Over another hurdle?

Hi Kevin,

Great write up as usual! :-)

Glad to hear the approaches are getting better. Knew it would come though,
it was only a matter of time. That's got to be some kind of rush when it
finally all comes together. Congratulations!

Your first experience with settling with power sounds fun! I was surprised
to read that your instructor was able to power out of the situation in one
of his demonstrations with collective only. Like you, I would not have
thought that possible based on what I've learned on the phenomenon. Make me
wonder if you two were into it as deeply as you thought you were? Maybe not
in a true aerodynamic vertical descent and translating just a little? Oh
well, what do I know........ ;-) Bet he doesn't do that any closer to
the ground! :-D

Keep the stories coming & Fly Safe,
Steve R.


"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" skiddz *AT* adelphia *DOT* net wrote in
message ...
Got in another hour this morning before work. Ship was fresh off a 50
hour maintenance workover so the preflight went smoothly and quickly.
Almost got complacent during the preflight by not looking at the
checklist for each step. Caught my omission (forgot to check throttle
actuation) as I came back down the left side of the aircraft and was
scanning the list. Dumb dumb dumb.

Wind was nice and calm when we lifted off at 8:45 so I hover taxied to
the taxiway hold lines, called the tower for permission to join the
pattern and off we went. I was much more relaxed today than I had
been the last 3 flights - probably due to going to see the Chargers
getting spanked this past Sunday and drinking too much.

Around we went and continued with the approaches. 1st was was ok and
I got down with a little coaching from the left seat as it fell apart
towards the bottom. The "what went wrong" talk ensued as I took off
for another circuit. It seems I'm not adding power early and fast
enough as we get close to the numbers. I make a mental note to make
that adjustment and on this one, not a peep is heard from the left
seat. The only indication from there is a brief gesture to get the
nose up a little bit as we slow under ETL.

No time to stop in a hover as there's a fixed wing assassin (lol)
behind me just turning base so around we go again. Did two more and I
think I've finally got this little hurdle cleared. Got in a couple of
steep approaches and was able to keep in the ETL "rumble" all the way
down.

Noticed the runup area was starting to fill up and in listening to the
radio calls, it seemed like all of them were doing to be joining the
pattern so we asked for a Southern departure and went out to the
practice area. I thought it was time for some pinnacle approaches but
found out after climbing to 1800 feet, it was time for some settling
with power.

My instructor demonstrated the 1st one and didn't quite get all the
way in, but did get the power to 22 inches and a descent rate of about
1,000 fpm. Didn't get the vibration I was expecting but there was a
little bit of wind so that might explain it. A quick demo of how to
get out and it was my turn.

I climbed back to 1800 and slowed down as I reduced power.. Descent
rate was about 500 fpm and I was pulling about 17".. I pulled in the
power to 20 inches and holy crap! Down we went. The vibrations
seemed to pulse in the vertical plane and the controls got really
"mushy". I lowered collective, gave just a touch of forward cyclic
and as soon as the vibration stopped, I pulled in 22" of MAP and
climbed out. I don't think it takes more than a second or two to fly
out of it and man does your airspeed jump!

Did a couple more on my own and then my instructor took control. He
got deep into it with about 18-19" of MAP and without forward cyclic
input, just poured on the coals and recovered on collective only.
Kinda contrary to everything I've been studying about settling with
power. He went on to explain how he's been able to do that in the
R22s quite a lot and how he just wanted to show me it could be done
like that, but to actually recover the way he intially showed me. I
actually found it pretty easy to recover but was a bit confused by how
the VSI showed a huge rate of descent, but it didn't appear as if the
helicopter was falling at all. Eyes playing tricks I guess.. Very
odd. Easy to see how someone could get into it and not recognize it
though.

Time to head back and this time there was no help on the approach.
Got us to where I wanted to go and hover taxied back to the pad. Set
it down nice and gentle right where I wanted to and started the
shutdown procedure. My instructor mentioned how I was flying much
more smoothly this week and how relaxed I appeared. Looking back, I
didn't seem to get so self critical this time out and that probably
helped me stay loose and not think so much and just DO.

Another 1.0 in the books. It's getting kind of funny because my last
6 or 7 flights have also been exactly 1 hour. People are going to
think I'm faking log entries if this keeps up.

Hi Kevin - I enjoy reading your flight training diary. Some comments:

The OTHER Kevin in San Diego wrote:

My instructor demonstrated the 1st one and didn't quite get all the
way in, but did get the power to 22 inches and a descent rate of about
1,000 fpm. Didn't get the vibration I was expecting but there was a
little bit of wind so that might explain it. A quick demo of how to
get out and it was my turn.

Ideally the winds won't play a role - you should be at zero indicated
airspeed, which, if you're pointing into the winds, means you're
drifting backwards relative to the ground. Just a little bit of
translational lift will go a long way towards avoiding VRS.

Did a couple more on my own and then my instructor took control. He
got deep into it with about 18-19" of MAP and without forward cyclic
input, just poured on the coals and recovered on collective only.
Kinda contrary to everything I've been studying about settling with
power. He went on to explain how he's been able to do that in the
R22s quite a lot and how he just wanted to show me it could be done
like that, but to actually recover the way he intially showed me. I
actually found it pretty easy to recover but was a bit confused by how
the VSI showed a huge rate of descent, but it didn't appear as if the
helicopter was falling at all. Eyes playing tricks I guess.. Very
odd. Easy to see how someone could get into it and not recognize it
though.

There's a good chance you were still flying with the help of at least
some translational lift if that was the case. I don't fly the R-22, but
after losing 500 or more feet in the 300CB we just can't get out with
collective alone - pulling pitch just makes it worse (much like stalls
in fixed wing aircraft.)

Of course atmospheric effects and the weight of the helicopter have a
direct impact on the rate at which VRS will develop.

Another 1.0 in the books. It's getting kind of funny because my last
6 or 7 flights have also been exactly 1 hour. People are going to
think I'm faking log entries if this keeps up.

Have fun and keep writing about your adventures!

-Ryan
ATP/CFII (airplanes and helicopters)