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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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Nearly got to fly

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Went to EGNT and waited, and waited……

But it was too gusty.

But, worth the trip in, as Steve ran through some things with me. Also loads of good helicopter crack.

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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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Saturday 22nd August 2009

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009

Lesson 24 – 22nd August 2009 – 1045 – 54 minutes – Total so far – 26 hours 8 mins
Lesson 25 – 22nd August 2009 – 1630 – 32 minutes – Total so far – 26 hours 40 mins
Lesson 26 – 22nd August 2009 – 1820 – 24 minutes – Total so far – 27 hours 4 mins

The opportunity for some cheap flying presented itself today. Steve had suggested coming to Carlisle with him as he had to take the helicopter there anyway for some trial lessons. Because the helicopter had to go there anyway, I would get the trip at cost and as I would be flying the hours would count towards the Commercial Pilot’s licence. My kind of deal. :-)

Early start. I’d had a bad night’s sleep and wasn’t as bright and bushy tailed as I would have liked, but normally when I start focussing on piloting a heli, it all comes together and to a great extent it did today, but there were also moments where my lack of concentration made for a cockup and I got a berating from ATC (more detail later). Ironically, the current exam I am studying for is “Human Factors and Pilot Performance”, which is pretty much about the effects of various things (incl. tiredness) on flying. So, talk about living the book !!

G-MAVI (Northumbria01) was the bird of choice today. It needed some oil, so I put a pint or so in. It also needed fuel, so I took the initiative and pushed it to the bowser. I’m sure I’d done this before, but I think this was the first time I’d done it without Steve there to add some welly. Need to work on a technique I think, ‘cos he can do it no bother, and there’s nee meat on Steve.

I did the usual pre-flight, startup checks routine. Steve joined me and we we’re off. Runway 25 today (very much a westerly wind), but I was thrown a bit when they asked us to depart directly north. I had to ask Steve what they’d said. In fact, a lot of today’s R/T on my part has been poor, 95% of it because I can’t make out what they are saying. It’s quite frustrating. I think it’s a combination of the headset quality (school headset) and me not knowing what they’re going to say. I find when I know what they should be saying, I can work it out, but if I have to listen to something new, I get thrown !!! Maybe time to invest in a headset !

We did some instrument flying on the way over there. It’s an area I feel quite comfortable with. To be honest, I do a lot of normal flying with lots of reference to the instruments, so after about 5 minutes of only looking at the instruments, I was happy to say “enough’s enough” and proceed visually.

The flight over there was uneventful. Steve took some photos for me, thanks Steve.

dp + Steve….

dpsteve
River near Hexham…..

riverhex

Spadeadam was closed, so no fast jets to see, sod’s law when I have a camera attached to my head.

As we closed in on Carlisle, the R/T banter increased and again, I really struggled to understand what was said. Here’s my recollection of the conversation that ensued……

Carlisle Tower :- …………..Runway 25……………..19…………Left base…………..

dp :- ?

Now, what I _SHOULD_ do is to ask them to “say again”, but idiot me………….

dp :- Join left base runway 25, Northumbria01.

Steve told me that what they’d said was to “stay north of the centreline for Runway 25, and join left base for Runway 19″.

Needless to say, Carlisle Tower were back on the blower clarifying the instruction. In no time, we were at Carlisle and I hadn’t thought the approach through enough !!  I also had my fixed wing head on, and I was going to do a left-base approach for runway 19 as a fixed wing would do, bearing in mind the winds are westerly, which would have been a crosswind landing !!!!

So, Steve corrected me and explained that we could approach runway 19 but against the wind, so what we should have been doing was ending up over the numbers of Runway 19, but approaching into wind. It didn’t sink in, tiredness being the reason I think :-(

So, although I approached Runway 19 numbers in the right direction, I overshot the approach and ended up in the helicopter practice area that I have been in before.

I can’t remember verbatim what happened next, but it went something like this….

Carlisle Tower :- Northumbria01, you have entered the helicopter practice area and your instructions were to land on Runway 19.
dp :- Sorry, my bad.

Well, I was kicking myself ! :-(

Carlisle Tower :- In future, if you are not going to follow my instructions, please let me know.
dp :- Understood, Affirm, sorry again.

I felt as guilty as sin !! Steve was mildly amused.

So, we were cleared to taxi “to the ‘H’”. So, I taxi’ed us over and then the best bit of the whole day came !!!!!!

I’d been reading up on helicopter principles of flight for the recent exams and something I had read had really helped me learn how to land without farting on up and down for 30 seconds, so here was my first chance to put it into practice.

