The nil-wind pilot

The breeze had been up since the end of last week and over the weekend. Even though it was only really 10-15 knots, trying to learn to hover in these conditions made everything very difficult because it is that extra element that must always be considered since it is always trying to move you away from the position you're aiming to hold. It can also help generate lift and get under the blades to try roll the machine. Today however the wind was variable to about 5 knots, very light. I was holding a good hover, was able to demonstrate "spot turns" (turns around the mast), turns around the nose, and a shaky turn around the tail.

Putting the machine on the ground and lifting off into a hover is also a skill that needs incredible finesse. You must be flying the aircraft before lift off, and you must fly the aircraft all the way to the ground. This means you're controlling it's position on the ground as if it were in the air so that when you become "light on the skids" (prior to lift off or just after touch down) you won't roll or catch on something on the ground - very dangerous! I started feeling more comfortable with these towards the end of the lesson.

Taxiing in a helicopter is done at a slow to fast walking pace forwards, or slow walking pace in any other direction. I was all over the place with this initially but again today's lack of wind showed me that neural pathways are being formed and the skill is becoming a motor skill. Of course when the wind decides to return I'll have to tackle the extra workload but the progress I've made was evident today. The next few lessons will focus on emergencies in the hover, i.e. engine failure or loss of tail rotor in the hover/taxi which are generally demonstrated with the skids about 5 feet off the ground. Having a failure so close to the ground doesn't leave much time to react so it's a matter of becoming familiar with the process and practicing over and over again to make it an ingrained reaction. Once familiar with the emergency procedures I'll be learning how to transition the helicopter from a hover into forward flight for take off.

I spent half of the day today in the hanger with the engineers who were pulling one of the machines apart for it's 100 hourly inspection, a significant routine inspection. It's good to see the different parts and how everything is connected and what their roles are. The more one knows about the machine they're flying the safer they'll be if something goes wrong.

R22 Cockpit and instrument panel