Result!...

So flight 2 of the day done. It's the last flight for a few weeks as I'm off with my son and wife to visit family. So I was really keen to nail
My circuits this flight after the first today being a little scruffy. Having said that they are the better of the ones I've done.
To add to the general mix of today Dave had me doing the radio coms. Not too bad as through my working lifenive been using radios quite extensively. The biggest issue is the order of the information transmitted. Also the quality and intensity of coms compared to taht at sea or even land based Search and Rescue, is very different. A lot of critical info is passed in a short 'blurt' of coms so you have to keep your ear on overwatch the whole time. Add into that instructions and questions from Dave and, oh yes, the whole flying and not crashing thing. It's fair to say there a lot to do.
Second half we did some more auto rotaiotns (more? I hear you say. Well yes, it's a very good skill to practice as it's the fine line between life and death in the event of engine failure)and lots of circuits. Getting better at my FREDATT (Fuel, Radio, Engine,Direction, Altimimeter, Trim, Transponder) checks. More importantly I am getting better at my circuits and my approach for landing. Take offs are back to how they were a few sessions ago and landings are consistent even in the gusty wind. My final circuit of the session was spot on. I think Ive been getting a bit bogged down with the instrumentation and not 'flying' the aircraft. For the last one both Dave and I said nothing and I found myself lest focused on the inside but more on the outside. It helped massively. I felt more like I was flying Microsoft Flight Sim FSX. Very happy with where I'm currently at. 17.3 hrs done so far so need to sort medical and my Aviation Law exam for when I'm back from Oz. Should be soloing very soon. Eek! So until then, lots of studying.

17.3 hrs flying at this stage

Getting to where I want to be...

First live blog. Dead exciting! Thanks to Bournemouth Helicopters for the use of their wireless router. No video for this flight as I forgot to put it in. Not a problem as my hovering wasn't so great. In fairness it is 8 knots wind and a bit gusty. Sparse cloud and glorious sun so myself and my instructor today, Dave, are melting in our mini flying greenhouse.
So far we've been out and done a load of circuits. Much needed practice there as my approach has a habbit of being a bit high which is not horrific but makes things a little bit harder for myself. Deffinately better than the last time I did it. We did a couple refresher Auto Rotations just to make sure I hadn't forgotten how to do it and a couple engine emergencies from the hover. All in all ok. I didn't break anything but need to practice my recoveries. This is not a likely task if I do auto for real as a landing os my priority however it is good to get it right so we don't crash doing training! I have one more flight today with the wind getting a bit more breezy and the cloud filling in. Hopefully it doesn't get too gusty as there are limitations to what is reasonable flying weather, especially for training. Watch this space! G-TSLC signing off for now.

16.2 hrs flying at this stage

Hmmm...

Blimey, all this video editing is taking its time. I think what I might have to do is throw down the words on the day and plonk the video in by editing the post at a later point. Running almost 4 days and two flights behind. Eeeek! I'll get it sorted asap. Until then why not enjoy an episode of the archers as that is as disjointed as this blog

A strange falling Feeling...

Saturday 5^th March. An interesting day to say the least. The weather was looking much against us with cloud base at around 1000’, which doesn’t sound like much of a problem but the skills I was going to be doing would require at least 2000’ to play with. I was introduced to my Instructor for the day who I had not flown with before. Mike O’Donoghue, a very interesting gentleman with incredible skill and knowledge about flying. More to follow shortly.

As the weather was not conducive to the main aim for the first flight we moved to the next set of skills which was engine emergencies at low altitude. Primarily from a hover height of 4 foot. This involved very quick reaction times and taking in some key skills and actions that could not be taught at a slow and manageable pace. All in all very tricky. I think I have got the hang of it. As for feedback I appear to have got the hang of it albeit with some learning points even though I’m not sure if I have got it. That sounds very damming of myself so in defence of myself from…myself, I should say that I know what to do and when to do it when I analyze it at slow pace but I find it hard to see whether I did the right thing at the right time when it came to the crunch of a split second reaction to what could go horrible wrong if I didn’t get it right. So in short I must have but hey that’s for my instructor to assess so …erm…what was I saying? Ah yes death destruction and mayhem lessons.

We looked at emergency landings when taxiing in the hover. Essentially at 4 foot high and at a brisk walking or slow jogging pace. When the engine fails you have the same characteristic events as in the straight hover. The revs drop off the alarm sounds to tell you the revs have dropped off (the do or die alarm as I’m starting to see it) the height from the ground degreases thus presenting a closer view of the grass, there is a yaw to the left as you have left peddle applied to counteract the torque effects of the previously working engine which is now no longer producing torque and there is also a lean to the left as you are applying left cyclic (stick between your legs) to counteract the lateral drift effects of the tail rotor that was previously being used to counteract the effects of the torque from the engine which as discussed a moment ago is…no longer functioning and therefore not producing torque. Now in light of all this information it is a fair assumption that the actions one must take is, apart from finding an appropriate deity to pray to, to make sure your engine doesn’t fail to ensure none of the above actions being required as the engine and its subsequent torque is a pivotal factor in this whole flying thing (it doesn’t all happen because of PFM (Pure Flipping Magic).

