Helicopter-pilot.info - Lessons 16-20

24/4/02 I have a lesson booked for 10.30 and then the medical at 12.30 today.
Unfortunately I am so busy getting kids ready for school, sandwiches made, wife to the train station and trying to sell a car which I advertised that I don't notice that there is low fog (not a good omen, if I can't see fog how am I going to pass the sight test on the medical). When I get to the airfield I am informed that we can't go up high but we could possibly do "Landings on sloping ground', we both decide against this as I am only just getting comfortable with normal landings.
"I feel an exam coming on" the words I dread hearing. I have been revising and I have borrowed some books and a 'confuser' but about another week would have been good. So the Law exam it is. After a little bit of revision and a lot of questions I sit the Law exam and by some miracle pass. Time for my medical. I walk in to the office trying to look as normal as possible for my 12.30 appointment. I am presented with a nice form to fill in and then greeted by Dr Ken Maxwell who takes me to his place of torture...sorry office. I have spoken to a few friends about the medical to check what is involved and I can categorically deny the rumours about there being an internal! Maybe next time. After checks for blood, height, weight, eyesight, breathing, ECG, urine and medical history to name a few I am pronounced alive and well enough to fly (subject to ECG confirmation).
I am then given the Dr's invoice and suddenly feel week, turn very white, eyes start watering and trouble breathing. Only joking!
I am sure my instructor is thinking something like 'How did he pass both the medical and the Law?, he's an unhealthy idiot!'
My Comments: What a day. All the nasty bits out of the way and heading towards the first solo now. Not sure whether to be pleased or petrified.

Lesson 16 1/5/02 Advanced autorotations
I have obviously done something wrong in a previous life because my instructor is busy today and forces someone else on me (metaphorically speaking). I'm sure he doesn't mind flying with me really, I think the crying and locking himself in the toilet is just an act.We do a briefing of what happens when you go into 'auto' and describes the forces that are acting on the disk at different times. We run through the different type of 'auto', from the low speed (great fun) to the 80kt and ensure I know what to do and when. I take off, do the radio call and taxi over to practice a landing, which is perfect. Into the circuit, over towards Benson to do auto's, on the way we see where they have been filming some of the new James Bond film or is this some sort of sight seeing tour? We climb to about 2500ft and I get the first demonstration which he makes look very easy. My turn and all seems to go well but this is the standard auto, nothing fancy. Back for an extended 'auto', I follow through and as we are doing our checks (hasell) I notice a helicopter below us which is very low, probably from Benson. One very important lesson learnt is to check well before doing any strange manoeuvres. We do more practice 'autos' which seem to get a little better each time until it is time to head back. On the way back i am shown an 'S' turn which can also be very handy in the 'auto', again I get to practice this after. Back into the circuit and back down to the airfield, to finish off with a couple of landings. Don't know why but it dosen't want to happen. I can hover quite nicely but when it comes to the next step, I can't (consistently) land! I know that landing is a pretty big part of this flying lark and the more I have problems with it the worse it seems to get. I think I am going to need another lesson in landing to try and get this sorted. Time to go back so I start to taxi back to the pad, I have control and the wind is behind me. This is the first time I have felt the force of the wind like this, the cyclic is very near the back to try and keep the helicopter from going too fast. We eventually make it and my instructor, very wisely, takes control and lands. I didn't realise he was religious until we landed and stopped, he jumped out and started praying and kissing the ground. Probably some strange new religious sect. Back in the office we run through any problems that were encountered and try to dissect what my problem is with landing. That's one to work on.
My Comments: Great lesson to learn. All went OK today. Advanced autorotations seemed to be alright, the only thing that ruined a good day was the landings....AGAIN!!

Lesson 17 8/5/02 Limited Power Operation
Back with my usual instructor again today for limited power operations. I didn't know we were doing this so I didn't do any homework. Into the briefing room for the theory. This is where I figure out that what we are doing today is limited power in the take off and landing. After the last lesson where my landings fell apart again I wasn't sure about this one. Again all the theory is OK but it comes together when you are actually out there flying. We take off and taxi over to the 'play area'. I won't bore you with the radio stuff, until I say otherwise just accept that it doesn't go as it should do. A landing is the first manoeuvre on the list, which is a little slow but not as bad as last lesson. I take off and try another landing that turns out quite well.....a confidence booster at last! A running take off with limited power is next. This takes a little bit of getting used to but after practice isn't too much of a problem. I think I should point out what I mean by "not too much of a problem". I'm not being cocky, what I actually mean in my long and rambling way is that I did it and with more practice I know I will be able to get to a fairly good standard. What I mean by "more practice" is anyone's guess. The running landing is next; this is the one I wasn't too sure of. I take off with my limited power and turn back around when I have built up a little bit of speed and then towards the grass at between 30-40kt to land, lowering the lever and sliding across the grass. An exercise that takes some getting used to but is immense fun to practice, as are all of the limited power procedures. We go through Cushion creep and vertical climb each time having a demonstration first and then me trying my best to replicate. Once again time seems to go so quickly and we have to head back to the landing bay. This time land on the landing bay without too much hesitation and then back to the office for my debrief. After the lesson as I had some spare time someone showed me the art of Checking the helicopter over before use. It's not quite the same as getting in a car and starting up because "it was alright last time I used it". There is a long checklist (supplied by the manufacturer) which must be done each morning or before the first flight of the day. We did about three-quarters of the checklist and Tom will show me the rest another day. I have no problems with the checks; I'd prefer something falling off during the check rather than during a flight.
My Comments: A good lesson with lots of Take off and landings, which is what I need at the moment. All seemed to go OK and I am happy with today's progress.

