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

Prep (as in Check-ride prep)

I am a little late this week with this post; school and work have been taking all my free time.

Today's flight (29JUN14) was longer and it was working on maneuvers for the check ride.  Working on the maneuvers that I can do well to maintain the skills I do have and improve the others.  Overall, I am getting better at doing the maneuver on the first try.  I brought and mounted my GoPro camera (Full disclosure: I own GoPro stock); I was able to capture video of the flight, but because we had the doors off and I haven't bought an adapter cable, you can only hear the audio when the engine is idle and airspeed zero.  I will eventually buy an adapter cable that will capture all the intercom and radio communications.

After getting the helicopter started, we headed out toward the TV station again.  Being the only off-airport location they have permission to land at, we went there to practice off-airport operations.  I made my assessment of the area and began my approach.  I wasn't descending like I needed to, so I went around again.  I made a better approach the second time and landed as needed in the field.  The field at the TV station has some slopes that are not as steep compared to the Quincy airport, so we tried a new technique for landing on slopes.  I did better at slopes on the first try and the new technique helped overall.  I made a max. performance takeoff from the field and headed towards Quincy.

As we were approaching Quincy we heard the jump plane call "4 parachutes out over Quincy", so we flew towards town and climbed up to 2000 feet for some turning auto-rotation practice.  I entered the auto, established the glide and properly managed the RPMs as we entered and exited the turn.  I rolled the throttle back on and flew towards the airport.  The jumpers were on the ground, so we made a normal approach.

I did the approach fine on my first attempt.  I took off again and landed with a steep approach.  Performed an air taxi, followed by a quick stop.  A trip around the pattern for a running landing.  A running (sometimes called a run-on) landing is used when you don't think the helicopter can hover.  Maybe one magneto is malfunctioning, you are at a high gross weight, or at a location with high density altitude.  A running landing is also one of the components used if I had to make a real forced landing; after the auto-rotation you flare to reduce descent and airspeed, then you let the helicopter settle to ground and touchdown with the skids level, running on them until the helicopter stops.

After running landing, we moved to the slopes.  The slopes at Quincy are pretty steep, nothing outside the limits of the helicopter, but probably close to them.  I did OK, on the slopes at Quincy, better than the last time. 

After slopes, we waited for the jump plane to take off, then I went around the pattern and setup for a straight in auto-rotation.  I entered the auto slower than normal and lost additional airspeed as I descended.  You need the airspeed to have energy to use at the end for the flare and touchdown.  I got the airspeed back, but I lost RPMs.  The maneuver was recoverable, but in the interest of safety, both C2 and I at nearly the same instance said to add throttle and go around.  Went around again and had a successful auto.

I setup for a turning auto.  Sometimes the best place to land isn't in front of you, so you have to turn to land safely.  The first one went OK, I did pretty good.  I turned kind of tight so I had to adjust to make my spot.  The second one was good, but I turned very steep, which drove the rotor RPM almost to max.  With jumpers on their way up we taxied to the fuel pump, shutdown and got fuel.  After a short break, we started up with an airplane really close to the tail rotor.  It made us kind of nervous, so we quickly started and hovered away from the fuel pumps. 

I did another running landing in preparation for a hydraulics off landing.  The R44 has hydraulics to reduce the force from the pilot needed to control the helicopter.  When the hydraulics fail, hovering will be practically impossible.  After a successful running landing, I took off for the pattern and once I was in the downwind leg, the hydraulics went off.  Controlling the helicopter without hydraulics is not hard, sort of like driving a car without power steering.  Fine until you need to travel through a parking lot at low speed.  The camera battery ran out as I was on final.  I landed perfectly and was happy to have the hydraulics back.

After this, I am pretty sure we took off and went back to Tallahassee.

R48

Jumpers (as in Avoiding them)

Today's flight was longer but more of the same, prepping for the up coming check ride.  We took off and flew towards a TV station that the school has permission to use their land for off-airport landings.  C2 had not been there and I have only been there once.  We departed TLH and flew to the North looking for a small clearing and the tower by the station building.  We found it and I proceeded to perform an off airport landing.

I started by circling the field at a high altitude looking for any obstacles and searching for something that would indicate wind direction.  The field at the station is surrounded by power lines, trees, and has two tall towers on either side.  It is a fair representation of what an off-airport landing could be.  There was smoke in the distance that showed the wind was probably from the North.  I made a lower circle around the site and planned my approach so I would land into the wind.

