Ah, MJ. Your last post has highlighted some of the subtle differences between the way that 'we' do it and 'you' do it. I certainly don't want to turn this into a 'us/them, rotary/fixed' issue (there's several threads worth of debate in that alone) but just to quickly summarise:
Originally Posted by
mad_jock
<snip> to stop students charts disappearing down under the rudders or what ever they have on helicopters <snip>
Boats and aeroplanes have rudders. We have tail rotor pedals!
(Sorry but bit of a pet hate of 'ours').
Originally Posted by
mad_jock
Must admit personally made them put it away so they couldn't feature crawl.
'Feature/track' crawling isn't so verboten in helis. In certain circumstances, it should be positively encouraged.
Originally Posted by
mad_jock
The bull dog clips are used by people who don't know how to fold a chart properly.
I'm afraid that that's just wrong. It's a very acquired art to be able to fold a 1m x 1m CAA chart into a usable section that measures about 20cm x 20cm (and to be able to use both sides). There's no way of doing this without bulldog clips.
Originally Posted by
mad_jock
Soon as I saw them being used it was a cert that the diversion was going to need refolding of the chart in the air
Also a 'trick' that I like to use but can be avoided by very careful folding of the chart. Bear in mind that we don't always have to find an airport for our diversion destination!
Essentially, most of these issues come down to the room available in an R22 cockpit ie not a lot. Remember that in flight we don't have access to rulers or whizzy wheels or even often pens; all things that you fixed wing chaps probably take for granted.
Is there anyway that you can go up for a quick spin in an R22 to see things from our perspective? (You're more than welcome to come up with me but you'll have to travel a long way south from Aberdeen!) Maybe even sitting in an R22 when it's on the ground might help...
I hope that this lot has been of help to you and really appreciate the work that you've put into this. I certainly sympathise with you for trying to design the perfect 'kneeboard'. Just look at the number already on the market but still we can't find one which really works...
B73