Robinson R22 Corner [Archive copy]
Join Date: Nov 2000
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Hmm, not yet (fingers crossed).
Have had tail chip light , or thought I had it flash once. Interestingly enough, while it never came on again, and we monitored the situation (It could have been a sunlight reflecting off it making me think it came on).
Funny enough though, a weeke later that heli had to have it's tail gearbox pulled ...
I have received an engine oil temp light, however I was informed prior to flight by my CFI, so it was no suprise, and of course no corresponding indications from the eng temp gauge at time.
Have had tail chip light , or thought I had it flash once. Interestingly enough, while it never came on again, and we monitored the situation (It could have been a sunlight reflecting off it making me think it came on).
Funny enough though, a weeke later that heli had to have it's tail gearbox pulled ...
I have received an engine oil temp light, however I was informed prior to flight by my CFI, so it was no suprise, and of course no corresponding indications from the eng temp gauge at time.
Join Date: May 2001
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Nothing to do with chip lights but a list of "Q" codes can be found at the address below:
http://www.kloth.net/informations/qcodes.htm
http://www.kloth.net/informations/qcodes.htm
Join Date: Sep 2000
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Re damage to aircraft...
At Sherburn we (as in the royal we) lost the end piece of an R44 tail bar - the red and white thing that warns you not to walk into the tail rotor. It wasn't on the airfield, nor at any LZs so we presume it fell off in flight. No particular hirer could be pin pointed for losing it so Hields Aviation stood the cost (which was unbelieveable just for a bit of aluminium bar!). The postulation was that people had been manouvering the heli on the ground with this bar instead of steadying the tail with the stinger and main force on the tail rotor gear box, so causing metal fatigue and vibration did the rest.
Another time was R22 starter motors being regularly damaged on the same machine - again the school stood the cost.
I think we have a pilot excess should we damage anything which I thought was about £250 but I don't know for sure.
LZ is being a bit naive - insurance isn't for paying out when something goes wrong - its for insurance companies to make easy money and resist paying out wherever possible!
I would like to bet that most 'damage' is paid for by flying schools.
At Sherburn we (as in the royal we) lost the end piece of an R44 tail bar - the red and white thing that warns you not to walk into the tail rotor. It wasn't on the airfield, nor at any LZs so we presume it fell off in flight. No particular hirer could be pin pointed for losing it so Hields Aviation stood the cost (which was unbelieveable just for a bit of aluminium bar!). The postulation was that people had been manouvering the heli on the ground with this bar instead of steadying the tail with the stinger and main force on the tail rotor gear box, so causing metal fatigue and vibration did the rest.
Another time was R22 starter motors being regularly damaged on the same machine - again the school stood the cost.
I think we have a pilot excess should we damage anything which I thought was about £250 but I don't know for sure.
LZ is being a bit naive - insurance isn't for paying out when something goes wrong - its for insurance companies to make easy money and resist paying out wherever possible!
I would like to bet that most 'damage' is paid for by flying schools.
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I don't want to scare myself too much but just how much do these things cost on a small heli like the R22 or 44.
How much do labour and parts cost. How many hours are involved to strip and inspect these things after overspeeds/hard landings etc.
Just thought it would be interesting to know thats all.
Thanks all.
How much do labour and parts cost. How many hours are involved to strip and inspect these things after overspeeds/hard landings etc.
Just thought it would be interesting to know thats all.
Thanks all.
Join Date: Sep 2000
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Rotorbike
I agree completely - I knew it wouldn't take much to stir Lu into action - he's too easy to provoke...
Lu
my 'rubbish' term is local dialect for "criticise unfairly"... so you misunderstood (sigh!).
My point was - that one discussion point on a checklist does not make a contentious startup procedure - all R22 pilots follow the SOP but, one point has changed slightly and pilots are in the process of finding out about it - surely a main aim of this group. You see demons in anything....
Lu (yawn), go try your theory in an R22 yourself - oops I forgot, you don't fly...
[I tried what you suggested in a previous post last year and the R44 did what I wanted, not what you theorised it would do].
I agree completely - I knew it wouldn't take much to stir Lu into action - he's too easy to provoke...
