Flight #: 121 Commercial VFR61
CFI: Kristie E.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N856HA
Duration, as PIC: 3.1hrs
Cumulative Time: 152.9hrs
Knocked out another night cross country flight. This time, we went North into Washington. The interesting stuff on this flight was that neither Kristie or I had been this far North before... neither day nor night. So, it was fun for us both.
Since for night flights you stick to lighted areas, we fly over I5. That takes us right into PDX airspace... and actually right across the approach path for PDX's runways. This is not a problem... since you are on with PDX Tower at all times, but it does make for some interesting situations.
Me: "Portland Approach, Helicopter 856HA, one-thousand-five-hundred feet, 11 South-West with request."
PDX: "Helicopter 856HA, Portland Approach, go ahead."
ME: "Request transition through the airspace to the north, via I5"
PDX: "Squawk 0124 and Ident"
ME: "Squawk 0124 and Ident, 856HA"
PDX: "Radar contact, 6HA, maintain 1500ft, remain on or west of I5, Transition Approved"
ME: "Remain west of I5, maintain 1500ft, transition approved, 6HA"
So, we keep putting along at a slow, but adequate pace of about 75kias to the north, and we see that we're coming to the approach path for PDX's active runway. Not a problem, PDX tower is aware of us, and knows what we want... but it is still funny looking out the right window and seeing the airport... then out the left at a line of jets lining up for a landing.
PDX: "Helicopter 856HA, I've got some jets coming in, I may need to vector you for spacing."
ME: "Roger, 6HA"
...puttering along...
PDX: "Helicopter 856HA, 30º to your left, I'm going to bring this jet in."
ME: "30º left, 6HA"
Now, at this point, we are about 5 miles from the jet... but headed directly towards them. They are crossing our path, left to right... quite a bit faster than we are. The is no chance for collision, but is does feel weird. He is descenting as well, so the controller is just giving the jet more time to descend, before sending us behind him.
PDX: "Helicopter 856HA, 20º to your right, pass behind the jet landing 10R, climb and maintain 3000ft. Caution for wake turbulence."
ME: "20º right, behind the jet, climbing to 3000ft. Cution for wake turbulence. 6HA"
OK, so as you might imagine the wake of a landing jet is quite intense... in any aircraft, let alone a tiny little R22. Wake turbulence always falls and is behind an aircraft. SO, if you cross their path above and in front of their line of travel, you will be fine. Only problem is that an R22 does not climb so fast. I start a 1000ftp climb, and make it to 3000ft well before any point of concern, but what ends up happening is that we are about 1500ft above the jet while it lands. Directly above. Got to tell you, that was pretty interesting to see.
Rest of the flight was pretty uneventful. Easy to follow the road all the way up to Chehalis, where we refueled. Turned around and headed back home the same route.
All in all, pretty good night.
Now that I have the north and south run down, I'll pick and choose which one to do for my upcoming 5hrs of night solos. Actually, I'm going to try to knock those guys out pretty quickly as the days are getting longer and I'd rather not be leaving for my night flight at 9pm.
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Flight #: 081 [Commercial VFR61]
CFI: Kristie E.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N8361N
Duration, PIC: 1.7hrs
Cumulative Time: 97.6hrs
Today was a totally new experience for me I got to:- fly in 12 knot wind
- talk to Portland Approach and Portland Tower
- get made fun of by Portland Approach
- fly into PDX (Portland International Airport), a Class C airspace - WAY cool
All in all, good day.
Started out with wind. So far in my training I have been avoiding, correctly, higher winds. Mainly because there is no reason to make your life tough when flying if you don't need to. But, as with anything, you need to stretch a little to build muscle. And there really is not anything better than wind for a stretch.
There are 5 things that really effect a helicopter's performance. High, Hot, Heavy, Humid and Wind. I'm heavy, so when flying with Kristy we always have this as an issue. We generally don't fly into high altitudes, so this is not a big one. Hot is a big deal in the summer... today was 90º. Humid... its Oregon... so yes. But, not in the summer. The other one, Wind. Today was 12knots... significant in a little helicopter like the R22.
Anyway, this just meant that I had to be on my game with the pedals today... expect the unexpected.
The departure was fine, albeit a little bumpy. I had a heavy right cross wind on pickup, so it was a little messy. Once I got things under control, we headed north for our leg to Happy Valley. I decided to use VFR flight following again, as it is nice to have someone else looking out for you. I called it in, and we were on our way.
Now, this airport is a private airport, and is not to be used for landing, but we can use it as a fly-over destination. Problem is, this little sucker looks like a road between two houses on the side of a mountain. Took me forever to find it. I kept doing circles looking for it. I was focusing on the valley floor, but there really was no point in doing that because it WAS ON THE SIDE OF A MOUNTAIN. Who would put an airport on the side of a mountain? Geez!
Anyway, after my 5th circle over the general area, Portland Approach (VFR Flight Following) 
came on the radio. The conversation went like this:
Portland Approach: "November, 956, Siera, Hotel, how do you read?"
