Charlie Pattern @ 5:55a

Flight #: 012
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N7526S
Duration: 1.5hrs
Cumulative Time: 12.2hrs

I learned my lesson... without a pattern I'm just touring - no time to learn anything. So I took that to heart and was out of bed at 5:30am to get to the door in time to get a pattern. Turns out, I was ahead of the game by about 20 minutes since I was standing in front of a locked door in the cold for 15 minutes before the next student arrived to get in line. Oh well, que sera. And I got myself Charlie pattern so it was all good. Plus when you are anxious to get out there 5:30a is tough, but completely worth it. As my buddy Tim said... "I can get up at 3am if I'm fishing. I even whistle on the way to the shower." 100% agree.

We spent time today focusing on hovering. I really think I've got it down. No more death grip, no wild wobbling or pendular action. Low wind does not seem to be a problem either. Gust... well, I'm 10 feet away from my point in about 5 seconds... but I'll work on that.

After that, Kristie had me run "laps". Well, not really, but they consisted of:

• pick-up
• hover
• hover taxi (3 feet off ground @ a walking pace) or air taxi (20 feet @ 40knots)
• quick-stop
• hover
• set-down

A lot to think about, and there is not much time between each action... so I felt a little rushed. Practice makes perfect, thought, and I could tell I was getting better on the pick-up / set-down legs each time.

Hover taxi and air taxi are a b!tc# though. I know exactly why... I feel funny pushing my face into the ground at 40 knots. Once you start moving you 'float' on a cushion of air at about 3-5 AGL before you lift up. It just feels wrong. I keep feeling like I'm going to snag a skid on the runway and end up with a mouthful of tarmac. Practice, practice, practice.

Quick-stop is, as explained before, a fast stop into hover. You slow yourself by "leaning back" and flaring the helicopter so that your horizontal thrust vector is providing backwards force... slowing you down. Problem is that this also means you are pitched up and will gain altitude if you don't lower collective. My first 5 attempts ended up having me balloon up to well above 50 feet or sinking like a rock to the point where Kristie had to keep us from planting ourself in the taxiway. (Not really, but I was sinking pretty fast.)

One thing I'm noticing is that helicopter piloting is about 10% instrument reading and 90% feel. The less I look at the instruments for information the better off I am. You just have to feel your speed, altitude and attitude. Things happen so fast that you don't have much time to verify them by reading the gauges. "Hmmm... it feels like I'm descending too fast... let me check the vertical speed indicator (VSI)". Nope, does not work like that. By the time my eyes are inside I'm already sinking and have to over correct on the collective.