I slowed down and began my decent, holding altitude over the trees, waited until I was sure the tail would clear them without contact, and continued descending.  I was in a steeper than normal approach, but not a real steep approach.  I continued my descent ending in a hover near the middle of the field.  C2 asked how I was going to take off, so I explained I was going to hover to the back of the field and make a maximum performance take-off.  Waiting until I was clear of the trees and power lines in front of me to begin any forward movement, picking a path over the shortest trees with an open field behind them.  C2 showed me a few things about the max. performance take-offs, confined areas and off airport operations.  He also has a different way of doing the max. performance take-off; I like it better than the other way I was taught.

I made a max. performance take-off out over my planned departure path and we headed to Quincy.  I found Quincy and made a normal approach.  That was good because my first approach was a good one.  Sometimes when the first time I do a maneuver while flying it is bad, but when I do it again later in the flight it is good.  One of the things I have to do as I prepare for the check ride is to make the first maneuver a good one.  We headed for the slopes and I did them really poorly, I mean really poorly.  One of the mistakes I was making was looking at the ground close to where I was trying to land.  Noting that slopes still "need improvement", I held a hover while Jump1, the plane from the local skydiving school, took off and ascended with jumpers.  C2 wanted to look for more potential off airport locations and I needed to practice recovering from settling with power (AKA vortex ring state).

We took off and headed Northeast of the airfield looking for the field I had used once before to practice off airport landings.  I found the field but trees has been planted since I used it making it unusable for off airport operations.  Settling with power is a condition where the helicopter sinks into the vortices created by the main rotor.  These vortices disrupt the airflow causing a loss of lift, applying power to stop the descent makes it worse.  To recover from settling with power you must reduce power, which stops the vortices, and apply forward cyclic to move the helicopter away from the disturbed air.  After you gain some airspeed, you can add power to start climbing and finally leveling the helicopter returning to a normal flight profile.

The jumpers were still in the air as we traveled back to the airfield, so we continued out over the town of Quincy and climbed to 3000 feet.  It is common to introduce new concepts at higher altitudes so you have time to recover if things don't go as planned.  C2 discussed the points of a turning auto-rotation and what to watch out for and how to manage the rotor RPM.  Turning causes the rotor RPMs to increase, so to avoid an over speed, you have to raise the collective (which will decrease rotor RPM) before you turn.  I entered an auto-rotation, got into a glide and began to turn.  I controlled the RPMs the whole time!  Since we were well above the ground, at the point where you begin to flare for landing, I rolled the throttle back on and allowed the governor to take over.  After the engine and rotor RPMs had stabilized I added power and again headed towards the airfield.

The jumpers were on the ground and we practiced a few more things before heading back to Tallahassee.  I am getting better at all the maneuvers I need to be able to do.  I feel confident on the controls of the helicopter.

Leave a comment if there is something you want me to explain in more detail or if you have questions.  I got the mounts I needed for my GoPro camera so I will be able to add pictures and videos soon.

R48

Standards (as in Practical Test Standards)

On the 15th I made a flight with C2, we flew out to Quincy and went through most of the maneuvers that are part of the flying portion of the check ride.  This let me practice them and gave C2 an indication of what I needed to work on.  We practiced slopes again, I have always had trouble with them in the past; I did pretty good this time.  We did air taxi, quick stop, steep approach, maximum performance take off, normal approach, normal takeoff, pedal turns and auto-rotations.

The flight was brief and intense.  I did really well on most everything, noticed some improvements myself and C2 said he got a clear picture of what we needed to work on (this was only our third flight together).  The last auto I did was really good and I had the controls 100%.

As we headed back to Tallahassee we discussed a plan that would have me ready for the check ride.  We did some ground work and set goals for having a check ride in 4 weeks.  That happened to be the same week as my brother's wedding, so we made it 5 weeks for the check ride.

I am pretty excited for it to all happen, it is the start of a new phase of life for me.  I am glad that I have the support of my family and friends.

R48

Alone (as in Flying Alone)

Sunday (8 June 2014) I was back at the airport for a solo flight.  The helicopter was light on fuel and C2 wasn't able to be un-escorted airside (pending background check, etc.).  So we discussed how to get the fuel I needed to fly and get it done in the quickest way possible.  Time is money when the engine is running.  We decided it would be best to start up, fly to Quincy together, shutdown, and get fuel.  We would start up again, move away from the fuel pump, C2 would exit the helicopter and wait in the building while I flew patterns for an hour.  Practicing my approaches, landings, take offs, hovering, and pickup/set down.

