We were usually into wind .. we hoped .. but at 3-6 thousand .. who knew except for cyclic position and airframe attitude LOL.
You would feel a nibble and the VSI would indicate 1-200 FPM down, just a flicker on guage really, so you would add a bit of power to stop that ..needle might stabilize then another flick and WHAM away you went...the strange thing was the surveyors never detected any descent before Gawd sucked all the air out from under you ..it became quite predictable.. for added fun pull 100% as you departed downwards..much giggling and laughing. We did a lot of this work and I spent a lot of time exploring VRS on the way down exploring various recovery methods ..the easiest was a small 45 degree movement of the cyclic at any power setting..straight ahead was slower. LOL
Took a fellow pilot on one of these flights and had time to say "We are about to enter Vortex Ring ..hold my beer and watch this!" Down we went..I held it there and recovered a couple of thousand feet later..he was amazed. Oh check yer PMs
Last edited by albatross; 6th Jun 2017 at 18:19.