Some of the things i learned my first year as a student pilot!

[RkyMtnHI]

QUOTE (svtcobra66 @ Mar 3 2009, 09:18 )

I've got to wonder about the quality of training some of you guys received if you're uncomfortable with passengers after your private rating...The whole point is that you can take passengers, and while you won't be as skilled as a 2000 hour ATP you should still be able to get it down in one piece, you should be comfortable with autos of various types, and you should be used to all kinds of airspace. If not, maybe you went to the wrong school...

 

 

copied from a post by jehh

 

 

Using that same arguement, a fresh private pilot should be ok flying from California to Flordia, the day after the checkride.

 

A pilot certificate is a license to learn, it is just like getting your drivers license at 16, except that most new pilots are a bit older and wiser than that. Most new drivers generally shouldn't have young passengers either until they get more experience, and flying a helicopter is a lot harder than driving a car.

 

 

very well said!!

 

dp

[RkyMtnHI]

Check your dip sticks, and then check them again. Also, if you are dispatching a newer pilot, double check that they did the same before you let them get into the ship.

 

Over the past few months we have had two ships leave the ramp with dip sticks on the skids (well, they were on the skids for a while)!!

 

The first was a 300, and the flight was pretty much uneventful, we looked for the dipstick for a couple of days but never found it. The thing is, that the stick and tube come as one from the factory so it cost the pilot around $700 to replace it (an expensive cross country). No telling where the stick eventually landed but it could have been much worse.

 

The R44 tho was a different story, and could have been a tragic one as well. It was a new private pilot, with 11 hours in the R44.. i think he had some R22 time but i'm not sure. The day after he got his PIC in the 44 he took his girl friend for a ride down around Denver. Rotors has a rule that the student can check the oil, but never remove the stick, and if the ship needs oil the dispatcher must be there to add and to insure the stick is replaced. On these two occasions the pilots forgot the rule. I believe that the pilot of the 44 actually added oil when it was not needed, but we'll never know. (It may have saved his life if he did).

 

Fortunately, the stick from the 44 dropped under the ship upon liftoff.

 

(Remember the safety check that Daniel taught us; "lift off, slide to the side, look down and check; no parts or puddles, you're good to go". It would have served this gent well!).

 

Anyway, Fortunately, the stick from the 44 dropped under the ship upon liftoff and even more fortunate a helo landed in the circle ten minutes later and the CFI in that ship saw the dipstick on the ground. It took about ten minutes to figure out what had happened and to contact the 44 (they had to figure out his flight path and the radio freq he was on).. then it took another thirty minutes before he was back on the ground, a tense time for all. In that amount of time the 44 lost all but 3 quarts of oil, in fact, it was dangerously close to the low oil limit of the engine. The pilot had not a clue that something was wrong, and most likely wouldn't have until it was too late... can you imagine doing an auto over Denver proper with only 11 hours in the ship?? If that CFI had landed in another circle, or decided to stay out a little longer, well, at the least it would have cost an engine. (around $80K i think).

 

When the ship was back it leaked almost a half a quart on the ramp just during shut down.. and you will see in the photos how much was all over the ship. The oil was everywhere! The mechanics had to remove the panels, steam clean, and check all the belts and such.. total it cost the pilot around $1200 and the ship was down for a couple of days.

 

Lessons here; take your time... check and double check (use a check list, if you don't have one there's one in the POH in the helo right?)... and a more unpopular opinion, do not take anyone for a ride until you shake off the newness and/or the nervous energy. Be patient, the one your flying is probably your most precious!!!

 

more photos here:

 

http://s298.photobucket.com/albums/mm243/RkyMtnHI2/Woops/

 

aloha,

 

dp

[Hovergirl]

"Check your dip sticks, and then check them again. Also, if you are dispatching a newer pilot, double check that they did the same before you let them get into the ship. "

 

I changed my instructor's "Last Check for Safety" to "Last check for safety, Dummy!"

 

L -- blades Level

C -- Cowl door closed (quick check inside if you've been away)

F -- Fuel cap(s) tight

S -- Skids free

D -- Dipstick screwed in! (and Drain fuel if you've just fueled up)

 

Take your time, every time! (Thanks for the stories RkyMtnHI)

[500E]

With the 300 make sure dipstick it is locked down easy not to, the extension assembly is great but the cost !!!!! keeps hands cleaner too.

