HIO-4S9-HIO

Flight #: 080 [Commercial VFR61]
CFI: Kristie E.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N2356T
As PIC: 1.5hrs
Cumulative Time: 95.9hrs

Now that I'm finished with Private Pilot certification, I've learned the basics. Know the rules, and how to stay in them safely. Commercial is all about stretching those rules to the actual limits of the helicopter, the real-world situations, so as to operate safely.

By that, I mean, since a helicopter can operate at 1500ft and have 0 airspeed... I should know how to deal with an emergency in those conditions. I should know, as I do, that I really don't want to operate there, but sometimes I may have to.

Also, there may be conditions, weather or airport closures for example, where I can't get to where I want to... and need to make a diversion.

That is what today was all about.

I had a flight plan for us to fly to Vernonia, OR (05s), made famous by the new show on History Channel - Ax Men. So, at lift off, Kristie decided to divert me with a South departure... and not my planned North departure.

At pattern altitude I got a request from the tower to check out some cloud bases to the south... so we did that for them. After that, she diverted me to Mulino airport. I'd been there before, but after the could base check, I was about 5 miles south of where I had been in the past, so it was a bit of a new path for me.

Anyway, found it without too much trouble. Once we got there, the fun began. We started the zero airspeed auto-rotation training. Think hovering at 1500ft, still... and cutting the engine. WOA! We did not start that today, but we're on the way. Kristie asked me to set up for 1300ft @ 40knots. 600ft higher and 30knots slower than a normal autorotation setup.

The key here is, you are looking for good rotor RPM to land safely. You get that by converting airspeed or altitude to upward thrust on the main rotor. In this case, we have less airspeed than we need, but more altitude. So, what do you do? You nose dive... get some speed, pull out gradually and wind up those main rotor RPMs. Which is exactly what I did.

True is, this was not such a stretch for me... as I'm known for being slow in my autos as it is... so I already know that nosing down gives me airspeed, but reduces the thrust on the main rotor... so I have to correct things on the way down.

Was a cool excercise, and I'm looking forward to doing 0 airspeed ones eventually. Althought, that has to be a little funny feeling when you kill the throttle.

One thing which I forgot to mention is Flight Following. Kristie showed it to me the other day. Think of it as your own personal radar operator telling you where to go. How do you do it? You call up Portland-International, ask them for "VFR Flight Following" to an airport, and they operator will tell you which way to go. They ask you to set your transponder to a particular number, "Helcopter 2356T, sqwak 4096, and Ident.". That way you will appear as an identified dot on his radar. He'll be there watching you all the way. Every so often he will come on the radio and tell you "Airport is 12miles out, at 1 O'Clock. Do you have the airport in sight." Once you have the airport in sight, you let them know, and they let you go.

Cool stuff today. No flights for a few days... holiday coming up.