With a push on the right peddle and a raise of the collective (Remember the uppy downey leaver from my earlier post?) and a wiggle of the Cyclic towards the right-ish, then all should be well with the world. Even from 4 foot there is little chance of any major damage to yourself or even the aircraft due to its construction. On top of all os this you add in the fact that you are possible hover taxiing with that walking/Jogging pace, then you would think there is more risk of damage. Strangely not. On grass the landing is a lot smoother when moving than when doing a straight hover. If you do it on concrete/asphalt/tarmac/etc, then it will almost be better again as the skids (long thin horizontal legs that the helicopter sits on when on the ground) will slide better on the concrete/asphalt/tarmac/etc than the grass meaning a slow deceleration and a comfier landing. All very dodgy feeling at the beginning but not too bad in the end. The later part of the flight involved climbing to 2000’ when the clouds hard cleared enough, and getting into a state where the aircraft can no longer hold itself in the air. This is caused by turbulence from the rotors being ‘recycled’ by the rotors and grip on the air being lost. We then get back to a ‘Bowling Ball’ moment. This one is recoverable if you do it at 2000’ as you drop out of the sky at an alarming rate. However if you did it at 200’ then it’s probably fair to say its ‘Good night Vienna’. The key is not to fly in a manner that is conducive with Vortex Ring. And it is actually not that hard to avoid with good airmanship.

My head is currently like a bowl of jelly. I’ve been on a sensory rollercoaster since Friday’s flight with Gary and today’s flight has not helped. As I’ve garbled on too much and probably lost the interest of most, I’ll stop here and let the video do the talking. 


13.1 hrs flying at this stag

Thought for the day...

“…The more man masters, the more man finds there is to be mastered; the more man learns, the more he remembers he has forgotten…”

Now we are in to the swing of this Blogging stuff..

Friday 4th March saw an interesting flight to say the least. One that I was in all honesty really quite concerned about. Not that I had any lack of faith in the aircraft, my instructor (Gary Ellson - Chief Flight Instructor of Bournemouth helicopters), the weather or the fact it was my 13th flight.. yes a scary thought for the superstitious out there. It was in fact that I was worried that I would find some yet unknown way of screwing up the training evolution and dropping out the sky like a bowling ball even though it would be hard to achieve especially with an instructor on board. Totally irrational. (Ed-let the tension build in the readers)
So, what was it I was doing? Auto Rotations. In layman's terms purposefully making the aircraft drop out the sky like a bowling ball. To flower the description up a little bit to make it less of a contradiction to the last paragraph I will need to tell you what goes wrong first to constitute this maneuver. The long and short of it is the engine fails because some sort of mechanical failure. Unlike a car on a hill or even a fixed wing aircraft, there is little chance of succeeding in an engine restart mid 'fall'. Especially if you do nothing and take no action at all. This would result in a very obvious 'Bowling Ball' moment. To sum this up in one word - emotional. In two words - very dead. From this conclusion it is clear that some intervention is required to prevent you from cutting out the middle man, keeping the costs low and throwing yourself six foot under. This is called Auto Rotation.
one of the controls you have is the lever in your left hand, the collective. this in its crudest form is the uppy downey lever with an engine throttle attached. in the event of an engine failure the collective should be lowered. In doing this you alter the pitch of the rotor blades to a state where the wind which is now rushing up past you, as you fall in a controlled fashion, accelerates the blades in effect taking over from the engine. However, you still loose altitude. this is good as the closer you get to the ground (really close) you pull up steadily on the collective and pull the cyclic (stick between your legs) towards you and flare, thus slowing you down and cushioning the landing to a state commensurate with survival and minimal damage.... which is really good. In an early training environment you do this final maneuver with some altitude to spare enabling you to go around and do another one. The actual landing version comes later on in the training in Advanced Auto Rotations.
In the video clip you will see my first auto rotations and 9 progressively sneakier, surprise ones thrown in by my instructor. Needless to say my worry was unjustified and now I feel a lot happier about the skill. In the end it is simply making the helicopter do what auto gyros do permanently. (i wont explain, just trust me it does). You will see Take Off, Hover Taxi, Transition, Lots of falling out of the sky and a 'sporty' landing. All in all a very enjoyable and beneficial flight.