Again for this flight C2, was going to let me do everything and only take the controls if needed.  We flew out of the Tallahassee Class C airspace and made our way to Quincy.  I can find it navigating by landmarks now, I often forget to program the GPS before I take off.  We landed and I maneuvered to the fuel pump.  For most of my training, I got really nervous when I have to operate really close to things that can damage the rotors.  Getting close to the trees or fuel pump always got me tense, this time, I decided I could put all that aside and do it myself!  My instructor told me where to park and I maneuvered to the spot and set us on the ground.  As I followed the shutdown checklist, C2 got out and began the fueling process.  

Getting fuel involves bonding the aircraft to the fuel pump.  It is often referred to as grounding, but technically you aren't grounding the helicopter.  The fuel moving through the hose can generate static electricity, if the static discharges near the fuel fill spout; it can start a fire.  Bonding to the fuel pump causes the pump and helicopter to share the static charge.  

After getting fuel and taking a bathroom break, I did the start up and hovered away from the fuel pump.  C2 gave me a few last minute pointers/reminders and with the throttle fully off, he exited the helicopter and I was alone.  After waiting for him to clear the area, I rolled the throttle back up to 80%, let the governor take over and waited for the RPMs to stabilize.  After a quick check of the instrument panel, I made a radio call announcing my movement from the fuel area to the active runway and slowly raised the collective.

I picked up really quick and began on a forward track half freaking out half trying to figure out why the controls seemed so strange.  The winds were calm but occasionally blowing from the South, so I was using runway 14.  I made a normal take off and then I remembered, 90% of the time there are two people in the helicopter.  When you take half the load out, in this case C2, it is really light and flies very different.  Then I remembered what I needed to do different to control the helicopter properly.

I flew traffic patterns for most of the hour, worked in some hovering practice and worked around the airfield with other aircraft as they flew around.  There weren't any skydivers but it was much earlier than when I normally flew on Sunday.  A few planes landed, got fuel and took off.  It was a pretty uneventful day at the airport.  After I had my hour of solo time, I taxied over to near the airport office and reduced the engine to idle.  C2 made his way out to the helicopter and after he had his seat belt buckled, I rolled the throttle back on and we made our way back to Tallahassee.

This hour of solo time was the list requirement I had not met to qualify for my private license.  After this all my flights will be working to improve my skills to meet the standards established by the FAA.  In about 4 weeks I will have my private pilot check-ride, then I start working on my instrument and commercial ratings.

R48

New (as in New Instructor)

I had already planned to do a two flights this weekend.  One Saturday with the instructor to practice maneuvers and one Sunday morning to fly the last hour of solo time I needed for my private license.  Saturday morning I get up and drive over to Tallahassee for a flight.  I also got to meet the new flight instructor.  I knew the school was getting a new instructor, but I didn't know it was going to happen so quickly.  After introductions, discussing where I am at in my training, and what I wanted to do for this flight, I did the pre-flight and we were taking off toward Quincy.

Charlie2 (Code name for my new instructor, hereafter shortened to C2) said he was going to observe and only intervene if he felt it was absolutely necessary, so he could feel OK with me flying solo the next day.  It's about 20 minutes by air from Tallahassee Regional to Quincy Municipal; I flew the whole way with out issue.  C2 noted several times that I was flying well and he didn't notice anything that would cause him concern in me flying solo.

We practiced some maneuvers that I felt I needed to practice, slopes and auto-rotations.  We were limiting the flight length because thunderstorms were forecast to begin and we wanted to be on the ground before they started.  I did really well at slopes and fully executed a straight in auto rotation 100% on my own.

Not everywhere you land will be a nice flat surface and helicopters have limits on how much of a slope they can safely land on.  Anytime the helicopter is on uneven ground a dynamic rollover is possible; this video shows one.  When landing on a slope the pilot is also working to avoid a tail strike, the maneuver has you analyze the landing area, pick a landing spot, safely hover to your spot, land the first skid on the ground while holding your heading and keeping the helicopter level, lowering the other skid to the ground, fully reducing power and making sure the helicopter is stable on the slope.  Then reversing the process to pick up off the slope and navigate away safely.  I don't think it would be so bad if there weren't trees so close to the few slopes available at the Quincy airport (if you look it up, there is a picnic table on the west side of the paved runway. It is in the area where I do slope practice.).

