Emergency landings

[Wally]

Autos that you do in training are done in such a way as to not break anything, and you know its coming. In real life things are not going to be in the cookie cutter mode that you know train for and practice when at flight school or when ever you have to demonstrate one for a check ride! To get an idea of what really happens, read the accident reports, a lot of times a real life auto is do to a failure of some kind or fuel exaustion, results in significant damage to the machine and all to often persons inside the machine, Its an eye opener if you take the time to look at it, I would almost say that an successful auto that results in no or minimal damage to a helicopter is a rare thing when have to do it for real. On the other hand a lot of real life autos end badly. Its not just helicopters, far to often forced landing in airplanes don't go well either!

If there was one fundamental training practice I think distinguished the Vietnam era US Army helicopter flight school it was a priority towards succeeding at forced landings, which required emphasis on autorotation skills. You did at least one touchdown every session with each student and an unanticipated power chop "forced landing" which was usually power-recovered when the outcome was certain. Usually, because you might actually go to the ground after the chop because the engine quit. AT! LEAST! ONE! EACH! DAY!

From day one the student was expected to plan to be able to initiate an auto and have a landing point within reach, because the IP was watching and waiting to catch you slack. Night flights were also included in this policy.

The flight school power chop wasn't as challenging as a real emergency or power failure because the real world isn't restricted to syllabus scenarios and nobody announces "Power failure!" as you feel the throttle slam closed... And it will come down quicker than in training, especially a turbine! But muscle memory and an understanding of the principle mode and techniques of controlling energy with a survivable landing point within reach will enable your survival.

A couple decades back I read that 90% of the emergency landings by the cohort thus trained did not result in fatalities, and a high percentage (comparably) were not damaged beyond the initial failure. Different aircraft, but still...

[r22butters]

It really depends on who's teaching you. When I got my Private I had the fortune of being taught by an experienced pilot. About a third of the way in we did throttle chops on every flight (more if he felt I was getting cocky),...and none of this verbal "engine failure" crap! They do that to me now and I hate it, plus they don't seem to like to chop the throttle anymore either! I fear one day my lightning fast collective slam will just fade away? The only difference is that we weren't allowed to do touchdowns,...only cfis in training had that privilege.

 

Sadly on my Instrument/Commercial training they switched me to a fresh off the assembly line 200hr newbie,...and it was all downhill from there!

 

As for this cyclic back maneuver. I've been a pilot for almost 12yrs now and the first I heard about it was maybe a year ago,...and that wasn't from a cfi on a recurrent training flight, but just surfing through the rumorville. Not sure what to think about it, but its not like they aren't teaching us what to do if the collective is all the way down and the rpm is still low?

Edited November 30, 2014 by r22butters

[Flying Pig]

Ive attended the day and night auto course at Western at least 12 times in good ol "JL". Pete is always mentioned, but you are almost assuredly going to fly with Bob when you attend the course. I flew with Pete once but he was always around the hangar to chat with. The teaching styles and information relayed were the samel. Poor Bob never gets any love Only thing different was that Pete says "Huh?" more

Without actually attending the course vs hearing the description in person on the fly, there is a misunderstanding with the "cyclic back" concept. Ive even heard it relayed that "Aft cyclic is all you really need to do, put the collective down and add pedal when you get the chance. "

 

The idea is that any time you think something may happen, chip light comes on, odd vibration, something isnt right, a minimum, if you do anything at all, make that anything be some aft cyclic while you investigate. Dont keep hauling butt at 110 knots with full forward cyclic while you look around and try to decide if you are in trouble. Aft cyclic, change the airflow so if it goes "bang" while you are looking around, at minimum, you've at least got the airflow coming up to buy yourself a few precious milliseconds to get over the denial of what just happened. Whenever we did autos it was simultaneous, aft cyclic, down collective right pedal. At no time was I ever taught, Aft cyclic.........OK now add down collective and right pedal. The concept is to force yourself to learn muscle memory so whenever anything out of the ordinary happens, your immediate muscle memory reaction needs to be aft cyclic. If you are awesome enough to make aft cyclic, down collective, right pedal all an immediate response when it hits the fan, then outstanding.

 

Ive never had a real auto, however Ive had a few odd vibes, Ive had a few chip lights, and my immediate muscle memory response has been slight aft cyclic. Nothing crazy, I realized that I had already begun lowering the collective and adding a little right pedal anyway. And all of this is happening in the matter of a couple seconds. A couple weeks ago, I saw the Master Caution flicker while orbiting a call.. again, without even telling myself to do it, I had already pulled a little aft cyclic while my brain caught up. I have no idea what that MC was indicating.... although we headed back to the airport out of an abundance of caution just in case.