How it Began...

just a quick note to fill in the gap so far as to what I've done on my flights to date. As there have been a few lessons I'l abbreviate it to the weather conditions visibility what skills were covered and generally how it went. Please bear with me as its going back in time and I'm struggling to remember things with all this new information I'm shoe horning into my fragile brain.
Flight 1 - 0.8 hrs - Trial Flight - Flight over Rmosey Lakes and finnish with a Hover challenge. All very happy, with and hovered better than ether I or Instructor expected
Flight 2 - 0.5 hrs - Trail Flight - Most time spent on Airfield doing hover skills, spot turns and first landing. Finished with circuit over romsey lakes then back into land
Flight 3 - 0.8 hrs - First Formal Lesson - Basic controls lesson. Managed to have full controls ahead of Instructors expectations and successful Hovering.  Introduction to level flight.
 Flight 4 - 0.9 hrs - Covered lessions 5 and some of 6. 26Knots wind, SW, Gusting. Covered hover and Taxiing. Full Controls. Speed changes,Flight from Hengisbury to sandbanks and back

Flight 5 - 1 hr - 26knots wind gusting 30knots, Cloud base 500', Drizzle. Full pre-flight checks, Hover skills, landings, take-offs, Attitude recovery to hover from manipulation from Gary (Eek!).Full Controls

Flight 6 - 1.1 hrs - 17 Knots wind, Patchy Cumulous cover.Full pre-flight checks,  Level flight, turns and speed changes. Flight from Hengisbury to Lymington and back. Controls heavy which affected hover skills and taxiing at end of flight

Flight 7 - 0.5 hrs - Helo Pick up from Engineers on airfield. Full pre-flight checks, twice. Flew with Nick to collect S300 from Engineers other side of airfield. Short lesson due to rain and failing light. Hover, Take-offs, landings, Taxiing

Flight 8 - 1 hr - Poor weather. Low cloud base 600' with 12 knots breeze NNE. Full pre-flight checks, Taxi to HTA, Hovering skills landing, take-offs, spot turns, reverse flight with and into wind. Square circuit around cones, hover taxi and final landing

Flight 9 - 1 hr - Mixed weather Cloud Base 1000' intermittent drizzle. 13knots wind WNW. Re visit hover skills, Lesson 10-transitions progressed to circuits. Full controls. Take off taxi and landing

Flight 10 - 0.7 hrs - Mixed weather Cloud Base 900' intermittent drizzle. 13knots wind WNW, gusty, intermittent showers. Lesson 11-transitions and circuits

Flight 11 - 1 hr - 12Knots wind gusting 14knots, NNW. Broken clouds with passing showers and turbulance. Take offs landings spot turns transitions and circuits. Full controls. High angle approaches. More advanced skills of Turning on the nose and turning on the Tail

Flight 12 - 1.1 hrs - 10Knots wind, NNW. Scattered clouds Less turbulance. Take offs landings spot turns transitions and cross wind transistions into circuits. High angle aproaches.  Lateral hovering, turning on the nose and Tail. Figure of 8's. Use of radio for first time.

So that is it so far with the Videos of Flights 11 & 12 in my last post. there will hopefully be another post this evening after todays flight. I'll try and record this one as well.

And So It Begins...

Here is the first of my Blogs about my Helicopter Training. 

I have been very fortunate  blessed that my circumstances have changed recently and I have been gifted the fantastic opportunity to pursue my life long dream of flying helicopters. After a close start in 1998 when the Aeronautical Science course I was booked on was cancelled due to lack of students, my path took a change of direction and I ended up boatbuilding, teaching Outdoor Education, volunteering and latterly teaching in the Rescue Industry. Now I'm squeezing into a busy life my helicopter Private pilots License.

 I began my training with my first lesson on Saturday the 29th January 2011.   

The date is a bit behind where I'm at in my training. My excuse is a simple one. I had to get my head into the Helicopter books before working out how to make a blog. So here i am at 10.4 hours worth of flying. the first 1.3 hours I have logged are in fact trial flights which were gifted to me as birthday presents. As I flew during these the time counts towards my total flying time. 

So why am i keeping Track of my flying times?

Well its pretty simple. To get qualified as a Helicopter pilot you have to have a legal minimum of 45 hours flying. it doesn't stop there though as there are a few theory exams to sit and an Airman's Medical that has to be passed before you can be let loose ripping up the sky. All of this takes a fair amount of time flying, studying, staying fit and getting to grips with the fundamental fact that helicopters are inherently unstable aircraft that take a lot of skill to fly well. at this stage I'm happy just to get it moving never mind with any skill or merit. That comes with time.

I'm doing my PPL(H) training with a local firm called Bournemouth Helicopters, a very well established flight training centre with a team of very experienced and skilled Instructors and great team of support staff. the aircraft I'm flying at this stage is a Schwietzer 300 CBi. A light Two seater helicopter designed for the American Military to train helicopter pilots. They are built like Landrovers and very capable craft. A fantastic training platform.  

 So for now enjoy the first recordings of my training posted on YouTube. The first two clips were filmed on Sunday 27th February on my second flight of the day. The morning flight had been fraught with intermittent showers and low clouds which progressively got worse as the day pushed on.  By the grace of God alone the sun parted just long enough for me to get these clips before opening the heavens and dumping an ocean on Dorset. The flight shows skills advancements from hovering into transitional flight. this is a tricky process as the aircraft is being affected by a multitude of changes in pitch, yaw, altitude, speed and attitude to name but a few. Any actions to correct any one of these makes a slight change to all the others and so it begins, the constant adjustments to prevent the Helicopter making friends with the ground. 

The videos have notes throughout to help explain what is going on. 

Part1

Part 2