Originally Posted by
FH1100 Pilot
I don't know where some of you guys are coming from. The U.S. FAA teaches now...has always taught...that "Settling With Power" is recirculation of the vortices produced by the main rotor. I won't reprint or repost the applicable section of the FAA's Helicopter Flying Handbook - you can read it yourself. But it's what I was taught when I was learning to fly in the 1970's. To recap: The FAA says that SWP *is* VRS.
But because the current generation of Robbie Rangers have to over-complicate and try to quantify EVERYTHING, some of you have invented your own definition and explanation of SWP - that of a botched approach (vertical or otherwise) in which the engine does not have enough power to stop the descent. Fine. Sounds like pilot screwupery to me. And strangely, the FAA does not address this "phenomenon" or aerodynamic condition directly. I guess they leave it up to the pilot to know the performance characteristics of his or her particular helicopter and abide by them and not land on a runway so short that full reverse won't stop you. You know, that's not the plane's fault.
In reality...in the real world of helicopter flying, it *almost* doesn't matter what you call it, or whether it's "settling without enough power to stop" or true vortex recirculation. You're probably going to crash. Yeah, yeah, if you recognize it early you might be able to employ Sr. Vuichard's technique (good luck!)...*or*...you might be able to fly out of it forward. But you usually get into it until the very bottom of a poorly-executed approach...you know, where it usually happens to those of us who don't have things dangling under our helicopters on longlines. And if it does happen at the bottom of such a messed-up approach, and you're a little slow to recognize what's happening (welcome to the club!), then you'll probably end up with smiling skids and your peers will be calling you by the nickname Bing Dang Ow from now on. (Ohhhh, just remembering that bimbo newscaster blithely reading the fake names of those Asiana Airline pilots makes me chuckle.)
I often tell the story (faithful readers of my crap have all heard it by now) of sitting in the Vibro-Massage chair attached to the Bo-105 I was flying in the Gulf of Mexico. I'd be on approach to some drilling rig which was situated in a way that the heliport was on the exact WRONG side of the rig for the winds that day. And I'd sit there, pretty much at full power as the 105 did it's notorious shake, rattle and roll coming back through ETL...I'd sit there wondering, "Is this just the 'normal' Bo-105 vibrations, or are we on the edge of SWP?" I'd be super-attentive to the collective, waiting for it to become "unhooked" from the RoD. Because you never know, right? No, you never do.
People ramble on and on about the "differences" between SWP and VRS. They say that during SWP, because you're pulling more than the engine can supply then the RPM will droop. Well...you know...aaaahhhh...most of real helicopter pilotos fly real helicopters powered by this new invention called the turbine engine. We don't pay much attention to the trials and tribulations of the unwashed, bearded riff-raff in the R-44's. I mean, really. And these modern turbines don't droop.. (At least not anymore! Anybody remember the Allison C-18 days? I do. And not fondly.)
So prattle on, boys...drone on and on about how there's such a BIG difference between SWP and VRS. The more experienced pilots among us will just chuckle and shake our heads and fly 'em the way we know how.
Easy there turbine boy! Don't blame this crackpot "SWP isn't VRS" crap on Robbie Rangers! We're the ones who still believe the textbook!