[AngelFire_91]

My "rule" for the dipstick is, it never leaves my hand. If I do pull it all the way out, to add oil and such, I keep it in my hand. You can still hold the stick and open a bottle of oil, or if you must put it down it goes in the floor right in front of the pedals to where you have to kick it to get in. If I saw one of my students put it on the skid, or I've seen someone put it on the fuel pan (H300) I would seriously change their thinking fast. The fuel pan especially, since the bright yellow cap is so close to where it is supposed to be if you just looked at it you wouldn't know.

 

I was flying a Cessna 310 once and trusted my friend and owner to pre-flight the right side while I did the left. Well, shortly after takeoff (gear in transit) I hear him yell "Shut the **** right engine down." I looked over and there was Smoke and oil coming out of every nook cranny and rivet hole on that wing, that was as close to a V1 cut I would ever want to experience in real life. Luckily we shut it down soon enough and all that was needed was a good nice bath. Couple of things happened there, 1) I trusted him to do the right side of the aircraft and I didn't back him up, 2) I also kind of expected him to watch out for that side of the aircraft while flying. I figured he owned to plane, he was a pilot, he would back me up no matter what since it was his baby. Well lesson learned, NEVER assume the other guy, pilot or not, will back you up.

[RkyMtnHI]

Math * Math * Math

 

For years i worried about the math involved with getting a pilots license. I took algebra, trig, physics and chemistry in college but hated them all and did only average in the classes. Those classes were years ago and i wondered if i would struggle when getting ready for the ppl written.

 

doh, there was almost NO MATH... imagine putting off your dream for years for something that was a non-issue.

 

If you want to be a helicopter pilot, do it. Jump in head first and get it done. There is a lot to learn, but it is broken into pieces that you CAN handle, and just by being involved you learn the majority of it by osmosis... the rest you can do at your own speed.

 

If you are reading this, and still don't think you can do it.. send me a private email and we'll talk some more about it...

 

YOU CAN DO THIS IF YOU WANT IT BAD ENOUGH!!!

 

aloha,

 

dp

[clay]

Math * Math * Math

 

For years i worried about the math involved with getting a pilots license. I took algebra, trig, physics and chemistry in college but hated them all and did only average in the classes. Those classes were years ago and i wondered if i would struggle when getting ready for the ppl written.

 

doh, there was almost NO MATH... imagine putting off your dream for years for something that was a non-issue.

 

If you want to be a helicopter pilot, do it. Jump in head first and get it done. There is a lot to learn, but it is broken into pieces that you CAN handle, and just by being involved you learn the majority of it by osmosis... the rest you can do at your own speed.

 

If you are reading this, and still don't think you can do it.. send me a private email and we'll talk some more about it...

 

YOU CAN DO THIS IF YOU WANT IT BAD ENOUGH!!!

 

aloha,

 

dp

 

 

I don't think I can do this. any motivational words?

[RkyMtnHI]

I learned something new today.. I flew two friends around Denver for a few hours, after i dropped them off at Centennial i was on the way back to Metro and hit some bumps due to weather.. the head set in the back seat had the mic pushed up by the clip it was hanging on and started to activate constantly. Fortunately i could reach it and put it on the seat, but it was certainly distracting for a few minutes and took my eyes off the scan for a time while over down town Denver. If i hadn't been able to reach it, like in the 120 or a 206, i'd have had to deal with it until i landed.

 

From now on, i will disconnect and store all un-used head sets in the helo on my preflight!

 

oh yeah, the person that put fuel in for me on the ramp left the gas cap on the top of the helicopter.... doing a good preflight pays off.

 

dp

[JDHelicopterPilot]

Great points! A walk around is a must in this industry! Don't take anything for granted. Even the best line guy will leave a cap off by mistake.

 

DP, is there a VOX or ISO switch for the back seats?

 

Something I learned is not to take for granted my crew(whom been flying for a few years now) know how to isolate the com radio for the pilot. I got them a patch to the hospital and then started talking on coms 1 and 2 and the told me they couldn't hear the hospital. I assumed they had already isolated me from their ICS system. Don't assume anything!

