Last ramp solo... not.

Flight #: 057
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N2356T
Duration: 0.9hrs
As PIC: 0.9hrs
Cumulative Time: 66.4hrs

Certification for the Private Pilot license requires 5.0 hours of solo time. Today's plan was to knock out the remaining 1.2 hours of solo time in Charlie pattern. Just so happened that Kristie was flying with another student in Charlie at the same time. Keeping an eye on me.

Weather was a bit iffy at the start... not pleasant, but definitely within my solo limitations. Did 4 pattern circuits and had a bit of a haze blow in. Not bad, but certainly not what I would call fun. Figured I would set it down on the taxiway and check weather to see if anything had changed.

I flipped frequencies. (which I learned is not something you are supposed to do... if the weather changes, the tower will come on and announce it to all. Never switch frequencies while in the airspace without permission to do so.) Weather sounded fine, and I assumed that it was a local / temporary thing and that it would blow by.

When I flipped back to Tower frequency, 119.3, I heard Kristie's voice:

Kristie: "...45 to talk with the student in 56-Tango."
Tower: "Frequency change approved."

Whoops, clearly Kristie is trying to reach me about something. I glance over, and see Kristie and her student hovering in the grass in my line of site while I'm sitting on the taxiway. I tried to flip over to a few common frequencies, but could not get her. (She was on 123.45, but I must have missed her.) I then asked the tower if they caught the frequency change, and they did not. At that point, Kristie and her student took off for another pattern, so it must not have been anything significant.

I looked into the pattern, and weather was fine... whatever it was had blown through and all looked good. I made my pattern and came in for a nice normal approach. Again, all well, so headed back up again. And there it was... fog/mist/haze/rain. At that point, I decided to head back... not going to chance things if I can't see 100%.

I requested clearance to get back to the center tie down, and set down. Spun down the helicopter and checked my Hobbs timer. 0.9hrs! All I needed was .3hrs more. Ugh. It takes, minimum, .1hrs to warm up and .1hrs to cool down the helicopter. (.1hrs = 6 minutes, BTW). That means I would have just enough time to lift off the ramp, back up, go to the hover cone and request clearance for Charlie. By that time, I'd have to come back and land again. Ugh. What a pain in the ass.

As a bit of a side note... as soon as everyone heard Kristie asking to talk to her student on another "private" frequency... they all switched over to hear me get yelled at, or something. Turns out, all she wanted to do is to tell me that if I wanted to continue this another time, then I should just head back early and we'll pick it up later. Apparently she also tried to text me on my phone... but I can't really get to that while I'm flying, so that was lost.

So, fine flight, although I've got to waste .3hrs tomorrow to get to my minimum.

Mixin' it up

Flight #: 031
CFI: Garreth E.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N8361N
Duration: 1.1hrs
Cumulative Time: 34.2hrs

My flight this morning was canceled due to Wx (weather) issues... icing mist at 0ft. So, so flight.

Later in the afternoon I got a SMS from Kristie asking if I was available, last minute, for a flight. I'm always ready for a flight! So, I sped over to HAI. When I got there Garreth, another CFI, was the one with a helicopter and training slot. So, it was Garreth and I today.

This was great practice for me... because not only did I have to prove myself to a new CFI, but I also had to get used to their method of training.


Now, I can't prove it, but I think Garreth was messing with me during the pre-flight. There were about 8 things which were out of their normal setting. For example, the transponder is normally set to 1200... this time it was at 1100. The clutch was engaged, the altimeter was set to 400ft below sea level, and a number of fuses were pulled. I caught 'em all. Which is, of course why they would test me.

Other than that the flight was pretty normal. Hovers, auto rotations, patterns, quick stops, etc. Garreth introduced slope landings which, as Garreth said, is where most landing occur. Rarely do you actually get to land on a flat surface. Good point.

All in all, a very good flight.

Page 2!

Flight #: 028
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N8340S
Duration: 1.2hrs
Cumulative Time: 30.6hrs

Another good lesson. Great weather today, gentle wind to help with my hover practice, and about 10 mile visibility. Sunny (and I forgot my sunglasses), so that helps with SAD. Well, not really a sufferer, but it is nice to finally have sun in your eyes.

We ran through some advanced maneuvers again, just getting better at all of it. I actually got to do about 75% of a running landing on my own. Coming in at 40knots at 2 feet above the ground is very similar to the feeling one gets riding a motorcycle. It is that sensation where speed seems to increase the closer you get to the ground. Addicting.

Also filled up page 2 in my logbook. Again, not a real big deal, but it is a physical milestone when you have to turn pages to get to the next entry.

Double Block

Flight #: 025
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N8340S
Duration: 2.4hrs
Cumulative Time: 27.0hrs

We had a double block (2 x 2hr) of flights today. That affords you so much more time to practice and enjoy yourself. So, we flew on up to Scapoose, OR and did our patterns there. Was great since it was a 7am flight and we were the only people in Scapoose until about 9am.

Got in another first today. Refueling away from home. Sounds silly and trivial, but it was a milestone for me. Felt like getting gas on a long road trip. Get to stretch your legs, check out new scenery.

Just a fun day.

(Autorotation)^5

Flight #: 024
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N7155W
Duration: 1.2hrs
Cumulative Time: 24.6hrs

Ok, so I already told you that aurorotations were incredibly cool maneuvers. They are. What's cooler? Well, rather than doing them at 2000AGL (above ground level), try them at 500ft AGL. WOW! All the same maneuvers, but this time you just have the ground coming up at you rather quickly. The engine is idle and the governor is inactive until you reach about 40ft AGL.

