OMG! What a page of posts.
A lot of "big hitters" all turning up at the same time. I have to say this in itself is a reason why I find Pprune fascinating and very enjoyable at times. It's a shame it has to be spoilt by erroneous and undeserving out of control comments from DB at the end of it all and I apologise on his behalf.
Peter Guliies - you started all of this
If I may, I would like to commend you for your contribution. You are obviously a passionate end user and (from others) recognised 'expert' in your field. Comments from people such as your good self are always welcomed, I would suggest.
Might I shine light on where,perhaps it has caused enormous consternation from others (me included)?
It is you way with words, it is the way in which you convey your message that has raised a few eyebrows amongst the old and bold amongst us.
Words and statements such as "best kept secrets" and "AFT cyclic" first.....are bound to wind some of us up for all the reasons posted here.
It really boils down to semantics, I would suggest. Perhaps if it could be kept benign, the best way forward for ALL of us to agree, would be to state the following:
In the event of a total power failure or malfunction requiring an entry into autorotation the pilot is required to maintain Nr (ideally in the green
) by judicious lowering of the collective whilst maintaining attitude.
My reasons for this wording being that ALL helicopter pilots irrespective of their background, are taught from infancy to maintain Nr (it is their life blood). The EASIEST way to retain Nr in ALL circumstances is to lower the collective. Yes I totally agree with you that selecting aft cyclic will also assist, but it is NOT guaranteed is it: Example (as mentioned by you): in a climb (at say 70kts), if the donk stops, one would instinctively lower the lever but one would not wish to select aft cyclic becuase of the unwanted speed reduction. Again in the hover - aft cyclic is not requried. So I think that because there are situations where AFT cyclic is not necessarily essential/mandatory then it should take second place to "lowering the collective" during that instantaneous window of decision making. I hope you understand where I am coming from. You are not wrong in what you say, it is how you have conveyed the mantra.
I have to say that SASless's post in responding to your entry are exactly my thoughts, so too are Two's In. Also excellent posts from the great JD - thanks for your post and good to hear from you.
Finally Peter - I have done hundreds of real engine failures in singles most of which were not at FI, but actually stopped - fuel and all. So HP drag didnt come into it I'm afraid.
And I agree - a real engine failure inside the dead mans curve
may result in damage to airframe and/or those onboard. The curve has been designed for the use of Joe average responding at an average response time. The words
FATAL are not used when describing operations inside the H/V diagram and never have been in my experience.