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

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Apart from this one, sod’s law !!!!

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

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

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

And relax……….

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Friday, July 31st, 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sorry there is no video footage, my bad.

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

stevefillinggbzbu

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

Monday, July 20th, 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Steve :- Airspeed is MONEY IN THE BANK.

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

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

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

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

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

Great learning experience though.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And then it was return to base time.

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

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

Final landing and then shut down concluded a great lesson.

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Double Lesson – 13th July 2009

Monday, July 13th, 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sorted.

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

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

Once out of the Control Zone……………

Steve :- Where is the wind coming from ?

I answered correctly.

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

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

But, we made the field.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

dp :- Taxi to Foxtrot, Runway 25.

Off I went to Foxtrot, then………….

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

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

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

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

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

So, all good.

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

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

Yes, that should do it !!

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

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

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

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

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

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

Thankfully tower was very helpful !!

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

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

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

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

dp:- Affirm (with a big grin)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Lesson 12 – 18th June 2009 – 11.13am – 1hr 12mins – Total so far – 12hours 33 min

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

I really didn’t think today’s lesson would go ahead, but I’m glad it did.

The weather was in excess of the minimum required for me to fly solo (winds need to be less than 15 knots). Winds were at around 20knots, gusting to 30knots, which is quite blowy (35mph). But, Steve felt I would benefit from a lesson where the weather wasn’t quite as ideal and he was dead right.

First off was a cup of coffee and a brief. Dynamic Rollover was the topic of the day. I asked Steve if we could practice one of these, but it’s a “no” ;-)

So, I went out to check the helicopter over. Steve went to check us out with ATC. The helicopter needed oil and fuel, so I texted Steve to bring the oil when he came out, to save a trip back to the hangar. As he arrived at the helicopter, his phone went off with my message – doh !!  He is on the “3″ network, and we have quite a few family members on “3″ and they sometimes never get texts or get them ages later. Weird !

So, we went back to get the oil and it started raining, so we waited in the hangar as it’s not pleasant checking an a/c over while it’s p+ssing down. Once it had enough oil, I wheeled the copter over to the bowser (my first time pushing it) – surprisingly light. Note to self, get the rotor blade in line with helicopter before pushing it.

Steve filled her up and then we wheeled it back to a safe distance from the fuel bowser and continued checks.

Flying a helicopter for someone with my low experience is quite different in calm or low wind conditions than when it’s blowing like it was today. I was concerned about the takeoff as we were probably only about 10m from the fuel bowser. But, Steve let me do it remarkably. I taxi’ed to Holding Point F(oxtrot) got the “go” from ATC, (hover) taxi’ed her onto 25 and then transitioned us off. I did every bit of flying today again, which is quite a good feeling, but TOTALLY exhausting. 30 minutes flying a helicopter is quite draining. I _KNOW_ it will become effortless with time and experience, but right now, it’s like when you start driving abroad and at first, you’re quite tense, but by the end of a holiday, you don’t give it a second thought.

So, we flew north, past Morpeth to “the plateau” as Steve calls it. It’s an area by some working quarries where we can “land”. We can’t land per se, but near as damn it ;-)      So, in our heads, we look at the wind, and pretend the hover landing spot is at a certain spot and then do circuits. My circuits still need to be tighter. This is where it would be easier with a runway, because it’s easy to know when you’re going downwind, base leg etc…. ‘cos you can compare it to the runway. With a plateau of grass which has no distinct shape, it’s less easy, but I did my best. Everything went fine, and I was pleased because the last blowy day (less windy than today), had seen my hovers be ALL over the place, but today, they were “ok”.

Steve is a great instructor. He had me in stitches today and at a time where I needed to really relax. When a helicopter comes into land, you do a transition from forward descending flight to the hover, before putting the heli down. So, I did that, got us to the hover and then “landed”. So far, so good. Taking off is trickier than it sounds as you need to be in a hover before your skids leave the ground, failure to do this correctly and we get the Dynamic Rollover thing, which we don’t want. So, I take off and get us in the hover, all good.

Now, then what we need to is to do a 360′ turn whilst hovering to check that the sky is clear of any a/c before we start a “take off”. Even in calm winds, this can be tricky, but in calm winds, I can do it. In these winds, and it was showing as 35kts on the instruments whilst we were hovering, it’s not quite as easy. The tricky thing is that you need to keep the cyclic constantly with some pressure in the direction of the wind. Not too tricky by itself, but then you need to use the yaw pedals to do the turn, but when you initiate the turn the wind wants to blow the tail back to the same position (like a weather vane) , so you need quite a lot of foot pedal work. Also, once the tail goes across the wind, it catches the wind and then you need the opposite pedal to stop it from whizzing in the other direction. Foot pedal work (depending on the direction of the turn)  needs more or less collective. So, it’s quite a balancing act. So, here’s the funny bit…..