We moved on to auto-rotations or "autos".  In the event of an engine failure, the pilot quickly enters an auto-rotation; this allows the helicopter to "glide" back to the ground.  Auto-rotations are complex because you are using altitude to build energy in the rotor system so what when you get to the ground, you use that energy at the end to stop your decent and most forward speed to gently land.  You have to balance airspeed, rotor RPM and altitude so you have enough rotor RPM at the end to land safely.  When you practice auto-rotations, you also have to protect the aircraft from an over speed.  The rotor system has limits on what it can handle and if you exceed those limits it leads to very costly inspections and possibly having to replace components.  In a real emergency, the primary goal is get on the ground and live.  We did a few autos and on the last one I did it was good.  That was the first time I had executed the maneuver 100% with no control input or correction from the instructor.  It was pretty exciting for me.

I am very close to earning my private license and am working hard to make sure I know everything I need to know in both flight skills and regulation knowledge.

R48

Exam (as in FAA Knowledge Exam)

I scheduled to take the FAA written knowledge exam on Thursday.  Luckily there is an FAA testing center in town; otherwise I would have had to take a day of vacation and drive to Tallahassee to take the test.  I showed up at the testing center (a local vocational school) ready for my test only to find out the lady who usually administers the tests had a dental issue and wouldn't be in.  She was supposed to have left the test materials out for the tests, but the booklet I needed for my test was not left out.  The book was locked in a cabinet with some FCAT (state standardized testing) testing materials and state law dictates that those materials have very limited access.

The ladies who were filling in made an amazing effort to gain access to the cabinet but were unable to.  I left with the plan that I would come back at 4 pm to take the test.  They called around noon saying they would not be able to get the test materials that day but to call them to schedule a different time to take the test.  I decided I would take the test during my lunch break on Friday.

When I showed up Friday, they had everything I needed and after registering and paying for the test, I began.  I had been averaging around an hour whenever I would take an online practice test and scoring in the low to mid ninety's.  After an hour of answering questions, performing weight and balance calculations, and figuring out how long it would take to fly from one place to another, I completed the test and passed with an 83.  Now with the written exam completed I can focus 100% on the practical and oral exam that are part of what is commonly called a "check-ride".

R48

Update (as in This just in...)

Things have been quite busy the last several months.  Between a change of flight instructors and a helicopter crash (I was not involved) progress has been really slow. 

My original flight instructor had flown enough hours to get a job flying off shore to and from oil rigs.  Since the flight school only has one instructor, it took a bit to get a replacement.  That flight instructor left and it was a little bit longer to get a replacement. 

I started flying with the newest instructor and I am making good progress.  My maneuvers are getting better and are very close to check ride standards.  I am taking the FAA written exam this week and have been studying hard for it. 

The training helicopter crashed and it took almost 8 weeks to procure a replacement.  They have a smaller helicopter, but the instructor and I would not meet the weight and balance limits. 

I have decided that ultimately I want to be a Helicopter EMS (HEMS) pilot.  Flying people from accident sites to hospitals or patients from one hospital to another.  I will need a lot of hours to get a job like that, but I know that it will be worth it. 

I want to update this blog more regularly than I have in the past.  I also hope to get a GoPro camera to begin capturing video and images of my flights.  This weekend I have a solo flight to get the last of the PIC hours I need for my private license. 

I have been thinking of crowd sourcing the funds to pay for flight school.  Doing so will ensure that I (hopefully) have enough money to complete my flight training and can begin my path to flying HEMS.  Currently funds for flight training are tied to the degree I am working on in Aviation Management.  If I can't get enough money from the loans offered while attending school, I won't be able to finish flight school. 

R48

Life (as in Everything Else that Goes On)

I have not flown in a very long time.  The last time I went up I had a poor flight experience.  I hadn't flown in several months and my instructor wasn't very helpful while we were in the air.  I understand why an instructor doesn't help while in the air, so both he and the student can asses the skills of student and areas on improvement can be identified and worked on, but after more than 30 minutes of this I believe it is time to stop and not allow the student to have a negative experience.  The whole thing made me question if I was doing the right thing and if I should continue my flight lessons.

