To: RD Rickster (Nee Reynolds)
When that pilot said he had to, "fight the helicopter to the ground" I think he meant to say he had to actively FLY it to the ground. It was the first time he'd flown an R44 and most of his time was in the smaller Schweizers. He wasn't execting to have to apply so much downward force on the collective (good thing he wasn't flying a B47).
I'll accept that it was his first ride in an R-44 however his having to apply more than normal down collective to get it on the ground I go back to my original premise: Do you or anyone else feel that it might be the pitch coupling due to coning that causes a pilot to have to fly the R-44 to the ground.
I also ask you to consider if this pitch coupling has any effect on autorotation since the pilot can't return the blades to basic pitch with the collective all the way down.
