required for 53 knots level flight and I think we had 6.5 MAP available (plenty) and we then started the first of two orbits around the confined area. Steve had said to keep the confined area at 45 degrees at all times. Not too sure I did that exactly, but after a few more attempts I’ll get that. Certainly, I circled it working out angles of entry and departure. We looked for the S’s.

  • Site
  • Surroundings (inner/outer)
  • Surface
  • Slope
  • Stock (Livestock)
  • Sun

and some other S’s I’ve forgot. But basically, a handy way of thinking about all the things you have to be aware of.  There were some pylons on the approach, and some telegraph wires on the departure. But, it was like a mini runway as far as space was concerned and I was confident we could get in and out.

After 2 orbits around the confined area at about 500 feet, we made our approach. I’m not forgetting applying Carb Heat with any descents these days, but I am forgetting to cancel it at 500 feet, which is particularly important for confined areas where you need all the power available. Note to self !!

The approach to this confined area went much better than the previous ones with Scott where I had to abort the first one and it’s dawned on me why. When I did them with Scott, although we didn’t know it at the time, we were landing downwind (i.e. with the wind behind us). No wonder I struggled to slow it down and get it in. But, with the wind towards us today, it was so much easier. Once in the confined area (basically a strip of land surrounded by trees), we did some more of the turns where you move to the right, turn to the right, move to the right, turn to the right. They went fine. We then taxi’ed back to the trees at the downwind end, so we had ample space for the transition. I think we then did another power check and we had about 1.5 MAP available for the departure (again, ample for a vertical or towering takeoff).

And then we did a normal transition to leave the confined area and flew straight into another orbit (for practice). A second approach and hover concluded the second practice confined area landing. We didn’t actually land because….

  1. We’re not allowed to land away from a licensed aerodrome and
  2. The grass was so tall, the tail rotor would have been in the grass

So, with the second approach done, Steve suggested trying a towering takeoff. What a lot of fun. As the name implies, we pull full power (24.5 today) and then we zoom up and as we stop gaining height, start easing it forward and transition away. Awesome !

With that done, we headed back to the airport.

On the way back, Steve said we were going to practice an autorotation to a power termination. Basically

  • full lowering of the collective
  • throttling off the engine
  • enter autorotation
  • find a suitable field
  • setup an approach
  • Flare at the last second
  • POP the collective and
  • HOVER

The first one went well. I managed the throttle initially, all good, but as I stopped the rotor rpm from rising into the red (by pulling collective), the correlator told the engine to get back unto speed. So I learned that you have to HOLD the throttle off and stop it correcting itself. Good tip !!!

Steve later said that I’d done 95% of the whole thing. I was chuffed, ‘cos I’d put it more at 80%, but everything happens so fast, especially towards the end when you’re flaring 50 feet above the ground etc….

So, I thought we were all done. I made the call at Morpeth to ask for rejoin instructions and we’re heading back to EGNT. Totally to my surprise and completely OUT OF THE BLUE, Steve says “Engine Failure Engine Failure Engine Failure”. Well, without even thinking I instinctively lowered the collective, and turned into wind. I took a moment to think “what the hell” and then remembered to stop rotor rpm from rising into the red. I think I even remembered to hold the throttle off on this one. I did feel Steve do something at some point, maybe some minor throttle work, and then at about 300 feet we went around.

Loved it. It was a total surprise and a real test for the panic that would be there (but tenfold) were the engine really to quit. I was pleased that it was kind of instinct too. My only concern is if the engine really went and noone was saying outloud “Engine Failure Engine Failure Engine Failure” would I still lower the collective as quick. ;-) LOL.

Anyway, thinking the lesson over, we climbed and headed back to EGNT. We were asked to do a couple of orbits on left base for 07.

Here’s the GPS of the orbits over the Golf Course..….

orbits

With the landing aircraft down, Steve made a radio call and asked if we could do another auto onto the runway and that was ok with them, so we did another auto to a powered termination and that went well too. Steve said I did 99% of that one. I think he helped with the throttle on that one too.

So, brilliant lesson – one of my favourites so far and that’s with a landing rated 4/10 on the dp scale. The landing was safe, but one skid touched first and then when they both touched we clunked down, not graceful, but we made it ;-)

So, all good !!!