Edited November 30, 2014 by Flying Pig

[Flying Pig]

 

It really depends on who's teaching you. When I got my Private I had the fortune of being taught by an experienced pilot. About a third of the way in we did throttle chops on every flight (more if he felt I was getting cocky),...and none of this verbal "engine failure" crap!

Thats interesting... I guess the rest of have had it easy. Flying with two of the most well knows experts in the field of EP training, one of the things they absolutely do not do is spring anything on you without briefing it first. When I fly with another pilot at work, we have an understanding that neither pilot will spring any surprise emergencies on the other pilot. Im a rookie still with only about 3500hrs... my partner was over 10,000. But I can tell you that if a CFI ever sprung an EP on me without briefing it first, or at the minimum, me know thing that this course of instruction is autos, stuck pedals, etc. that would be the last time they flew with me. You don't create an emergency to train for one. But thats just me.

Edited November 30, 2014 by Flying Pig

[r22butters]

At one point he said I'm not going to tell you before each flight that there's going to be a throttle chop, just expect one every time we fly. So I was briefed.

 

Saying "engine failure" just doesn't make sense to me since it seems too easy to react to the words instead of paying attention to what the aircraft is actually doing.

 

,...but that's just me.

[Wally]

Have you ever watched a helicopter come past at high cruise? The disk is low in front pulling air down and through the disk. Consider what happens with a sudden loss of power, the blades will decel without engine power, but the aerodynamics that worked to hold speed trim will still be working, the nose will drop, delaying the transition to autorotative (upwards) flow required to keep the rotor in a useful range. Putting the collective down without aft cyclic delays the NR decay but does very little to establish the autorotative airflow except steepen your descent. You are in big trouble, in a second or two the aircraft will be unrecoverable without engine power.

See if you can find the 2011 Mosby Kansas crash NTSB if you need convincing how quickly the situation becomes irreversible if the decel is delayed...

In contrast, think about a quick application of aft cyclic, establishing upwards flow even before the collective is down- you load the rotor, increasing the coning driving the NR up as the air comes up through the disk, and you have an inefficient autorotation established as the airspeed trades for altitude. Remember that a heavier helo autos at about the same rate of descent but at increased NR? If you've done heavy autos (or turning autos) you have probably had to increase collective to control NR. Cyclic back first uses those principles even before putting the collective down.

The stereotypical auto training is not done at a cruise speed or power setting, and the instructor is usually looking for coordination as you establish, coaching your entry point or allowing you to initiate. Other than an opportunity to play with auto parameters, that's all negative habits learned in the real world application of technique for unanticipated power failure.

You won't be expecting it. You won't feel the throttle snap closed or hear the "power failure" announcement, you will spend a long time (it seems) wondering WTF just happened. You will lose NR more quickly than you've ever seen in training (Cyclic back helps with all this and should be the first move in typical flight for any NR decrease). You won't have the option of a power recovery which will be a shock as you look at the engine indications going soft (unless you've had drive train failure, but responding to NR works even as the engine roars away sounding normal). You better have a survivable landing point to turn to or lots of altitude/airspeed to give you time to do your 'fixed wing' glance around and radio consultation.

 

r22butters-

The saying was "There is a right way to do something; a wrong way; and the Army way. Do it the Army way" and that's why it was done in flight school. Besides which, it kept you and the IP from fighting over the controls by confirming that the student had the controls in what could be a distracting moment.

[avbug]

A few hours in an autogryo will make the concept abundantly clear, for those who can't quite visualize it. Well worth the time.

[Hobie]

Here you go Wally:

 

Mosby, MO 6-26-2011 NTSB# CEN11FA599

 

"The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:

 

The pilot's failure to confirm that the helicopter had adequate fuel on board to complete the mission before making the first departure, his improper decision to continue the mission and make a second departure after he became aware of a critically low fuel level, and his failure to successfully enter an autorotation when the engine lost power due to fuel exhaustion. Contributing to the accident were

(1) the pilot's distracted attention due to personal texting during safety-critical ground and flight operations,

(2) his degraded performance due to fatigue,

(3) the operator's lack of a policy requiring that an operational control center specialist be notified of abnormal fuel situations, and

(4) the lack of practice representative of an actual engine failure at cruise airspeed in the pilot's autorotation training in the accident make and model helicopter.

