10 hour course produces overconfident moron

Matt321 · April 26, 2015

Not a lot of recent posts here so I figured I'd post one of my stupid decisions for everyone to learn from.

I had just graduated from the Army's high altitude mountain course and thought I was pretty awesome. My commander wanted to go out and learn something from his newly minted mountain guru so we decided to go out for a quick training flight. I was flying an old but reliable UH-1 at the time. We knocked out a quick preflight and all the other Army bs and headed out to the training area. It was a windy day with gusts around 25 kts at the airfield, warm, and we were loaded up pretty good with all the medevac stuff and hoist etc. I had a nice pinnacle in mind at about 4500 msl that I thought would really showcase my awesome technique and show my commander what a stellar pilot I was.

As we got up to the training area we found the pinnacle quickly; it was a decent little hill that jutted out from a ridgeline and was slightly higher. Winds were out of the west and after doing our wind drift circle we realized winds were about 45 kts out of the west at the pinnacle. In my infinite wisdom I figured no biggie, we'll just ride that monster demarcation line down, what could be easier? So I go through my really cool sounding landing brief doing my expert wind and terrain analysis, explaining to my commander about the downdrafts and other areas to avoid, and of course, the escape route.

In a Huey at high altitude, a down and right escape route works well if rotor droop is encountered and I had that stuck in my head from the course. Obviously, the intent is not to disregard a 45 kt wind and stick with the down and right escape but that's exactly what I did. We made our approach into the wind which put the pinnacle dead ahead and the ridgeline at an angle to the right which meant the my escape plan required a right turn off of the pinnacle to the downsloping terrain over the lee side of the ridge. A great plan with no wind.

Initially, we rode the demarcation line down, practically autorotating down the updraft to the site. My LZ was just about under my feet and we were about 200 agl. I got a little uncomfortable because even though I thought I was the man, I had almost no mountain experience and this kind of approach felt odd. So I did something really dumb - I slowed down a bit so that I could see the LZ better rather than look over my toes. Like an elevator with the cable suddenly cut we dropped out of the sky and then I made my second mistake.

I executed my briefed and poorly planned escape route designed for a situation I had not encountered. I turned right, down the lee side of the ridge. Due to the odd angle of the adjacent ridge and the kicking winds, I actually put myself into a bit of a tailwind and turbulence as I turned further aggravating my descent. The ridgeline got closer and closer as I pushed the nose down to try to regain airspeed. I pulled as much collective as I dared, willing myself not to yank it up to my armpit and seal my fate. We skimmed the back side of that ridgeline a couple feet off the ground fighting the wind and finally gained enough airspeed to level out and climb back up. My hands were actually shaking as we headed back home.

A 10 hr course does not produce an expert. In my case, it produced a liability.

BH206L3 · April 26, 2015

Well you learned something from it, so it was not a total waste! You didn't kill yourself or those on board the machine! You will remember this one for the rest of your flying career! Learning to fly is fairly simple, gaining the wisdom and experience that is the hard part! The kind of helicopters I fly, I would wanted to be someplace else, 25 Kts on the ground could be double or more in the mountains not a day to go up into the hills, on the civil side of things that would be a good call, for you in the Army well you might have guys you have to go and get different thing altogether! I have a few boy I will never do that one again type lessons too!

Spike · April 27, 2015

Good story with a valuable lesson. Told this way, this IS the epitome of todays “hangar talk”.

Thank you for sharing....

Edited April 27, 2015 by Spike

RagMan · April 27, 2015

A valuable lesson indeed. Always have to remember not to get ahead of yourself or your experience. Start small, and work your way up. A staircase to experience.

Thanks for sharing. Fly safe

eagle5 · April 28, 2015

Wind drift circle? Demarcation line?

What might those be?

Eric Hunt · April 28, 2015

Jeez, Eagle, who missed a few things while teaching you to fly?

A wind drift circle is flown to allow you to see where the wind is coming from.

The demarcation line is the boundary between the free-moving wind and the turbulent airflow caused by the mountain/ridge/whatever. Goggle them up, see lots of good pictures.

Matt, your commander was a goose for allowing you to take a teetering-head Huey out into the hills in conditions like that. And your newly-acquired training should have given you the knowledge to say "Not today, sir" for a training mission. A no-duff dustoff is a different matter, but a training flight can wait for the wind to abate a little.

Matt321 · April 28, 2015

M

Matt321 · April 28, 2015

M

eagle5 · April 29, 2015

OK not to sound like a slow learner again, but he said he made the approach into the wind, and the wind was 45kts, so why did he start to fall once he slowed down?

rotormandan · April 29, 2015

The pictures eric speaks of will clear that up

eagle5 · April 29, 2015

We must be using different Googles?

