Aviation Forum / General / Rotary-wing / August 2004

Got down to the hangar this morning and saw the "tail rotor gearbox
leak" ship strewn all over the hangar - well, not really, but the
tailboom was sitting on a pair of sawhorses next to the ship and the
tailrotor assembly was nowhere in sight.  Evidently there was a
problem with the flex plate and it had to be sent "back" to be
repaired - wherever "back" is.  I can only assume it was back to the
factory in Tustin.

I'm a little over an hour early and see the previous slot's student
still going over his preflight - usually he'd be over the practice
area by then - so I pull up a chair to the "pilot's lounge"
(translation:  Big a.s conference room table in the corner of the
hangar) and work up my W&B and Density Altitude worksheets..

My instructor is off fetching an R44 from some other location so I'm
with a "new" instructor.  I introduce myself and we talk about what
I've worked on up to this point then I'm off to do my preflight.

I get through the preflight with the instructor sometimes watching
over my shoulder and really go over the whole ship with a fine toothed
comb.  No tail rotor gearbox leakage but we're at 4qts of oil so I
head to the hangar to snag a bottle.  This is the 3rd time I've had to
add oil to this particular ship - do these things just burn oil or
what?  And who the hell decided to bury the filler neck where they
did?  What a pain to not piddle 100 weight all over the place..

Oiled up, empty jug in the recycle bin and I'm off to the john to wash
up and lose the 3lbs of coffee I drank when I woke up.  I get to the
ship and discuss control handoffs with the instructor.  We've never
flown together before so I want to make sure there's a positive
exchange of controls and we're going to be on the same page as far as
phraseology etc.  We get that squared away and strap in.  

Prestart checklist goes pretty quick, DA is a tad less than 1,000 feet
and it's 24C..  Quick look at the MAP chart says I can pull about 22.9
inches so I clear the area and start 'er up.  Engine instruments in
the green, starter light is out so I engage the clutch and start
counting the seconds...

..5...6...7..  what the??  8...9...10..11..  finally the mains start
turning and after a few more moments, the clutch light goes out..
RPMs to 75% and I hold ti there to get everything warmed up.  Mag
check is good as is carb heat..  Throttle up to 80% and flick on the
governor..  RPMs climb to 104% and we're looking good.

I call tower and tell 'em we want a southern departure to the practice
area.  We're cleared so I pick up (one of my best pick ups to date
BTW), clear the area and make a right pedal turn and air taxi out.  I
notice I'm having to pull about 21" to maintain IGE hover and make a
mental note for later.

Takeoff is ok, but we balloon as ETL kicks in - it was kinda windy -
but I push through ti with forward cyclic and we're off and climbing.
Already I can tell I'm flying better than last week.  I'm able to hold
my rate of climb and airspeed pretty close to the numbers despite the
bumps.  Level out at 1,300 feet and I'm looking for my favorite wind
indicator - got it.  Wind is from the West and looking pretty steady.

3 miles from the practive area I call out to local traffic where I am
and where I'm headed and proceed to the practice area.  Working on
approaches again today.  Last episode I was too hot, too high and the
first approach today was no different..  Hard to hold airspeeds on
base and final due to the winds so the 1st approach is a collaborative
effort with the instructor following along.  

Didn't get my attitude and airpeed set right so had to "fix" it all
the way down.  Got into a nice hover (I'm finally able to be pretty
steady most of the time) and then set her down..  A quick discussion
about what went wrong and off we go again.

Pickup - slight wobble and make a clearing turn to the left.  Nobody
there so back to the right - all clear and then a normal takeoff.  ETL
turns into an E-ticket ride (Who here is old enough to remember what
that means?) as the winds helps us out again.  Downwind at 70kts and
500' AGL I solw us down to 60 and get a 500fpm descent going.  Turn
base then final and I'm slow and high.  

Collective down to about 13" and some forward cyclic.  Ok, looking
decent.  60kts and -500 FPM.  I start slowing and lowering collective.
My right foot is nearly on automatic as the nose barely even moves
left or right.   Damn.  Too slow again..  Power coming up and I'm
still slow..  My "normal" approach has quickly turned into a steep
approach so we do the ETL shake to the pavement and I'm back in a
hover..  This is nothing like fixed wing where you can trim the
airplane for a specific pitch angle and control your rate of descent
with throttle all the way down..  Ok, third time's the charm, right?

Around we go again..  This time I'm slow on downwind, but fix that as
we're turning base then once on final, it's coming together..
airpseed and rate of descent are good and I'm barely moving the cyclic
to hold my attitude..  I lower the collective and start slowing down
even more..  Coming in a little shallow so I add some power and level
out for a sec then get back into my descent..

Looking good so I start adding power and slowing down..  The light
bulb above my head comes on as I finally get the trick on the last
part of the approach;  with a power change, a little forward cyclic is
required to keep my forward momentum..  I literally said out loud,
"The light bulb just came on!" as I slowly walked the ship right to my
intended spot and came to a nice 5' hover right over it.  Yes!  I may
get this part yet!

Time for one more trip around the pattern..  This one's not so nice,
but I'm finally figuring out the look I'm going for and what it's
going to take to get it.  This time I get to a stable hover and set
down so I can wipe my forehead.  For such a cool day I sure am
sweating a lot..

Everything's in the green so I pick up and do a normal takeoff.  This
time I anticipate the ETL balloon and push right on through it with a
small burble.  50kts on the ASI and I'm climbing out.

"give me 80knots and thirteen hundred feet" the instructor says.  Bam!
He's got it..  We're 8 miles out and I'm within practical standards
for the whole trip back.  6 miles out I call for my clearance and get
it, with a request to report 1 mile out.  A mile out I call up and get
the ok to proceed to my landing spot and then air taxi back to the
ramp.  I'm hot and high so end up having to really dump collective and
haul back on the cyclic to get back where I want to.

Not an ugly approach, certainly not textbook, but good enough so that
the instructor's hands and feet were only hovering over the controls.
Back to the ramp and once again, I'm good all the way until we're over
the pad then I can't get it stabilized at 3'.  I'm wondering if the
downwash is bouncing off the airplanes and buildings around us..
Guess I'll figure that out in time as well..

Get the ship set down, frictions on and start the cooldown...
Shutdown is normal, avionics etc off and I secure the ship and head
back to the hangar.  Another 1.1 on the books and I feel like I made
some improvement.  This instructor is pretty good.  Explains things
very well and seems like he enjoys what he's doing.  Ship secure we
head back to the hangar for a debrief and to fill out paperwork.

I walk back to my truck and I'm mentally flying an approach across the
parking lot as I'm walking and catch myself working the controls with
my hands as I walk.  Nope, nobody looking so I don't feel too foolish,
but do chuckle out loud.  Damned helicopters.  :)