[Goldy]

Glad to see all the more "seasoned" guys chipping in here. OF course getting the collective down is important, as is adding in pedal to trim.....but most of us...including me (at first), were simply never taught the importance of some back cyclic application to get into the auto. Then you can go from there.....extended glides, turns, slips, vertical auto's, etc...as needed to make your spot.

 

Back in the late 80's, it was fairly common at my school for the CFI to do unexpected, unannounced quick throttle chops. Just like it was common to have to demonstrate Low G manuevers in the R22 Alpha we were flying. Not saying these were the safest maneuvers to teach, as time went on, we saw where the loss of life wasn't worth the demonstrations. That said, I'm also not sure teaching students nice slow announced auto entries from 65 knots every time really prepares them as much for the real event.

 

I guess I would encourage anyone who wants more experience in EP's to attend more advanced training, wherever that is.

 

Back on topic, fly a little higher, and expect to use some back cyclic to help you get into the auto and to maintain your rotor rpm....then go from there. Hopefully, I get a few pilots introduced to the importance of the cyclic back manuever from this post, and you put that one in your toolbox.

[Goldy]

Auto vne in the r44 is 100kts. Do they talk about this "cyclic back" thing at the RHC course?

Absolutely they do...as do many CFI's...but the common phrase is "adjust the cyclic to maintain rotor RPM". That's true but it doesnt really emphasize the importance, and the aerodynamics that are involved, in moving the cyclic back. We need to practice both (cyclic and collective), simultaneously, in that precious first two seconds while our brains get a handle on where we are and what's going on.

 

PS...dont try this....but if you take an R44 up to 100 knots and then enter an auto using only the collective down approach that so many CFI's teach....you will watch that RPM drop...and keep dropping....no matter how hard you push that collective down....pretty much what happened with the Astar crash.

 

In emergency situations, we perform exactly as we trained.

[Astro]

If you were flying Alphas in the 80s then chances are you did your training when 180 autos weren't part of the private pilot PTS. So perhaps one day, like 180s, cruise speed autos emphasizing cyclic back will be added?

[Jaybee]

As far as picking a site goes -

 

http://www.bladeslapper.com/m/how_to_crash.pdf

[fleman202]

Thanks everyone who posted answers to my question.

 

My take-aways from the more experienced pilots,

 

- fly a route that gives you plenty of choices for emergencies when possible

 

- don't kill yourself trying to get to the "perfect spot"

 

- make sure to get established in the auto correctly (aft cyclic, down collective, right pedal)

 

Did I miss any other bullet points?

[Flying Pig]

Cruise speed autos are awesome... with a moderate amount of aft cyclic you can actually climb a couple hundred feet you just need to watch to make sure your rotor RPM doesnt spin our rotor head off.

 

One of the biggest issues I have with flight school CFIs doing unannounced EPs or advanced EP maneuvers is usually the person teaching doesn't have the foundation to be doing much beyond the basics to begin with. Or if they do, they learned it after doing it a couple of times at some weekend school and now they are back on Monday teaching it to a commercial student. If Im a student, I don't want my CFI mastering maneuvers along with me. If your school has experienced CFIs who are locked on, then fine. But most students look at their instructors as gods of aviation. its not until much later in their professional careers do they look back and realize their instructor was probably learning right along with them.

[Mikemv]

""""Pete Gillies responds:

I thank Mr. Evans for his comments about my emphasis on applying aft cyclic the moment a drive-line or power failure is detected. This is what I’ve nicknamed “Cyclic Back” since realizing its importance after analyzing the cause of two nearly fatal helicopter accidents in 2002. I’ve been trying my best to spread this word throughout the helicopter industry ever since.

Your analysis of the correct way to enter an autorotation is fine. Certainly a coordinated application of collective down and cyclic back is ideal, and it is the preferred way of entering autorotations when in the training or check-ride environments. All entries should be smooth whenever possible, if for no other reason than not to scare the examiner!

We opened our flight school in 1980 and have successfully trained pilots to PPL and CPL standards ever since. Today the majority of our training hours are dedicated to recurrency training of utility and law enforcement pilots. I think it’s fair to say that we’ve seen it all.

Cyclic Back is not aimed directly at the training environment. Rather, it is aimed directly at those of us who are working pilots flying primarily single-engine helicopters, piston and turbine, who have not seen a CFI or an examiner or any training for at least a year or two, and who have forgotten all we ever knew about autorotations except for “put the pitch down ASAP, glide at 60 knots, flare before you hit the ground, pull all the pitch you can, then just sit up straight, close your eyes and wait until the noise stops.”