 

JD

[RkyMtnHI]

Great points! A walk around is a must in this industry! Don't take anything for granted. Even the best line guy will leave a cap off by mistake.

 

DP, is there a VOX or ISO switch for the back seats?

 

Something I learned is not to take for granted my crew(whom been flying for a few years now) know how to isolate the com radio for the pilot. I got them a patch to the hospital and then started talking on coms 1 and 2 and the told me they couldn't hear the hospital. I assumed they had already isolated me from their ICS system. Don't assume anything!

 

JD

 

 

JD yes there is an ISO switch, i had never used it and didn't even think to try it!! Another lesson learned!! There is also a way to turn the squelch? down and use the button on the floor to talk, i think this is for door off operations, but i have yet to try that either... You can bet the next time i fly i will do both! Thanks for the heads up!

 

dp

[RkyMtnHI]

i think i may have covered this before, but want to make sure.

 

do not, for any reason, give a flight school a large sum of money... period.

 

i would think $5000 would be my limit... some schools around here limit it to $2000 at a time, especially for new students that may not end up pursuing their training thru to the end.

 

if you are a new prospective student reading this, do a search on Silver State here on the forum or online, and find out why you should limit your payments.

 

dp

[Goldy]

I don't think I can do this. any motivational words?

 

Clay-Hmmm, cant think of any right now !!

[RkyMtnHI]

Are there schools in your area other than the one you are training at?? if so, go visit them all.. if you can even fly with them. The helicopter business is a small world.. and you need to know everyone that you can. You may be really surprised to find that another school might have a strength that the school you are at lacks or visa versa. you can also check out other helicopters and get time in them, i want to fly them all!!!

 

find a school that is open to new ideas, one that listens to the students and makes improvements. if a school seems like they are hiding something then they probably are. You are on a year long job interview.. they are going to check you out good.. you should do the same.

 

i have found lately that many of the schools around Denver work well together, just last week one school borrowed a trailer from another school to transport a helicopter. Something that would be unheard of at my previous school.. find people that are willing to work for the better good.

 

yeah, i know, sounds like a dream, but you gotta start somewhere!! :-)

 

dp

[highaltrotor]

THought of this from the other thread, don't know if it's been mentioned before but:

 

The Garmin website has a free downloadable simulator for the 430. You can also download the owners manual. This can be a great tool in learning how to operate the GPS. Learning how to operate the GPS on the ground without the rotors spinning is a lot cheaper and less stressfull. I have learned many of the helpfull shortcuts that I never knew before and taught them to my students.

[Hovergirl]

Ditto RkyMtnHI and highaltrotor -- excellent points!

 

HVG

 

p.s. Can't remember if anyone's mentioned it yet but get some time in the clouds in an airplane and fly it if you can.

[RkyMtnHI]

I had to add this link to the topic about saving your most used frequencies into your radio... wish i would have learned this one early on.

 

 

http://helicopterforum.verticalreference.c...showtopic=11520

 

aloha,

 

dp

[RkyMtnHI]

Hey all, just a bump, and to tell you about a friend of mine that called today asking about coming home to work on his ATP with us. This is one of those for real examples about how it CAN be done if you put your mind to it.

 

Mike finished all of his ratings in one year, thru CFII. He worked his butt off, did most of the ground himself and paid just under $54k for everything. He worked for less than one year as a CFI building time, left with around 900 hours to fly for a company down by the gulf.. flying power line inspections and long line work. He now, less than one year after his first job at the gulf company, is flying a twin turbine EMS ship. He's not your average guy, probably a little smarter than most, but he got there thru hard work and getting to know people. He knew what he wanted, worked for it, and now is living his dream.

 

If you want it bad enough, you can do it too...

 

dp

[RkyMtnHI]

Hey all,

 

This info came up on another topic line and i wanted to add it here. I think it has become even more important lately.

 

Searching info on the NTSB site.

I think it is very important to do a search about the school you are looking into BEFORE you sign up there. It is quite easy and some schools will totally lie. I know one school that has on their web site (and in a recent article) that they have had no accidents, but when you search them by name two pop up right away.. by looking closer and putting in the city where they operate you find even more. If they are blatantly lying to this degree you have to wonder what else they are trying to hide.

