maintaining height in a heli

[that chinese fella]

There are 2 methods of maintaining height in a helicopter. I am interested in how different flying schools teach this basic skill.

1. You can fly at a constant power setting and adopt an attitude that will keep you level. So when light your IAS will be higher than when heavy (obviously).

or

2. Adopt an attitude and use power as required to maintain height. This method increases the workload, particularly for a student, as any movement of the collective will require small adjustments of pedal, throttle and cyclic to counteract secondary effects.

The first method is basically how most, say VFR Bell 206's are flown. ie - pull a torque setting and accept whatever IAS that gives you. However for IFR approach profiles where a constant speed may be required if you have only ever used method 1, I have been told by experienced IFR pilots that these people tend to struggle with accuracy.

Any thoughts?

[engineoff]

My preferance is to teach setting an attitude for a speed, then finding a corresponding collective setting to maintain the height... In training you always pick a speed that is attainable in level flight without exceeding the maximum power setting. 75kts in R22 for example. The other method of pulling to a maximum cruise power setting whilst the practical method most of us use for everyday flying, can prove confusing as depending on aircraft weight and conditions this can give quite a different airspeed day to day.. When it comes to things like navigation , this can prove confusing for the student in terms of planning who cant work out an accurate speed in advance. Better to have one standard speed even if that is slower than max cruise...

When you start talking about IFR helicopter operations, generally the student is experienced enough to use either method...

[Whirlybird]

I was taught, and now teach, that you select the attitude for the airspeed you want, and then use as much power as is required to maintain your height. I believe that this is the way everyone is generally taught, in the R22 at least...though I can't be sure of that.

OTOH, when flying the B206, in which I have only a very few hours, I was basically told to leave the collective alone, since for some reason which I never quite grasped it wasn't a good idea to keep adjusting it.

And when I did a couple of hours in the MI-8 in Russia, I seem to remember the instructions were different yet again, due to the difficulty of constantly trimming the cyclic in such a heavy helicopter...but I was doing it all through an interpreter whose English wasn't great, so I'm not sure I understood all of what I was told anyway. :confused:

So I'm wondering...does it maybe depend on the type of helicopter?

[that chinese fella]

I agree with the previous posts. Attitude flying is the best way to learn but practically, in a commercial sense, we all tend to fly VFR by power settings.

If I am doing a charter in a 22 or 47 I will pull a comfortable MP and fly on but when instructing ab-initio students we teach attitude and then power to maintain height. Aside from the advantages re Nav's it also helps to give a good appreciation of power required graphs. Some schools don't do this.

Do you talk about both methods? I have seen newly graduated pilots fly along chasing the power all day (well not quite) to maintain height and when I mention just hold a setting and fly, a look of "can I do that?" comes across.

Just wondering.

[Whirlybird]

It might be worth posting a link to this on the Rotorheads forum. I think you'll get a lot more answers there.

[engineoff]

Both methods do need discussion for the student.... Each has it own merits for use post license issue.. eg. max cruise speed by setting max cont power, or alternatively flying a given limiting speed eg. doors off and adjusting power for the height...

Do think that attitude for the speed, then power to maintain the height is the way to teach..

[helipat]

Both methods are important, but for initial student pilot I would definitly use the second solution: maintain attitude and adjust collective.

You want to have the student visualize the attitude level related to speed. And the main target is speed. Altitude changes is slower compared to speed changes, and then, even if it requieres some attention, I do not think it's a real increase of workload.

Also at the begining, you tell your student what is the MP setting you want him to use for a specific attitude setting. A tenth of inch difference will not change a lot.

When all this speed/MP setting are automatic, you can begin to introduce some change. And usually at this level of training, your student can deal with it quite easily.


Now, on operational purpose or standard flight how I'm flying:

With a reciprocating engine I will fly by setting speed and adjusting MP. Except for maximum speed when I'm setting MP.

With a turbine helicopter, I will more oftently fly with torque/collective setting first.

Patrick