I am not addressing the training scenario, Mr. Evans. Far from it. I’m speaking to all the rest of us whose skills have been dimmed by years of routine utility, EMS, ENG, Gulf of Mexico or law enforcement flying, with no engine failures ever. This is a huge audience.

These are the pilots who simply don’t react quickly enough and properly, and end up with the rotor rpm below that critical point where recovery is not possible.

Cyclic Back is probably the best kept secret in the helicopter industry. Think

about it. Put yourself in any airplane, trimmed for cruise in level flight. The

engine quits. What must you do instantly? Answer: nothing. Huh? How about lowering the nose to keep the airspeed above stall? You don’t need to. The nose will drop all by itself, airspeed picks up, the wings begin to lift more, the airplane levels itself and might even begin to climb. What does the pilot do then? Nothing. The airplane takes care of itself! At some point the pilot controls the pitch so that a no-engine landing results. Easy stuff. Summary: No action at all is required by the pilot of an airplane when the engine quits suddenly.

But what about a single-engine helicopter? Or a Bell 212 or 412 whose two engines couple to the main rotor transmission via a single drive shaft?

Same scenario. The engine quits or the drive shaft breaks. Instantly the nose drops and the rotor disc pitches (tips) down. The rotor rpm drops as well. And herein lies the problem: the helicopter is not a fixed-wing airplane. It is a rotary-wing aircraft. We forget that. What most helicopter pilots don’t know is that if the rotor rpm drops about 5 percent below low green, the flight is over. Over! There is no recovery from this situation.

None. Pitot-tube airspeed means absolutely nothing when this surprise emergency develops. Zero. The only airspeed that matters at that moment is the speed over our wings, a k a our rotor blades. And that is related to only one instrument on the panel: the rotor tach. Indicated airspeed comes into play when and if the pilot reacts quickly enough by applying cyclic back and pitch down, preventing the rotor rpm from dropping below red-line. The helicopter is then a flyable aircraft all the way to touchdown. Any and all maneuvers are possible, with one exception: the helicopter will not do a sustained climb. But with the rotor in the green, the ship will do any

maneuver that it could do with the engine running and the pitch down.

If you believe that all helicopter pilots are always expecting an engine failure at any time during flight, you are mistaken. Most pilots who have flown for years and thousands of hours are alert to a point but are not expecting a total power failure at any moment. I’m in this group myself. I trust my engine with my life every day, and I’ve never been disappointed. Very few of us have suffered totally unannounced engine or drive line failures in our careers. And by “totally unannounced” I mean no unusual noises,

surges, chip lights and so forth. From normal to nothing, instantly.

This is where Cyclic Back is absolutely critical, Mr. Evans. Pitch down immediately? Sure!

Of course! But too many experienced pilots then go for an ideal airspeed, not realizing that putting the pitch down does only one thing: it reduces the speed at which the rotor rpm is falling.

It does absolutely nothing to stop the rpm from falling or to cause it to increase. This is the most critical thing about lowering the collective.

Pilots tend to think that bottoming the collective quickly is the key to continuing an autorotation. Sometimes it works, especially if the helicopter is in a low-power descent. But even then, if the cyclic is not brought back in time, the rotor rpm will fall below that critical point from which there is no recovery.

You asked how much cyclic. When pilots are trained to lower the collective at the first sign of a power failure, do we tell them to do it at a speed and to a degree based on the pilot’s evaluation of airspeed, power being pulled, and so forth? Of course not. Put the collective down now. All the way down. If rotor rpm appears to be going over the upper red-line, modulate the collective accordingly.

The cyclic must be handled the same way. Start it back now. Remember this: in a real-world engine failure, the rotor rpm is already falling by the time the pilot wakes up (reaction time) and senses that there is a problem. The rotor rpm is already heading for low green. Again, the only thing that will stop the drop and cause the rotor rpm to increase is applying aft cyclic.

How much aft cyclic? In some helicopters, yanking it back when the rotor rpm is already low is a mistake. I’m not advocating “yanking” it back. But don’t hesitate. Start it back immediately. And don’t take time to troubleshoot the problem before starting the cyclic back and lowering the collective. Those precious seconds taken to examine the panel, the blinking lights, the noise of the horn, to try to decide if the engine has actually failed, may determine if the helicopter can get into a normal autorotation or if it is

just going to be an object falling all the way to the ground or water.