Lu
my 'rubbish' term is local dialect for "criticise unfairly"... so you misunderstood (sigh!).
My point was - that one discussion point on a checklist does not make a contentious startup procedure - all R22 pilots follow the SOP but, one point has changed slightly and pilots are in the process of finding out about it - surely a main aim of this group. You see demons in anything....
Lu (yawn), go try your theory in an R22 yourself - oops I forgot, you don't fly...
[I tried what you suggested in a previous post last year and the R44 did what I wanted, not what you theorised it would do].
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Local rumour has it that an R22 door costs around £1000, a starter motor around £700, and a R44 red and white bent bit of metal bar around £300!!! .... plus fitting!
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Further on in this line of thought.
If the engine oil/filter are removed every 100hrs (with the filter split to check for metal filings).
Why is there no such inspection for the main/tail gear boxes?
Not having been to all the timed inspections (done lots, dont mind getting dirty hands. Must admit the Lame's all keep a good eye on ya. Pilot with a spanner in hand..........here's trouble Some of the more Cheeky/forthright would call it a tool with a tool)
Is there a drain the gear boxes and check for metal inspection?? If all OK, new oil & tick box.
I know the AS350 calls for a chip/magnetic plug check when pre/post flighting (lets be honest how many pilots actually carry out this check?). But the R22's plugs can't be pulled without a toolbox etc...............
Now for the other half of this thread. Read a great story about a persons training (plank) experiences. One particular instructor always used an acronym - AOS - when filling in the post-flight regarding excercises flown.
eg. Straight & Level, clean stalls, glide app, AOS
As one does when you don't fess up straight away. The student found themselves on the back-foot, where when enough time has passed you will actually look like a prat when you finally ask.
Anyway student finally passes their check ride and bites the bullet ----- What the heck does AOS stand for?
Oh that,
And Other Stuff
If the engine oil/filter are removed every 100hrs (with the filter split to check for metal filings).
Why is there no such inspection for the main/tail gear boxes?
Not having been to all the timed inspections (done lots, dont mind getting dirty hands. Must admit the Lame's all keep a good eye on ya. Pilot with a spanner in hand..........here's trouble
Some of the more Cheeky/forthright would call it a tool with a tool)Is there a drain the gear boxes and check for metal inspection?? If all OK, new oil & tick box.
I know the AS350 calls for a chip/magnetic plug check when pre/post flighting (lets be honest how many pilots actually carry out this check?). But the R22's plugs can't be pulled without a toolbox etc...............
Now for the other half of this thread. Read a great story about a persons training (plank) experiences. One particular instructor always used an acronym - AOS - when filling in the post-flight regarding excercises flown.
eg. Straight & Level, clean stalls, glide app, AOS
As one does when you don't fess up straight away. The student found themselves on the back-foot, where when enough time has passed you will actually look like a prat when you finally ask.
Anyway student finally passes their check ride and bites the bullet ----- What the heck does AOS stand for?
Oh that,
And Other Stuff
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Rm.
That happened on my first solo circuit, had to look twice at it, I was on the downwind leg and my first thought was O SH-T, then nothing else to suggest something bad was happening so I called
on the radio to advise and then put it in the nearest corner of the airfield and waited to see who would be the first to reach me, the
firecrew or my instructor who was by then very white. When I looked back at the light the bloody thing had gone off, so I had to
try and make my instructor believe me, he climbed in and tried to coax it back on low level but to no avail so we called it a day. To say I was relieved when a couple days later I was told by my instructor that the light had come on again when another Instructor was in the local area and that he managed to get back safely would be an understatement. This time they did something about it and found it was ready to let go so a new main gearbox was fitted. I was training at Elstree at the time and was very impressed with the way the guy on the other end of the radio handled it, it was very reassuring indeed. Since then no other problems.
L N.
BFN.