Eric Hunt · April 29, 2015

Mountain Operations.ppt - FLY OSA
www.flyosa.com/.../Annual%20Review%20-%20Mountain%20Operatio...

Less turbulent than both prevailing and local winds. Demarcation Line - The point which seperates the upflow from the downflow of air. Types of Mountain Wind ...

[PDF]PINNACLES

www.v2helicopters.com.au/wp.../300CBi-LESSON-19-PINNACLES.pdf

The demarcation line is where the airflow changes from updraughting air to downdraughting air. In flight it is often felt as turbulence and you will notice you will.

[PDF]IALL 08-05 Wind and Terrain Analysis

www.fs.fed.us/fire/.../IALL%2008-05%20Mountain%20Turbulence.pdf

Aug 22, 2008 - Discussion: Mountain wind and turbulence have been a factor in several DOI ... The demarcation line's angle and height is established by three.

Professional Helicopter Pilot Studies - Page 8-13 - Google Books Result

https://books.google.com.au/books?isbn=097802690X

Croucher Phil - 2007

An aircraft affected by mountain waves can expect severe turbulence below any rotors, ... In the picture on the left, the snow follows the demarcation line.

Jar Private Pilot Studies - Page 7-9 - Google Books Result

https://books.google.com.au/books?isbn=0973225319

Phil Croucher - 2005

Wind THE DEMARCATION LINE The demarcation line is the point at which smooth air is separated from turbulent air around a peak, rather similar to that over ...

[PDF]Techniques for Helicopter Operations in Hilly and ...

www.mobilit.belgium.be/nl/binaries/HE7_tcm466-262473.pdf

On a windward slope turbulence rarely exists and the resulting up-draughts can be ... demarcation line between up-draughting and down-draughting air will, ...

Matt321 · April 29, 2015

Eric, thanks for the explanation. My commander trusted me to make good decisions based on my reputation and like all my other commanders, he was an inexperienced aviator. I let him down that day but fortunately he forgave me and continued to trust my judgement. I had the knowledge to say no, but the ego to say yes.

Spike · April 29, 2015

Demarcation line......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bwfwIfolbc

Rupert · May 2, 2015

Thanks to Matt321 for sharing his experience in such an insightful manner.

I had almost the same thing happen to me flying seismic for Rocky Mountain back in the '70's, except my experience involved morning down-flow winds. I escaped by significantly over-torquing an almost brand-new helicopter.

By "same thing," I mean I had to take a down wind escape route because of poor planning.

Ironically, I had only weeks before completed a 10 hour course of mountain flying, all above 10,000' in and around Provo, Utah. I received this training from an internationally-recognized mountain pilot who had received the Robert E. Trimble award for distinguished mountain flying. During my training, my instructor described exactly the situation in which I placed myself within weeks.

So, poor planning. In order to take advantage of a more favorable head wind, I consciously accepted a down wind right escape route, thinking I probably wouldn't need it. In other words, I made a joke out of an important safety-planning factor, gambling that I wouldn't need it.

For the reader: in an American left-footed helicopter, at high density altitude, one must absolutely have a RIGHT escape route, downhill, and into either neutral or head winds, but not down winds. If one cannot figure out how to make the approach with a RIGHT escape route and not down wind, then decline the approach and landing zone.

The above applies to seriously high DA's and msl elevations. Seriously-high varies with the helicopter. In my opinion, the industry needs to define any situation in which the helicopter does not have HOGE capability as seriously high. Yes, I've done a running landing at 13,200' msl because I couldn't hover even in ground effect, but, in hindsight, I consider that type of thinking irresponsible and comparable to gambling with lives.

In today's world of modern high-powered helicotpers, if you don't have HOGE capability then have a RIGHT escape route. Believe me, I have found myself in situations where the helicopter would not go left. It happens at the very limits of a helicopter's performance, and it will happen when you LEAST need it to happen. The helicopter won't go left, but it will go right, easily. For a French or Russian helicopter, flip everything over and think LEFT escape route.

Which brings me to the real reason I responded to this thread.

Matt321 did everyone who reads this thread a good service. Matt321 did this courageously and sincerely. I learned from his experience. Thank you, Matt321.

Unhappily, some people use another person's honesty and sincerity in order to elevate themselves by putting down the honest and sincere person. This disrespect, in order to elevate oneself, stinks. I've done it myself and I stink. I regret it.

As for now and YOU, you need to grow up and stop stinking. No need to point you out, eh? Stop stinking. Not hard to do. Just share your knowledge without putting other people down in order to elevate your self.