Imagine the most ungraceful 360′ turn you possibly can imagine. That’s the turn that I did. In fact, it was probably 480′ turn and then a correction back again. But it included a climb of 20 feet, a movement to the side of 40 feet. It was quite a nightmare. Once I’d got it back to the hover and Steve was adamant that I fix the problem I made (nice one Steve), he said……..

Steve :- So, did you see any aircraft ?

Well, of course, I wasn’t paying attention to anything but getting the hover back. I chuckled at the time, but on the way home in the car, I was reviewing what we’d done in my head and spontaneously burst out laughing thinking of that moment.

So, although this particularly 360/480′ turn was horrendous, there were some that were more controlled, I’m pleased to say, but FAR from graceful. But, I was pleased with my performance given the wind.

So, after about 4 or 5 circuits, we did 2 autorotations. They were both just about me getting into autorotation, not the full thing. EVERY time I do the autorotation, I can get us into autorotation fine, but EVERY time, I say I will try and stop the rotor from overspeeding, but for some reason, Steve does that bit before I get chance. Will have to ask him about this. One of the autorotations was to a powered recovery at about 300′. The other was a powered recovery at about 5 feet, which Steve did.

Once done, another less than graceful 360′ turn and then I flew us ALL the way back, down runway 25, lovely transition to a hover and then hover taxi’ed us back AND landed but NOT by the fuel bowser like the last time and I’m more than happy with that, given the winds.

All good.

Steve got out of the helicopter as soon as it landed and left me to shut it down. I really appreciate the trust this shows.

Once back, debrief and then we sat for about 90 minutes listening to one of the helicopter engineers tell us all about which are the best helis from a service perspective – very interesting. Schweizer 300′s sounds like they should be avoided from a cost point of view. Very interesting.

2200 hour service on a Robinson R22 (if you send it back to the USA to get it done) is about £60k, but it effectively comes back a new helicopter. Interesting stuff.

In summary, a very enjoyable lesson. The weird thing is, I probably didn’t “learn” a lot, but the experience was invaluable.

Next lesson booked for tomorrow, 9.30am.

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Lesson 11 – 12th June 2009 – 12.15pm – 1hr 20mins – Total so far – 11hours 21 min

Friday, June 12th, 2009

Well, first off, the Aviation Law exam. The first few questions were all about the Chicago Convention, and the very kind of questions I was dreading. So, not the best start, but after that, they were more practical and I enjoyed it. Well, perhaps “enjoy” is a little strong !

Anyway, 88.5% with a pass mark of 75%, so I am a happy bunny.

One of the examiners said something which made me think that my theory tests from when I had the PPL(A) (25 years ago), might still be valid and I needn’t have resit the exam. I was pleased on the one hand, ‘cos it meant I wouldn’t have to resit all the exams, but on the other hand, I learned so much by resitting this exam.

I rang the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on my return home, and I DO need to retake them ‘cos it’s been 10 years where I haven’t been current. So, strangely pleased at that AND disappointed.

After the exam, it was Lesson 11. Today was going to be more circuit work. It went brilliantly 90% of the time ;-) And with a cracking ending !!

Steve booked us out and told me that it was going to be a different model of Robinson R22. It was the HP model.

dp :- “High Performance ?”

Not quite !

It was a model which had less weight and less endurance. 20 gallon tank, compared to 30 (over 2 tanks). It also had the battery at the front of the helicopter. What difference does all that make ?

Quite a lot actually. The CoG is farther forward and as I found when I took off, It lifts off the back of the skids first and the front of the skids are the last thing to lift off. This affects takeoffs AND landings as I found out. It felt like we were doing 2 landings for every 1 real landing. Land the front skids, then the rear and then stop it leaning back. Very strange, but nice helicopter with little else different. This helicopter belonged to a pilot member at the club and he has an arrangement with the school so they can use it. I think one of this student’s headsets was in the helicopter as I could hear everything very clearly !!

Favourite Lesson so far. Hope that’s not going to be my new catchphrase !

So, Steve showed me the slightly different checks for this model. Without the extra fuel tank, I had a lot more visibility of the rotor gearbox and other bits’n'bobs. Once checks were complete. Steve left me to do all the checks and start her up.

I got the ATIS, called for startup. All going fine so far. But, I missed a critical step out of the checklist. Now, previously, I have been using a checklist on my phone where you tick when you’ve done them and I never missed a thing, but it’s a bit of a fart-on to get the phone out, secure it on the kneepad etc etc…. So, I had reverted to a paper one, but I kept losing my place.

