"In this 6 degree nose up attitude, I see the horizon is the same place in the window as the compass. Would it not be simpler to just put the outside horizon beside the compass and keep the lookout going rather than looking inside and then outside constantly
DFC,
Thank you for that. I used the idea yesterday. I had a trial lesson student who told me he'd be fine because he'd been practising on a helicopter simulator, and he thought he'd be a natural anyway, as he had really good coordination and drove a digger. Oh dear! And there we were with 15-20kt winds. Well, he'd find out.
So off we went, and I levelled off and told him about the cyclic, and how to note where the horizon cuts across the compass and the helicopter windscreen. "And I can use this too", he said happily, pointing to the AI. "No", I said. "Now, why would you want to? If I told you to keep alternating from looking outside, to looking at a tiny little instrument that lags so is difficult to read accurately, you'd soon work out that it corresponded to the outside world, and you could look outside all the time and enjoy the view to, wouldn't you?"
Well, he got the point, and flew very well considering the conditions. But within five minutes he was saying in amazement that it wasn't at all like his simulator, and much harder than a digger. Well, surprise, surprise! Anyway, he likes a challenge, and wants to do the course, so I'll be seeing a lot of him from the looks of things. So, DFC, thanks.