With all the complications and happenings that surround the birth of my third child and having to work a lot of weekends, I decided to put off flying until after the school semester started.  School would put the whole house into a routine and the family would be in a very structured rhythm.  This would create some normalcy and lead back to flying regularly.  School has started, the routine is in place and normalcy is coming back and as it appears the stars will align and everything be OK, the car breaks!

And not the 'Oh, it is broken and I can get what I need from the parts store and have it fixed by Monday".  It is the 'It may cost more than the car is worth to make it drive-able again' broke.  So after spending hours researching the problem and fixes on the internet, I am working on fixing it.  If all goes well, it should be fixed by this weekend.

I still need to take the FAA written exam, which I should be able to test locally, versus having to drive to Tallahassee to take the test.  I need to study for that but between the birth, school (for the children), college (for me), work, and the car breaking, I can say I haven't spent the time I had hoped to on it.

R48

Slow (as in Progress has been slow)

I haven't flown a lot in the past three months. This is partly because of the holidays, my work schedule, illness and school. I am nearing the completion of my private license and should get it before the end of March. I have to take 5 days of mandatory vacation from work, so during that time off I will be finishing my required hours and preparing for and taking the check ride.

I also need to take the FAA written exam but I have not been studying nearly as much as I should be for it. You need at least 80% to pass the written exam, but most things I have read and heard say you should have 90% or better.

I made a cross country flight and that went well. The next flight I have planned is a solo cross country flight to get the remaining solo time I need for my license. I think I would feel better about the check ride if I was flying on a regular basis, but my instructor says I have the skills needed to pass the check ride.

My most recent flight was at the beginning of January and it had been nearly three months since I had been flying before that. I flew with my instructor and stayed at the Tallahassee airport doing maneuvers. I flew really well for not flying in so long and after a few minutes the rust was gone and I was successfully performing most maneuvers. We practiced landing on slopes, which I have only done once before near the beginning of my flight training. It was kind of awkward at first but after some verbal review of what to do and a demonstration from my instructor, I was setting down and picking up from the slope.

One of the things I noticed during this flight was that while practicing auto-rotations, I didn't really freak-out when you lower the collective which causes the helicopter to descend towards the earth at over 1,500 feet per minute. I only really felt (slightly) panicked or unsure when it came time to stop the descent and begin the hover recovery. And since we were at the airport we were only about 500 feet AGL, so the auto-rotation from start to finish was about 25 seconds.

I tried to get a GPS track of my flight using my phone, but it kept loosing GPS signal and only recorded about 1/3 of the flight in bits and pieces. I am going to try a different GPS tracking app and place my phone in a different spot to see if I can get it to record better. If I can get a decent capture, I will share it.

R48

Cross Country (as in Fly over here and then over there)

I haven't been blogging much because I have been busy with school, work, life and everything else.  No matter how much time I try to spend relaxing it is not enough, I always seem behind on my school work and regular work wants me to work all the time.  

The cross country flight is near the end of your flight training and brings all the skills and knowledge learned into one long flight.  Radio communications, flight planning, dead reckoning, cockpit resource management are just a few of the things needed to complete the flight.  

My most recent flight was my first cross country flight.  Cross country flying is technically when you fly more than 25 Nautical Miles (straight line) distance to another airport.  We had 6 airports on the plan to visit before returning to KTLH.  We made it to 4 of them before my instructor directed us back home.  The flight was very taxing.  I wasn't allowed to use the GPS and had to fly based on a heading and time I calculated before the flight and get to the next check point and have a good idea when looking at the aeronautical chart where I was.  I had a hard time maintaining my airspeed and heading, which changed the times I calculated, which got me "lost" a couple of times.  

We departed KTLH for Quincy (2J9) and then headed to Bainbridge, GA (KBGE).  I ended up about 10 miles west of the airport because of my piloting failures listed above.  After climbing, looking for and finding the airport, I flew a traffic pattern and headed on the next airport.  Doesn't sounds so bad, remember that while all this is going on my flight instructor is doing his best to frustrate and stress me out.  He did a good job, I was pretty stressed but I know that when I am flying cross country by myself, he won't be there to give advice or tell me what I am doing wrong.  As we traveled by my poor dead reckoning skills (using landmarks to identify where you are and where you are supposed to be), I missed the airports by several miles each time.  Since I wasn't doing very well, my instructor had me plot a course back to KTLH.  We flew the 35 miles back discussing what I needed to improve on and what I should be checking when I fly by myself.  

