skill building maneuvers

[Rick McWilliams]

Susie and I have been flying her little red R22 very often trying to improve our skills. You might see us playing at the CMA north helipad. We are practicing the same basic maneuvers required for the PPL checkride. Slope landings have greatly improved, pick ups and set downs are much smoother, wind makes less difference, hover maneuvers are smoother and more accurate.

 

exercises that we do solo:

slope landings

pinnacle landings

quick stop

hover positioning patterns

pirouettes

steep turns and roll reversals

all variety of approaches

 

exercises that we do with an instructor:

night flight

autoroations

run on landings

actual confined area landings

ag turn, turning quick stop

hover autroations

landing on one skid, the other over a cliff

 

exercises that we are considering:

fast pedal turns

quick stop touchdown

hovering touching traffic cones

re-arranging traffic cones

flight by reference to instruments, IIMC

tight descending spiral

flight in higher winds and turbulence

fast backward flight

 

What are your favorite skill building maneuvers?

[500E]

down wind quick stop,

[Mungo5]

Interesting you do slope landings solo and hover auto's with an instructor - i would have swapped those two round, given that slope landings has the capacity to go very wrong very quickly. Dynamic rollover etc..

 

Downwind QS. Oh yes.. Oh and out-of-trim auto's from a great height.

[kodoz]

One of the more beneficial lessons during my private was variations on pinnacle approaches in a stiff wind. The classic is the steep approach from the downwind side. But pick a pinnacle that you can approach from any direction--maybe one that has a ridge on one side--do the text book steep approach. Then try normal and shallow crosswind approaches, either ignoring the terrain or following it, just to see the differences in power requirements and turbulence. Might be best to do this with an instructor.

Another good one to do with an instructor is simulating a power-limited departure from a confined space. Set a MAP limit that puts you below your highest obstacle. Use ETL to get the required climb performance. Rule that I learned was that if there's space between the rotor disk and the obstacle, you can clear it. Best to do this with an instructor who can set up the problem safely.

I've added practice skills to the PPLH lesson plans on wikiRFM. Most of them are based on the sample curriculum presented at the HAI CFI mentoring workshop. Would be helpful for students and CFIs if others would add theirs. Some of the instructors I've run into had no interest in teaching beyond the absolute basics, whether it was because they didn't want to or because that was all they learned.

[Rick McWilliams]

I am a bit scared of the down wind quick stop. That maneuver might require more power than is available and there you are with your tail way low and nowhere to go. CMA tower loves to run the helicopter pattern with a 5 knot tail wind. I keep the approach shallow and smooth to avoid trouble.

[Mikemv]

Rick & Suzie, you guys have me cringing again with some of the maneuvers on your list!

 

What is a pirouette and when is it used in heli ops? Where can I read about it in a RFM?

How do you handle engine failure with one skid over a cliff?

Ag turns are for ag pilots! You will not fly ag in an R22.

Fast rearward flight, when is this required?

 

I hope you do not have a CFI that likes to show off and has talked you into doing this dangerous and risky, needless flying? Rather than trying do do useless "Cool Maneuvers", build your proficiency in flying all of the basic and advanced tested flight maneuvers perfectly, to commercial Certificate Test Standards! Then to an ATP test level.

 

My recommendations:

 

Practice doing a deceleration from cruise airspeed to approach airspeed while maintaining altitude. This is a great coordination exercise and makes you proficient in transitioining from high speed cruise to approach speeds in larger, faster helos.

 

Fly at approach speed, maintain altitude for one minute and then return to cruise airspeed while again maintaining altitude.

 

Pick a definite spot on the ground and fly normal & steep approaches to the GROUND with no hovering involved.

 

When picking the helo up to a hover, never let the direction of the nose move, keep in exactly straight ahead. Same when setting it down. Being precise in standard, published, tested maneuvers goes a long way to improving your skills.

 

I have never given a flight test or pre-hire check ride and asked to see anything but standard, published maneuvers!

 

The words you will hear right before you crash are "Watch This"!

 

To All, be safe, do not show off,

 

MikeMV

[Rick McWilliams]

Slope soaring along a ridge is fun. I have been able to maintain level flight with two people aboard at 15 inches of manifold pressure. It is a bit dangerous as the hawks and vultures know very well where the lift is strongest.

[kodoz]

The pirouettes we did during my PPLH were maintaining a constant hover taxi down the centerline of a taxiway while pivoting 360 degrees. We would also work on the compass rose doing similar maneuvers: keeping the nose pointed toward the center while moving around the periphery, keeping the TR over the center while turning around the outside, and doing pirouettes while moving around the periphery.