That happened on my first solo circuit, had to look twice at it, I was on the downwind leg and my first thought was O SH-T, then nothing else to suggest something bad was happening so I called
on the radio to advise and then put it in the nearest corner of the airfield and waited to see who would be the first to reach me, the
firecrew or my instructor who was by then very white. When I looked back at the light the bloody thing had gone off, so I had to
try and make my instructor believe me, he climbed in and tried to coax it back on low level but to no avail so we called it a day. To say I was relieved when a couple days later I was told by my instructor that the light had come on again when another Instructor was in the local area and that he managed to get back safely would be an understatement. This time they did something about it and found it was ready to let go so a new main gearbox was fitted. I was training at Elstree at the time and was very impressed with the way the guy on the other end of the radio handled it, it was very reassuring indeed. Since then no other problems.
L N.
BFN.
The Original Whirly
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To get back to the original overspeed, there's something interesting here. Nr Fairy says that he inadvertently switched the governor off, but doesn't know when. The only thing you physically do after putting on the governor is to take off the frictions. With the collective down, your left hand doesn't really go near the governor switch when you reach for the cyclic friction; I know, I've tested it. I also tried last Saturday to see if it was possible to put the governor switch partly on; it isn't. So is it possible that Nr Fairy remembers putting the governor on, but didn't? Or if not, what did happen?
I'm in no way asking any of this to criticise Nr Fairy. But I have a soecial interest in this. It bears more than a passing similarity to what happened to me in December 2000. This will be a long post; I'll apologise in advance.
On a sunny winter's day, I flew myself from Shobdon to Leicester, through the Birmingham overhead. The CFI had suggested I do this ("Why don't you push yourself a bit; I know you always go around controlled airspace"), and the flying school owner had told me, when I asked, that it was easy. It wasn't, for a 100-or-so hour pilot. The winds at 2000 ft were 30kts, Birmingham directed me on a sightseeing tour of the city to route me around their traffic, and by the time I got to Leicester I was tired and stressed. Leicester was crowded, and I spent a lot of time trying to get fuel, with some difficult manoevring in gusty winds. I was so tired I wondered if I could fly back safely, but I had a rest and food, felt better, and decided to go around Birmingham, which would hopefully be easy.
I got in, did my checks, and left. I remember switching on the governor, as I always did. The airfield was still crowded, and it was windy, so I was in a hurry to leave, and concentrating hard to hover and take off in the difficult conditions. I took off, climbed, levelled off, glanced at the instruments, and froze. The engine and rotor RPMs were off the scale. At the same moment I noticed that the governor was off. I switched it on, expecting the RPMs to go back into the green. No-one had ever told me the governor has an upper limit of operation, and it isn't in the R22 handbook. When nothing happened I tried to work out what was going on, with a brain now going into mild panic. The governor couldn't be working, I reasoned. But why? Or maybe the gauges weren't working. Should I turn down the throttle? No! Maybe I'd had some major electrical failure and the gauges AND the horn wouldn't work. I was far more frightened of low RPM than high. What should I do? OK, I'd only just left; I'd climbed, solo, in a strong wind; the airfield was no distrance away. I called Leicester, told them I had an instrument problem and was returning, turned back and landed on the grass at the edge of the field. When I wound down the throttle the governor kicked in, and I realised what had happened. I also realised I was going to leave the helicopter there, so I listened, eveything seemed to sound OK, so I hover-taxied very carefully to somewhere safe to leave the helicopter, phoned back to Shobdon, and started working out how to get back from Leicester.
OK, I'll post this now, then continue in another post, before the computer crashes or something.
I'm in no way asking any of this to criticise Nr Fairy. But I have a soecial interest in this. It bears more than a passing similarity to what happened to me in December 2000. This will be a long post; I'll apologise in advance.
On a sunny winter's day, I flew myself from Shobdon to Leicester, through the Birmingham overhead. The CFI had suggested I do this ("Why don't you push yourself a bit; I know you always go around controlled airspace"), and the flying school owner had told me, when I asked, that it was easy. It wasn't, for a 100-or-so hour pilot. The winds at 2000 ft were 30kts, Birmingham directed me on a sightseeing tour of the city to route me around their traffic, and by the time I got to Leicester I was tired and stressed. Leicester was crowded, and I spent a lot of time trying to get fuel, with some difficult manoevring in gusty winds. I was so tired I wondered if I could fly back safely, but I had a rest and food, felt better, and decided to go around Birmingham, which would hopefully be easy.
