Triangle of Stress (a.k.a. Triangle of Death)

Flight #: 049
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N2356T
Duration: 1.3hrs
Cumulative Time: 55.2hrs


WOAH, this was intense. The triangle of death consists of a cross country (XC) flight to three other airports. Portland-Mulino(4S6), Aurora State(KUAO), McMinnville (KMMV), and then back to Portland-Hillsboro (KHIO).

Round trip of about 70 nautical miles. The truth is, that is really not all that far, and when you are cooking along at 80 knots, things fly by pretty fast.

So, before you even start a XC flight, you need to prepare a flight plan. There is a standard form, and as you can see, it is filled with gobs of information. The one posted here is just the template I use, as it will change depending on wind conditions. But, this gives you a good idea of what is needed.

In flight, you actually fold it and store it in your kneeboard. This way you only look at the details you need to see in flight. Which is mainly the checkpoints, the heading, segment time, altitudes, and communication frequencies.

Once you get this form filled out, you call 1-800-WX-BRIEF, which will connect you with your Flight Service Station. It is a service operated by Lockheed Martin that maintains information, weather data, and other details for a given flight. It is not Air Traffic Control, but a service to give you weather details on your flight plan and to maintain a track of where you should be, and where you might be if something goes wrong. Safety service, really.

So, you call FSS and for our area, they will connect you with McMinneville FSS. You ask for a briefer and then give them details about your flight. They will verify your data; checking to make sure you have the fuel to make it, look into weather along the path of flight, etc. They will also let you know of any special reports that you might be concerned with.

Once you complete this, you can consider your flight plan filed.

Then, it is off to the helicopter. You pre-flight and run-up as normal. Rather than requesting a pattern, you request a departure. In this case we're heading SE, so in this case, I requested a East departure to take off into the wind.

Climb out as usual, and check my first compass heading, and start my timer. As we transition out of KHIO airspace, we call up our buddies at McMinneville FSS to let them know we want to open our flight plan. It goes something like this:

Kristie: "McMinneville radio, this is 2356-Tango on 122.45."
FSS: "2356-Tango, McMinneville radio, say full call-sign."
K: "November-2356-Tango."
FSS: "Afternoon, 2356-Tango, What can we do for you today?"
K: "I'd like to open my flightplan."
FSS: "2356-Tango, what is your departure airport?"
K: "Hotel-India-Oscar."
FSS: "OK, got you here. What was your departure time?"
K: "Approximately 5 minutes ago."
FSS: "OK, so departure at 2122 zulu, confirm?"
K: "Correct."
FSS: "2356-Tango, your flight plan is now open. We do request pilot reports on FlightWatch at 122.0 if you have them. Please make sure to close your flight plan upon landing. Have a nice flight."
K: "Thanks. 2356-Tango".

As this point, they know where we are, where we are headed, how much fuel have, and when we are expected back.

Then the fun begins. It is all about communicating when flying. Make sure everyone knows where you are, and you know where everyone else is. Rather than explain every little detail; look at the first image above. I'm flying the triangle, clockwise. Every time I'm 10, 5, 3, 2, 1 nm from an airport (the blue or magenta circles, with or without the handles) I'm talking. I'm also checking weather for each of the airports I intend on landing. Basically, constantly. When you get to an airport, you need to let everyone know your plans. Where are you coming from? What altitude are you at right now? Ascending, descending? What direction are you traveling in? What are your plans? Landing, approach, etc, etc. Lots of communication.

Keep in mind, I'm hauling ass too... not time to dilly dally and check out the scenery. I'm checking speed, altitude, traffic around me. Am I over my checkpoints? How's the fuel?

Anyway, there is a lot of stuff going on here. Granted, I'm stuffing a lot of action into a small 70 nm flight here... but the point is that this is supposed to be intense. It is supposed to give you a bit of stomach acid so that you know how to deal with stuff when it comes up for real.

Anyway, we got back, landed, and closed the flight plan.

It was really cool, but really stressful.

I got to be honest, I was feeling pretty big after all my solos the past week. Big man, flying a helicopter. Now, I've got my ass out of the baby pool and into the deep sea.

So much for the feeling of superiority. This is intense!




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