VFR Vertigo

[Squeek]

A good friend has a problem. He/she has 10k+ plus hours mustering and has recently developed uncomfortable vertigo type sensations when flying above 200ft agl at straight and level attitudes. No accidents recently or in the past and has succesfully autoed with engine problems. Maybe it's just anxiety brought on by an unrecognised fear of heights. Who knows? Just looking for any anonymous similar experience or information, please.

[S76Heavy]

Hasn't spent much time above treetop level for a while, then? Perhaps he can take a couple of flights with an instructor to do a sort of refam at what other people perceive as "normal" helicopter altitudes.
I remember a thread some time ago about disappearing floors at Flight Levels etc.. he cannot be the only one, perhaps it's a bit more extreme in his case.

I wish him good luck.

[t'aint natural]

yes, there was a thread a few months ago about helicopter pilots getting the heebie-jeebies at height. The bottom line seemed to be that if you went significantly higher than you were used to flying, it didn't feel good until you got used to it. For someone who's been down among the bushes like your friend, standing on tippy-toe would probably incur unease. S76Heavy probably has the cure.

[SASless]

Being a strong subscriber to the single breath concept....it took some getting used to to fly 4-5000 feet offshore like we do here...but in time I got used to it....not all that uncommon a sensation. In Alaska years ago....got involved in doing some sling work from sealevel to the top of Eagle Glacier...8,500-10,000 feet MSL.....and straight down to the beach....had to do ITO's until clear of the cliff edge and headed downhill. I find my last company's maintenance standards was what scared me from flying very high.....never knew when you would be wishing you were down there instead of up here!

[SandBlaster-214]

I felt those sensations in my Bell 47 days. That aircraft has nothing to use as visual reference cues with relation to a horizon, so anything much over, say, 50 ft. wasn't fun.

One day I got pissed off at myself and I forced myself to "learn" to be comfortable at altitude. (Being of weak mind it didn't take all that long).

As I said it was easier in aircraft with centerposts such as 206s and/ or sectioned bubbles such as Lamas or Allouetes.

Still, maybe I'm just gettin' old - if I don't have anything hanging from the hook, I still like being able to drag my foot if I want to. :D

C Ya

[SASless]

Is it just me....or do we all prefer to fly lower as we get older? I can recall in Iran years and years ago, packing the hot beer in wet burlap sacks, then heading up to 12,000 feet agl....for a 15 minute orbiting.....and autorotating back to the camp so we could have a cold beer. Did it in both a Jetranger and Alouette III. Nowadays, I would just take a nap instead and dream of the cold beer.

[S76Heavy]

That just sounds like age-induced laziness to me, SASless..:D

[Squeek]

Just got a warm and fuzzy reading your forum replies. Nice to know we are not leppers on this one. Thanks.
S76 Heavy and T'aint Natural we are looking for the previous thread for further comfort, cheers.:)

[GLSNightPilot]

I find that as I get older I prefer flying higher. Down low, if anything goes wrong, you have to be very quick to get it all under control. At altitude, you have more time to think about it, & more chance for someone to hear you when you scream. Very few mechanical failures are better down low - about all I can think of are transmission failures, & the odds of that are miniscule compared to all the other stuff that can break. Lose a blade, & altitude doesn't matter. I know the PHi crew that lost the t/r on a Bell 412. They were at 5500', & if they'd been at 4500', probably wouldn't have survived it, certainly wouldn't have made it at 500'. Low level is a young man's game, & I ain't young any more. :cool:

[t'aint natural]

Squeek - maybe some comuter-literate person could help you with a search here - it's beyond my talents. But the thread started on rotorheads on January 23rd this year and it was called Fear of heights?

[attackattackattack]

Is this one (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19283) is the one you're looking for?

[S76Heavy]

That's the one, yes.

[Squeek]

]]]]* That's five for your thread t'aint natural.
(Thanks for the guidance AAA.)

[3top]

Hey Sqeek,

tell your friend to go fly and get to altitude slow, 100 ft at a time. It is just to get used to it again. In haze down here I do not like this either, as the horizon kind of disappears, ........I hate that most, flying late(after sunset....) over open sea - without visual to the coast, I prefere to go low (50 to 100 ft) to get a reference at the water surface, even if I have to slow way down and use the landing light....
Most of my time is in rather lively choppers (The R. - brand and EC120B) and knowing you HAVE to fly the machine (as opposed to a trainer airplane, which flies itself when trimmed properly...), can´t let go on the stick AND HAVE to trust the damn´instruments for reference, can get you to that lousy feeling fast!! :D
But a I said just get to it little by little.......

3top,:)