Here’s the trip we did..….

wholetrip

Here’s the confined area stuff in more detail..…The larger circles are the orbits and the more narrow oval things are totally rectangular circuits ;-)

approachorbits

Video to follow tomorrow if time permits..…

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Lesson 30 – 11th September 2009 – 1134 – 1 hour 6 minutes – Total so far – 31 hours 22 mins

Friday, September 11th, 2009

Yesterday, after the lesson with Steve I was confident that I could have done another lesson had I booked it. I was refreshed and ready to fly more.

So today, I had booked 2 lessons but I was so exhausted after one, that I called it a day. Why ? Because we did Confined Area Landings, and I found it VERY mentally draining.

Today’s lesson was with Scott. I normally fly with Steve. Scott and Steve have quite different training styles. Steve’s cool, calm (and fun) approach gets the best flying out of me (Yes Steve, that’s my best ! ;-) . Scott’s full-on approach is more challenging and although I probably learn more, I get flustered and don’t fly at my best, but I do enjoy the challenge immensely.

So, today’s lesson and another beautiful day for it. Hardly any wind at EGNT. Scott was there as I did the pre-startup,post-start checks. I was doing his checklist flow, but forgot about switching the radio off before starting. A good habit to get into in case I fly an older model where the starting current can blow the radio.

For some reason, Tower had a problem hearing me. We weren’t sure if it was my headset or Tower was doing something else when I called for clearance. Later transmissions seemed to be heard fine. Although, Scott had problems hearing me. Will need to keep an eye on that. Or probably better to keep an ear on it !! I think we sorted it later by me pushing my volume up, but it’s a bit of a blur.

We taxi’ed to Foxtrot and were asked to Line up and Wait on 25. That’s a first for me in a helicopter.

No sooner had we got in position than we were given the “GO”. Once we were on the climb after the initial turnout, it was instrument time. We’d forgot the goggles, but to be honest it didn’t make any perceivable difference. Once you focus solely on the instruments, the scanning you need to do stops you looking out anyway. The only downside is you don’t know how much your peripheral vision is helping you out, but I didn’t feel like it was helping much.

So, we did climbs, turns by instruments and they went fine. I think I stayed within 100 feet of any altitude and the headings were +/- 15′, so I was happy with that. At this point, I was feeling in control of everything and on top form mentally.

As the flight progressed, the headset problems left Scott a bit frustrated. I was struggling to hear him over the radio banter. I think I needed to tweak some headset knob, but we were too engrossed to bottom it out, or at least I was. His frustration with my headset, started getting me on edge and my performance started to wane a little.

Once we’d done the instrument flying, we concentrated on Confined Area Landings. Scott had done an excellent and extremely thorough briefing before we even took off and I felt full with information, overflowing even. But, often, things are easier when you actually do them.

So, confined area landing as far as I can remember, involved a recce circuit to work out angles of approach the confined area, and possible departure angles. Then a lower circuit (approx. 1,000 feet) to look for any obstructions etc..….

Then an approach with an abort decision altitude to attempt a landing, but with a decision to abort if anything untoward is spotted.

On one of the downwind legs, we rolled back to 53 knots, maintaining level flight and recorded the power required, which I think was 17.5 MAP. Take that away from 23.5 MAP (max continuous for today), gave us 6inches MAP to play with. Ample for a confined area approach. The first attempt, I had misunderstood and thought we were going to go around, so I was too high to get in, which is what Scott wanted. With me now understanding we were going all the way in to a 5 foot hover, we did a tight circuit for a second attempt.

It felt quite a shallow approach given the steep approaches I did with Steve yesterday. My understanding after yesterday’s lesson was that it was a steep approach, but Scott had me come in quite shallow. But, we made it this time, although I did lose balance which nearly required Scott’s intervention. He was at full alert for a second before I got it under control. Not even sure why it got out of balance. Weird. I was pulling collective, which normally requires left pedal, but I had needed to give right. Bizarre !

Anyway, we came to the hover in this kind of dip in a hill and we had raised ground all around us. It was great. We then did some pedal turns, but cleverly, he had me move the helicopter to the right, before giving right pedal. In this way, we’re sure that the tail rotor isn’t going to hit anything as we’ve just come from the place the tail rotor is going to turn through. Then when we’ve done 90′ turn, we rinse and repeat until we’ve scanned the whole area. It worked a treat and the tail rotor didn’t hit anything ;-)

With the area now clear for departure, we needed to work out how much power we had available. I think we were showing 23.5 to to hover in ground effect (IGE), leaving only 1inch of MAP to spare, so we ideally needed to do an on-the-skids takeoff. But as we hadn’t landed, this wasn’t possible, so we had to do an IGE transition. It worked a treat and we headed back to Newcastle :-)

On the way back, we had a nice view of a Tornado streaking past. Hopefully, I caught it on video. Will check tomorrow if I get time. Steve was with his student at the plateau at the same time we were there and both helicopters were flying back at the same time. And I think Steve’s student had the better view of the Tornado, which isn’t necessarily a good thing ! ;-)

We followed Steve’s helicopter back and although it wasn’t quite a formation landing, we were only half a mile behind them on Base Leg and down the runway which was neat.