Man, my heart was pounding. But, after the 4th or 5th time, you start to get the feel of it all and if just comes to you. Which, is the point, of course. That day will come, when you need it for real... might as well be overly prepared for it when it happens.

There are different classifications of engine/power failures; >500ft AGL, <500>8ft AGL, and <8ft AGL. The first introduction at autorotations we did were at 2000ft AGL, this set was at just over 500ft.

Obviously, the lower you are, the less time you have to react.

Repetition...

Flight #: 017
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N2548S
Duration: 1.1hrs
Cumulative Time: 18.3hrs

Today's flight was really good. I can tell that I'm really starting to remember the feel of the helicopter. We are still re-doing the same maneuvers as before, and I think that is the point... repetition.

Not going to have a flight in a while... holidays coming up.

Early patterns... poorly.

Flight #: 013
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N7526S
Duration: 1.4hrs
Cumulative Time: 13.6hrs

Not a good session at all. Actually Kristie did not say that it was horrible, but it felt all wrong. I just could not get into my groove. I really don't know what it was but this morning was a step backwards in my mind. I missed all of my approaches - too steep or too shallow. Every set-down was hard and bumpy. Each pick-up was one-skid-high... significantly too high. And, to top it all off, I don't think I anticipated ETL once.

Should have just stayed in bed this morning.

Lucky flight #13, I guess.

During our post-flight debrief Kristie commented on my miss of ETL. And that I was just (over) correcting and that it will come with practice. She said that I should really heed the pre-ETL vibration. Huh? "pre-ETL vibration"?!? I had not noticed that at all and had just been trying to correct it all after it happened. If there is a helicopter tell, then vibration is it.

Early morning clouds on the ridge...

Flight #: 010
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N7526S
Duration: 0.9hrs
Cumulative Time: 9.8hrs

Could not get a pattern today... again, so we had to head up to SPB (Scappoose airport code) for some flight time. SPB is an uncontrolled airport - which means there is no air traffic control tower to regulate flights in, around, out. This is primarily because the airport is low use and is used mostly by private pilots with their own planes. This also means, that you have to be on your toes and constantly be on the radio telling everyone what you want/plan to do. You also need to listen for the same communication. By far the most important thing at this airport is your visual sweep... apparently there are quite a few pilot that use this airport that are not up on their radio communications - some don't even have them turned on. So, very important to keep an eye open for them.

Flight to SPB was normal, but there was some low level clouds coming over one of the ridges along the way. We were at 2000ft, with plenty of visibility, so this was not a proble, but it was amazing to see the clouds spill over and into the small gorges in the area.

After some good pattern practice and even better hovering practice we did some "quick stops". This is the act of "coming in hot" (fast) towards your landing spot and landing in much less of a distance than would be necessary for a normal approach. (BTW, airplanes can't do this... obviously... only us. :) The procedure is basically this - aft cyclic to flare up a tad and lower collective pitch while applying right pedal. Kind of like sliding to a stop in wool socks on a kitchen floor. Or a sliding stop on skis. You are "leaning back" to direct as much force in front of you to slow down. As you sink down you ride ETL (Effective Translational Lift) to the ground and at the last few feet you raise collective and apply left pedal to come to a nice clean hover. That is the theory anyway. My first few were a little less graceful. Mainly in the hover at the end. I could come down, raise too much collective too quickly, yaw right and bounce back up in the air. Towards the end I think I figured it out, maybe B-?

One thing which I can take a way is that helicopters are dynamic beasts... they change their operation under various situations. Not just a little... significantly. So, what feels right at 3knots, no longer feels right at 10knots, etc. You need to adjust and anticipate what is about to happen so that you are ready to correct for it.

For example, when you are in your car... accelerating from 0 to 60 over a mile. You hold on to the wheel... keep it straight... and press on the accelerator.

Pretty simple. In a helicopter you start in a steady hover, transition to forward flight. If you remain at this speed you are taxiing and things are pretty much constant.

Above a certain forward speed, say 10knots, you enter ETL. This is the state where the froward motion of your rotors is such that you are entering clean and undisturbed air... not just chopping up your own rotor wash.
This causes you to get more lift and reduce drag. As a result, you pop up... and I mean pop up rather quickly. The helicopter yaws left because not not only does the MR (main rotor) have better efficiency, the TR (tail rotor) does as well.

Since this always will happen, you need to correct for it if you want to stay in flight. Lower collective, forward on the cyclic and right pedal.

Kristie is good at it... I did not know there was even an effect of ETL like that... because she always anticipated it was coming and corrected instantly. That is, of course, until she told me that it was there and that she would stop correcting this time. Popped up, like a cork, flared back and spun 45º left. Rather quickly, I may add.

I've gotten to the point where I can correct it pretty quickly... just not anticipate it yet.

It will come with time, I know.

Wind+ Hover = Frustration

Flight #: 008
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N2548S
Duration: 1.3hrs
Cumulative Time: 7.3hrs

Alpha patterns & hovering again. But this time, with a pretty steady 7-10 knot winds... hovering was a %!^@#. Pendular motion all over the place. It's a shame the helicopter does not respond to intense squeezing pressure on the cyclic. I definitely have a, as Kristie calls it, "death grip" when I get into rough motion.

We happened to be practicing near the end of runway 30 where there is a large (25ft high) rock and stone noise abatement wall. I did fine hovering when in the lee of this wall, but pop up a little to high, and it was all over.

Frustrating day... but I suppose it is all practice and it is real to have wind.