Go back to the airplane analogy above. Pilot does nothing. Nothing bad happens. But if the helicopter pilot does not get the cyclic back in time, the result is equivalent to an airplane losing a wing in flight. Airplane loses its left or right wing. It then immediately rolls to the no-wing side. There is no recovery possible.

Helicopter pilot bottoms the collective but does not get the cyclic back in time. Rotor rpm drops below the critical point. Retreating blades stall. Helicopter rolls toward that side. Pilot attempts to level the helicopter with opposite cyclic. Result: the roll increases because the blades that are stalling are now at a higher angle of attack, increasing the severity of the stall. Again, no recovery is possible.

And during this exciting descent, what happens to the rotor rpm? It continues to decrease, all the way to zero or backward, depending on how high above ground the helicopter was when the emergency began. Witnesses will report that the rotor blades were hardly turning, or were stopped, or were turning backward. And the wreckage usually shows something obvious: one or more rotor blades will have little damage caused by rotation.

The NTSB report on the crash of an MD-600 in 2002 said that one of the six rotor blades had no damage at all. It was climbing away from our airport to begin a routine patrol. The helicopter was destroyed by crash damage and fire, but the law-enforcement crew survived, fortunately, because of the crashworthiness of the airframe and the fact that the engine failure occurred at about 400 feet agl. And yes, the pilot reported that he

bottomed the collective as soon as the engine quit, but he did not apply aft cyclic, going instead for airspeed by lowering the nose.

Summary: When an engine or drive-line failure occurs without warning, the

most important flight control in the cockpit is the cyclic. If the pilot happens to have both hands on both flight controls, well sure, lower the collective simultaneously. But if not (you never remove your hand from the collective for any reason, right?), don’t take time to change hands. Start the cyclic back now, and follow with the collective ASAP.

Then, with your rotary wings flying nicely, you can go for whatever airspeed you need to finish the autorotation. Fly like your life depends on it. And as far as rotor overspeed is concerned in a real-world situation like this, let me ask this question: When was the last time you heard about a helicopter shedding a rotor blade from overspeed?

A final comment: Please show me any helicopter training material from the FAA that mentions applying any aft cyclic when entering an autorotation. And the same goes for the FAA-approved rotorcraft flight manuals

found in helicopters certified to fly in the U.S. This, to me, is almost a criminal oversight. The primary reason for it is that most of our “experts” who write and edit helicopter training materials and rotorcraft flight manuals either do not know about the importance of applying aft cyclic, or they are instructed to avoid mentioning it because the result of not quickly applying aft cyclic and the resulting crash “does not sell helicopters.”

There are flight instructors like yourself all over the world who know the importance of applying aft cyclic and simultaneously lowering the collective during the entry to an autorotation, but the scenario is almost always the training environment. Apply aft cyclic as necessary to regain the same airframe attitude present before the throttle was chopped. And hey, it works fine. No problem. A good autorotation entry in training is often so smooth that even if the throttle is chopped initially, a passenger would not realize that a simulated engine failure has occurred.

I respect you, sir, and appreciate your response and interest in Cyclic Back!"""""

Edited December 1, 2014 by Mikemv

[fleman202]

Thank you for this! I am a lower time pilot who is still doing his best to form the "correct" life long habits. This explanation really makes sense.

 

Thank you

[Goldy]

"Summary: When an engine or drive-line failure occurs without warning, the

most important flight control in the cockpit is the cyclic"...

Yeah, what he said...

So Fly Safe,

Goldy

[500E]

Wallys quote

"You have to plan for the power failure before it happens because it will surprise you, delaying your response, and the pig will come out of the sky faster than in training, in my experience. Choose a route that keeps a survivable landing within reach, upwind, or be high enough to turn to one that's flat, level, hard and long enough to hit and walk away. Know where it is".

Ain't that true, had one hickup thought I had quick reactions, dont think the motor had stoped turning before I had pole down, RPM was a lot lower than I felt happy with., the rear cyclic right pedal was part of colective down reaction,

Collective down cyclic back right pedal, check RRpm in green you have all ready sussed a landing sit by this time I hope, as some one said dont look for the furthest glide unless there is NO chance of walking, the vertical auto that Goldy talked about can be a life saver as well

PS

Still cant get spell check to work only on this site

[iChris]

 

"Summary: When an engine or drive-line failure occurs without warning, the

most important flight control in the cockpit is the cyclic"...

 

No need to fall overboard on this “cyclic back.” It’s becoming cultic with people giving importance to one flight control over the other. Bidding the importance of the three pools of energies off against each other.

