NEW HELICOPTER DVD

[Helicopter Concepts]

Hello Everyone!

 

I wanted to make you aware that there is a new helicopter DVD available. You may have seen our ad on this forum or on page 12 of Heli-Ops Magazine.

 

Autorotations in the R22 is an interactive training DVD that is approximately 75 minutes in length. Join Timothy Tucker (Chief Instructor, Robinson R22/R44 Safety Course) and Michael Zangara (Former Robinson Test Pilot) as they provide an instructor's view of Autorotations in the R22 helicopter! With over 45 years of combined experience and 25,000+ flight hours, Mike and Tim provide a unique insight into autorotations like you've never seen before. This exciting live action video will simplify and explain the basics of autorotation aerodynamics and the four-phases of autorotation.

 

See what an autorotation looks like from the pilot's perspective, as well as other views from both inside and outside the cockpit. Special cameras and techniques were used to capture thrilling never-before-seen video of R22 autorotations in action! This interactive training DVD includes a variety of helicopter concepts that are presented using easy to understand phrases and state-of-the-art computer animation. No pilot should be without this important safety information!

 

The video is available for $39.95 USD and can be purchased from http://www.helicopterconcepts.com/products.htm

 

Sample videos are also available for download from our website. These online samples provide a fast-paced glimpse of what to expect from our products, such as the Autorotations in the R22 DVD. Several file sizes are included, so turn up your computer speakers and enjoy the show! You can download these video files from the following URL (follow the instructions at the top of the page): http://www.helicopterconcepts.com/links.htm

[Witch]

Ah, the joy of marketing.

[AJA]

Has anyone viewed this DVD? If so, how was it, & is it worth the forty bucks?

 

Thanks,

 

AJA

[Helicopter Concepts]

Today, I received an e-mail from a customer in Baltimore who said...

 

"Just completed viewing new R22 Autorotation DVD. EXCELLENT. Camera work & appropriate repetition of key teaching points were very useful."

 

Helicopter Concepts is getting written endorsements from names you will probably recognize in the helicopter community. As soon as hardcopy is available, we will post an online version for viewing. The product hasn't been out for long, and we've improved our shipping process so that orders should be received in 1-3 weeks instead of 4-6 weeks.

 

Sample videos are also available for download from our website at http://www.helicopterconcepts.com/links.htm

[Worldcrime]

I bought it. I'm not happy. Send me an email.

Richard

[Helicopter Concepts]

Richard,

 

That's interesting, because I just received a personal phone call from one of the Directors at the NTSB Southeast Regional Office concerning our new video, Autorotations in the R22. This gentleman was so impressed with the DVD that he felt the need to call Helicopter Concepts and express his appreciation. Honestly, I was somewhat shocked because I didn't expect that kind of response from a customer, let alone a government official who works at the NTSB.

 

After explaining that his entire office watched the video and was extremely impressed, he also wrote me an e-mail and said, "A very good product indeed to augment my personal flight training." In my personal opinion, the Autorotations in the R22 DVD could be much MUCH better than its current state, but it is good to know that this kind of product is being well-received and it will help us to continue to improve our offerings.

 

It is impossible to put everything that each individual instructor may want to see in this first video, but please don't hesitate to contact me at Info@HelicopterConcepts.com if you have any other questions or comments. We take your input VERY seriously!

 

Thank you for the opportunity to serve you,

 

Helicopter Concepts

[klas]

I received mine recently, and the main program is actually about 40-some minutes. The extra time must be from the 'bonus' footage.

 

First let me say I am very glad this type of material is out there, and I will order the future DVD re full-touchdowns. I am only writing this in the hopes that others offer reviews as well.

 

I did like it & found it useful, but found that the repetition that your reviewer referred to be a little to repetative in that I was getting to the point where I was saying, "all right, already, move on". I thought the repetition might be so you can be able to extend the time on the DVD; it probably could've been cut about 10 minutes - although that it is not saying repetion is not beneficial; I do see the benefits of it. However, that same repetition can be created by the user just replaying the portion of the DVD over and over again.

 

The music of the DVD... well....a couple of times it was too loud, esp. the commercial for Vertical, but then OK on other parts - you would have to adjust the volumn on your TV on more than one occasion.

 

The 'bonus' footage I was ready to end after a few minutes but it kept going on and on but I couldn't stop it in hopes I would see something different, but there wasn't. (Maybe showing how long each of the clips are in future training DVD's would nice).

 

Other than that, again, thanks for offering the program, and look forward to your other products.