We taxi’ed back and then I did a shitty landing, rating of 4/10 on the dp landing scale. There was sideway’s movement at the just wrong moment, so I had to lower the collective to plant us on firmly, avoiding Dynamic Rollover.

All in all, a hectic, very taxing, but thoroughly enjoyable experience. I’ll need much more practice at these, but Scott was very complimentary about the first attempt, which was well received. I always think I’m doing worse than I am. I think it’s because I’m not flying my best with Scott generally. I haven’t done a good landing with him yet !

I’m writing this and sense myself being far too self-critical, but that’s me. It’s the way I improve I think by critiquing myself harshly. Always nice to be told that it’s gone well though.

Lesson booked for everyday next week apart from Thursday.

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Lesson 29 – 10th September 2009 – 1125 – 1 hour 6 minutes – Total so far – 30 hours 16 mins

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

The whole of the UK enjoyed a magnificent day of September sunshine today due to a massive high pressure system. It was gorgeous for flying. As smooth as a mill pond !

The order of the day was mainly instrument flying. It’s an area I feel quite comfortable with, probably due to my fixed wing days.

So, slightly different start to the flight as Steve accompanied me out so I could test my headset in various different helicopters and different radio/helicopter headset combos. It worked swimmingly in each. With that complete, he headed in and I did the startup checks.

The Lightspeed Zulu headset felt great on, a real comfy fit and when ANR is switched on, a lovely calm settles in your ears, quite an eery silence. Even with the rotors turning, it was a huge improvement on a school headset.

Usual startup done, the headset had their first real test. Normally, I am straining so much to hear what’s being said, that there is a sense of slight panic as I try and catch every word Tower is saying to me. Today, I could hear them so clearly, I could actually _listen_ to what they are saying even if it was different to what I was expecting. And that happened..…

I had got the QNH from the ATIS, and it was a very high 1038mb. When Tower gave it me with the taxi clearance, they gave it me as 1033mb. Now, normally, I would just be so grateful to have understood what they said that I would have repeated it back to them. But today, I had the wherewithal to ask them to confirm the QNH was 1033mb. They corrected the QNH to 1038mb and I was chuffed that the painful purchase was already paying dividends.

As Steve did his final walkaround under the fast-spinning rotor, I did the final “Low RPM Horn” checks and we were ready for off once he’d took his seat.

Steve wanted me to do all the checks once in the hover (lights out, temps etc in the green) and then record “power required to hover” and state “CoG and Controls feel fine”. I did that. Before I even took off, he checked I knew the maximum Manifold Pressure we could tax the engine to. It was 24.5 for 5 minutes, because of the high pressure system.

Short Taxi to Foxtrot with Steve now onboard. The hover lift was fine, and so it should have been with the Surface Wind less than 5kts. Today, I had decided I was going to do things more by the book. Hold altitudes, follow taxi lines etc etc…. Normally, I don’t tax myself too much and enjoy the moment. But, as I found today, I can do both.

For the first time, once we were cleared for takeoff, I didn’t skip the corner (over the grass) as I normally do, we did a precision transition, akin to fast taxi following the taxiway line (ish), turn into wind and off we went. It was so smooth today. Today’s are the kind of days you don’t want to come down.

At 500 feet, I had Scott’s FREDATT (Fuel, Radion, Engine, Direction, Altimeter, Trim & Transponder) checks running in my ears, so I did them.  And then off we flew to the North. Initially 2300ft but once out of the zone, it was instrument time. We first did a couple of turns (180 degree at 15′ rate). They went fine, and then it was time to put the goggles on. They are goggles that allow you only to see the instruments and a bit of land either side of the instrument pedestal, but nothing that would help you fly. I suppose if you see blue sky either side of the pedestal column, it’s a clue to commence panicking.