I got in, did my checks, and left. I remember switching on the governor, as I always did. The airfield was still crowded, and it was windy, so I was in a hurry to leave, and concentrating hard to hover and take off in the difficult conditions. I took off, climbed, levelled off, glanced at the instruments, and froze. The engine and rotor RPMs were off the scale. At the same moment I noticed that the governor was off. I switched it on, expecting the RPMs to go back into the green. No-one had ever told me the governor has an upper limit of operation, and it isn't in the R22 handbook. When nothing happened I tried to work out what was going on, with a brain now going into mild panic. The governor couldn't be working, I reasoned. But why? Or maybe the gauges weren't working. Should I turn down the throttle? No! Maybe I'd had some major electrical failure and the gauges AND the horn wouldn't work. I was far more frightened of low RPM than high. What should I do? OK, I'd only just left; I'd climbed, solo, in a strong wind; the airfield was no distrance away. I called Leicester, told them I had an instrument problem and was returning, turned back and landed on the grass at the edge of the field. When I wound down the throttle the governor kicked in, and I realised what had happened. I also realised I was going to leave the helicopter there, so I listened, eveything seemed to sound OK, so I hover-taxied very carefully to somewhere safe to leave the helicopter, phoned back to Shobdon, and started working out how to get back from Leicester.
OK, I'll post this now, then continue in another post, before the computer crashes or something.
The Original Whirly
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At the time everyone was very nice about it. Two days later the flying school owner was furious, talking about £12,000 worth of damage, and the helicopter off line for three weeks. He also wasn't sure if he wanted me to fly with them again, feeling I'd made a gross error of judgement in not turning down the throttle immediately; to him it was obvious. He thought maybe I shouldn't be flying helicopters. In desperation I phoned the only person I could think of - Dick Sanford, very experienced instructor and air accident investigator, who runs the Robinson Safety courses in the UK. I'd been at one of his courses, and he'd said to contact him if we ever needed to. Dick was great. He listened, and said I'd done well to keep calm and land safely. He suggested I tell the flying school owner that.
I phoned the flying school owner; I wanted to go flying, before I got scared to do so. I also wanted to talk. For a long time I'd been concerned about the training I'd done with my first instructor, who I'd changed from after about 30 hours, when I'd started to realise things weren't going well. Later I'd realised some things had been missed out, that I should have known. Now I wondered again - how can I know what I don't know? No-one had told me about the upper limit of the governor. I'd had very little experience of manual throttle control. What else had been missed out? What else didn't I know? I wanted to do some more training, to go back to the beginning and go over things thoroughly. I wanted to tell the owner this. We'd always got on well till now, and I thought he'd be amenable to it. I couldn't have been more wrong.
I asked him to listen, explained it all, and he stood up and exploded!!! I don't think I've ever seen anyone so angry. He was furious with me for questioning the airmanship and judgment of one of his instrutors ( I was) and blaming others when I'd made a mistake (I wasn't; I'd apologised and taken full responsibility from the start). Eventually I suggested we both calm down and talk about it in a few weeks, as he was off to America and I was going to Bristol Ground School (horrible timing!) and he agreed. He repeated that he felt I shouldn't be flying helicopters.
I went home, phoned Dick Sanford, told him the whole story, and asked if I could book some time with him to go over emergency procedures, and especially flying without the governor, and he agreed. I asked him to tell me if he felt I shouldn't fly, as I reasoned that if my judgement was at fault, how could I judge that? I went to Bristol Ground School, somehow got through most of my nav exams, came back, went to Cranfield and flew with Dick. He said my flying was fine, my dealing with emergencies was fine, but I did seem to get tired easily and my ability when I did dropped off pretty sharply and to stick to shorter flights for the moment and not push myself so hard. Made sense to me. I said I would be moving to another flying school, and he said to tell them what had happened and to contact him if they wanted. I checked out the only other two schools within travelling distance of home, telling both CFIs what had happened. One looked surprised that I felt the need to tell him, and said not to worry, these things happened, and to go back there when I had a CPL and passengers and was wearing someone's uniform (nice one ). The other thanked me, said it had taught him something, because he always emphasised low RPM to students, not high.