 

To search a school or operation just go to this page:

 

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/query.asp

 

Fill in as much info as you have; you might want to go back a few years further on the date range. If you have tail numbers it's easier to find information (and one school i know has photos with tail numbers of ships that they crashed in the past still on their website so be resourceful).

 

Put in the state, click on helicopter, put the name of the operation in the word string line. When the reports pop up, click on "full narrative available" for the rest of the info.

 

If you do a search and nothing pops up, go back and check your data input as you might have missed something. If still nothing pops up do a search on the aircraft type (300c or such) and search by city and state.. chances are more will pop up there and you can go thru them and search for pertinent information.

 

There is really good info to be found and you can learn by reading the reports.

 

This also gives you an idea about how careful you need to be as you don't want to be featured in one of these reports in the future....

 

Now, my disclaimer: if an operation has had one or more accidents it may have been something that they couldn't control, and in training those things happen, but if they have and the school is trying to cover them up then i would look very close, in fact, i would run away as fast as i could..

 

dp

[Inferno]

DP, I agree completely. Some accidents are unavoidable and have no reflection on a school's quality or lack there of.... Covering it up on the other hand is malicious and indicates something negative. That being said (and I've said this before...) I'm a web designer and i know how often clients update their web pages. That is to say, they never update their web pages, even when they pay me good money every month to do it. It could just be a case of the school having had no accidents in the past and never changing their page to reflect the change in status after the accident.

 

Although, some schools do other operations like Ag work. Do you think accidents that occur during these types of operations should count towards a "school's accidents"? Obviously no training is going on, and it is just the school's helicopter being flown.

[RkyMtnHI]

DP, I agree completely. Some accidents are unavoidable and have no reflection on a school's quality or lack there of.... Covering it up on the other hand is malicious and indicates something negative. That being said (and I've said this before...) I'm a web designer and i know how often clients update their web pages. That is to say, they never update their web pages, even when they pay me good money every month to do it. It could just be a case of the school having had no accidents in the past and never changing their page to reflect the change in status after the accident.

 

Good info, i tried to ignor it before because i didn't want to bust the company out.. :-) they update their site pretty often.. the accidents are spread out over a pretty good period.

 

 

Although, some schools do other operations like Ag work. Do you think accidents that occur during these types of operations should count towards a "school's accidents"? Obviously no training is going on, and it is just the school's helicopter being flown.

 

 

I totally agree that operations unrelated to training should not reflect on the school portion of the op. That is unless the schools cfi's or students are doing the commercial flying, or if the accident is from negligence.

 

dp

[RkyMtnHI]

Noises.. pay attention!

 

Over the past couple of years i have taken around 35,000 photos of helicopters, mostly because i don't know what i'm doing and take a ton so once in a while i'll get a really good one. Because of that i have watched a lot of helicopters come and go.. and many of the same helos multiple times. I have learned that you can hear what's going on with the helos if you pay attention. Yesterday on the ramp i heard a very slight sound coming from our 300 instrument ship.. she recently came out of a new engine install and a 100 hour and i was paying a little closer attention than usual (a bad habit, we should always pay close attention no matter what!!), anyway, i heard this sound i had never heard before, it was slight, high freq and sounded kinda like someone rubbing two pieces of metal together. When the ship was shut down three of us went out and started a postflight inspection (something that is overlooked by a lot of pilots but is very important). We started with the tail rotor and engine since it was a high freq sound, and found a piece of tape on the TR that was starting to peel off, there was only about 1/8 inch of the edge lifted up, but it was enough to make the noise (reflector tape from the TR balance). Was this dangerous, no, but it reinforces the fact that we CAN tell differences in the helos by LISTENING to them... Both in and out of the cockpit. If you hear something that sounds different, either in the ship you are flying or someone else's, bring it up.. you never know.

 

A year ago i heard a weird noise coming from a 300 on final, it sounded like the whole ship was coming apart, a kind of whir whir whir, only really loud. The 300 was about 1/8 mile away when i first heard the noise and it got much louder as it landed. Upon closer inspection we found a small piece of plastic bag stuck to one of the MR blades.. the pilot said that he remembered seeing the bag on final but never knew they hit it.. and couldn't tell the piece was there while flying. I had a photo of the bag.. i'll see if i can find it.

