Originally Posted by
Gordy
No they do not all have governors. I learnt on a R-22 HP and flew R-44 back when it first came out in 93 with no governor.
Back in 1996 or thereabouts the FAA issued an AD requiring governors on all R22 and R44 helicopters. The AD further prohibited flight with the governor off except for emergency procedure training purposes (failed governor), thus an operating governor is required for dispatch.
Neither the R22 nor the R44 is difficult to fly without the governor. As Paul already mentioned, the correlator works quite well. Nevertheless, the FAA felt it was prudent to have an operable governor in a low inertia design like the R22 and R44.
Other than training out any tendency to grip things too tightly, this is a non-existent problem not requiring any additional technical solutions. You can override the governor the same way on any governor-equipped piston machine. Indeed, you need to be able to do this in order to enter an auto with a working engine. If you are properly trained you won't have a death grip on the throttle and the governor will do its job. If you do get a low rotor RPM indication the automatic, trained response should be to lower collective and roll throttle on, something that is easy to do if a death grip is already established. And properly performing this latter action is a specific training requirement of SFAR 73 (not the death grip part
). And, if you really feel you must only keep thumb and forefinger on the throttle, simply sliding your hand back a couple of inches, as Paul alludes to, solves that problem as well, although I agree with him in that it is not a preferred habit to get into.