Learning to Fly Helicopters

[Junior]

Sounds like sh!tty instruction. I got EP training, was required to read the POH before my first flight, know how the aircraft "systems" worked.

I agree, reading the POH and knowing basic EPs should definately be part of the program. I think the "dangerous" part comes from looking back on that part of training. i.e.: Solo X-country with only 20 hours. Thinking I knew what was going on, but now I know better.
Primary, and then advanced, is an eye opener to how little us IFSers really knew. That being said, I think it did help me a lot.

 

[Fly Navy]

I agree, reading the POH and knowing basic EPs should definately be part of the program. I think the "dangerous" part comes from looking back on that part of training. i.e.: Solo X-country with only 20 hours. Thinking I knew what was going on, but now I know better.
Primary, and then advanced, is an eye opener to how little us IFSers really knew. That being said, I think it did help me a lot.

Confidence builder, and of course, a CCX in civilian world has a whole other meaning than in military world.

Primary opens your eyes to how little you knew in IFS. Advanced opens your eyes to how little you knew in Primary. The RAG opens your eyes... and so on.

 

[phrogpilot73]

.......don't forget E-2's, no tactics there as far as the pilots go.

Phrog drivers have tactics? My bud fly's 53's and though there are tactics, he claims they are minimal.

There are tactics, but I would agree that they are minimal...

 

[Gatordev]

There just isn't much Stan. The Navy should put out a Stan for it, not just Part 141 school. We used a Jepp syllabus, it worked fine, but the instructors also have to be standardized as far as what they're teaching beforehand, etc. There is no excuse to not reading a Cessna 172 POH before your first flight, it's not THAT thick.

Yeah, stan is only one thing. Kind of goes back to the myriad of threads about civilian time. Some people keep relating to their IFS time and so much of it is different, if for no other reason than that's what the FTI says.

From what I've heard, the solo X-countries are no longer solo any more. I think they have a chase plane now.

 

[ChuckMK23]

This is universal of flying, no matter what aircraft.

POWER + ATTITUDE = PERFORMANCE

Stays the same be it fixed or rotary wing

 

[Junior]

"Well in IFS I did it this way..."
@ gatordev: You seriously here studs saying this?

 

[nittany03]

Some people keep relating to their IFS time and so much of it is different, if for no other reason than that's what the FTI says.

Good Lord. If the FTI says do it this way, you do it this way. Who cares what you did before? Methinks they keep relating to how they did it in IFS after they failed to correctly accomplish it the FTI way . . .

 

[KnightNArmor]

IFS is a joke... unless it's changed dramatically in the last couple years... it's a waste of time in my opinion. I mean, yeah, it gives you some flight experience. But, other than that.... nothing. They taught me everything that I was supposed to know at flight school.

 

[ben]

My first helo experience was similar to what others have posted here. Flying course rules out to the field wasn't too bad, not entirely different from fixed wing. As long as the "left hand goes up to make the helo go up" concept isn't cramping your brain, you should be ok. Understanding the principles behind helo aerodynamics does help, IMO.

Trying to hover is an entirely different experience from fixed wing flying. I think it's pretty standard for the IP to hand the controls over one at a time (i.e. first the pedals, then the collective, then the cyclic, then all three together). There is a painted rectangle on the asphalt - "the box" - and you're doing well if you can keep the aircraft inside the box on your first or second flight. Some guys can do it instantly, others zoom forward until the IP takes the controls back. It's a ton of fun to try and get comfortable with it. Keeping the helo safely off the ground while not getting into an unsafe attitude is challenging. Like others have said, lots of small, smooth, timely corrections will be the secret to a good hover. It's much, much easier said than done at first.

After you get used to hovering in one spot, you'll move on to hovering in patterns - moving the aircraft over a specific ground track (the paint on the box). After that you'll probably be too mentally exhausted to do much more. It's a fun first flight but it's over pretty quickly. You'll be excited to come back the next day and try it all over again.