I was pretty upset with how poorly I flew, until I was filling out my log book and realized that the last time I flew was on the 30th of September.  I felt a little better about the flight but not really.  I discussed the next steps with my instructor about when I should be ready for my check ride.  I wanted to use the time between the two school semesters over Christmas to have my check ride, but that would require flying twice a week and I don't quite have that ability.  We discussed where I am at, what I need to work on and set a goal of 30 January 2013 for me to have my check ride completed.  So shortly after the New Year I will have my private pilot license (rotorcraft) and will start working on my commercial license and instrument rating.  

My next flight will be another dual cross country with my instructor with a shorter route so that I will have the required hours and then I will be making solo cross country flights until I have the 10 solo hours required for my license.  

One part of the flight that was interesting was flying between three broadcast antennas about 30 miles north east of Tallahassee.  I was flying at 1000 feet and they still appeared very tall to me.  The towers are about 2000 feet tall, I tried to find a good picture of them, but I couldn't.  I am still saving to get a camera similar to the GoPro Hero camera.  Something I can position and have it take pictures or video while I fly so I can share some of the images.  

R48

Update (as in, In Other News, a Helicopter Crashes into a Lake. Details at 11.)

As some of you know I have been waiting for the flight school to get a replacement helicopter to replace the one that was crashed during the early morning hours of July 4th.  The replacement arrived about a week ago and I have been able to fly again.  I started school this week and have not had much free time.

A lot has been going on the past three weeks between semesters.  I thought I was going to get a nice break to relax, but it didn't happen.  I will post about my most recent flight in a few days (hopefully before I fly again this Sunday).  After I get school lined out so I do not miss any assignments I will write up last week's flight.

I have a full course load this semester; the classes don't appear to be too hard or challenging.  The real challenge is remembering and recalling all the new information I need for the tests and such.  I am also studying for the written portion of the private pilot exam.  It is important to score well on this test because the (check-ride) examiner judges you on your score, I am told the higher the score, the nicer the examiner is.  It may also help me get a job in the future.

R48

Solo #2 (as in More flying around alone and WTF is that parachute doing crossing the runway?!)

01 July 2012 - (Sorry this is so late in being posted, the last two weeks have been non-stop busy!)

This trip was basically a repeat of the previous one.  Departed KTLH with my instructor and we reviewed the basic maneuvers and procedures.  We identified some areas I needed to improve on while I was flying solo.  After a stop for fuel and water, I took control of the helicopter and brought it in the air.  We added almost 300 pounds of fuel when we filled up and with out the weight of my instructor to help balance the craft, the initial pick up was a bit awkward.  Any aft (rear) movement of the controls made it feel like I was headed for a tail strike.  This led me to have a slight forward movement 90% of the time while hovering.  I spent some amount of time trying to figure out what the correct movements were to stop this motion and managed to do so some of the time.

After flying the pattern for 25 or so minutes, I maneuvered to the Southwest side of the runway and practiced hovering, left pedal turns, moving forward at a slow pace and stopping and hovering some more.  I flew some more patterns, this time with an airplane in the pattern with me.  This pilot was either keeping current his ability to carry passengers or was a student pilot practicing take offs and landings.  I didn't avoid other air traffic this time like I did last time; we flew the pattern, making our landings and take offs, me in front of him.

As you might recall, Quincy has a jump school located at the airport.  Some days I fly they have people parachuting the whole time I am out there and others no one is falling out of the sky.  Today was a busy day. Before my instructor exited the helicopter, there was about 8 jumpers (we flew together for about 45 minutes) and after I started flying solo, they had back to back to back jumpers.  Jump 1 would land, load up and be taxiing to the runway before I even completed my one pattern.  Some were jumping at 5500 feet, others 8500.  The rules are that the parachutes are not supposed to cross the concrete runway, they jump over the northern side of the airport and they are supposed to stay on that side.