Anyway, when it came to starting her up, she wouldn’t start, she’d tick over, sound like she was starting and then immediately conk out.  I can sense people reading this, shouting what I’d missed ! Yes, You’re right !!!

I hadn’t set the mixture to rich, so there was no fuel. And strangely, engines need fuel !

Steve gave a wry smile !

So, with Steve’s help, I took off. He came straight on the controls when it was getting light, as he knew this model lurched forward ‘cos of the CoG, but once he’d stablised the hover, it was all me. :-) Love it.

I hover taxi’ed to Holding Point F, called for departure. We were told to hold position pending a taxi’ing light a/c. And all this time, I am successfully hovering. This still amazes me ! Can’t believe I’ve cracked it given where I was 5 hours ago !!

Then we were given takeoff clearance and I transitioned it directly from the holding point straight across the runway and we were on our way north of Morpeth.

I made all the R/T calls. I misheard one thing, but steve kept me right.

And then we went to the plateau (next to a quarry) and I took us down, transitioned to the hover, and then we basically did circuit after circuit. Now, we’re not allowed to land away from a licensed aerodrome, so when I say we landed, I mean we got to a couple of feet above the ground (stationary) before taking off again. More circuits with some landings and takeoffs. And they all went great !! I was in total control.

Steve then picked a spot that I had to land on, and again then went fine.

After about circuit number 6 or 7, my concentration was going. I’d been up since 5.20am revising and I was a bit knackered. Steve (excellent instructor he is) sensed this and asked me if I was ok. Told him I was flagging and his response :-

Steve :- Take me home James.

Here comes the best bit. I flew us ALL the way home. Did all the R/T, transitioned onto the runway adjacent to the taxiway to the flying school and here’s the best bit………….

Hover-taxi’ed us back AND landed. Now, it gets better !!

The flying school has a fuel bowser, and 50 metres from the fuel bowser was another helicopter. I asked steve where he wanted it, thinking he would say miles from the bowser, but he said :-

Steve :- Put it between the bowser and the helicopter

And what finished the day off beautifully, was I did it and it was my best landing of the day !!

Awesome. Still on a high about it.

So, good day. 1 of 7 exams out of the way. Now to (re)learn Meteorology ready for a test next week. Thankfully weather is a topic I’m really interested in, so this should be easier.

I think I’ll be solo next trip. Think it would have been today, were it not for the medical, but that’s on Sunday.

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Lesson 9 – 8th June 2009 – 13.30pm – 50mins – Total so far – 9hours 6mins

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Loved this lesson. It was hovering/transitioning/circuits and autorotations, and my favourite, landing/taking off. I did everything bar the autorotations.

So, Steve caught up with Rupert and he had a chat with him about how his cross-country had gone – interesting to listen in on.

I went out to do the checks, start her up, and Steve let me take off, hover taxi along the yellow taxi line cross all the way to a grass triangle (size of a football pitch (I NEED IT THIS BIG !!!)). And then using that as a BIG helipad, we did circuits and they felt much more polished this time, plus as a lovely twist, after each one, I landed and took off. Once I get it on the ground, I always have this huge sigh as I push the collective down as if to say “I’m still alive”, Steve always seems to find this very funny, which in turn makes me laugh. So, we probably did about 5 circuits and they felt really good. With only a minor thing wrong here and there (ie speed, tightness of turns) they went really well. And then we finished off with 3 autorotations. So, the first one, I followed Steve through – I did a circuit, but we end up very high on approach and then Steve did the first one and I followed through. Then the second one, I did it and he monitored the rotor rpm, and then a third ‘cos I didn’t get what he meant by “POP” which is what he says at the very end as he “POPS” the collective to bring the engine back in.

He let me hover taxi back and then he did the “park by the fuel pump” manoeuvre, although I’d loved to have seen the fuel guy’s face if he saw me hover park next to the pumps ;-)

It was then Rupert’s turn again. Whilst he was out, there was a lady in the cafe who was waiting for her son to fly in. He was one of the pilots who was flying a Lynx helicopter in a formation consisting of 2 Lynx and 1 Sea King helicopters. I think I overheard that they had come all the way up from Yeovil (Devon) to Carlisle, NOT ABOVE 200 feet !!! And sure enough, when she pointed them out (flying in), they were at about 200 feet.

Here’s a picture of them getting refuelled (rotor’s stll running and VERY loud).

lynxseaking

And here’s some video of them taking off beautifully and flying off (in formation).

Once they had gone, Steve and I had a chat along the lines of “You need to get your medical Dave”. That’s a sign that Steve thinks I’m nearly ready to go solo. He mentioned this the other day but I thought he was joking when he said “We’ll have you solo by 10 hours”. I thought he meant in 10 hours time, but I think he meant 10 hours flight time. Yikes !! But, compared to the other day, where I thought he was joking and one screw short of a full bag, when he said it this time, I thought, “Yes, I could do a circuit on my own, and there’s a good chance I can land it”. That felt good !