 

[gregsivers]

Hovering box patterns get interesting Stab (hyd boost) off in a 60B when you do it the first time.

 

[ChuckMK23]

Remember you really only have Fam 1-4 to get the whole hovering thing down

It's still all about attitude control - even in a hover. Th ebig thing in a helo is training your brain to understand the lag between what you are seeing and what myour response is with the hand that's on the cyclic. That just takes time. In the '57 there is lag between when you move the cyclic and you get any sort of attitude change - and there is lag between attitude change in a hover and when the aircraft actually gets enough momentum to start moving - the combination of all this just means you need to train your brain a little - but I never saw anyone - even flihghjt surgeon studs who eventually couldn't pick up the concepts and hover more or less successfully.

Also in the '57 this is the student's first experience with hydraulically boosted controls.

Keys to getting hovering down:

1. watch the studs' shoulder and body pisition as well as foot position on the pedals. Forearm should be resting on thigh, heels on deck, pedal should be underneath ball of foot, pivoting off the heel. Don't squeeze the black out of the cyclic.

Scan out and in - but not too close. Use forward and peripheral vision to pick up attitue changes.

Don't pump the collective - Powerchanges need to be relatively slow in a hover to avoid a. transient overtorques, and b. yaw/roll/pitch moments that you'll have to correct for.

Make sure you breath.

 

[gregsivers]

Remember you really only have Fam 1-4 to get the whole hovering thing down

It's still all about attitude control - even in a hover. Th ebig thing in a helo is training your brain to understand the lag between what you are seeing and what myour response is with the hand that's on the cyclic. That just takes time. In the '57 there is lag between when you move the cyclic and you get any sort of attitude change - and there is lag between attitude change in a hover and when the aircraft actually gets enough momentum to start moving - the combination of all this just means you need to train your brain a little - but I never saw anyone - even flihghjt surgeon studs who eventually couldn't pick up the concepts and hover more or less successfully.

Also in the '57 this is the student's first experience with hydraulically boosted controls.

Keys to getting hovering down:

1. watch the studs' shoulder and body pisition as well as foot position on the pedals. Forearm should be resting on thigh, heels on deck, pedal should be underneath ball of foot, pivoting off the heel. Don't squeeze the black out of the cyclic.

Scan out and in - but not too close. Use forward and peripheral vision to pick up attitue changes.

Don't pump the collective - Powerchanges need to be relatively slow in a hover to avoid a. transient overtorques, and b. yaw/roll/pitch moments that you'll have to correct for.

Make sure you breath.

Excellent advice. That was one of the things I had to learn as well, the delay of response after control input. On that note I learned a good technique during autos in the 60 thats helps too: Put the correction in then immediately take half of it out. Works pretty well in most flight regimes, granted you've got to have a good feel for the controls, but it works wonders in the autos. I'm surprised there was any black left in the cyclic after my first couple flights. Relaxing is a HUGE key.

 

[MasterBates]

Excellent advice. That was one of the things I had to learn as well, the delay of response after control input. On that note I learned a good technique during autos in the 60 thats helps too: Put the correction in then immediately take half of it out. Works pretty well in most flight regimes, granted you've got to have a good feel for the controls, but it works wonders in the autos. I'm surprised there was any black left in the cyclic after my first couple flights. Relaxing is a HUGE key.

There wasn't, the AMs (or contractor equiv at NDZ) just put it back in after each FAM 1 - FAM 4

 

[Gatordev]

Hovering box patterns get interesting Stab (hyd boost) off in a 60B when you do it the first time.

Have you tried landing the helo, Boost off, w/out touching the collective yet? It can be done...

 

[Gatordev]

"Well in IFS I did it this way..."
@ gatordev: You seriously here studs saying this?

It's not so much an excuse, it's just a point of reference. Some get wrapped up in "what they did in IFS," others just try and relate it to IFS and establish that they need to do the opposite (or whatever). It's not the studs' fault, but it occassionally is something that needs to get unlearned.