The rain dance

The day after my first solo the heavens opened up with shower after shower. Once the first big shower passed through there appeared to be a gap on the radar long enough for an hour of flying so we got the chopper ready and lifted into a circuit. Once airborne we got a clearer view of the state of the atmosphere. Areas of low cloud and drizzle were quickly approaching the airport and so we returned to the hanger and called it a day. The thing about drizzle is, because it is a smaller droplet it doesn't reflect as significant a return beam to the weather radar. Hence, since the radar that we were looking at had either very weak echoes or none at all, we were coached into a false sense of security. However drizzle can significantly reduce visibility for the pilot, not to mention the low cloud often associated with this weather and droplets on the cockpit window ruins the view further. Believe it or not the downwash from the main rotor blades doesn't blow droplets away (!) but enough forward speed can.

The following day was worse; showers persisting and very gusty winds extended over much of southwestern WA. Even though there were gaps in the showers the gusty winds were enough to put a hold on my solo flying. Since I am very early on with my solo flying conditions need to be goldilocks (not too hot and not too cold, just right). More specifically; light winds, clear conditions with no weather (showers, thunderstorms, fog) and no low cloud. Not only does it need to be good for me, but since I drop my instructor at the helicopter training area (a designated part of the aerodrome for chopper operations) to observe my flying where there isn't shelter from the elements, it's not really in my best interest if they're getting rained on. So in contrast to days prior when I could go fly with the instructor in some of these conditions as he could take over if things weren't pretty, my flying is now heavily dependent on these conditions.

It was the third day after my first solo when the showers eased, the winds stepped back to a 12kt S/SW'ly breeze and cloud height was above about 3000 feet. I did a check flight with my instructor before dropping him off on the now-dry grass and continued with my solo circuits. Each circuit is different at this stage, I'm aiming to stitch all of the different parts together seamlessly but at the moment it still feels untidy. This is what the practice is for though. Eventually I will be at a solo standard where I will take off and land back at the hanger, getting myself over to the helicopter training area and back solo.

I'm also lucky with the Rotorvation hanger sandwiched between the police airwing and the rescue helicopter hangers so every now and then I get a glimpse of some pretty beautiful, albeit noisy, machines (check out the video of the RAC chopper lifting off below - future Jonno!).

The police airwing Dauphin looking epic from head on.

The RAC rescue helicopter taking off. This is a Bell 412 twin engine aircraft.