my method
here goes:
You load up a bunch of guys (or stuff) in the back of a blackhawk (or any other helicopter). You pull enough pitch to get the thing up to about a 5 foot hover. You look at your performance planning and if you are at least 10 percent under the calculated max for the day you are good to go. Now, push ever so slighly forward on the cyclic. The thing will gently move forward and go through this thing called ETL (for short). If you do nothing else it might settle a little but soon it will begin a sweet climb, as sweet as mom's apple pie. I can't explain why, but it works every time. You might get nervous and add a little power to overcome that settling feeling and thats okay. Now then, when you feel like you are getting to an altitude that satisfies you and your boss, gently push down on the collective until the dial that is marked VSI is pointing at "0". (you don't even need to know what VSI means, just make the pointer point at "0")For complicated aerodynamic reasons that you don't need to know about, the aircraft will essentially stay at that altitude with slight variations which you can overcome with small corrections. Trust me, it will, you don't even have to know why, it just does. Now then when ready to land, begin by lowering the collective and gently pulling back on the cyclic. Aerodynamically speaking, this will cause the machine to slow down and eventually begin a gentle descent toward the earth. As you approach your intended landing area, continue to adjust the collective and cyclic as necessary (oh yeah and the pedals, they have some aerodynamic forces as well) to bring the machine to about a five foot hover. Gently set it down on the ground. With good practice and experience, if you use this method or slight variations, you will bring all the vortex ring states, slugs of drag, variations in density altitude, the driving, driven and stall regions and all other variables of the lift/drag ratios into perfect alignment and become a damn good helicopter pilot. Using this tried and true method, used by millions of rotor pilots over the years, will free up brain cells to think about more important things. I don't charge for my expertise.
Cheers
Last edited by grumpytroll; 14th Mar 2013 at 17:31.