Me: "Loud and clear, go ahead."
PA: "How long do you plan to go around in circles up there?"
Me: "Uh, I suppose a little longer. Still looking for Happy Valley Airport"
(Kristy is cracking up, sitting in the passenger seat.)
PA: "Well, would you like a little help in locating the airport?"
Me: "Sure, that would be great, thanks."
PA: "It is at your 9 O'clock, almost directly below you."
Me: "Thanks. Will report in sight."
PA: "I'll be here."
(5 seconds later)
Me: "Happy Valley in sight. Apparently it was hiding from me."
I know they are there to help me... but I was embarrassed. Fact is, this is one hell of a hard airport to find. It is in the middle of the trees... has two HUGE houses on either end... and on the side of a mountain. It even looks like the airport can be used as a road to get to the houses down the hill a bit.
Now I know.
Anyway, once I found it, I requested a transition through PDX airspace to Pierson airport. Pierson is unique in that it is an untowered class Delta airspace, nestled in to a class Charlie airspace.
This means that you need to talk to Portland Tower to get in/out of Pierson.
The Portland Approach operator had me transfer to Portland Tower. I changed frequencies, and asked for the clearance. They granted it, and asked me to head directly from Happy Valley to the downtown Convention Center, then head north and cross over the PDX runways at the tower at 1500 feet. I've got to say, it is incredibly cool to fly over a big airport like this and watch jets landing and taking off at the same time. Generally you don't get to see a jet land when you are directly above.
After watching a few planes, we crossed the river into Washington state, and headed west towards Pierson. Wind was blowing HARD from the west, and I came in for a landing. We pulled off onto the hoverpads and Kristie had me do a few 90º pedal turns in 12knot wind. Tricky, but I pulled them off pretty nicely. Certainly not my best work, but I've never been in 10 knot wind before. So, I felt pretty good.
We headed out, and talked to Portland Tower, once again, to get approval for a west departure. If you look at the map above, you will see that the Pierson airspace "opens" to the North West. If we head out that way, there is no need to cross in to PDX Airspace... and they appreciate that.
Once out of the airspace, we headed west back to HAI.
Landing was, again, pretty hairy in that wind (now 15, gusting 20), but it was good practice.
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Flight #: 002
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N8361N
Duration: 0.7hrs
Cumulative Time: 0.7hrs
Absolutely incredible. Today's flight was from HIO to Portland's downtown public heliport.
Click and drag the map to explore more of the flight.
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This was one of the most incredible things I have done in my life so far. Feelings were all over the map. I was pumped full of adrenaline both from excitement and also from fear - just being honest here. It is not often that you are 1500 ft in the air zipping through radio/HDTV towers at 70 nmph towards a city.
You can see a rough estimate of the flight path above, but we essentially left HIO, northbound, and followed route 26 east to downtown Portland. I would say that I actually controlled the cyclic for about 90% of the distance on Rt. 26. Kristie had both the anti-torque pedals and the collective at this point. She actually made the approach into downtown and flew a northerly course along the river. If you look at this leg in the map above, you will see a private helipad on the left. You need special permission to even make an approach at this pad, so we just zipped on by. About a mile further north we saw the public heliport on our left, and did a slow flyby to check the wind socks for wind direction. Conveniently there was no wind. She continued north with a large, lazy counter clockwise loop around Portland's Union Station. We lined up for an approach to the heliport and started to descend. The landing was soft and direct and we just sat for a few minutes to check weather.
After some instrument checks, we powered up and lifted off. This heliport is actually on top of a downtown parking garage. I'm sure we've even parked there before (right near the Portland Saturday Market) but never knew. Seems that the rule is, if you get out of the helicopter or power down, you need to pay a landing fee. A touch-and-go, like this, is free since there is no point doing it unless you are training. After we got to about 500 ft, Kristie gave me both the cyclic and the collective control. As one might expect, there is a protocol for doing a control hand-off:
Kristie: "You have the cyclic and the collective."
Kristie is in full control. I've got my hands on the controls loosely so at to feel her adjustments.
Chris: "I have the cyclic and the collective."
I hold the controls completely.
Kristie: "You have the cyclic and the collective."
Kristie lets go completely.
Same idea as the submarine "dive, dive, dive" command. Everybody knows and agrees to what is happening next.
At this point, Kristie told me to follow 26 west, back to the airport by heading between two clumps of radio / HDTV towers. As with any new venture, there is a change in vocabulary and acronyms. They call those clumps the Antenna Farm.
The flight back was a little more relaxed and I got to enjoy myself a little more. Navigation was purely by sight and we just followed the highway all the way to The Stadium (Hillsboro's football stadium). Within a 5 mile radius of the airport Kristie radioed the tower and we were given an approach on runway 20.
We hover taxied to the hover-cone and then took position on the helicopter taxiway. She set us down nice and gently. We did a quick post-flight check and clocked out.
Only the second flight, I know... but this is incredible.
