First flight in R-22...

[Filip Zawadiak]

.... and I still can't stop smiling :-))

Flying helicopter is soo different from an airplane, it really felt
like flying magic carpet :-) And it's so nice to watch grass waves
around :-) In airplane you get from ground so fast it's hard to notice
how nice view you can have from so low altitude.

That was just a "discovery flight", 0.4hr, but great :-) Just wish I
had made some pictures during small "loop" from airport and back...

I never really though how long does it take to start and stop rotor in
a helicopter. And it really feels like driving one-wheeled bicycle,
much harder than flying airplane - in airplane I was practically
flying from first lesson, maybye not very nice, but flying. And in
helicopter I would crash it in 5 seconds without help of instructor.
Now I really appreciate pilots keeping those things steady in the air
:-))

It's a pity I came here just for a week, and all helicopters were
booked :-( Would try more hoovering :-) That's a challenge ;-)

Definitely will try again!
--
Filip Zawadiak
PP-ASEL 140hr
http://vyx.net/~philz

[Beav]

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz *AT* adelphia *DOT* net> wrote in
message ...
> On 23 Sep 2004 17:55:20 -0700, (Filip Zawadiak) wrote:
>
> >... and I still can't stop smiling :-))
> >
> >Flying helicopter is soo different from an airplane, it really felt
> >like flying magic carpet :-) And it's so nice to watch grass waves
> >around :-) In airplane you get from ground so fast it's hard to notice
> >how nice view you can have from so low altitude.
>
> I love the view out the front of the R22 and especially out the sides
> when the doors are off. (Haven't yet flown with the doors on so can't
> comment on that view) MUCH better visibility than I experienced in my
> fixed wing days back in the mid 90s.

The first time I flew a Robbie 22 the doors were off, and it was October
over here in the UK. 23knot winds which blew right through the heli:-) The
2nd time we put the doors on and it felt REALLY "confined" when compared to
the Bell 47 and Enstrom's I'd flown prior to the Robbie. Didn't take long to
appreciate those doors though, as the temps dropped rapidly and the
"confined" became "cozy" :)

>
> >That was just a "discovery flight", 0.4hr, but great :-) Just wish I
> >had made some pictures during small "loop" from airport and back...
>
> >I never really though how long does it take to start and stop rotor in
> >a helicopter. And it really feels like driving one-wheeled bicycle,
> >much harder than flying airplane - in airplane I was practically
> >flying from first lesson, maybye not very nice, but flying. And in
> >helicopter I would crash it in 5 seconds without help of instructor.
> >Now I really appreciate pilots keeping those things steady in the air
> >:-))
>
> Yep. I wouldn't call myself a "pilot" just yet, but having around 15
> hours actual stick time now, I can really appreciate how precise you
> have to be to fly smoothly and accurately.
>
> >It's a pity I came here just for a week, and all helicopters were
> >booked :-( Would try more hoovering :-) That's a challenge ;-)
>
> I got hovering down a lot faster than it's been taking me to get
> normal approaches down. ehehe I don't even think about the hover
> now. It's becoming "second nature".

Kev, did your instructor put you in front of a "magnetic" tie down when you
first stated hovering? Mine did (at least I convinced myself it was
magnetic:-)) No amount of back stick seemed to stop the (concrete) tie down
from sliding under the belly. I was mesmerised by the thing and it wasn't
until Kurt told me to look WAY past it that it stayed where it was supposed
to.
>
> >Definitely will try again!
>
> Do so! Fixed wing was enjoyable, but this flying weedwhacker stuff is
> a friggin' blast! (even when I'm completely frustrated!) I can't
> wait for my solo endorsement and then my checkride. Hell, I can't
> wait to get my CFI so I can teach other poor dumb *******s how to go
> broke and enjoy doing it. :)

And that must be easy (going broke I mean :-)

Beav

[Steve R.]

"Beav" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> Kev, did your instructor put you in front of a "magnetic" tie down when
> you
> first stated hovering? Mine did (at least I convinced myself it was
> magnetic:-)) No amount of back stick seemed to stop the (concrete) tie
> down
> from sliding under the belly. I was mesmerised by the thing and it wasn't
> until Kurt told me to look WAY past it that it stayed where it was
> supposed
> to.
>
> Beav
>

Man, does "that" bring back memories! My first attempts to hover a full
size went like this:

1. Instructor picks her up into a stable hover.

2. I take the controls and it's Steve over controls once, Steve over
controls twice, Steve over controls three times....... (picture the
helicopter 20 feet in the air with the tail boom at a 20 degree down
angle!!! :-o )

3. Instructors calls "MINE!" and we're back in a stable hover again!

4. I take the controls again and repeat step #2 with the exception that the
helicopter is now a some "other" oddball angle.