Lesson 18 15/5/02 Forced Landings
I have a small alarm on my mobile phone that reminds me what time my lessons are, as I have a bad memory. The problems start when my memory is SO bad that I forget to set the alarm to tell me to be at the lesson. Not a good start to the lesson when you are half an hour late. A little while ago I realised that it is much better to get there early and be relaxed for the lesson rather than race to the airfield, handbrake turn into the car park and fall through the door.
A short brief on the lesson before we go out to explain what we will be doing, how we will be doing it and what is expected of me. The only thing I can see causing problems will be the practice mayday call, we shall see. As I had done a check-over last lesson i'm asked to check the helicopter I will be flying today. A good idea and nice to get the practice so soon as it is a long check and there are many strange names to remember. It's also amazing how thorough you check a helicopter you know you are going to fly! Pre flight checks done, start-up, radio call (almost perfect) and we are away into the circuit. We go out of the circuit and head towards Aylesbury, which is where we are going to practice our forced landings. At no time do we actually land during these forced landings so I am not sure why they are called forced landings. We find a suitable field to aim for and first of all do a normal autorotation which all goes smoothly. The next one we try is an extended auto which would have been OK if I hadn't missed the field, just didn't extend the glide path long enough. For my next try my instructor shows me a field to aim for and tells me that she is expecting all lookouts, checks and a mayday call. All of these items individually are not a problem but doing them altogether seems to cause no end of problems. A few more attempts heading for nominated fields and things come together a little, even the mayday call. Head back towards the airfield for an 'OK' landing to finish a successful day. I ask what my next big task is (apart from a solo) so that I can start reading.
I am now the proud owner of a meteorology book.
My Comments: Quite happy with today's lesson, I didn't do anything that bad. The forced landings seemed to get better each time so I am sure that time will improve these.

Lesson 19 28/5/02 Landing in a confined area & Take off, landings
The weather this morning isn't too good so I phone to check if we can fly, I'm given the all clear so get on my way. The journey to the airfield takes about half an hour and the weather on the way is very changeable. I get to the office have a coffee and off to the briefing room to find out where I am going, what I am going to do and how I'm going to do it. The place we are going to practice is a sort of farm, which is owned by a helicopter enthusiast. The owner mows a landing circle on one of his fields and local helicopter schools practice their confined landings, with his permission obviously. This is the helicopters first flight of the day so we have to do a check over before starting. Check over done, into the circuit and out into the blue sky (grey/black actually). First of all we do a high level check, looking over the site before going a little lower and checking the ground surface. My first attempt at the confined landing doesn't quite turn out as I had hoped, I don't put the lever down quick enough so nearly end up in the wrong field. The first one is aborted and we do a fly-a-round to try again. My second try ends up with us just a little short of the target area, which I could have corrected but didn't for some reason. Although this time I was very near the landing area my rate of descent was too high, something I will need to watch. We switch to another landing area (on the same site) and do the checks first before trying my first landing here. I manage to get very near the target area this time but very near the ground the wind seems to swing the helicopter around. My instructor takes control as we have trees and telephone wires near us. One very important point to mention (well I think it's important) is all these wire which are so hard to spot when you are flying. I make a mental note to watch more carefully next time.
We decide, well my instructor actually, that the wind is a little too strong to carry out any more precision flying (precision?) like that so we head back to the airfield to do a few take-offs and landings....mmmm my favourite!
Actually I wasn't too unhappy with my landings today, just a little quicker and I will have that sorted. Take offs were good and without hesitation .
My Comments: All round a fairly good lesson with some revision thrown in. I'm happy.

Lesson 20 31/5/02 Downwind take off & Landings, steep turns
An afternoon lesson and the weather is almost perfect, maybe a little too hot. We start in the briefing room with a run through of steep turns, 'downwind' landings and 'sloping ground' landings. The briefing lasts about three quarters of an hour after which it is time to fly. Take off goes well and the radio call is nearly complete from my side. We fly into the circuit and out towards Princess Risborough where we practice steep turns. My instructor once again shows me how a steep turn should be done, where I should be looking and speed etc. I try a few turns to my side which seem to get better each time, by better I mean I am not fixed on the gauges I am looking outside and keep an (almost) constant speed and height. For some reason steep turns to the left don't seem to be as easy to perform, even after four or five attempts. We fly back to the strip for more landings but rather than a normal landing we are going to do an 'auto', I complete this but not particularly well. A landing.....a take off, then a landing....and a take off....etc
After about five of six repetitions we change to downwind landings and take offs and then cross wind landings and take offs, which all seem to go quite well. My instructor gives me demo's of 'sloping ground' landings, nose up, left & right skid. This looks good fun. My turn for a sloping ground landing and almost straight down without problems, which isn't bad considering normal landings are not quite right yet. We take off and one more try at a 'sloping ground' landing and all goes well. I do have to say that this is the easy one we did first, the 'nose up' landing. Next lesson we will do the 'left skid' and 'right skid' landing on sloping ground. Back to base and I try and land (without success) on the concrete pad.
My Comments: No real problems this lesson. I did lots of landings which were better than they have been. The downwind take off and landings all seemed to go O.K. This are coming together, just as well as the 'solo' is mentioned more often now!

Lesson 21 - 25