With all the stress and the long gap, I was desperate to get flying again, but scared stiff of flying alone when it came to it. A sympathetic instructor treated it like a first solo (funny thing was, I'd been over confident for my first solo, and most of the time up until this incident, typical f/w pilot who thinks they can fly), and I gradually got back into flying, at a far better place. For a long while I checked everything so thoroughly I could hardly get airborne, and didn't really enjoy it when I did. And I'd get very upset at any post mortems on the incident ("Didn't you hear the overspeed?", "Didn't you... etc etc). That's why I was still wary of posting now. But it could help people, and it was a long time ago.
So what did happen? I originally thought I'd turned off the governor when I pulled the cyclic trim in the climb. But if you do that, the RPM doesn't go that high, even when you lower the collective to level off. I know, I've tried it. The only answer anyone came up with was that I forgot to switch the governor on in the first place. I remember switching it on. But memory can be at fault, especially when you're tired and stressed. (Yes, but other people's, not mine, we all say) Well, I believed it, because there was no other answer. I now check and double check everything. I watch out for signs of fatigue, and try and check things more if I'm tired. I'm possibly over safety conscious (Nr Fairy, now maybe you understand my going on about backup crew at Popham to the extent I did). I know a lot more about helicopters, and about myself. It's probably been the most important learning experience of my flying career, if not of my life.
So what did happen, with both me and Nr Fairy? Are these incidents relating to instrument function, or human factors, or both? And is there some way of preventing such incidents in the future?
Over to the rest of you. And as they used to say in one of my favourite TV programmes: "Let's all be careful out there".
Whirly
I phoned the flying school owner; I wanted to go flying, before I got scared to do so. I also wanted to talk. For a long time I'd been concerned about the training I'd done with my first instructor, who I'd changed from after about 30 hours, when I'd started to realise things weren't going well. Later I'd realised some things had been missed out, that I should have known. Now I wondered again - how can I know what I don't know? No-one had told me about the upper limit of the governor. I'd had very little experience of manual throttle control. What else had been missed out? What else didn't I know? I wanted to do some more training, to go back to the beginning and go over things thoroughly. I wanted to tell the owner this. We'd always got on well till now, and I thought he'd be amenable to it. I couldn't have been more wrong.
I asked him to listen, explained it all, and he stood up and exploded!!! I don't think I've ever seen anyone so angry. He was furious with me for questioning the airmanship and judgment of one of his instrutors ( I was) and blaming others when I'd made a mistake (I wasn't; I'd apologised and taken full responsibility from the start). Eventually I suggested we both calm down and talk about it in a few weeks, as he was off to America and I was going to Bristol Ground School (horrible timing!) and he agreed. He repeated that he felt I shouldn't be flying helicopters.
I went home, phoned Dick Sanford, told him the whole story, and asked if I could book some time with him to go over emergency procedures, and especially flying without the governor, and he agreed. I asked him to tell me if he felt I shouldn't fly, as I reasoned that if my judgement was at fault, how could I judge that? I went to Bristol Ground School, somehow got through most of my nav exams, came back, went to Cranfield and flew with Dick. He said my flying was fine, my dealing with emergencies was fine, but I did seem to get tired easily and my ability when I did dropped off pretty sharply and to stick to shorter flights for the moment and not push myself so hard. Made sense to me. I said I would be moving to another flying school, and he said to tell them what had happened and to contact him if they wanted. I checked out the only other two schools within travelling distance of home, telling both CFIs what had happened. One looked surprised that I felt the need to tell him, and said not to worry, these things happened, and to go back there when I had a CPL and passengers and was wearing someone's uniform (nice one
). The other thanked me, said it had taught him something, because he always emphasised low RPM to students, not high.With all the stress and the long gap, I was desperate to get flying again, but scared stiff of flying alone when it came to it. A sympathetic instructor treated it like a first solo (funny thing was, I'd been over confident for my first solo, and most of the time up until this incident, typical f/w pilot who thinks they can fly), and I gradually got back into flying, at a far better place. For a long while I checked everything so thoroughly I could hardly get airborne, and didn't really enjoy it when I did. And I'd get very upset at any post mortems on the incident ("Didn't you hear the overspeed?", "Didn't you... etc etc). That's why I was still wary of posting now. But it could help people, and it was a long time ago.