5. Instructor repeats step #3.

After the third rendition of this little dance, the instructor asks me
"where" I'm looking. I say, "Why, right outside that little window!" (or
something to that effect) He says, "Try looking out toward the horizon."

Damn, what a difference that makes. I was actually keeping it on top of
that 20 foot diameter helipad. What a rush! :-D The thing of it was,
because of my RC experience, I knew exactly what I was doing wrong. I just
couldn't seem to do anything about it. It "is" the definition of
"frustration." I actually thought that it wouldn't be that big a deal
because of my RC experience. WRONG! ;-) I just wish I could afford to go
through the full program. Maybe some day!

Fly Safe,
Steve R.

[bryan chaisone]

Almost ten years ago for me (helicopters, maybe nineteen for fixed
wing). Boy! that does bring back memories. All good of course. Wait
'til you do a 180 auto from 100' AGL (well it seamed like only a
hundred feet to me, I'm sure it was much more). That's alot of fun
and exciting.

Bryan "The Monk" Craisone

"Steve R." > wrote in message >...
> "Beav" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> >
> > Kev, did your instructor put you in front of a "magnetic" tie down when
> > you
> > first stated hovering? Mine did (at least I convinced myself it was
> > magnetic:-)) No amount of back stick seemed to stop the (concrete) tie
> > down
> > from sliding under the belly. I was mesmerised by the thing and it wasn't
> > until Kurt told me to look WAY past it that it stayed where it was
> > supposed
> > to.
> >
> > Beav
> >
>
> Man, does "that" bring back memories! My first attempts to hover a full
> size went like this:
>
> 1. Instructor picks her up into a stable hover.
>
> 2. I take the controls and it's Steve over controls once, Steve over
> controls twice, Steve over controls three times....... (picture the
> helicopter 20 feet in the air with the tail boom at a 20 degree down
> angle!!! :-o )
>
> 3. Instructors calls "MINE!" and we're back in a stable hover again!
>
> 4. I take the controls again and repeat step #2 with the exception that the
> helicopter is now a some "other" oddball angle.
>
> 5. Instructor repeats step #3.
>
> After the third rendition of this little dance, the instructor asks me
> "where" I'm looking. I say, "Why, right outside that little window!" (or
> something to that effect) He says, "Try looking out toward the horizon."
>
> Damn, what a difference that makes. I was actually keeping it on top of
> that 20 foot diameter helipad. What a rush! :-D The thing of it was,
> because of my RC experience, I knew exactly what I was doing wrong. I just
> couldn't seem to do anything about it. It "is" the definition of
> "frustration." I actually thought that it wouldn't be that big a deal
> because of my RC experience. WRONG! ;-) I just wish I could afford to go
> through the full program. Maybe some day!
>
> Fly Safe,
> Steve R.

[Filip Zawadiak]

"Steve R." > wrote in message >...
> After the third rendition of this little dance, the instructor asks me
> "where" I'm looking. I say, "Why, right outside that little window!" (or
> something to that effect) He says, "Try looking out toward the horizon."
>
> Damn, what a difference that makes. I was actually keeping it on top of
> that 20 foot diameter helipad. What a rush! :-D

Hi!

I was able to get second 1hr lesson, with another instructor :-) We
found out what was wrong day before:

1. Instructor was trying to much to fix my "overcontrol". And I felt
resistance on cyclic, and though it's coming from rotor and tried to
"correct" it ;-)
2. Hou have to keep your right hand on your knee, not in air
3. Look out to horizon - use peripheral vision :-)
4. Relax. Be slow. Have lazy hands ;-)

Actually, at the end of this hour I actually felt I was flying
helicopter :-) It probably looked from outside like piloting "under
influence" - I was being thrown around helipad (and sometimes way
further away) quite a lot, used wrong pedals to correct rotation, but
at least I was able to keep it in the air proper side up. I even
managed to land "almost" in the middle of helipad few times. Not
without slight random sideways movement though :-) And to my surprise
I stopped worrying too much about hitting ground, it was way easier to
control altitude with collective (by control I mean keep it more than
zero), than vertical speeds - those were, lets say, very variable. It
felt like sliding on air pillow(?). That's how it's supposed to work,
but the feeling is nice :-) I also liked demonstration how to put
helicopter to ground just by quick&random cyclic movements.