I had to remove my headset to put the goggles on – WHAT A RACKET !!!!! I’ve never removed any headset before in a helicopter, and blimey, you can tell why you need them. So with the goggles (and headset) on, Steve gave instructions. First off a 180′ turn to the right (15′ rate), whilst maintaining the current height. And then same in the other direction. They went fine.

Then we did a climbing 180′ turn and a descending 180′ turn. Again, they went fine, although I did notice they were getting sloppier and I could sense I was losing concentration. But, they were safe.

We ended up at about 3200 feet and Steve suggested we leave it there as he didn’t foresee any difficulties with instruments and for us to do some autos, but first he suggested going upto 4000 feet to see what it looks like from that altitude.  Off we jolly well went to 4000 feet and WOW !!!!!! There were a few clouds about and we were above them. That’s a first for me in a helicopter.  It felt awesome. I suggested to Steve that we land on one as they were nice firmly shaped puffy ones, but he didn’t seem keen. :-)

Once past the clouds, we did a 180′ autorotation with me doing the throttle again. They still feel so new to me (autos). Whereas it doesn’t tax me much to fly the helicopter generally, even to hover now is RELATIVELY stress free, but autos seem to need 100% cpu cycles. So, HASEL checks then collective down and roll off the throttle. I rolled it off, but they crept back on because I hadn’t rolled off enough and the governor was kicking in. But, eventually I got it to a steady 70-75% rpm. We were nicely in autorotation, now the turn. Whilst the turn was under way I called the fake mayday. I seemed to get everything out. Pretend to turn the fuel off, the magnetos, the master switch after first pushing the ident button and we were down to picking a field to land in. With that picked, we came out of the auto at about 1000 feet and proceeded to the plateau. Just as I write this, I have remembered that I forgot to “check above” (for the climb away) which is the last thing I’m supposed to do in an auto. I did remember cancelling carb heat. Note to self!

So, once at the plateau we practiced a steep approach. 30 knots indicated and a steep angle of approach. I was aiming for a certain point, but overshot it by about 50 yards, but I’m good with that. It was good practice keeping 30 knots and the high angle of approach. Apparently, these skills will be used shortly for Confined Area Landings shortly.

Once in the hover at the plateau we did a hover taxi back along the plateau, a 180′ yaw and then we did a practice quickstop. That went ok. It was then time to head back to the airport.

An uneventful trip back (we like them) and a chance to catch up with a bit of chatting. We were asked to report overhead Stannington, which I did, and then to report base leg. A bit farther on and before I had chance to report base leg, Tower advised us we were number 1 to land, to report finals and be aware of an Easyjet who was entering the zone from the south and who would be coming in behind us.  So we kept on the speed (about 90kts). I said to Steve, it would have been better if they’d let us join midway.

Steve :- Ask them Dave. Say “Northumbria01 request midjoin”
dp :- Tower, Northumbria01 request midjoin

And we got it, which basically meant we didn’t have to cross the numbers at the bottom of the runway,and we could cut the corner and “land” midway up the runway. We did that and transitioned to a taxi just before Foxtrot and then taxi in. We didn’t even get chance to fully vacate before Tower was granting the Easyjet landing clearance.  All good though !

The landing was ok. It wasn’t a dp spesh i.e. up and down 10 times, but neither was it a 10/10 like I have done before. It was an 8/10 in my book. I went down to land and sensed sideways movement and then pulled up and went down again for a toe landing. It felt like the front skids touched down first and then the rest gently touched down after that. It felt very safe and I was pleased.

So, great lesson. Days like today are meant for flying. I would have had another lesson, but they were fully booked. I’ve turned my single lesson tomorrow into a double. Already looking forward to it !!!

Video to follow

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Lesson 28 – 2nd September 2009 – 1330 – 1 hour 6 minutes – Total so far – 29 hours 10 mins

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Today was Quickstops, Autos, Simulated Engine Failure, Emergency Turns

G-MAVI was getting its 100 hour service, so G-BZBU was the bird of choice (HP variant), aka Northumbria02.

It has a David Clark Headset and was a much better experience on the R/T front than the old school headset in MAVI. I didn’t need Steve’s help with any R/T today, which is a bit of a change.

As per usual, I went out to do the checks and start her up. I used the new checklist that I’d done from the R22 manual after Scott’s comments from the previous lesson. It seemed easier for some reason.

When it came to starting her up, it was clear the starter motor wasn’t engaging and she wouldn’t start. After each attempt, I’d wait a while and try again, but nothing.

