My 4th Lesson Today

[flynpig]

Hope you all had a great labor day weekend. Just wanted to update you guys on my training. Today was my 4th lesson and we started working on auto rotations and hover auto rotations. Hover autos aren't so bad if you keep them 1-2 feet off the ground. Auto rotations kinda freaked me out at first since I thought the helo was gonna plummet straight to the ground. Very nice to see with decent airspeed that the things are no different than airplanes. Actually I would prefer the helo over a airplane in engine out situation after what I saw today. Hope you all are doing well and will update you after my next lesson on Sunday. I guess I should start a blog.....

[Kelly N.]

Hope you all had a great labor day weekend. Just wanted to update you guys on my training. Today was my 4th lesson and we started working on auto rotations and hover auto rotations. Hover autos aren't so bad if you keep them 1-2 feet off the ground. Auto rotations kinda freaked me out at first since I thought the helo was gonna plummet straight to the ground. Very nice to see with decent airspeed that the things are no different than airplanes. Actually I would prefer the helo over a airplane in engine out situation after what I saw today. Hope you all are doing well and will update you after my next lesson on Sunday. I guess I should start a blog.....

 

Pig,

 

May I call you pig?

 

Seriously, a blog is a good idea on multiple fronts.

 

1. You will possibly help out others in your position now or in the future.

 

2. It's fun, and educational, to go back through your own experiences getting the rating to see how much you've really learned.

 

I read most of the blogs on this site (and any other site I could find, fixed-wing or rotor) and would have loved to have had additional experiences to draw upon vicariously.

 

As for the retrospective value, I recently re-read my own blog on this site and it not only gave me new perspective on all the maneuvers I initially had trouble with, I found myself remembering each lesson again and almost reliving the feelings of frustration and epiphany that the new student frequently experiences.

 

For that reason alone, I'm glad I kept a blog and will continue to keep one through my future ratings.

 

Good luck with your training regardless of whether or not you log it for general perusal. Remember, you're learning and the most of the time your biggest challenge is getting out of your own way (at least it was - and is - for me).

 

Kelly

[slick1537]

I remember on my private checkride, when we did a hover auto I practically had the skids touching the ground before I rolled the throttle off. The DPE just laughed and made me do it again from a few feet higher.

[Rat]

I was just curious if this is your 4th lesson in your CFI rating ?

[flynpig]

I was just curious if this is your 4th lesson in your CFI rating ?

 

No, my private helo add-on to my fixed wing license I have had since 2002.

[ADRidge]

Just wait until the day you finally nail your spot dead-on in a 180 autorotation! I think (I hope) I'll always remember that day. We were 700' AGL and my instructor says "there's a blue reflector at the intersection of the Delta and Alpha taxiways. I want you to land on that reflector." I said "Okay." 3, 2, 1, drop. I finally nailed the mark dead-on, a few flights before my PPL check. My Instructor told me that if I flew like that during my check ride, I should go ahead and wet my lips, cause the DPE was going to kiss me.

 

Needless to say, he had to take the controls while I cracked up. But it was one of those days where I didn't walk anywhere. I floated. I heart autos!