Oh! (as in Oh! Why wasn't I told this earlier?!)

10 June 2012

Since I am getting close to having enough hours to fly solo, today's flight focused mostly on the maneuvers that I need to know to fly safely with out my flight instructor and all the information in case I encounter an emergency.  It was hot today; 30C (86F) with dew point at 24C (75F) meant the Relative Humidity was 80%.  After pre-flight and run up I made the radio calls to get clearance and took us up.  The wind was from the South so we had to fly out over the central ramp, up over Capital Circle and then across the airport to the Northwest towards Quincy.

In Quincy we did a lot of the basic maneuvers, regular approach, regular takeoff, flying the pattern, self-announcing on the CTAF.  We also spent a lot of time practicing hovering, pick-ups and set-downs.  Quincy was practically void of any other air traffic.  I didn't even see anyone at the jump school!  I was able to maneuver all over the runway surface and not have to stop for in or out bound traffic.

I have not been using the pedals enough while hovering, I could hover sufficiently, but after I started using the pedals as I should be today, hovering was outstanding!  To hone my skills I would hover to a spot, set down, pick up, hover forward one stripe, hover over the spot and set down again.  I did this down most of the runway pausing every few set downs to open the door and get some air because it was so hot.  Now that I was using the pedals as I should, my ability to maneuver while hovering was markedly improved.  I was pretty excited about my new knowledge and skills, until it was time to get fuel.

We also did some straight in auto-rotations to practice, but I didn't do very good today.  There isn't a lot of time when you enter auto-rotation at 900 feet.  I did note that I didn't get stuck staring at the gauges and spent most of the time looking out side, watching where I was going.

It's not that I didn't want to get fuel, it's that I am still a little shy about flying near other objects.  Not to mention a huge fuel tank!  Putting my reservations aside I maneuvered us towards the fuel ramp and set us down (I am sure I had some help, but I was so focused on not damaging the helicopter or us that I didn't notice).  After a short break in the air conditioning of the airport office, we started up and flew back to KTLH.

Next week we will do more of the same, making sure that my flight instructor feels confident I can take off and fly by myself and land safely.

R48