I got out and had a look and it looked ok to me, so I tried started it whilst I was outside the a/c and it turned over ?!?!?! Weird !!! I got back in to start it properly.

With Steve in and all the checks done, it was a Runway 25 departure, right turn out to Morpeth. En route to the practice area, we did a couple of autos to a powered recovery at 500feet with me doing throttle and controlling rpm, they went fine :-)

Then we did a steep descent to the plateau, but it was a bit too steep and to keep it safe, I overshot by 30 feet, rather than risk Vortex Ring.

Once in the hover at the plateau, we did 25 minutes of quickstops, precision transitions and clearing turn practice. The winds were quite strong on the plateau so the clearing turns were interesting, but I was pleased with them.

The quicksteps started off being too quick, my bad. But, as Steve said, they should be a gradual steepening nose high attitude to stop quickly (when you’re practicing them anyway). In real life, I expect you’d do them as steep as they need to be to stop before you hit whatever it was that caused you to have to do it in the first place.

By the 4th attempt, I was doing them ok and was happy with them. Between each couple of attempts, we were doing precision transitioning, which is seat-of-the-pants helicopter flying at its best. Whizzing along with a groundspeed of 50/60 knots, whilst being <50 feet above the ground is awesome. I _DID_ take the camera and set it all up, but because of the different headset in this a/c, it didn’t keep the camera angle, so all I have (footage-wise) is a couple of minutes of initial heli checks and then 1 hour PLUS of the ceiling of the helicopter. :-(   Gutted !!!! Because it would have been great footage.

On the way back, Steve surprised me with a simulated engine failure and it was definitely a surprise. But after a few surprise remarks, I pushed it down firmly and the first bit went well. Steve suggested a turn to get to a certain field and it worked out great. The last 5 seconds are full on, because about 50 feet from the ground, there’s a flare, collective, throttle and pedal work. It was over in a flash. I didn’t think I’d done anything at the end, but Steve said I’d done a fair bit, but definitely not the whole thing.

Absolutely bloody gutted that the camera was pointing at the ceiling, ‘cos I’d have learned so much by watching it back !!! And it would have been fun viewing too (for Karen).

Damn and blast it !

That aside, was a great lesson.

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Lesson 27 – 24th August 2009 – 1450 – 60 minutes – Total so far – 28 hours 4 mins

Monday, August 24th, 2009

Well, my head was buzzing and in overload after this lesson.

It wasn’t so much a lesson, although I did learn stacks, rather a mini trial practical test with the senior instructor (soon to be examiner) Scott.

To say I wasn’t ready for the onslaught that is Scott is probably an understatement. A very different style to Steve, but not in a bad way. Steve had said that I’d benefit from some time with another instructor and as per usual, he was right.

Steve has a very easy going relaxed way. He never comes on the controls these days unless he’s demonstrating a maneuvre and is subtle when I cockup, staring at a button I’d forgot to click, or something along those lines. Scott, on the other hand, was very full on. But, it really challenged me and I liked that. It gave me a new perspective and I certainly learned a lot. There was one downside, I got flustered which translated into what I thought was a poor performance.

I’ll not remember everything that happened in the hour, but I’ll try……

Scott wanted to be there when I started her up. I’m glad about this, because I think I’ve been doing the startup procedures in a bit of a non-standard way. Note to self…..

Consult the Flight Manual to work out how much manifold pressure I can pull continuously and at max, given temperature and pressure altitude.
Before starting, turn the radio off.
After starting and checking starter motor has disengaged, flick all the switches on (incl clutch)
Scott gets the clearance when he’s ready to go, whereas I’d been doing it while waiting for the clutch to fully engage.

So, with the engine started, I lifted off. I don’t think he helped at this point, so that was a good sign. Post liftoff checks were done. All fine so far.

Taxi to Foxtrot ensued, and then I called that we’re ready for departure. Cleared to depart north, I headed off (as I normally do), but Scott later pointed out that I should have done some pre-departure checks. I was too flustered to remember what they were. I’ll have to ask next time.

Normally, I don’t forget trim and transponder at 500ft, but it was 800ft before I remembered. God help me for the real test !!

He suggested FREDATT checks (Fuel, Radio, Engine, Direction, Altitude, Trim and Transponder) at 500 feet, which normally I’ve only been doing approaching the airfield on return.

So, we did them. He asked me what altitude I was going to fly…2300 feet I told him.

Which I kept initially, but I think I lost it later on.

