Had a good but intensive training session today. It was cold, windy and rainy....but that didnt hinder us one bit. Couldnt even tell the wind except for drift. I took these pictures odviously while my instructor was flying and was taxiing and departing the pattern.
He gave me the controls for some staight and level flight....and I was busy getting used to thinking with one brain trying to control two feet, two hands, and I needed two sets of eyes. I was politely but stearnly asked to maintain 1200 feet...70 m.p.h. I would do ok for awhile...then either my airspeed or my altitude, or both would drift out of his acceptable range and I would have to correct...all the time trying to answer questions like how do I speed up...and I would answer, then he would ask immediately which way the collective should go. Well...this is easy sitting across the table at a coffee shop..but when I am on information overload.....my brain was like my dial up...the answer would come out,,but a few seconds later. On the ground he was asking all kinds of questions about translational lift...transverse flow...translating tendency and I was giving myself an A- for answering but while flying....forget it ...I just wanted to pull his mike cord!
We came down to hover and he gave me one control at a time.....I wasnt doing too bad...but after having all three controls for awhile...I would just ask to have him fly it for 30 seconds so I could reboot my brain. I was enjoying this immensely as the challenge is a reward in itself.
I learned today that while hovering....any amount of control input has to be reacted to with an equal and opposite amount of inputs to cancel out the first. In other words....if I needed a gentle back cyclic and gave it a gentle touch....all I needed was an equal an opposite touch to check the movement. Likewise....if I ham fisted an input...you can bet tnat I needed an equally strong and opposite ham fisted response!
Also....the slower my reaction to checking an unwanted movement...the harder the input was needed to check it....and likewise another opposite and equal response to check that movement.
We each have our little quirks...and mine is getting used to that tilt bar. I KNOW that tilting it doesnt do anything...but try telling that to my overtaxed brain when I am on overload. I was occasionally catching myself giving it slight steering wheel type inputs....but would immediately know it doesnt work that way....and I finally got those reactions erased from my data bank.
I also found the sweet spot to keep my forearm on my leg so as just my wrist and fingers were doing the very subtle inputs needed. This was much easier than hanging my arm from my shoulder and doing all that unneccessary work by carrying my arm.
I settled in and was comfortable hovering....it was by the way a gusty day and that part had to add a little to the movements.
Anyway....I said I would post all.....some of you helicopter pilots are probably laughing...and that is my intent....I want to come back to this whole thread some day when I have my helicopter rating and laugh right along with you all. I knew it would be a challenge and I am freakin loving it.
Oh...the autorotations that my instructor did for me were freakin awesome. I really cant say the bottom dropped out...it just reminded me of chopping power in my SparrowHawk and the view was the same to me.....its just the fact that you level off at the bottom at 0 mph...then have that collective to lower you down softly. I am freakin hooked for life.
eace:
Stan