 

aloha,

 

dp

[kodoz]

i heard this sound i had never heard before,...found a piece of tape on the TR that was starting to peel off, there was only about 1/8 inch of the edge lifted up, but it was enough to make the noise (reflector tape from the TR balance).

 

Same thing happened to me part way thru my PPL: on our first approach of the lesson, just as we were pulling pitch at the end, we heard what sounded like a grinding noise. We landed (quickly) and shut down. Naturally, nobody answered our call back to the unicom for a mechanic to come out, so we got wheels and pushed the heli back to the hangar. This was mid-day in Boise during the summer. As soon as the mechanic heard the noise he had us shut down, stop the MR, and he walked right over and pulled the "Do Not Pull Down" sticker off the blade tip. Problem solved.

[RkyMtnHI]

Just in case !

 

Chris and i were talking and he brought up some good stuff (imagine that!) : and we can't remember if it's here or not, so just in case.

 

I think butters said this in another recent post too..

 

Do not rely on your instructor to keep you on the right path or track. Learn where you should be at all times.. do stage checks with other instructors, it's easy, just tell the school that you want to fly with another instructor for a fresh look.. if the school or your instructor objects you are at the wrong place. Take ground school with a new instructor every once in a while and ask him or her to go over your track.. even ask them to do an eval on your progress.. the price you pay for one hour of ground will be well worth it. (even consider going to another school for a flight or two)!! Remember, YOU are paying the bill, so YOU can ask for what you want. Your school should be doing this already, but some are focused on just keeping things going and you may be on the back burner so-to-speak. Do not rely on anyone else to control your future.. it's up to you. Now more than ever you have to stand out, to make all of your money count, and if you don't have the right foundation you will suffer both short and long term.

 

Most important... never give a flight school a lot of money.... i know people that have thousands, like lots of thousands, like up to $50K on account, but cannot fly certain helicopters at other flight schools because the owners of those helos have put the ships on cash basis AND THE $$ THAT THE STUDENTS HAVE ON ACCOUNT IS NO LONGER THERE!!!! Can you imagine walking in to fly at your school, having $25k on account, and the instructor asks for your credit card to fly???? It happens.. so that 10% you MIGHT save just isn't worth it.. if the school asks for a large sum of money they might NEED that large sum to pay for something else... when that money is gone so might be your future. The school might look really strong, and have been in business for years, so was silver state... They might have five or six helos on the floor, but are all of them flying? Are any on a "cash basis" to fly? Questions you must ask now days.. if you get one hint that something is wrong then ask around.. look closer. Ask if the school actually OWNS their helos.. if they do chances are you are in better hands.

 

On the loan issue, lots of good info going back and forth on the forums.. i have been watching and thinking about this subject for some time now and don't know exactly what to say.. (imagine that) : . I agree with Fry on many things he says, especially the comments about being frugal and more careful than ever (yes he can be "curt" at times, but some people you have to hit with a bat to get the point across! ) If you haven't done your research about interest rates and how much the money will actually cost you then you need to.. it's a serious issue. Instructor jobs are really tough to get right now, and i don't expect that to change for the next few years.... But it will change.. as most things do. I think that it's more important now than ever for us operators to be honest with our prospective students as some of them just will not be able to make the grade, or pass this industry's scrutiny. BUT, i also think this is the same in most industries right now. My wife is working on her third Master degree, this one is in Architecture, the jobs in that arena are down by 42%!! Only the brightest and hardest workers, those that really want the jobs are getting hired.. same goes for our industry.

 

Save the money, fly when you can, get two jobs if that's what it takes.. i spent 20 years in Hawaii, almost everyone over there has two jobs, that's what it takes to live in paradise but people are willing to do it. If this is what you want, and you are sure of that, then do what it takes.. but you have to be more careful now than ever before.. do your research.

 

 

dp

[lelebebbel]

From this thread: http://helicopterforum.verticalreference.c...showtopic=12883 - advice on operating a Robinson near it's published performance limits.

