PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - How would a new student fare in a helicopter if the instructor is kaput?
Old 4th September 2019 | 06:44
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Ascend Charlie
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Joined: Sep 2002
: CPL
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From: Great South East, tired and retired
Come on, girls, you have all had students airborne for their first-ever taste of flying, the TIF. And you have all seen how the student eventually loses it, even just on cyclic only, because their muscle memory isn't yet fine-tuned for the teensy cyclic movements with their right arm resting on the right thigh. Give them 4 controls and their ability to split concentration by rapidly scanning from one thing to the next (make it point, keep it flat, control the height) falls to bits.

Unless the potential student has a LOT of fixed-wing time and understands Attitude is Airspeed, the student will come unstuck as he approaches the ground and naturally wants to raise the nose. Speed bleeds off, yaw, sink, perhaps a sudden yank on the collective to stop the sink, and the secondary effects all come into play. Pitch up (for more speed loss), yaw (unexpected, probably combined with some roll) and panic. Splat.
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