Flight #: 032
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N8361N
Duration: 1.1hrs
Cumulative Time: 35.3hrs
Another good flight. Getting prepared for my Stage 1 Check Ride. This pretty much means doing everything over and over and over until I get it perfect. I've been doing pretty well on the hover autorotations recently. Which feels pretty good. My normal autos have not been so smooth, though. Mainly due to my lack of proper setup. Practice Practice...
1 comment:
You are correct, Chris, that the setup for an auto is really the key to everything. You have to stay ahead of the helicopter!
I look at setup and execution as a series of steps. If you practice them enough, they become automatic.
1. Before entry, make life easy for yourself by being at the right altitude and airspeed (I'd suggest 70-75 KIAS in an R22).
2. Start an audible countdown before entry so nobody gets surprised. I did my primary training with an ex-Army pilot who used a countdown (3-2-1-entry).
3. Lower the collective. But befoe you do, think through what's going to happen: you'll need to smoothly add right pedal as you lower collective (to keep the ship straight), and the nose is going to sink, so you'll need some aft cyclic.
4. At this point, you should be close to 65 KIAS and straight. If you're not, abort and try again later.
5. Roll off the throttle to whatever you're taught to use -- I wouldn't chop the throttle all the way, just take it down to ground idle, like maybe 70%. Now since you (and I) are big, the rotor system is going to try to overspeed, so you're going to need a little collective to keep that from happending.
6. At this point you should be at or a little below 100% RRPM and at 60-65 KIAS. If you're not, a power on recovery and go around is probably best.
7. Nail your RRPM and AS, and just ride that sucker down. Find your landing spot and go for it. (There's all sort of tricks to use to avoid overshooting or undershooting, but they're best left out until you have a couple of hundred hours under your belt).
8. Remember, you can always trade off AS for RRPM by either turning or aft cyclic -- both will raise RRPM.
9. If you're still within parameters, start your flare at whatever altitude you've been taught. Unless you are doing a full down, you should roll the throttle back up during the flare and let the governor take over.
10. Cyclic back forward and collective up to cushion landing.
Piece of cake!
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