[Helicopter Concepts]

Klas,

 

Thank you very much for your feedback! The repetition was done purposefully, and is a technique often used during instructional videos... especially to emphasize some of the more important safety considerations that are often over-looked during flight instruction. However, I'll make sure to add your comments for consideration on our next product. We DO have a feedback board in our office and we actually consider your input from the field a VALUED commodity.

 

Furthermore, I will probably create a new thread concerning our next project so that instructors and students can provide even more input on this new work, which is in it's early stages. I will make an announcement in the coming weeks. Hopefully, this will give the helicopter community an opportunity to shape some of these new tools in the future.

 

Thanks,

 

HC

[kit]

THis DVD is great for standardization. If you are not sure your instructors are teachnig things the way you would like them, just pop this in and have them learn something.

For students and pilots it is a great tool for brushing up on autorotation theory.

 

I though it was very well done and effective.

Kudos to the folks at Helicopter concepts - Lets see some more!

[Worldcrime]

Ok, heres why.

The audio is out of lip sync for much of the product. Right off the bat, a bad impression.

The music is frequently too loud. (poor audio mixing)

The music is frequently inappropriate for whats on screen, EXAMPLE: Why would you put a variation of the Mission Impossible theme music over Tim Tucker seated at a desk discussing R22 accidents due to 180 Autos's?

The dragnet theme music on POH warnings segments seems childish.

The repitition seems more like you are trying to s t r e t c h the content because you didn't shoot enough, rather than being deliberate for the purpose of instruction. I mean you even included the trailer on the disc and an ad for heliops to "fill out" the product.

The video and the trailer show many full down autos but merely as a tease for your "next product"

Tim Tuckers presence is barely felt, yet you guys throw his name around on your website.

We thought we would fly with tim on the video. Oops.

"Bonus features" seem to be outakes and again mostly full downs which are not covered.

Not enough graphics. A zoom into the robinson POH is not really what I would call a "computer graphic"

The video offers nothing really new or innovative, and is lacking in insight regarding safety concerns of practice autos.

Slickly marketed though, I bought one.

 

Richard

[Helicopter Concepts]

Richard,

 

I will try to provide recent testimonials, so today I heard from an overseas customer that said that the video "had an excellent performance in both audio and video." If you send me an e-mail, I will put you in contact with any of the individuals previously mentioned that offered their opinion. Nevertheless, I agree that this video could be much better than its current state. In the future, you will notice dramatic improvements.

 

Concerning music, it is not possible to cater to each person's individual tastes, but thank you for your input. We'll definately keep that in mind. In contrast, I've received e-mails from customers that found the music "refeshing and well done." Again, each customer will have different tastes in music. That said, I agree with you that there is room for improvement.

 

Concerning your comments about stretching the video, I must disagree. We shot over 60 hours of film to make this simple video... a GREAT expense! In many cases, it takes about an hour of filming to get approximately 1-2 minutes of useable footage. The repition was done purposely in this training video, in an effort to re-enforce key concepts and safety information. Even then, the repition shots are actually different clips that happen to have the similar information. If you review the video again and compare those exact parts, you will notice that the words are slightly different, and the content/context is not exactly the same.

 

As far as the amount of time Mike and Tim are on screen, it is almost equal in length so I'm not sure where you are going with this comment. Tim reviews the safety information from an instructors stand-point and Mike reviews the maneuvers from an instructors stand-point. Does it matter who flies the operation, since BOTH Tim and Mike comment on how to properly perform the maneuver? In fact, Tim spends a great deal of time in the 180-degree autoration on maneuvers, including reviewing in DETAIL the factors that cause an increase in your rate of decent. You see both outside shots and in-cockpit footage with animated instrumentation in the corner to show you exactly what happens during Tim's discussion. I don't believe showing Tim or Mike's face in the cockpit does much from an instructional stand-point.

 

The bonus feature alternates between power-recovery and full-down autorations so that you can see how close they are to one another. Concerning graphics, there are only a FEW occasions where we show parts of the PoH to emphasize safety information. We have DOZENS of 3D and 2D animation throughout the video. In the energy management section alone, it took over 180 hours of dedicated work to develop the animation model for the instrumentation. In fact, the instruments look sooooo real, you probably thought it was actual footage of a real instrument. However, you should know that everytime you see an enlarged instrument in the video, please remember that is actually computer generated graphics! We took engineering data directly from Robinson to create the appropriate HP-Sec measurements and then added the animated instruments to show a direct (and PRECISE) correlation between instruments, aircraft attitude, and horse-power seconds to bring together complete understanding of what happens during energy management.