 

Both the collective and cyclic are of equal importance during autorotation. Understanding the importance of the three energy pools, potential, kinetic, and rotational is key to the successful outcome of any autorotation.

 

Lowering of collective and applying aft cyclic should be accomplished simultaneously. Just like low rpm recovery, lower collective and roll on throttle simultaneously (reduce drag and add energy a.s.a.p.).

 

“In most helicopters, it takes only seconds for the rpm decay to fall into a minimum safe range. Aviators must quickly reduce collective pitch to prevent excessive rpm decay. A cyclic flare will help prevent excessive decay if the failure occurs at high speed.

 

- U.S. Army FM 1-203; 1983”

 

 

There is an alternate procedure, however, that can work if the power failure has occurred at a moderately high forward speed. In this situation, the pilot can take advantage of the kinetic energy associated with forward speed by doing a mild cyclic flare before lowering the collective pitch.

 

This puts the rotor into a nose-up attitude that reduces the decelerating torque and maintains thrust and altitude until the forward speed is decreased to the best autorotational speed. At that point, the collective pitch is reduced for entry into autorotation.

 

I know of one test pilot who developed this technique on a UH -1 to the point where he could delay dropping the collective for nine seconds after the power chop. I also know of one test pilot who takes exception to this alternative procedure. Bob Ferry of Hughes says, "Always lower the collective pitch the very first thing! I know of several dead pilots who didn't."

 

-Coping with Power Failure; Ray W. Prouty; 1979

 

 

Sometimes it not what you should do with the cyclic, it’s what you should never do with the cyclic on entry to autorotation…

 

 

When the helicopter is "pushed over" (that is, when the nose is lowered) into a glide, the rotor system angle of attack is diminished. This causes the helicopter to accelerate downward and lengthens the time required to complete the auto rotational transitions.

 

That is, the time required for the helicopter airspeed, rotor RPM, and rate of descent to stabilize would be greater than if the helicopter were already in the autorotative descending attitude with best autorotational airspeed at the time of engine failure.

 

- FAA AC 61-13; 1973

Edited December 4, 2014 by iChris

[r22butters]

I'm not sure I'm ready to just automatically pull aft cyclic if the engine fails. During practice autos (and even surprise throttle chops) in the R-22 (around 60-80 kts on average) almost imediately after lowering the collective I find myself pulling up on it a bit to stop an overspeed. Surely if I added aft cyclic simultaniously I'd definitely overspeed?

 

Cruise speed, hand off the collective, slower reaction,...probably? This is something I definetely need to try,...maybe the next time I'm at RHC?

[Gomer Pylot]

If you don't lower the collective fully, you shouldn't overspeed the rotor. Put in whatever control input it takes to make the aircraft do what you want it to. Never, ever rely on only one control, or one control input. Being a pilot requires judgment and practice. That said, my normal reaction to anything unexpected has always been to reduce power and slow down. Caution light flicker, gauge flicker, unexpected noise, whatever it is, I put in some aft cyclic and lower the collective, plus pedal to keep it in trim. Coordinated control movements are always better than uncoordinated, and moving just one control can kill you as quickly as anything else. If you can't make coordinated control movements and keep everything in trim, then you aren't a very good pilot, and you need more practice. I agree that aft cyclic is needed to enter autorotation, but lowering the collective and putting in the proper pedal movement are also needed. Harping on one over the others is, IMO, misguided. You have to use whatever control movements it takes to master the machine.

[Nearly Retired]

Lo, those many years ago when I was flying 206's for PHI there was a sea-change in the way they taught autorotation entries from cruise. One day IP Pat Attaway (great guy - God love him) and I were out seeing if I was still qualified to fly for that chicken outfit (I was, apparently.) His recommendation upon the throttle-chop was to first make an aft cyclic input. This loaded the rotor and got the disk tilted back so it could more easily transition from powered flight to autorotative state - something that does not happen instantaneously.

 

This was especially critical in the L-series. If you merely slam the pitch down in an 206L at high speed, the nose drops and the transmission comes down off the Nodamatic mount. The resulting bounce can break windows and cause structural damage. In fact, I think PHI had exactly that happen in training so they modified their auto-entry technique. I think the UH-1/205 series does the same thing, but I could be wrong.

 

And no, iChris, it's not that we're becoming cultic about it - but rather emphasizing the importance of cyclic back first upon engine failure in cruise. We're not saying that there's no need to lower the collective. You can't just sit there in that nose-high attitude...doop-de-doop while the speed and subsequently rotor RPM go to hell - OBVIOUSLY you have to lower the collective. And hey, the two control inputs can even be done simultaneously - imagine that! The point is: Get the nose up! UP!