 

I agree that you'll probably never do any of these maneuvers real life, but they all contribute to improving hover control. If you can pirouette down the taxiway with a solid wind, you can pick up and set down all day long without any yaw or drift. And slopes or setting down on a dolly isn't nearly as intimidating if you know you have that control. Turns around the tail have helped in crosswinds where you don't have the authority to make a pedal turn, and help with TR awareness for operating in confined spaces. I felt like it was one area where we were actually being trained above the minimum standards.

[Rick McWilliams]

I know that Susie will just love doing 1-1/4 pirouettes while translating around the helipad box.

[Mikemv]

Kodoz, (Chris), what aircraft were you in that you did not have enough pedal authority to turn with a x-wind and where was the wind from and how strong? Please expand on this for me and everyone else.

 

Also, turns about the tail are in very few training programs. I taught them in 135 training to pilots that had never used them before for use in confined area ops.

 

Pirouetting in a turbine helo could cause and over torque under some conditions. Be careful about trying training maneuvers with larger helos.

 

MikeMV

[500E]

Good advice from Mikemv

"Practice doing a deceleration from cruise airspeed to approach airspeed while maintaining altitude. This is a great coordination exercise and makes you proficient in transitioning from high speed cruise to approach speeds in larger, faster helos.

Fly at approach speed, maintain altitude for one minute and then return to cruise airspeed while again maintaining altitude.

Pick a definite spot on the ground and fly normal & steep approaches to the GROUND with no hovering involved.

When picking the helo up to a hover, never let the direction of the nose move, keep in exactly straight ahead. Same when setting it down. Being precise in standard, published, tested manoeuvres goes a long way to improving your skills.

 

I have never given a flight test or pre-hire check ride and asked to see anything but standard, published manoeuvre!

The words you will hear right before you crash are "Watch This"!

 

To All, be safe, do not show of

 

 

The down wind is like most manoeuvres done smooth is great. Please get your instructor to practice with you.

We have to come in to our site with the prevailing wind a lot, and I prefer to come in fairly fast turn into wind, flaring as I turn, as the nose comes into wind just a ghost of collective to stop the sink as the nose comes level.

PS Never tried it in a 22, only 300s & 500s

[r22butters]

My favorite maneuver is the 'quick stop'. Its a good (and fun) way to practice coordinating all of the controls. After that, I would have to say I practice the 'steep approach' the most.

[Rick McWilliams]

My first introductin to a quick stop was a demo in a friends R44. He did a diving turn at about 100 knots to 30 feet altitude. Then did a powerful quick stop with about 40 degrees nose up finishing in a hover. A couple of days later I was with my instructor at the practice area, he asked if I knew how to do a quick stop. So I did a diving turn to about 80 knots and a reasonable facsimilie of what I had seen. My instructor paused and explained that was a quick stop but not what is expected for the check ride.

[IFLY]

When I teach the quick stop I start by calling it a slow stop so they understand that "quick" is relative, they don't scare me while they learn it.

 

Jerry

[kodoz]

Kodoz, (Chris), what aircraft were you in that you did not have enough pedal authority to turn with a x-wind and where was the wind from and how strong? Please expand on this for me and everyone else.

 

Can't remember all the specifics, but it's happened in an R22, R44, and S300 with winds in the 25+ knot range. In every case we were making left pedal turns with a headwind. Maybe "running out of TR authority" isn't the right phrase, but in a dead standstill hover, left pedal turn, before the 90-degree point, the heli stopped yawing (or, in the 300, the power dropped off and I didn't anticipate it). I'm sure there are other ways of dealing, but a little help from the cyclic and the turns were made easily.

 

My overall point was that some maneuvers that go beyond the minimum requirements develop skills that have real-world applications. As you said though, there has to be a balance between efficiency and value versus risk and showboating.

[Mikemv]

It just does not make sense to me to accelerate to do a quick stop. Yes, in training we initiate forward movement to desired airspeed and then execute the stop. I would never dive to a 100kts and 30 feet to do one when I could make a controlled approach begun before diving. What kind of pilot/CFI demonstrates a quick stop to someone with that technique? Sounds like unnecessary showing off! (More cringing here again)

 

I mentioned in some other post here awhile ago that we should fly/operate like we always had to answer to a prosecuting attorney in a court of law not like an extreme video segment on "You Tube"! Be as smooth and professional as you can. Be Safe, MikeMV

[Mungo5]

I think one of the best maneuvers to practice is a proper confined area - something with trees, building, downdrafts etc. Maybe not very much larger than the circle's you lift off from.