So I am flying the pattern 500 feet above the ground, hear call the jumpers are out.  It takes about 2 minutes from that call until you see the parachutes opening.  I am in the downwind leg of the pattern and I see the chutes open.  I begin my descent and turn base keeping an eye on the chutes, I make the call for my turn to final and over the runway above me is a parachute!  My first reaction was call off my approach and fly away for a few minutes and give them time to land, then re-enter the pattern and do my thing.  So I am descending about 60 seconds from being on the ground and the parachutes turns towards his side of the runway, so I slow a bit (not too slow or I enter the dead man curve) and wait for him to clear the runway.  I am flying as slow as I could stand, getting closer than I want to be to a parachute that is in the wrong spot, while descending over trees.  The plane behind me calls a right 360 to give me some extra time.  This jumper is slowly descending over the runway, so I call a right turn out because of the parachute and begin to climb and turn right making a wide circle to line up for a straight in final.  The jumpers just touched down and I land and moved to the North side of the runway to practice pick ups and set downs (they were easier now that I burned off about 80 pounds of fuel).  After I made a handful of good set downs and pick ups I saw my instructor walking over from the FBO.  So I flew towards him and set down, he climbed in and we flew back to KTLH and did an auto rotation down from 1000 feet as we made our way to the North Ramp.

The next flight will be me taking off from KTLH alone, flying to Quincy, doing more traffic patterns to perfect my take offs, landings and ground maneuvers.

Well the "next flight" would have been two weeks ago but a renter crashed the helicopter into a private lake while working on night flying requirements.  The helicopter is totaled and I am waiting for the school to get a replacement.  Some news stories can be found here.

R48

Solo (as in Flying with out anyone else in the aircraft!)

23 June 2012

Today I made my first solo flight!  That's right, no one but me in the helicopter!  Before today, a tropical wave developed in the Gulf of Mexico and started bringing rain and wind to the area.  With 30% chance of rain in the forecast I drove to KTLH because there was a 70% chance of sun shine.  The rain chance increased to 60% starting around 4 PM Eastern, so I knew I had to be done before then.  Looking at the radar when I arrived I knew President Bush's "weather machine" was active; rain every where except Panama City and Tallahassee!  I could see I had just a few hours worth of flying weather before the bands of rain would over power the "weather machine" and I would be grounded.

Today's session started out with some paper work and getting endorsements in my log book, then pre-flight and run up.  The first time you solo, they want the winds to be below 4 knots.  The wind was blowing about 7 knots at KTLH and 3 in Quincy.  After getting takeoff clearance, my flight instructor and I took off towards Quincy to review the basic flight maneuvers and to be sure I was ready to take the $800 thousand helicopter out on my own without any issues.  As we were lifting off, it started to rain slightly, making it difficult to see until we reached 50 knots and the water was driven from the windshield.  Once we cleared the airport's perimeter the rain had stopped.  I forgot to program the GPS, so I tried to fly by land mark to Quincy but the low clouds and mist made it difficult.  I dialed up 2J9 on the GPS and headed the correct way (I wasn't too far off while guessing where to go).  We flew threw another brief shower just before we arrived in Quincy and after that rain cell, it was sunny, but windy.

We flew the basic maneuvers, normal approach, normal landing, hovering and normal take off.  The wind was around 10 knots with gusts as high as 14.  There was the rain cell close by and it looked like it was headed towards the airport.  My first solo flight might not happen today.  I kept practicing the basic maneuvers, while my flight instructor used his smart phone to view the latest Doppler images of the area.  The cell was moving away from the airport, all I needed now was for the wind speed to decrease.  I landed and while hovering, I was tasked with moving over into the grass area to practice pick ups and set downs.  I would set down, wait a few seconds, then pick up and hover maintaining position, move forward a bit and set down again.  Did that for about 15 minutes, then was tasked with hovering in position with a cross wind.  I did OK although I kept maneuvering the nose into the wind.

At some point there was a strong gust that sent the helicopter, well not out of control, but not under control very well.  I don't know what happened but my body went from average/normal to freak out!  So I am trying to bring the helicopter back to a stabilized hover while not crashing or damaging anything (my flight instructor didn't even move close to the controls, so that should have tipped me off that it was not as bad as I felt it was).  I manage to bring the helicopter from kinda controlled to mostly controlled and attempted to pass the controls to my flight instructor so I could relax and get my brain dialed back (if I think too much about flying, I fly really poorly.  When I just fly and don't think about what needs to happen, flights are smooth and calm). Of course he refused to take the controls, citing the fact that he wouldn't be there to pass the controls off to when I was flying solo.  So I kept fighting with the controls while working to calm down and (somehow) managed a mostly stable hover.  I set down, turned the control frictions on and settled down.  I was ready to fly back to KTLH and solo another day.

