Squawk, trend, trend

While today was probably the least fulfilling flight-wise, it was interesting none the less.

I was lucky enough to get two flight slots today, and even got two patterns to top it all off.

During the run up procedures before a flight, there is a safety check for the altimeter. The reason this check is in place is that you need to accurately know your altitude throughout the flight. The field altitude of airports is generally known, but since helicopters can land almost anywhere, you can't always know how high above ground level (AGL) or above mean sea level (MSL) you actually are.

The test consists of adjusting the Kollsman knob to calibrate the device to actual air pressure, right now, and then read the altitude. In our case, the altimeter read approximately 100ft. HIO is 208ft MSL. The test just showed us that when set to the actual outside air pressure the helicopter sitting at 208ft thinks it is at 100ft. Thats pretty bad. The limit for mis-calibrated altimeter is 75ft.

Now, when our altimeter is calibrated to have less than 75ft error, we then re-calibrate it to actual field elevation... since we know that for a fact and choose to trust that more. When it is more than 100ft, well, we just don't know what is wrong. Question is... do we need our altimeter? Is is required equipment for VFR Day Flights?

Glad you asked. Yes. Like in every field, there are mnemonics and acronyms to help you remember required lists. In this case, the mneumonic for VFR Day Required Equipment is: CAMALSFOOT.

• C: Compas
• A: Altimeter
• M: Manifold Pressure Gauge
• A: Airspeed Indicator
• L: Lights, for night
• S: Safety Belt
• F: Fuel Gauge
• O: Oil Pressure
• O: Oil Temperature
• T: Tachometer

Altimeter is in that list... so if it's not working... we're not flying... and we squawked it.


Later on in the day we had another flight. During the pre-fight check I came to the clutch actuator. This is the component that tightens the V-Belt that transfers engine power to the rotors. This one was leaking grease, not just a little, but significantly. Now, there is no rule or acronym here... just common sense. If your clutch bearing is leaking grease... don't fly it.

Trend it.

Just to be a good citizen I finished out the pre-flight check... plus it had been a while since I completed one and I wanted to keep on my game. I also found that he white position light on the tail was burned out.

Trend it.


At this point, it was too late to transfer to another helicopter. So, I headed home.