Landing in Dangerous Places for Twenty Years (Vance will slap my wrist)

luckyluciano

Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2009
Messages
210
Location
Clitheroe
We had to land in a very tight area for years as the farmer who owned the fields behind us was totally against helicopters. We once landed in his field, and he ran over and beat the hell out of the helicopter with a stick... (!)

images


https://youtu.be/TNrwBs44U4s
 
Vance will offer advice to enhance safety for gyro operations, but he's not punitive about it, and he's a true gyro guy (not a helicopter person), so I think your wrists are probably safe from assault from him.

Confined area operations can be demanding, but not necessarily dangerous if skills and winds are suitable. Looking at your video, I'd be more worried about the bystanders (including camera person) being so close than the area itself.

I learned to fly helicopters at an operation where we landed on a dolly, which was then towed into the hangar for storage. Putting it down on a dolly only marginally bigger than the skid footprint (especially for models where the skids are pretty far back from the pilot viewpoint) develops precision quickly, and I've always been glad I went through that early in my helicopter life. It made confined area work less stressful when I reached that part of the training.
 
I am glad your luck is holding LuckyLuciano!

I was taught to avoid the shaded portion of the height/velocity curve in a piston helicopter.

I was taught to do a performance takeoff when that wasn’t practical.

I do not have a helicopter rating so I am not inclined to offer advice.
 
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