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Lesson 8 – 8th June 2009 – 10.30pm – 60mins – Total so far – 8hours 16mins

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Weather surprisingly good today. Wasn’t expecting much flying at all this week.

The plan for today was to fly over to Carlisle, do some circuits there (where it’s cheaper and less R/T required), some autorotations, take offs, landings, transitions and fly back. Sounds like a lot of flying, but another student pilot (Rupert) was going to be flying also, so we were giving each other breaks.

We didn’t plan the trip and legs as I thought we would, but rather, pretty much checked the heli over and set off. I suspect the full cross-country planning stuff will come later. I forgot to mention that on the last trip, Steve was confident enough in me to get me to do all the checks, initial R/T and start the helicopter up without him there, which strangely I found quite nerve-racking. It was the same today, so….

  • External checks
    Before Start Checks
    Get the ATIS (weather, runways in use)
    Call for Startup
    Startup
    Post Startup Checks

    • At this point Steve joined me and it was Run-Up Checks, call for taxi and then I took us up in the air and started the hover taxi off. Steve took over approaching the hold and he did the transition to forward climbing flight and then it was my turn :-)   I flew us to Carlisle, with Steve explaining the landmarks to look out for (Stagshaw Masts, Craggy Cliff in the distance, and then Haltwhistle). Pretty straightforward routing. We had to fly south of Spadeadam, which I think is a big army/air force expanse used for military training. The R/T was trickier, because we were passed to Newcastle Radar and then Spadeadam, and then finally Carlisle. I’d like to say I did it all, but Spadeadam was very hard to understand, and not knowing what to expect (comms-wise), there were a number of times, I had to say “Steve, can you get that ?”.

    On the routing from Stagshaw Masts to Haltwhistle (just south of Spadeadam), we were receiving what’s called a Basic (Information) Service. And in a nutshell, that’s them informing us of information that’s useful for the safety of our flight, eg weather, traffic. They called us and informed us of a fast jet flying south in our vicinity. VICINITY !!!!! Well, we scoured the sky and Steve spotted a Tornado which passed about 300 feet below us and 300 feet in front of us. Moments like this are just awesome. It had a full load of ordnance on too.

    Carlisle is a beautiful little airport, much more suited to private pilots. It has views of the Lake District, the sea, and the most amazing variety of birds. I know all the birds that visit our bird nut offerings, but didn’t recognise one of the birds that I saw. Must look them up. Anyhow, back to helicopters. So, arriving at Carlisle, we were ok’ed for circuits with negative R/T (a dream), no talking on the radio. Full concentration on helicopter flying ! I did all the flying from the transition to hover (which I feel much more confident in), and then from the hover to forward/climbing flight, turn left, left again and then left again and another transition.

    My first circuit was pretty poor (and that’s being kind). Steve told me circuits should have 3 x 90′ (90 degree) corners, whereas mine were more 2 x 180′ turns. I knew where he was coming from 100%. But, after the initial awe at getting back in a helicopter and hovering, they became better. I am sure I did about 4 circuits and the last one definitely had 3 x 90′ turns. All the hovers, at this point, were much improved. FAR FROM perfect, but safe and I was confident that I could bring it back to the hover if I lost it, which is key really ;-)

    Then, Steve let me hover-taxi to the apron and he took over to do the final parking next to the fuel pumps. I can’t think why he didn’t trust me to put it down within 10 feet of 20,000 gallons of aviation fuel ;-)

    That was Flight 1 of the day !!

    Steve left me to shut it down, which was nice, another sign he trusts me to stay alive and not damage the helicopter. I followed him in to the office the school has there and met Rupert (the other student).

    Rupert was further on in the course and he was going to be doing some cross-country solo work and some solo circuits.

    I followed them out to watch Rupert take off and get some pictures.

    gmavi

    Plus some video of his takeoff (very like mine!)

    Whilst they were away, I got chatting to some microlight aircraft pilots. I was asked where I did my microlight aircraft flying and who was my instructor, and was told that my instructor Tony Wells (one of the first microlight instructors) had passed away a couple of years ago. Very sad ! Nice bloke.

    When Steve had done a few circuits with Rupert, he got out, leaving Rupert to do his cross country and Steve and I went to the cafe for a cuppa ! We then went to have a look at the tower at Carlisle Airport. Very helpful crew in there who explained all the equipment.

    insidetower

    We saw Rupert return and land on the helipad…..

    fromthetower

    And then it was my turn again…..

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