And a shout out to Johnny L.A. Because I believe he used to pilot a Robinson Helo.
What a dandy machine. Had a two hour tour of Hawaii (big island) in one with just me my Wife and the pilot. I got to ride in left front. I understand now why the rotor mast is so high. My head was a little taller than the cabin of the Helo standing outside of it.
I have read ChickenHawk by Robert Mason at least three times. For those that don’t know it, it’s a memoir of learning how to fly Helos in Vietnam. The book puts you right in the pilots seat. It has diagrams of everything. You come away from it thinking you could fly, but you would almost certainly die.
Anyway, the pilot, a 27 year old young woman from Sweden (huh) noticed that I was more interested in what was going on inside the helicopter than outside of it. We talked a lot about the controls and engine gages. I understand all the flight dynamics instruments. Cyclic, collective and throttle.
It was really cool to see one from the front seat from off, flown and back to shut down.
This woman also had the certificate to teach, so happily explaining things.
I actually think that I might, might be able to get one 2 feet off the ground and move it about 5 feet and set it down. Provided there was no wind.
I’ve never been in an R44. I learned in an R22, and later flew Schweizer 300CBis.
Hovering is the hardest thing to learn in a helicopter. It’s also the first thing you ave to learn. I remember seeing this on the news when it happened (1992?). This is what happens if you try to hover with no experience.
Pretty easy once you get the hang of it. The trick is not to think about it. Become one with the machine, and let your muscles do it subconsciously. Otherwise you’ll always be behind the machine The other trick is to remember that control inputs are small. It just takes practice.
I went to the airport for my first lesson after the ½-hour ‘intro lesson’. My instructor wasn’t there. I waited a while, and then heard he’d crashed; so I rented a Cessna 172 and went flying in that instead. The instructor was demonstrating a ‘full-down auto’ (autorotation to landing) when a skid caught in the soft ground. Aircraft destroyed, no injuries.
A renter was making a ridge landing. His approach was too shallow, and he couldn’t climb out of the downdraft on the lee side of the ridge. (R22s aren’t very powerful, especially on a hot Southern California day.) He didn’t make it, and rolled about 100 yards down the hill. Aircraft destroyed, no injuries (other than cuts and bruises).
A pilot was giving his father a ride. He got into a vortex ring state (settling with power) and failed to execute the proper maneuver (fly forward out of it, or descend out of the bottom). Aircraft destroyed, no injuries.
Helicopter crashes are often survivable… as long as you keep the rotors within limits, or you don’t let the retreating blade stall.
Not all crashes are survivable. Still, I’d rather lose an engine in a helicopter than an airplane… and stay out of weather. (I once aborted a flight in the rain when my carb temperature gauge was being erratic.)
I was at an airshow at (the former) MCAS El Toro when I was learning to fly helicopters. I chatted with a CH-53 Super Stallion pilot. (If you don’t click the link, it’s a very large heavy-lift helicopter.) The Super Stallion pilot said, ‘You fly an R22? Those things scare the shit out of me! They’re so squirrelly.’ A friend of his came up, who was an AH-1W Super Cobra (attack helicopter) pilot. The former said, ‘Hey, this guy flies an R22!’ The latter said, ‘Yeah? I love those! They’re so nimble!’
After I got my license, and after a short (financial) hiatus, I got into the Schweizer. The instructor, with whom I hadn’t flown before, said, ‘You learned in an R22.’ I asked him how he knew. ‘Because you’re ahead of the aircraft.’ (i.e., I didn’t let the aircraft get ahead of me.)