 

In fact, our tail-camera shots have NEVER been done before on the R22 helicopter... anywhere in history! Yes, this video could be much better than it is, and we will certainly strive to improve upon each and every product. On a personal note, Helicopter Concepts certainly isn't doing this for the money. It will take many YEARS before we even break even on the investment. Comparable products from Sporty's or King schools sell single DVD's for $49.95 and they don't really have anything specific on helicopters that is current. It cost us much more to make this video, and yet we STILL offer it for only $39.95 (less than what it could go for).

 

In summary, I think the video is very good. I think the video could be much better, but I believe it is still better than anything else out there for the helicopter pilot. Our goal is to be a reliable source of information that helicopter pilots can count on, and hopefully folks will think of us as a valued resource. The video must be important, because the General Manager of American Helicopters has submitted this DVD to the FAA for inclusion in their Part 141 program. American Helicopters does not profit at all from their submission, but they feel strongly that it should be part of their students education process.

 

Most non-fatal accidents in the R22 are caused during practice autorotation. I hope in some small way that this video will help standardize the practice autorotation and that future accidents can be reduced or eliminated by following the procedures found in this DVD. Apparntly, American Helicopters believes it will, and so do other individuals, such as some of the staff at the NTSB Southeast Regional Office. Nevertheless, I will ad your comments to our board for consideration.

 

Thank you,

 

HC

[Witch]

Not to sound goofy, but I'd be interested in the bloopers and outtakes, as well as "Making the Video" and other production features. I find that stuff sehr interessant. I know you probably don't have that on the DVD, but maybe 2.0?

 

Dragnet?

 

On a side note, looking at the mast bumpers, I wonder if a thicker, more elastic polymer would do a better job of protecting the mast from bumps? Just wondering.

 

Later.

[Goldy]

"Slickly marketed though, I bought one.

 

Richard "

 

 

WORLDCRIME- Hey Richard, I'll split it with ya. Send me down the CD and I'll throw $20 bucks your way !

 

Goldy

[Worldcrime]

I stand corrected re: the computer graphics. Look, I bought it and it shows alot of autorotations, which is always good. Michael Zangara does an excellent job flying. I know about video shooting ratios, but thanks for the lessons. I stand by the rest of my comments, which are about the video production.

No offense is meant , I was just really disappointed. If you ever change/repair the audio mix, I'd probably be a much happier camper.

 

Richard

[paul]

I have noticed this ADVERTISMENT appear on quite a number of forums - I don't think that one should be subject to adverts within forums itself.

 

If you want to ADVERSTISE your product,

you should place it in the appropriate advertising space, like here ----------------------------------------------------->>

(ooops, thats another EXPENSE and the advertiser wants to maximise PROFIT)

 

My two bobs worth.

Incidentally, based on what some have written - I will NOT be buying this PRODUCT.

[joker]

I am interested in the super long 'ground-runs' that are depicted in the trailer video during the termination of the autorotations.

 

From what I could judge (based on the runway markings) the aircraft slides for about 250m along the ground! Very accurate and smooth, but the ground run is long!

 

Is this the way that all the autorotations are terminated in the video. If so, how could you fancy your 'survivability chances' on anything other than a tarmaced runway?

 

This is not a dig about the video (nor the presenters), simply a legitimate question on the technique being taught. How realistic is it?

 

Again I admit I haven't seen the video and am not likely to any time soon, so write here based only on the trailer.

 

Joker

[Helicopter Concepts]

From a pilot stand-point, ground run is not usually that long. However, each autorotation is different depending upon wind direction, weight, and other variances. The video shows many different autorotations, and techniques are discussed in detail for each phase of the autorotation.

[mechanic]

I recieved my copy today and have already watched it twice. Once with my wife and another with my dad/mom/sister so they could see what I do when I go to school. My school is an 2 hr drive one way! So they never see any helicopter fights other than an occasional life flight at the hospital.

 

Over all, I agree there is room for improvement. But, I am satisfied with the information at my level of training thus far, still working on my PPL. I didn't seem to have a audio problem as bad as world crime described. I played it on this computer and a multi type cd/dvd player and no one noticed any thing funny with the audio except that sometimes it got loud and my Dad did not like some of the background music. I had no real beef with any of the background music myself.

 

I look forward to Advanced Autorotations in the R22!

 

 

 

Regards

[hoverflyr]

I recieved the video today and was satisfied with the program.True the quality could have been a bit better but I was looking at the training value not the production quality. For the few that are complaing about helicopter concept advertising the product on this forum, I say anything that can help me teach my students is worth lookin in to. If you are having a problem scraping up $40.00 to have a teaching aid than maybe you should look at a different profession because you are not doing your students any justice if you are not looking to better yourself as a instructor .Helicopter concept keep up the good work , you will never be able to satisfy everyone.