 

Afterall that's the sort of work you'll be doing professionally if you choose that route.

 

Get out there into the bush and try some very confined stuff, really concentrates the mind when you've got trees in all directions. Then you begin to understand the box-clearing-turn and why it's best to keep the tail inwards when you do it.

 

Afterall we can all dance around a nice wide open airfield, until the sun goes down.

[Pohi]

omg, yeah. Ag turns and pirouettes are certainly wonderful things to practice for a ppl.

 

If you want to be a super good ppl, practice the low g maneuvers.

 

Or, you could check the pts and work from there.

[R22139RJ]

I have recently submitted a proposal to my flight school to update our flight training procedures to keep up with current times. Included was Low-g, IMC scud running, and CFIT. If other instructors are teaching what was mention in the first post, its time to set ourselves apart from other schools. A few ships are getting old as well. Win. Win.

[apiaguy]

I enjoy all the maneuvers you listed Rick... the helicopter is a wonderful toy. Despite what some anal retentive guys on here are saying I think all of those maneuvers will improve your skill and I'm sure you know there are ones you feel comfortable doing and some you only want to do with an instructor. Have fun.

BTW I think ag turns at the private level are perfectly fine.... my goodness... you perform autorotations before you solo!

[Goldy]

Rick- I think pirouettes really helped increase my level of hover control in the 44. Watch your tail when you're flying around the North helipad, some manuevers might put your tail into that slope. I know in the 44 I wont fly around the box without turing 90 degrees just to keep my tail off that slope.

 

There is a pinnacle about 3 miles south of CMA, right at the start of Mugu airspace. Great lil place to practice, some steep cliffs catch the wind off the ocean and can change your altitude in a hurry.

 

I wouldn't practice low g manuevers for all the money in the world. Been there , did that years ago, and don't need to try it again. Never had to use Ag turns, but then again, never have done any ag work !

 

BTW, great weekend coming up, I may be calling a couple rotor heads to meet up for breakfast Sunday or lunch Saturday.

 

Goldy

[R22139RJ]

Despite what some anal retentive guys on here are saying I think all of those maneuvers will improve your skill

 

I just looked at the updated version of Websters and yes, the definition of safe is now, anal retentive.

 

Am I the only one that flies around and always thinks about where I'm going to land the aircraft when the engine fails? I don't feel a need to sharpen my skills hovering with one skid over a cliff, or pretty much do anything listed previously. Have fun with the engine failure when you are doing ag turns simply for practice.

 

When it becomes necessary to perform these maneuvers I will take the calculated risk. A lot of the times its going to work out great. Engines are made to run, but I refuse to be that guy who kills himself and a student doing maneuvers that a private pilot doesn't need to be doing. Stay Safe.

[rotorbreak]

I enjoy all the maneuvers you listed Rick... the helicopter is a wonderful toy. Despite what some anal retentive guys on here are saying I think all of those maneuvers will improve your skill and I'm sure you know there are ones you feel comfortable doing and some you only want to do with an instructor. Have fun.

BTW I think ag turns at the private level are perfectly fine.... my goodness... you perform autorotations before you solo!

 

 

The Helicopter is not a wonderful TOY! Anal retentive = long career. And ag turns.......come on there not ok at any lvl unless you are a AG PILOT! Autorotations before you solo is so that maybe just maybe you could walk away from an engine failure.

 

On the subject of "quick stops" I hate that term. 100 kts at 30 feet is not needed ask yourself what a quick stop is used for. Is it to avoid a collision at 30 feet and 100kts? why would you be that low and that fast? Or is it a cordination manuver to help refine the skill of all 4 controles?

 

Learn to be a calculated risk taker and you will live old enough to die in your sleep. Become reckless as a pilot and you will die with the last thought in your mind WTF was I thinking?

 

Personally I would fire a instructor I caught doing maneuvers like this with a student

[Pohi]

I enjoy all the maneuvers you listed Rick... the helicopter is a wonderful toy. Despite what some anal retentive guys on here are saying I think all of those maneuvers will improve your skill and I'm sure you know there are ones you feel comfortable doing and some you only want to do with an instructor. Have fun.

BTW I think ag turns at the private level are perfectly fine.... my goodness... you perform autorotations before you solo!

 

I think you are on the wrong forum. Here is the link you should be looking for. http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum

[R22139RJ]

 

My brand new commercial pilot course.

Edited December 17, 2009 by R22139RJ