So what did happen? I originally thought I'd turned off the governor when I pulled the cyclic trim in the climb. But if you do that, the RPM doesn't go that high, even when you lower the collective to level off. I know, I've tried it. The only answer anyone came up with was that I forgot to switch the governor on in the first place. I remember switching it on. But memory can be at fault, especially when you're tired and stressed. (Yes, but other people's, not mine, we all say) Well, I believed it, because there was no other answer. I now check and double check everything. I watch out for signs of fatigue, and try and check things more if I'm tired. I'm possibly over safety conscious (Nr Fairy, now maybe you understand my going on about backup crew at Popham to the extent I did). I know a lot more about helicopters, and about myself. It's probably been the most important learning experience of my flying career, if not of my life.
So what did happen, with both me and Nr Fairy? Are these incidents relating to instrument function, or human factors, or both? And is there some way of preventing such incidents in the future?
Over to the rest of you. And as they used to say in one of my favourite TV programmes: "Let's all be careful out there".
Whirly
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Whirly, the R22 checklists I've seen and taught with all stated that frictions should be released BEFORE switching the governor on and increasing RPM to 104%. I've stressed this to several students who I felt were lax about this; at 104% RRPM the machine is ready to fly, and it's my conviction the pilot should be ready to fly before then - meaning with hands and feet on the controls and no reason to remove same. Any specific reason you reverse these steps?
On your overspeed experience - just reading it made me wince, picturing myself in your place. There but for the grace of God etc.
On your overspeed experience - just reading it made me wince, picturing myself in your place. There but for the grace of God etc.
The Original Whirly
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I was taught to do it the other way round - that the last thing you do is take the frictions off. But I just checked, and you're right about the check list. No-one's ever mentioned it before, but what you say makes sense.
On a slightly related point, I hope all instructors tell their students to put the check list away before releasing the frictions. Some R22s will take off by themselves without the friction on, if you take your hand off the collective! I'd had that happen, because no-one had told me.
On a slightly related point, I hope all instructors tell their students to put the check list away before releasing the frictions. Some R22s will take off by themselves without the friction on, if you take your hand off the collective! I'd had that happen, because no-one had told me.
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Well Done Whirly - brave of you to pour out your worst nightmare on a public forum like this.
Your obviously a concientious pilot, and you've come a looong way since then - so don't berate yourself about your mishap. Mistakes happen and thankfully you walked away from yours. I've seen much more experienced people make much worse errors than yours.
I can understand the owner being upset - but that doesn't excuse his reaction to someone who obviously takes what happened very seriously and wanted to face the consequences directly.
You handled it well and did the right thing after the event.
I'm proud of you.
RH
Your obviously a concientious pilot, and you've come a looong way since then - so don't berate yourself about your mishap. Mistakes happen and thankfully you walked away from yours. I've seen much more experienced people make much worse errors than yours.
I can understand the owner being upset - but that doesn't excuse his reaction to someone who obviously takes what happened very seriously and wanted to face the consequences directly.
You handled it well and did the right thing after the event.
I'm proud of you.
RH
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whirly
thanks for sharing that with us. I don't think I would have had the courage, even on a semi-anonymous forum like this.
I have learned a huge amount from this thread, espeically the importance and order of all of the items on the checklist. It is too easy to get into a comfortable, wrong and potentially dangerous pattern.
what happened regarding the costs of the overspeed repair?
thanks for sharing that with us. I don't think I would have had the courage, even on a semi-anonymous forum like this.
I have learned a huge amount from this thread, espeically the importance and order of all of the items on the checklist. It is too easy to get into a comfortable, wrong and potentially dangerous pattern.
what happened regarding the costs of the overspeed repair?
PPRuNe Enigma
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Whirly:
Thanks for being brave enough to share that with us in such detail. I'm impressed at your courage in facing up to the situation and also for the totally correct decision to leave the helicopter on the ground. Well done.