About 10 seconds after setting down I was normal again.  No idea what caused all that or why it went away so quick.  So I picked us up again and was maintaining a steady hover and making 90 degree pedal turns when we did something new.  My flight instructor would take the controls and start the helicopter in an abnormal movement, then pass the controls to me and it was my job to recover into a stable hover.  We did this about 5 times and I was able to recover each time.  I guess he thought my freak out was about me feeling I could not control the helicopter or something.  I knew I could fly the helicopter, I don't know why my body freaked out.

We flew a few more patterns and the wind finally calmed down to 4 knots with gusts up to 10 knots.  I was asked if I cared about the gusts and I said no.  I have flown several times in 10 knot winds with gusts as high as 20.  I knew what to expect and mostly how to handle extra wind.  So we landed and hovered over near the airport office, set down and brought the engine near idle.  It was time!  My instructor got out, let me know the helicopter will perform quite different with out his additional weight and that I would not need so much power when maneuvering.

After taking a minute to relax, open the door for some air flow and let my instructor get fully away from the helicopter.  I increased throttle to above 80% and let the governor take over bringing the rotors to operating speed.  After the blades had stabilized, I began to lift the collective, increase left pedal and move the cyclic slightly to the left.  I kept raising the collective until I could feel the helicopter was light on the skids.  Making sure all the forces from the increased power were neutralized with control inputs by me, I lifted the collective a little bit more and the right skid lifted off the ground, quickly moving the cyclic to the right and bringing the left skid level I was in my first solo hover!  I took a look around to see if anything was near by I needed to avoid, self announce on the radio I was taxiing to the runway and then called I was taking off on the grass runway 14.

Basically everything my instructor has taught me was playing in my head as I moved the cyclic forward, gained speed, pushed the cyclic forward some more when the helicopter wanted to climb to stay about 5-8 feet above the ground and when things felt right (about 40 knots) I eased the cyclic back and started to climb.  Every time the helicopter wanted to go faster I held it back at 60 knots to keep climbing, clearing the power lines and trees flying out and turning right when about parallel with the tanks at the waste water plant.

Here is a picture of the take off path for RWY 14.

Maintaining 60 knots and continuing to climb to 700 feet MSL I turn right just past the waste water facility flying a slightly larger pattern than normal so I would have plenty of time to get setup for landing (also the wind was pushing me towards the runway).  Announced my turn to the downwind leg of the pattern.  Stopped climbing so I was at 700 Feet MSL and flying 60 knots, ready to begin landing.  The part of landing I need to improve on is maintaining my descent through the base and final legs of the pattern.  I started my descent just before I turned base and announced my position.  Descending at around 500 feet per minute (FPM), I turned and managed to keep descending and maintain the 60 knots for the landing profile.  Announced my turn to final and kept descending watching the power lines get closer and closer, I cheated a little and slowed my descent from 500 FPM to 100 FPM until I was past the power lines.  Clear of the power lines and the barn I began to slow down to 40 knots and maintain that until I was close to the ground.  As the ground gets closer I start raising the collective (pulling/adding power) which slows me down even more, slowing adding power until I am hovering just past my spot and enter a stabilized hover (another area I need improvement on).  Hovering for about a minute and then call that I am taking off.  From here on out, my solo flight pretty much repeats.  Take off, fly the pattern, land, hover, take off, fly the pattern, land, hover, etc.

The Approach path for RWY 14.

There was other air traffic and some jumpers mixed in.  I did what I could to avoid all that I could.  I had one plane get into the pattern behind me, so I felt a little rushed to land and clear the runway.  I used the time to take a break and practice pick ups and set downs so the other pilots could get to where they wanted go with out delay and to avoid flying near the open parachutes (they are not supposed to cross the concrete runway but I avoided them entirely.  Don't want to be on the news as the student helicopter pilot who chopped up some enthusiasts just out to have some fun).

After an hour of flying around I saw my instructor walking towards the field so I landed, set down and idled the engine so he could climb in.  After a short break for some cooler air, I returned the blades to operating speed, picked us up into a hover, called the take off and flew back to KTLH.  I had some trouble understanding what was wanted while talking to approach, but I figured it out and we landed at the North ramp and shut down.  We discussed what I did good at and where I could approve.  Next week another flight like this one.  In two weeks, I will leave from KTLH alone, fly for about 2 hours and return to KTLH.  I will probably just fly to Quincy and do more flights in the patterns.

R48