 

That poor Astar pilot in Mosby, MO had only seconds to react when his engine ran out of fuel and quit during his screaming shallow, desperate descent toward that airport. Trouble was, he quite obviously blew the entry - and he should have been ready for it! Come on! I wasn't in the ship with him that day, of course, but I'd wager that if he'd pulled smartly back on the cyclic instead of just slamming the collective down the end result might have not been so lawn-darty tragic. But who knows.

 

In training, we typically practice engine failures from something lower than cruise airspeed. We'll be chugging along at around 80 knots on downwind and the IP will initiate the emergency. Heck, 80 knots is hardly much more nose-down than 60. We dutifully lower the collecteve, set a level cabin attitude (which we're almost already at) and then turn into the wind to land. Easy-peasy!

 

But from 110 knots or so it's a different story. That is where it's much more important to get the nose up first.

 

Remember the other PHI accident...the S-76 that had a bird come through the windscreen and knock the FCL's out of "FLY?" In the chaos and confusion of that cockpit...the shattering plastic, all the noise, papers/magazines flying around, probably knocked the sausage biscuit out of the PIC's hands...neither of the pilots noticed the rotor RPM heading south until it was too late. Anectdotally, according to a friend of mine who was flying S-76's for PHI at the time, the sim instructors introduced the same sort of failure during subsequent Recurrent training sessions. Many, many pilots failed to perform the EP successfully and crashed.

 

We focus and focus and harp on it, but it's not "just" about getting the pitch down first. In fact, that can be the exact wrong thing to do.

[Spike]

In training, we typically practice engine failures from something lower than cruise airspeed. We'll be chugging along at around 80 knots on downwind and the IP will initiate the emergency. Heck, 80 knots is hardly much more nose-down than 60. We dutifully lower the collecteve, set a level cabin attitude (which we're almost already at) and then turn into the wind to land. Easy-peasy!

Thus, enabling a bad habit and worse yet, cloaked as a “standard".....

Edited December 4, 2014 by Spike

[iChris]

Handbook updates (and some errata sheets) are being discussed to coincide with the new Integrated Airman Certification Standards.

 

Here is a link to the USHST Safety Bulletin on the subject:

http://www.ihst.org/portals/54/QR4.pdf

 

Here is a link to all of the Safety Bulletins available:

http://www.ushst.org/nbspnbspBulletinsnbsp.aspx

 

Note the free app to have these on your mobile device!

 

Mike

USHST JHSIT TWG.

 

The USHST first Safety Bulletin link above has it right on:

 

If your engine fails (simulated or real):

 

Positively and fully lower the collective. · Apply proper aft cyclic to hold or adjust for the auto attitude to conserve or recover RRPM or Nr.

 

I'm not sure I'm ready to just automatically pull aft cyclic if the engine fails.

 

During practice autos (and even surprise throttle chops) in the R-22 (around 60-80 kts on average) almost imediately after lowering the collective I find myself pulling up on it a bit to stop an overspeed. Surely if I added aft cyclic simultaniously I'd definitely overspeed?

 

Cruise speed, hand off the collective, slower reaction,...probably? This is something I definetely need to try,...maybe the next time I'm at RHC?

 

At the higher forward flight speeds, you’ll need the aft cyclic during the real thing when you’re 2.5 seconds late recognizing the engine just quit. In fact, you probably already move the cyclic aft following those throttle chops. Most pilot will ease the cyclic back following surprise throttle chops as a subconscious reaction to the sudden yaw, sink, and nose drop. This subconscious reaction is more common to the cyclic vs. collective. If you’re a CFI, take a closer look at your student’s reaction to throttle chops.

 

You’re dealing with the R22 with its low inertia rotors; rpm will decay rapidly but also can be recovered rapidly. If you remember the old RHC horsepower recovery chart, if speed decrease from 90kts to 84kts (Only Δ6kts) that will recover 100 HP-SEC of energy back to the rotor system. Therefore, it doesn’t take that much aft cyclic to recover rpm when you have the airspeed.

 

We’ve demonstrated the importance of the aft cyclic; however, don’t over emphasize or underestimate any one variable, understand all the variables. The autorotation is not a textbook or by the numbers maneuver. You must learn from actual flight experience how to manipulate all the variables with respect to the helicopter’s characteristics and the environment you’re flying in.