When a helicopter is close to the ground, you get this cushion of air underneath which gets bigger as you get closer to the ground (effectively). So, in a very slight way, a continual lowering of the collective is required to land in one go. Previously, I had been going down in stages and at each stage trying to maintain the perfect hover. So, I put into practice what I had learned in the book and what resulted was in my opinion the perfect landing. There was no movement in any direction and the vertical speed at touch down was a beautiful kiss. I was so excited, I shouted out “OH BEAUTIFUL !!!” or something like that. It’ll be on the video (tomorrow or later today for the video) it was that loud. Steve was pleased at my joy. It really was spot on. There was only one complaint I have with it, is that it wasn’t on the “H”, it was to one side. Which come to think of it, makes the whole thing not as impressive, but I wasn’t intending to land on the “H” so not too worried about that. I was on a total high after that.

Steve got out while I shut it down. 5 minutes later when it was time to exit the helicopter, it dawned on me that the ATC tower was right next to the “H” and I may be getting stern looks for my earlier antics.

As I exited the helicopter, I gave them a wave and I got a friendly wave back, so I think I’d been forgiven.

Steve then did 3 trial lessons whilst I read “Human Factors and Pilot Performance”. At one point, we had some refreshments in the excellent cafe there. It was then time for Lesson 25.

I started her up and Steve got in, and we had to wait 5 minutes whilst an R44 was refuelling and then a quick hover over to the pumps, another successful landing with my new technique, although not as perfect as previously. Shut down, refuel, restart and we we’re off to Eshott for the fly-in event for “Help for Heroes” charity. This was the first ever time I had flown an a/c without reference to a map, and WITH reference to a GPS. In my previous flying time about 15 years ago, I don’t think GPS systems were as abundant. It makes life so much easier than consulting a map ! So much safer too !

So, with a tailwind, we were there about 20 minutes later. It was _busy_ ! Lots of a/c in the circuit and again I _STILL_ had my fixed wing head on. Steve suggested doing a low, tight circuit
and advising Eshott radio that we would stay clear of the active runway. Of course, it allowed us to get straight-in, nipping to the front of the “queue”. We transitioned into the hover taxi next to the active runway and we then followed another runway to a marshaller who told us where to land. Lots of people watching as I made this landing, which was a bit offputting, but one last turn back into wind, and another BEAUTIFUL landing. This new technique was really paying off !!! And better still, I hadn’t embarassed myself with one of my “up and down for 30 seconds” jobs !!!

Steve got out to make sure noone endangered themself, I shut it down and then we went to sign in. Lots of chatting to fellow pilots ensued.

I took a few photos at Eshott….
Some of the other a/c at Eshott….
eshott1

Here’s where we parked…..

gmavi

Really good to chat to other pilots. Some very interesting stuff. I spoke to one chap who was a microlight owner and he also flew model helicopters. He was thinking about doing a trial lesson and was remarking how he thought he’d find hovering easy because of his time with model helicopters. I couldn’t help think that NOTHING will help you for your first hover practice, but I didn’t have the heart to quash his enthusiasm.

After about 2 hours at Eshott and a stiff coke (we were offered Vodka in it, but we had one more leg to fly, so it wasn’t as stiff as we’d have liked), it was tme to fly back to EGNT. I went to check the heli over, and then a mini airshow started. The heli was right next to the runway, so I was right underneath this very fast biplane type of a/c. He did some great stuff (video to follow).

Once he’d done his thing and flown off, I finished the checks and Steve came out. I started her up and he maintained a vigil on the tail rotor to make sure noone strayed into it. It’s easily damaged ;-)

We then went flew to a very quite/calm Newcastle. So quiet, Steve had chance to have a chat with the ATC chap on duty. I _STILL_ did a fixed wing approach, very shallow glide angle, lots of speed. It’s obviously more inbrained into me than I think. Need to work on that BIG TIME !!

But, it was safe, short taxi and then an “ok” landing at the Bowser. I still employed my new technique, but instead of the straight-down repeat of my last 3 landings, I aborted once, but got it down the second time.

All in all, a good and cheap(ish) day’s flying. Poor approach at Carlisle, BAD TIMES !!  Excellent landing improvements generally, GOOD TIMES !!

An exhausted dp resulted and I only just made it through the night’s tv and food !  No sooner had I hit the pillow, I was fast asleep !!

I’ll do the video asap, but may not be today.

Only one lesson booked for this week (monday), due to busy week with kp. Intend to book a lot more for the following week to maximise British “summer”. :-)

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