 

 

 

[...] Robinson performance charts are generally too optimistic. Maybe they work for factory new machines with smooth, clean blades, perfect engine, clean air filter and plugs... but they certainly don't work for most real world R22/44s out there.

 

Also, keep in mind that the charts are based on 0% humidity!

 

Humidity has an effect on density altitude, a simplified explanation for this is that the water particles basically replace air particles.

 

Here is a calculator that shows the effect of relative humidity or dewpoint spread on DA:

http://wahiduddin.net/calc/calc_da_em.htm

[RkyMtnHI]

This question was brought up by another member on another topic.. i felt it was appropriate to put here with my response.. you can see the topic and others comments here:

 

http://helicopterforum.verticalreference.c...showtopic=12910

 

This was Rick's question:

 

What are the rules in relation to helicopters that might transition an area where skydiving is performed? There is a parachute symbol just east of KCMA. This is an area frequented by helicopters as it is over railroad tracks and somewhat less noise sensitive.

 

Is the drop zone restricted airspace?

Does a skydiver have right of way over aircraft?

Does a parachute have right of way over an aircraft?

Should a helicopter avoid this area, and alternatively fly over a densely populated area?

Should a helicopter avoid this area, and alternatively fly over a noise sensitive area?

Should a helicopter just fly through the drop zone?

What FARs are applicable?

Should a aircraft on an instrument approach fly through the drop zone?

 

I respect that all involved in a collision will most likely die.

 

 

This was my response:

 

I am a skydiver...

 

Here are a few things to keep in mind that might not be in the FARs!

 

First and foremost, people say all the time that "you'd never catch me jumping out of a perfectly good airplane".. well, if it was a "perfectly good airplane" it wouldn't be at a drop zone!

 

Especially at smaller drop zones, the AC could be single engine 172s, 182s or similar.. the lucky ones might have a 206, but they all will be old as dirt.. MOST of these planes will have names like "duct tape" or "shudder"... and they will be filled to the brim with people, definitely close to, or over max gross weight on every flight. There will be a lot of activity in the airplane which can distract the pilot. Some of these planes will not have radios, and some that do will not use them... so the chances of seeing you or even knowing you are there is diminished (being nice).

 

The pilot will probably not be the spotter; that is the person that looks out the open door and judges the wind and tells the rest of the jumpers to "go". The spotter may be spotting for their first time.. he/or she could easily drop the jumpers way off course, or miss judge the wind. (the more prudent spotters will make a dry pass and drop a streamer over the airport, they watch it till it lands and then off set the jumpers that distance). The wind could change, or they could just guess and exit on the first pass.. or, they could not care.... the jumpers, especially students or "100 jump wonders" could get blown miles from the area... (they might even be teaching someone a lesson by dropping them way off course so they have to walk home).

 

Student jumpers are way safer now days because they usually have radio coaching from the ground, but they can get blown miles from the drop zone for many jumps.. and i can tell you for sure that they don't have a clue what is going on around them.. it's enough just to get to the ground in one piece.. much less have any situational awareness.....

 

Skydivers are not supposed to fly thru clouds, or free fall thru them, but, sometimes it happens.. i have been in free fall and passed about 50 yards from a glider at 7000', the pilot never knew i was there... i could tell he was wearing Okleys, it would have been ugly if i had pulled or simply hit the glider..

 

The jumpers may be exiting in masse or not.. they could exit over two or three miles.. sometimes a tandem rider freezes at the door and it takes a few seconds to get them to let go of the door, this could put them out three or four miles from the drop zone.. and if there are others after.. they will be even further out. Everyone exits around 12K, but i have jumped from 20k with out O2.. that pilot is now dead from passing out on final after one of those jumps in a King Air... he was a really nice guy.. but he is dead.. he hit the ocean going about 200kts...

 

One of my favorite things to do was to exit at 14K and pull.. then fly cross country for ten or twelve miles down the beach to land back at the drop zone.. we never carried radios.. knowing what i know now i would have.

 

This post is not to diss the jumpers, there are many that are amazing pilots and skydivers.. but i wanted to give you some insight from the exit door...

 

I fly near a drop zone over Longmont Colorado... i give them lots of room and respect.. every single time...

 

aloha,

 

dp