 

It’s mostly visual judgment gained by practice and experience. They can hype phrases all day long, but you need a foundation, based on experience, to build upon. You’re training should include entry at different airspeeds 0, 60, 80, 100, etc. Also include entries from the high hover, climbs, takeoffs, and from descents. If you’re getting this type of training and recurrent training, you’ll know what to do with the cyclic and collective without all the hype. You've got to experience it in flight in the helicopter.

 

From your training experience you’ll learn and understand what’s needed and when it’s needed. Example, some helicopters will initially drop vertically following a throttle chop from a high hover prior to any control input. Initially doing the right thing off the bat, starting the airflow up through the rotors. However, shortly after lowering the collective and without cyclic input, the rotor will flap down and forward. Not knowing that from experience and moving the cyclic forward on entry to gain airspeed, would in a very short time, put you in an extremely nose down attitude. This delayed nose down effect is especially noticeable from helicopters with teetering rotors.

 

From my post above, you can see this stuff has been around for over 35 years. You've got to ask yourself why your instructors never taught you this stuff. You've got to experience it in flight in the helicopter from an experienced instructor.

Edited December 7, 2014 by iChris

[Goldy]

Lo, those many years ago when I was flying 206's for PHI there was a sea-change in the way they taught autorotation entries from cruise. One day IP Pat Attaway (great guy - God love him) and I were out seeing if I was still qualified to fly for that chicken outfit (I was, apparently.) His recommendation upon the throttle-chop was to first make an aft cyclic input. This loaded the rotor and got the disk tilted back so it could more easily transition from powered flight to autorotative state - something that does not happen instantaneously.

 

This was especially critical in the L-series. If you merely slam the pitch down in an 206L at high speed, the nose drops and the transmission comes down off the Nodamatic mount. The resulting bounce can break windows and cause structural damage. In fact, I think PHI had exactly that happen in training so they modified their auto-entry technique. I think the UH-1/205 series does the same thing, but I could be wrong.

 

And no, iChris, it's not that we're becoming cultic about it - but rather emphasizing the importance of cyclic back first upon engine failure in cruise. We're not saying that there's no need to lower the collective. You can't just sit there in that nose-high attitude...doop-de-doop while the speed and subsequently rotor RPM go to hell - OBVIOUSLY you have to lower the collective. And hey, the two control inputs can even be done simultaneously - imagine that! The point is: Get the nose up! UP!

 

That poor Astar pilot in Mosby, MO had only seconds to react when his engine ran out of fuel and quit during his screaming shallow, desperate descent toward that airport. Trouble was, he quite obviously blew the entry - and he should have been ready for it! Come on! I wasn't in the ship with him that day, of course, but I'd wager that if he'd pulled smartly back on the cyclic instead of just slamming the collective down the end result might have not been so lawn-darty tragic. But who knows.

 

In training, we typically practice engine failures from something lower than cruise airspeed. We'll be chugging along at around 80 knots on downwind and the IP will initiate the emergency. Heck, 80 knots is hardly much more nose-down than 60. We dutifully lower the collecteve, set a level cabin attitude (which we're almost already at) and then turn into the wind to land. Easy-peasy!

 

But from 110 knots or so it's a different story. That is where it's much more important to get the nose up first.

 

Remember the other PHI accident...the S-76 that had a bird come through the windscreen and knock the FCL's out of "FLY?" In the chaos and confusion of that cockpit...the shattering plastic, all the noise, papers/magazines flying around, probably knocked the sausage biscuit out of the PIC's hands...neither of the pilots noticed the rotor RPM heading south until it was too late. Anectdotally, according to a friend of mine who was flying S-76's for PHI at the time, the sim instructors introduced the same sort of failure during subsequent Recurrent training sessions. Many, many pilots failed to perform the EP successfully and crashed.

 

We focus and focus and harp on it, but it's not "just" about getting the pitch down first. In fact, that can be the exact wrong thing to do.

NR- exactly....

 

Butters, you have to remember you are initiating the auto, so the RPM has not drooped yet. In a real auto, you have recognition and reaction time and the RPM will be dropping the entire time....whatever time that is. We're talking real engine failures here, not practice ones. If you go to Robbie school, I recommend you fly with Simon if you can.

 

Anyway yes, why the heck don't CFI's teach more of this concept. By focusing ONLY on the collective, you miss the boat. If I ask 100 private helo pilots what to do in case of an engine failure most will only think of the collective and right pedal.

 

I guess that is really what my whole point was to begin with.