That sounds like the sort of incident that could happen to any one of us.
I learned without the governor and have always felt that one of the disadvantages of the governor is that it can give a feeling of complacency that the RPM is being taken care of - hence we monitor the RPM far less often than we ought to.
Because of my governor off training I do monitor it closely, but still from time to time (in busy airspace for example) get that sudden "oh sh*t !" feeling when I realise I haven't checked it for a few minutes.
Let's not forget that the gov. can fail: the warning light isn't that obvious, and RPM could creep up or down without being noticed.
Thanks for being brave enough to share that with us in such detail. I'm impressed at your courage in facing up to the situation and also for the totally correct decision to leave the helicopter on the ground. Well done.
That sounds like the sort of incident that could happen to any one of us.
I learned without the governor and have always felt that one of the disadvantages of the governor is that it can give a feeling of complacency that the RPM is being taken care of - hence we monitor the RPM far less often than we ought to.
Because of my governor off training I do monitor it closely, but still from time to time (in busy airspace for example) get that sudden "oh sh*t !" feeling when I realise I haven't checked it for a few minutes.
Let's not forget that the gov. can fail: the warning light isn't that obvious, and RPM could creep up or down without being noticed.
The Original Whirly
Join Date: Feb 1999
Location: Belper, Derbyshire, UK
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Draco,
I paid the first £1000, as I knew I'd have to. I even forgot to ask for a receipt, I felt so miserable and guilty about the whole thing.
Nr Fairy,
Yep, drowning our collective sorrows (no pun intended) at the gatbash sounds like an excellent idea to me.
People on PPRuNe suggested I posted about it at the time, to get some advice. I refused, but I did tell a lot of ppruners about it. Many thanks to RW-1, Muffin, Whirlygirl, N Genfire, Up and Away, R O Tiree, and anyone I've forgotten, for your support then and afterwards.
I paid the first £1000, as I knew I'd have to. I even forgot to ask for a receipt, I felt so miserable and guilty about the whole thing.
Nr Fairy,
Yep, drowning our collective sorrows (no pun intended) at the gatbash sounds like an excellent idea to me.
People on PPRuNe suggested I posted about it at the time, to get some advice. I refused, but I did tell a lot of ppruners about it. Many thanks to RW-1, Muffin, Whirlygirl, N Genfire, Up and Away, R O Tiree, and anyone I've forgotten, for your support then and afterwards.
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Sunrise, Fl. U.S.A.
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Whirly was very despondant about the whole thing back then, but since then she has taken the lessons learned from it and forged it into the New and Improved Whirly that we all know and appreciate.
Glad to have been there for you, I'm sure as we all move along I'll need your ear again sometime in the future.
Glad to have been there for you, I'm sure as we all move along I'll need your ear again sometime in the future.
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Leeds, Yorkshire, UK
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Whirly
That sure was an honest and difficult post to write - we'll all learn from that I'm sure.
Dick Sanford is very well respected and I can recommend to all R22 pilots who have not been on the safety course to go and do it. It really makes you think. My hour on the safety course was totally divoted to flying with the governor OFF including autos and it was quite an experience. You do learn to hear the RPM pitch and can tell without looking at the RPM needle if a reasonable change takes place but that's only after you have the benefit of experiencing it.
Whirly's experience shows that it can take very little to confuse our grey matter. I'll be checking that switch more carefully now....
Frictions
I had to double check my startup list as I could not remember where I release them... guys, it pays to use the checklist everytime unless your in a helo everyday!
That sure was an honest and difficult post to write - we'll all learn from that I'm sure.
Dick Sanford is very well respected and I can recommend to all R22 pilots who have not been on the safety course to go and do it. It really makes you think. My hour on the safety course was totally divoted to flying with the governor OFF including autos and it was quite an experience. You do learn to hear the RPM pitch and can tell without looking at the RPM needle if a reasonable change takes place but that's only after you have the benefit of experiencing it.
Whirly's experience shows that it can take very little to confuse our grey matter. I'll be checking that switch more carefully now....
Frictions
I had to double check my startup list as I could not remember where I release them... guys, it pays to use the checklist everytime unless your in a helo everyday!