Flying Sideways

[C of G]

I use lateral flight to re-mask when I'm against a barrier. Aircraft doesn't care what direction its flying.

 

The rotor doesn't, but the rest of the aircraft does. Certainly lateral flight produces stresses on the tailboom as well as increasing drag on the rest of the fuselage, as Jimbo stated with an EC135 vertical fin as an example. So power can be in issue.

 

Re-masking shouldn't be too much of an issue, as you had the power to move laterally in the first place, I'm sure.

Edited August 3, 2012 by C of G

[akscott60]

Well, I stay well within my 35 knot sideward and rearward, depending on CG condition, limitation.

 

Power is always an issue with us. Most OGE hovers to clear my MMS around here in Alabama results in near 100% TQ.

 

Oh, and I usually unmasked vertically out here, slowwwly cause I have no power, and masked laterally..... because I have no power

Edited August 3, 2012 by akscott60

[eagle5]

My question would be...... How the heck did you get there to begin with???? Did someone build an apartment complex around your helicopter while you were getting lunch?

 

Training exercise designed to make you think!

 

At one point afterwards he did say that he was hoping I wouldn't be able to get out. At that point, he said, I would have had to land, kick him out, and pick him up after he walked out to the other side!

Edited August 4, 2012 by eagle5

[Pohi]

 

 

Training exercise designed to make you think!

 

At one point afterwards he did say that he was hoping I wouldn't be able to get out. At that point, he said, I would have had to land, kick him out, and pick him up after he walked out to the other side!

 

Haha, I always told my students that if they landed where we couldn't get out that they were walking :-)

[apiaguy]

so I went out monday and tried this back and forth take-off thingy... I accelerated to approx 25-30 kts (attempting to stay within my confined area limits set forth on the ground) then pulled her back to transition into rearward flight thru etl and then forward again... OK, it works, but I can't imagine this would ever be a good idea. 1st, if you had enough room to accelerate thru etl you would probabally have enough lift and energy to clear your object... if you didn't and you were truely at your hover ceiling the rearward flight is super sketchy and if you don't accelerate hard enough in reverse you will find yourself coming back down rearward and possibly a hard landing. That's what happened on my 1st attempt (except the hard landing part). 2nd attempt went better and I was successful at holding my 3ft hover mp thru the maneuver and attaining a 50 ft balloon on the 1st pull up and holding it as I transitioned backwards... then a slight zoom forward to accelerate again and pull up to at least 100 ft... I would never recommend this maneuver.... time to consider other options.

[aeroscout]

The pot stir input someone mentioned. It will always spill lift, regardless of direction you circle the cyclic.

[nightsta1ker]

I demonstrate this quite often to commercial students doing confined area training: Clear the area and make sure you have tail rotor clearance all the way around the helicopter and plenty of it. Let off the left pedal into a controllable right hand spin. Voila! Extra power! Often times it can give you that extra bit of juice to get out of a real tight spot. If you have more room. fly a tight circular pattern at ETL, always make you turn to the right and keep it as flat as possible using mostly pedal, this gives you more power to the main rotor because of less left pedal required, and staying flat keeps you from losing lift from banking. Fly this tight pattern and gradually gain altitude until you can clear your obstacle. Neither of these maneuvers requires any backwards flying and they both work.

 

I actually picked that up after reading "Chickenhawk" and decided I wanted to see if it worked. It does! And I can execute it in a very safe manner, even in a confined space. You have to be very cautious though. Always know how much room the helicopter takes up. I don't need to tell you what could happen if you don't stay within your confined area.

 

Now. Having said that, that's not something I would recommend a student or private pilot trying out without proper supervision.

[akscott60]

Ha, I did that a couple times in BWS in the 58AC. Its fun.