And I tried to control while doing this short loop :-) When it flies
faster it's actually not that hard to control balance. But then
approaching airport for landing is quite different from airplane
method, and it looks funny. And legs hurt after a while (relax,
relax)... It's just strange to have nothing in front of you.

Wow! That was fun :-)

I was surprised that controlling altitude with collective is not that
hard, tail rotor is also quite easy (if you remember and press proper
pedal) but cyclic is another story. After a while I found out that
controlling helicopter is from one side much "faster" than airplane,
and from the other much "slower". I mean, you get instant and very
quick changes in attitude, but need to wait few seconds for effects in
movement changes. Actually it seems you need to wait a while for
attitude changes too :-) It worked best when I used something like
"half" control input for corrections.

That's pretty obvious if you think about helicopter aerodynamics, but
it's different thing to read about it and different to actually do it.
And feel it.

Now, if I had another lesson I would be able to do it much better :-)

I think I got hooked :-)

Will continue - someday in future. Right now I'm back in Poland,
reading again "Rotorcraft Flying Manual" and R-22 POH :-) Anything
else you could reccomend?

Flying planes looks like cheap hobby in comparison, and here every
flying things costs 2-4 times as much... Need to do this in US ;-)
--
Filip Zawadiak
PP-ASEL 138hr + 1.3hr helicopter :-)

[Beav]

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz *AT* adelphia *DOT* net> wrote in
message ...
> On Sat, 25 Sep 2004 16:52:39 +0100, "Beav"
> > wrote:

Kev, did your instructor put you in front of a "magnetic" tie down when you
>>first stated hovering? Mine did (at least I convinced myself it was
>>magnetic:-)) No amount of back stick seemed to stop the (concrete) tie
>>down
>>from sliding under the belly. I was mesmerised by the thing and it wasn't
>>until Kurt told me to look WAY past it that it stayed where it was
>>supposed
>>to.

>Nope. The only thing he said to help was "Relax. Pretend you're
>getting a blowjob."

I don't normally have a stick in my hand when I'm getting one of them:-)

>Yeah, that helped. I replied "If I WAS getting
>one, I would NOT be sitting next to you."

Glad to hear it!! :)

>A few weeks later, at another field, I was in a hover near the tower
>and I looked up to see the controller. I said "He looks lonely up
>there. Maybe HE needs a blowjob." Without missing a beat, my
>instructor shoots back "Yeah, those guys give good heading." Effed up
>my hover as I started laughing.

Quick off the mark too that instructor.


>>And that must be easy (going broke I mean :-)

>That's the really easy part. I think I'm on the hook for about $7k
>right now.. I don't want to think about it. heehhe

Probably a good idea not to, but thank your luckies you're not doing it over
here. Current prices are around the 210-230UKP (that's 415 dollars) per hour
of instruction. Average costs to acquire your licence is around $25K.


Beav

[Beav]

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz *AT* adelphia *DOT* net> wrote in
message ...
> On Thu, 7 Oct 2004 11:20:29 +0100, "Beav"
> > wrote:
>
>
>>I don't normally have a stick in my hand when I'm getting one of them:-)
>
> I could say something really rude here, but I'm going to walk away
> from it in the interest of US/England relations. hehehe

Yeah, good idea :-)
>
>
>>Quick off the mark too that instructor.
>
> Yeah, we get along pretty good. Took him a while to figure out my
> sense of humor tho..

I NEVER have that problem :-)))))))))))

Most flights there are one or two giggles at the
> least..

As it should be.
>
>>Probably a good idea not to, but thank your luckies you're not doing it
>>over
>>here. Current prices are around the 210-230UKP (that's 415 dollars) per
>>hour
>>of instruction. Average costs to acquire your licence is around $25K.
>
> This 1st cert is going to run me about $16k or so

The 25K is Pounds Sterling and that's for just the PPL(H). what it'd cost
beyond that doesn't bear thinking about.

and close to $60k
> when it's all said and done.. (But I don't want to think about it. )

I can relate to that:)

Keep it up though, and the diary.

Beav

[Hennie Roets]

You can do your licence in South Africa for about US$ 16k

Hennie