Gomer Pylot

Sidetone is adjustaable in the radio, but you need an avionics tech to do it for most radios. You have to at least pull it out of the console, and maybe open the case. But if it's very loud compared to the received volume, you should try to get it adjusted. They should be near the same level.

That's the way it reads. The TFR applies to none of those. To fly a military aircraft, you do not need an FAA certificate of any kind, and the FAA has no oversight over military operations, pilots, or aircraft. You don't have to give them your name or anything else. They can notify the Army of what you may have done and request action, but that's all. Not every controller is aware of this.

Torque is power delivered to the transmission. The transmission does not impose torque on the engine. The engine produces power by burning fuel. The transmission only changes the speed and direction of the power and thus spins the rotorblades. The gears inside the transmission can only absorb so much power, so the power the engine is allowed to provide is limited. If the engine is allowed to produce too much power, it could cause a catastrophic failure of the transmission. In most helicopters, under most conditions, the engine(s) can produce much more power than the transmission can safely absorb. This isn't always the case, and sometimes an engine limit can be reached before the torque limit, which again is a transmission limit. This should have been thoroughly explained to you during your pilot training. It is basic information.

In this world, what "should be" and what "is" are different things, always have been, always will be. Wishing on a star doesn't work. Almost nothing is as it should be, you just have to deal with what is.

A few times, mostly the POI coming to the base and checking everything and everyone. I was ramp checked on my very first cross-country flight while training, back in 1968.

And as long as low-time pilots keep on working for insufficient pay, all pilots will suffer from it. It's an epidemic that spreads virally. I see no cause for optimism about this.

I never carried my certificate anywhere other than in my wallet, along with my medical certificate, driver's license, credit cards, etc.. You're supposed to have it on your person when you fly. If the feds ramp check you, they expect you to have them. If they get stolen, you can get a temporary replacement within hours. It's not unknown for people to show up for work and find they forgot their certificate. It's possible to get a temporary one in time to work.

Torque has nothing to do with engine power. Torque is a transmission parameter. I many helicopters I've flown you can have 100%+ torque indicated, and still have the engine instruments in the green. Or in some, you can have the engine temp at the redline and still well below max torque. It depends on lots of things, and all you really need to do is keep all the instruments below the redline. If the engine is weak you'll see higher engine temps at a comparable torque indication. As long as the engine temps are below the redline at max torque, you still have more available engine power. But the bottom line is that torque is a transmission paramater, not engine. Evaluate the engine power separately, with a power check.

Again, I can think of reasons for calling and asking which way the wind is blowing at the destination. Sometimes you know a front is coming or going, and you want to know where it is, or something else makes you uneasy about what might be sneaking around out there. But that isn't the norm, and absolutely shouldn't keep you from knowing the wind where you are.

Sometimes the winds are light and variable, and sometimes they change. I've seen 180 wind direction changes happen while I was on final. But Bob is right, under most circumstances you should know the wind direction before you arrive, from flags, smoke, groundspeed, drift off course, and other signs. You should always be aware of the wind direction and speed. As you make the circle, you should be able to find the wind direction from the shape of the circle, how you're blown as you go through the maneuver. Sometimes a contact on the ground will tell you the wind. Sometimes the ground contact will be clueless and give you entirely bogus information. All this is why you need to learn how to determine the wind in flight, and keep track of it constantly. With GPS, there is no excuse not to know it. You're given precise groundspeed and course information, so you should know what wind correction you're using and whether you have a tailwind or headwind. You may not know it down to the knot or degree of direction, but you should know the general direction and whether it's strong or light. If you don't keep track of this, you are not a competent pilot.

@Turbalag - yes, military, lo those many decades ago.

It was standard in the UH1 back when, and standard for landing at scenes when flying EMS. The degree of urgency varies, as does the aggressiveness of the maneuver, but it's essentially the same. In EMS nobody is likely to shoot at you, and there isn't a huge hurry to get down, but the overhead approach satisfies the requirements. I need to see the scene, check for obstacles, the wind, and where the ambulance is. I can see all that somewhere in the circle, usually all through it, and the object is to end up at the optimum approach direction and angle, considering all the above. It's certainly not an aggressive maneuver, and not done too close to the LZ, and the speed is kept relatively slow. I like ~60 kts, almost never below that until on final. The rate of descent is whatever it takes to get on final at about 300' AGL, and I tend to keep that rate of descent until I get near where there could possibly be wires. I don't mind a 300 fps descent at 300'AGL in flat terrain, but when I get near 200' I slow to a very slow rate, because there is always a high probability of wires down lower, and I want a chance to stop the approach immediately if necessary. But that's not the same in a tactical military situation. You worry about what is most likely to hurt you. Rapid descents, in close, with a hard flare at the bottom, is less likely to hurt you than ordnance flying through the chariot. The maneuver is similar, but not completely identical.

I've never flown a helicopter that required electrical power to run the tachs. The thought of that boggles the mind.

I didn't decide. Uncle Sam decided for me. I would have preferred to fly fixed-wing, but fixed-wing transitions were near impossible to get, certainly for me. Back then, the demand for helicopter pilots was far, far higher than for fixed-wing. I knew a couple of dual-rated pilots, but not many.

I flew for 45 years, and never had an engine failure. I was always expecting one, though. They do happen. I guess somebody else got my share, and for that I thank him/her/them. Like Wally, lots of birdstrikes, but never any damage. I've had chunks on the transmission chip detector that had numbers on them, but never had anything fail catastrophically. Just lucky, I guess.