old days

John Doe et al;
Happy New Year and I wish a safe one for all of you. To respond to your
specific question about an engine failure, in many years of crop
spraying with helicopters, I often wondered how to respond to an engine
failure at low level and have had opportunity to challenge my logic at
least two or three times! I was pleased to note in conversation with
other pilots who do similar operations, they had come up with the same
technique. We simply call it the "Double Pump".
On recognition of either an engine failure or an impending one, we pull
the collective and do a collective/cyclic climb to avoid a tail strike,
followed very quickly with down collective to avoid losing turns whcih
puts us in a flare attitude followed by a cyclic pushover and pulling
pitch to cushion the touchdown.
I experienced an engine failure at night while spraying cotton and had
an altitude of roughly 5' above the crop with about 50kts IAS. I did
the above manuever and just as I was trying to flare, the machine
turned about 90deg as I was descending for landing. It all worked out
as if I had planned it. The spray booms were aligned with the rows and
I didn't knock off a single nozzle. The tail rotor got a little green
on it but it too was just above the crop when I touched down cross row
to the irrigation lines. It was nearly a perfect landing to salvage
pilot error from running out of fuel in a strange machine. This was in
a Bell 47 at least 15 years ago. Fortunately I had figured out that
maneuver five years earlier and had used it twice prior to trying it at
night!! I retired from crop dusting/spraying this summer after 40 years
of low/slow back'n forth.
Cheers
Ol Shy & Bashful
John Doe wrote:
"Jim Carriere" wrote in message
...
Airman wrote:
I sure miss the old days when we had a lively discussion group with
some very experienced pilots opining upon matters. Poster were for the
most part civil and if you could ask the right questions then listen a
guy like Nick Lappos (or many other very experienced pilots) would
respond.

Roger, I miss the old days too. But I think there is still a significant
wealth of knowledge here, just a lot of quiet people (lurkers).

This is a little long and rambling, but I put a lot of thought into how
aircrew handle emergencies, however great or small the emergency and
whoever the crew is composed of.

I am presently a military flight instructor and have been for a bit less
than three years. I would hesitate to call myself "very" experienced.
Partly by choice and partly by circumstances, I have become specialized in
and good at instrument flying. Handling emergencies and crew resource
management both play a big part, and of course both relate to the study of
human behavior.

Today I was practicing emergencies in the simulator (required periodic
proficiency practice... say that three times fast!). Now, not because
I've become "that good" or salty (hardly), but I reacted very calmly to
one type of malfunction (erroneous engine out indication, think loud alarm
noise with bright red light and rpm gauge winding down) that usually
startles most guys. The common reaction is to be startled and quickly
lower the collective; my hands didn't even move... why? Note that an
actual engine failure is also accompanied by a physical reaction from the
aircraft and additional instrument indications. Now, I honestly wasn't
"spring loaded" in my mind for this particular malfunction, so why did I
react atypically?

It occurred to me that at my present experience level, I have grown to
regard many malfunctions and minor emergencies as a nuisance. I wondered
if this was bad, if this was a warning sign that I was falling into a
classic psychological trap of arrogance? I wondered if it was good, if I
was observing myself mature. Maybe it was neither good nor bad. Well,
what else is involved in my approach to flying? I am always willing to
learn, no matter what the source. Simulators are always educational for
me, just not usually in an introspective sense. I still have great
respect for the dangers involved with flying. I still think about "what
ifs" and work to maintain my own basic skills while building more advanced
skills.

I'm getting to the end of my line at my current job and won't be flying on
my next tour (the military likes you to be well rounded). It takes effort
for me to remain focused in the cockpit each day. Staying focused is a
conscious choice I make as part of a careful mindset. I believe I have an
overall healthy approach to flying. I believe that the fact that I have
grown to regard certain minor emergencies as nuisances isn't dangerous,
because it complements and is tempered by other facets of "how" I fly.


I probably thought waaay too much into this... thanks for reading and I
hope you don't mind my rambling



Please do ramble... I have been reading the posts on this group for some
time and find it interesting at times. Unfortunately I haven't read the
posts in "the old times" and you could say I'm a frequent lurker
I'm currently working as a military instructor too.. but I suppose I haven't
got the hours or the experience like the guys in the USA.
Anyway, to start off a discussion - have been doing the what ifs and there
are several opinions on the particular emergency that I need to solve.
Engine failure during transition to forward flight. Specificaly after the
transverse flow effect (say doing 40 knots, around 50 feet AGL). What to do
with the collective? Do you slam it down to maintain as much RPM as you can
and then quickly pull it up to cushion the landing or is there not enough
time to lower the collective fully? Maybe a newbie question but as you
probably know once you ask the question a dozen theories pop up. Thanks...