Blue Truck Adventure! (as in adventure in our blue truck)

Things have been busy the past few months since I last posted something here.  Summer has come and gone and we have been going and doing a lot.  We got stuck in a national forest, had several off road adventures, visited family in Wisconsin, and more, to name a few things.  School is starting and things will be busier, but we are planning on making time for adventures.

I have good memories from my childhood traveling around seeing things and visiting family and I would like my children to have memories of their own.  Of the things we did and the places and people we visited.

My goal is to get a few of the adventures written up so there are at least two new posts a month.  This should be frequent enough to document our adventures and happenings, but not so frequent that I won't have time to do it between work, college, family, etc.

R48

Letters From Grandma H.

We have been cleaning up and re-arranging the house some and I came across letters from my mission.  I wrote letters to Grandma H. frequently from when I was little and this continued as I was a missionary.  These appear to be from June - December 2000; the first six months of my mission.

You can download the PDF here if you want to read.

I have more to scan when I get some time.

R48

Update (as in Here's what happened previously)

It has been a long time since I have updated, so here's what has happened since I last wrote.

• GoFundMe - Only one person was generous enough to donate to my Go Fund Me campaign to get money for flight school.  I have stopped accepting donations, but I may attempt it again to raise money for my commercial and instrument ratings.  This means that it will take a little longer to get my ratings completed as I have to find financing and other financial aid.  To the lone contributor: THANK YOU!
  
• Flight Training - I haven't been flying in a while, but I have connected with a different flight instructor and will be completing my private license with him.  I still have to travel nearly 2 hours to meet with him, but it will be worth it.
  
• School - I am progressing with school.  I am taking 6 credit hours per semester, which is kind of slow, but it is what my schedule allows me to handle with out being stressed out.  I am working on the upper level classes and there is a lot of research and writing involved.

Things have been busy in my life but slow related to my flying.  My goal is to have my private license completed before the end of March.  I don't think that I will have any problems with accomplishing this.  After I have my private license I plan on sending letters to various aviation companies and operators to attempt to get a job in the aviation industry.  Hopefully being able to get flight training from that operator and begin flying commercially.

R48

GoFundMe (as in Please help me afford flight school so I can pilot an air ambulance!)

Greetings!  It has been a while since I have posted.  I haven't been flying much because of work and school. I have however determined that I need help paying for flight training.  I setup a GoFundMe page and ask that if you are able to and willing, please make a donation.  My goal is to get enough money so I can get my commercial license.  This money will help me finish flight school in a reasonable amount of time so I can begin to build hours towards becoming a pilot for an air ambulance service.

With out these funds it will take longer to achieve my goal and there is a possibility that I will have to stop flying altogether.  Air ambulance services provide quick transport for patients who need to get to a treatment facility.  I want to help people get the help they need so they can begin to get better.  The first step for me is earning my commercial pilot license.  After I get my commercial pilot license, I will have to build hours and gain experience flying.  I will have an array of jobs before I will meet the common qualifications to be hired by an air ambulance provider, but getting my commercial license is the first step.  This first step is what I need help with.

Please share this with your friends and families.  I will continue writing about my flight experiences as I complete flight school and begin flying and gaining experience.  Thanks for the help and support.

Here is the link to my GoFundMe page.

R48

Video (as in that video I shot is finally ready!)

I finally got the video I recorded of my flight on 29 June edited and worked into a format that I like (Since then I thought of a better way to present the videos, so I am working on them some more).  I am going to begin with a picture of the dash of the Robinson R44.

I have numbered some of the gauges on the instrument panel.  They are: 

1. Tachometer - The needle on the left is for the engine and the needle on the right is for the rotors
2. Airspeed - This shows the airspeed of the helicopter. 
3. Artifical Horizon - This is primarily used in Instrument flights with little or no visibility. 
4. Altimeter - Indicates your elevation above sea level. 
5. Manifold Pressure (MAP) - This shows the air pressure in the intake manifold.  The higher the indication the more power is being demanded from the engine.  There is a limit on how much power you can safely pull.  
6. Low Rotor RPM light - This is light and a horn activate when the rotor system drops below 97%. 
7. Vertical Airspeed Indicator - This shows the rate at when you are changing elevation in feet per minute either up or down.  It maxes out at 2000 ft/min.  
8. Clutch Light - The drive belts are tensioned automatically; when the light is on the tension mechanism is active.  

You can see the instrument panel in all the videos and can kind of tell what is going on from what the instruments indicate.  I am going to publish this late and incomplete.

I was working on the videos and realized it would probably be better to narrate what is going on in the video versus showing the video and writing about what is happening.  I think it will be a better experience for those who view the blog.

Here is a video of me climbing to 2000 feet MSL and practicing a turning auto.  As I climb the vertical speed indicator (gauge #7)  shows a climb of over 1000 fpm and the Manifold pressure (gauge #5) shows about 25 inches, meaning I am at almost max power.  The Altimeter (#4) shows the climb from 1000 to 2000 feet.  The auto begins when the engine tach needle drops below 80%.  The rotor tach needle stays above 90%.  Although in the turn it drops below 97% which activates the Low rotor RPM horn and light.

The whole auto lasted 40 seconds and you can see the vertical airspeed indicator peg out at 2000 fpm descent and we lost almost 1200 feet of altitude in the process.

R48

Passengers (as in I brought a sibling)

Today's flight (20JUL14) I brought a sibling from out of town with me and because I had a passenger we couldn't do some of the riskier maneuvers.  We didn't do autos or slopes, I can't remember if we did run on landings.  So it was mostly normal take-offs, normal landings, steep approaches and max performance take-offs.

I setup the GoPro and had configured it to record in 720 because my computer struggles with resolutions above that, but it defaults to time lapse so I got a time lapse sequence and I didn't think it showed anything interesting or was particularly neat.  I am almost done editing the videos from the only flight I have recorded.  In fact, a video is rendering right now!

I did pretty good with the flight today.  Having a passenger was a good experience as to how the balance and performance change.  Hovering took more power, which meant I was up to max continuous power quicker and even used into the power available for 5 minute take off.  What it translated into was that I had to fly more like an airplane than a helicopter.  The rotors produce lift but when the helicopter is moving the increased airflow across the rotor disc produces more lift.  It was something I can't remember experiencing; the other helicopter I had flown with passengers was fuel injected and had more horsepower available because of it.

I had to abort one of the max performance take-offs because I was the 5 minute take-off power and stopped climbing.  After slowly lowering back to the ground, I made a normal take-off.  I thought I was going to be nervous with my sibling riding along, but she was so quiet I basically forgot she was in the back.

Over all it was a good flight and I experienced a few things that I don't think I would have experienced until much later in my training.

R48

Break (as in no flight this week)

Today (06JUL14) I spent C2 working on ground school, reviewing all the things I need to know for the oral part of the check ride.  Aerodynamic, emergency procedures, rules and regulations.  I need to study some, but know most everything I should. 

R48