I "auto" be in pictures...

Hey Kevin,

Great write up as usual. I particularly like the first paragraph. Normal
and steep approaches are getting "boring" huh? ;-) It's not that long ago
that you were kicking yourself for not getting them right. Now they're
boring! bg

It's great that you've got so many other folks around that are going through
the same process as you are. Having other people around that you can rib
back and forth with, compare notes with, and generally rely on for support
in the fun and serious times has got to be a big help. You know it's not
just you!! ;-)

Keep em coming and Fly Safe,
Steve R.


"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net wrote in
message ...
Nothing' but autos today. Well, ok, so I did a normal approach and a
steep approach to start my time, but they're boring.

Had a very busy morning and arrived just a few minutes before I was
scheduled to fly so I ran up my paperwork and knocked out the
preflight. Takeoff was a bit delayed as Q checked out my bike (I
parked next to his) on his way to the ramp.

We got settled in and I started down my pre-start checklist. I was
about to turn the key when Q says "you forgot something".

"Huh?" I ran down the checklist again.. "I hit everything on here."

"You hit EVERYthing on that list?"

"Yeah."

"Read it again." I not only read it, but did it again - and there it
was.. Duh. Forgot to put the mixture guard in place. Gotta love
that ultra-high-tech device, huh?? You'd think I'd catch that the 1st
time through.. Or at least the 2nd.. or 3rd...

Got the ship started up and listened to ATIS as I waited for the cyl
head temp to get into the green and once it was there, I did all my
pre-takeoff checks and then had to wait for the helo on the pad next
to me to depart. Once he was gone, I picked up, cleared my tail, did
a left pedal turn and headed to the taxiway.

I called up the tower and anticipating more autos, asked to join the
pattern. It took a couple minutes to get cleared and then I was only
cleared to taxi halfway and hold to let some fixed wing folks hog the
runway. As soon as they were past, I was cleared to take off.

Q's been pushing me pretty hard to hit my numbers in the pattern and I
managed to do pretty good. Much better than on Tuesday so around I
went for a normal approach. No worries on that one so back around for
a steep approach. Those are cake 'cuz you get the ETL rumble to keep
ya in the "slot" all the way down...

Now for some autos. In our last episode, my entries weren't too good
'cuz I was letting the nose drop as the collective came down. Not so
on the 1st one. Collective down, a little aft cycle to keep the nose
up and roll off the throttle.. Let the RPMs build then stop 'em with
a smidge of collective and ride it down.. At 100' RPMs at the bottom
of the green arc, airspeed a tick over 65 knots and about 1700 FPM
descent rate.. Q lightly followed in the flare then helped out with
the recovery and around I went again.

This time wasn't so nice. I let the nose drop on entry so the RPMs
took a big dump and I had to flare and dump the collective to get 'em
to start building again.. I got it fairly well sorted out but my 100'
RPM was a bit low and the low rotor RPM buzzer was sounding. After
the recovery I mumble "Let the damned nose drop again..." and Q
responded with "Letting the nose drop is screwing you all up on the
entry." Thank you Captain Obvious.

The next one was better and I'm not entirely sure, but I think Q let
me do pretty much the whole thing. I didn't feel him on the controls
during the recovery at all.. Maybe I was just jazzed I hit the entry
pretty good and not aware of Q following on the controls.

I did a couple more and then repositioned to another unused runway to
do some hover autos. MUCH better than I was doing them on Tuesday,
but I'm still not quick enough with the forward and right cyclic to
counter the drift as the throttle is chopped. I'm not hammering the
right pedal on entry either.. I felt much much better about them
today. I don't know how many I did, but well over half of 'em would
have netted me a pass on my check ride.

During this time, I had to set down for a sec - I don't know what it
is about the seats in the R22, but my ass keeps slipping forward on
'em. Once I got my butt back in position, I started to pull power to
pick up. Just as I was getting settled into a hover, Q chops the
throttle on me. I was just a hair late with the right pedal, but the
touchdown was pretty soft. It wasn't a check ride passing
performance, but it was much better than the instant 180 a classmate
suffered at Q's hands a couple months ago.

Sitting on the ground, Q says "not bad: and I reply "It's a lot easier
when I chop the throttle but at least I didn't swap ends like {name
omitted to prevent embarrassment] did when you chopped him at the
pad."

"Yeah, he's still ****ed about that." I laughed 'cuz I still get
comments from "him" about that day.

I did a couple more hover autos and then it was time to head back.
The ramp was empty and I hovered back to pad 3- my "favorite" pad
right next to the hangar. I was a little higher than normal so I say
"How about I do a steep approach to the pad." Q chuckled and then
chopped the throttle on me. *******.. I got it down with a little
yaw to the left and once it was down, I looked back to the hangar to
see one of the instructors and a student sitting there gawking at me.
I pointed to Q and yelled "It's his fault!!" and then picked up to get
the ship repositioned properly on the pad.

Q was having convulsions next to me - well, it looked that way because
he was faking the moves to chop the throttle again - and I got it set
down nicely where it was supposed to be. Once the ship was shut down,
Q bolted for the hangar and I got the ship secured. On my way back to
the hangar, a fellow student came up to me and says "Hey Mr. Hover
Auto - how'd ya like those throttle chops?" Turns out I had an
audience for almost all of the hover autos. Leave it to other
students to poke fun at ya, right?

I got my log book filled out and went into the classroom to retrieve
my riding gear and was met with more comments about throttle chops
from the guys in there. Jeezus, was the entire hangar population
watching?? hehehe Thankfully, there's been nobody taking offense at
the ribbing we give each other and the hangar talk is filled with
self-deprecating stories. Makes for a good environment to fly in..

Next week is 3 long cross countries. Hopefully I'll find time to wok
too...