Once out of the zone, we did a set of maneuvres. REAL BASIC STUFF !!! STUFF I SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO WITHOUT A PROBLEM. First off, was a turn. 15′ degree rate of turn in one direction through 360′. Well, I gained or lost (can’t remember) 200 feet during the turn. Come on David, get a grip !!!

Scott explained a few things and then I did the same turn but in the other direction. This time, it was much better, but there could have been less error.

Oh, before I forget !! I had been using the slip ball for seeing if we were in balance or not. Scott explained that it doesn’t work !!! And it’s not a problem with the helicopter, it’s because the heli is set to show balanced when on the ground, but an R22 flies left skid low, so it doesn’t read correctly in flight !! So, I need to get used to using the string on the bubble. Note to self…..

Pedal to the window with no string in !!!!

So, of course, that threw me completely, because all this time I’d been using the balance ball thing. In fact, in hindsight, that was the thing that probably made me flustered for the whole thing, because all my flying was requiring this new skill of “watching the string” ! ;-)

We then did some climbs and descents. For the climbs, I went over the manifold pressure I should have a few times, until I understood that I shouldn’t go over 23. For all the descents I remembered Carb Heat 50% of the time. 50% of the time would definitely be a fail !!! You need to rememeber it 100% of the time. The risk of icing today was particularly bad, because we went through rain a few times !!

Another interesting thing he said was if there is any rain, no questions, apply Full Carb Heat !!

We then did an autorotation to lose height ie a gradual lowering of the collective. I remembered Carb Heat this time !! :-) That went fine. But of course, I was watching the string which caused me to have to think too hard to worry about everything else (rotor rpm), but thankfully either Scott did rotor rpm, or I did it without thinking. Can’t remember, I was too flummoxed ! ;-)

Apparently, an auto is not complete until you look upwards (for the climb away) and cancel carb heat (NOTE TO SELF!)

We then did an autorotation for range as if the engine failed (75 knots). Faster lowering of the collective and maintaining 75knots went ok, but then I was thrown when he asked me to keep the throttle closed. I’ve never done any throttle work in the autorotation before, but pleased I got a chance to do it. It’s started me thinking on new trains of thought.

I think we then did another one. They felt ok.

By this stage, it was time to return and the rain was falling heavily over EGNT.

Scott made lots of R/T calls because I couldn’t understand things. I really must get my own headset. It was much worse today, and I’m normally comfortable with the Newcastle R/T so either the headset’s at fault (or more likely I was too flustered).

We were asked to hold at the northern airport boundary for 2 inbounds. And then we were asked to nip in before another big jet. Scott asked what would I do if asked to expedite when I was solo. I had previously expedited solo, so I suspected that that wasn’t the right answer and I was right. Don’t expedite solo !! Shame, ‘cos it’s lots of fun, but I knew where he was coming from !

Taxi next to the bowser and then I was gagging for another perfect landing like the other day, but it was messy. Not a 30-second messy dp special that I have previously done consistently, but it wasn’t like the beauties that I’d managed at Carlisle and Eshott.

I did a couple of attempts, but aborted them. Scott then demo’ed one and explained something which has now been lost in fluster land, but it stayed with me enough to do a half decent final landing based on whatever he’d said.

After we’d shut it down, he took me around the helicopter asking me what bits and bobs were. That was very interesting. I think I got 1 or 2 things right, but the other 6 were half-decent guesses that were wrong !! ;-) WHY DIDN’T HE ASK ME WHAT THE THING THAT GOES ROUND ON THE TOP IS ? OR THE FAN THING AT THE BACK END !? He probably didn’t know himself I expect ! :-)

So, all in all, a huge learning experience, but I left feeling a bit bamboozled. It’s that feeling where I know I’ve learned LOADS, but it’s not all sunk in yet. I’m pretty sure that, tomorrow, things will keep coming back to me, with a “oh yes” kind of moment as they sink in.

Thoroughly enjoyable and extremely valuable lesson in terms of things learned, but not showing my best skills ‘cos of being flummoxed. But, no pain, no gain. If I hadn’t learned the countless things I did, I may have flown better because I wasn’t flummoxed, but not have been a better pilot because of it (if that makes sense). I know what I mean ! :-)

But, to end on a positive, and to my big surprise, as the whole lesson felt like I was doing things wrong, Scott was very complementary. He asked me how many hours I’d done, and said I was “well ahead of the game and flying excellently” or something like that.

Video to follow when time permits

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