Hi all, new person with new pilot question.

[BillyRae Steele]

Hi all, I have decided to fulfill an ambition and take helicopter lessons, and I am living in Australia and with a very professional school and an instructor I really feel really comfortable with. However, I wanted to know if it was natural to feel totally out of control in the first couple of lessons? When does it get better? I think I just realised what a HUGE responsibility it is to fly a helicopter. Help

[OvertHawk]

It's different for everyone - some folks take to it completely naturally while others really struggle.

I'd flown a lot as a non-pilot before i learned to fly, so being in the air did not phase me, but i still bounced around like an epileptic octopus for the first few hours....!

Give it a bit of time and you will probably get used to it - it will still be hard work, but you should be able to cope with it better.

Best of luck - enjoy it!

OH

[BillyRae Steele]

Thank you OH for your reply. You have helped me no end. My husband took to it instantly which made me feel more of a freak. lol. Good to know it 'should' get better.

[Thomas coupling]

BillyRae: The thing is NOT to over control. Treat the cyclic, collective and pedals as if they were made of very fine glass crystal and any sudden movements would snap them in two. Make ALL movements smooth and small. Nothing sudden!
ANTICIPATE what the helo is going to do and compensate early without OVER compensating.
Give it time...............................and money

[Whirlygig]

However, I wanted to know if it was natural to feel totally out of control in the first couple of lessons?

Yup! Well, it was for me!

Thomas speaks wisely but, when you've only a couple of hours under your belt how do know what overcontrolling is when you can't control it? And how can you anticipate when you haven't a clue what the bloody machine is doing!

I found learning to hover incredibly difficult and it took me around 20 hours before I could even begin to keep the helicopter in the grass circle. However, when it did click, it clicked and I took to the rest quite easily. But I was on the verge of giving up, thinking I could never be able to do it. If I can, you can.

What may help is upper air work instead, learning attitude changes and turns for example.

Cheers

Whirls

[grumpytroll]

stick shift

i compare it to learning to drive a stick shift. it sometimes takes a few hours to get that skill down but once you've got it, you never forget. Hovering is similar. Once you get the feel for it you can go onto other things like talking on the radio and looking out the window.

Cheers

[griffothefog]

BRS,

Think of it as an extension of your body linked by all the controls and THINK IT where you want it to be.....

You will get it soon and then wonder what all the fuss was about

[BillyRae Steele]

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate your advice, support and beginner experiences. I know it is going to sound ridiculous, but I think I was focussing on falling out of the bloody doors (as the R22 hasn't got the doors on due to the heat) then anything else. Kill me now lol. Thanks again.

[Hedge36]

It might be helpful to remind yourself that the Robinson is also widely regarded as one of the most easily-overcontrolled helicopters ever built. Remember to keep your right forearm firmly planted on your right thigh while using primarily your thumb and forefinger to grip the cyclic. Works a treat.

[n5296s]

Just to chip in here since for once I feel like I have something relevant to say (as a recently qualified PPL-H)... yes, it's normal. The first 5 hours trying to fly a heli are probably about the most humbling experience you'll ever have. Yet somehow it does all come together. It's very important to hold the cyclic, in particular, very delicately, just between thumb and forefinger. The other thing is to keep firmly focussed on the horizon, don't look down at the ground just in front of the heli. It is almost impossible to fly a stable hover, never mind land, if you do the "obvious" thing and look at the ground just in front of you.

n5296s

[newfieboy]

Quote
'The other thing is to keep firmly focussed on the horizon, don't look down at the ground just in front of the heli. It is almost impossible to fly a stable hover, never mind land, if you do the "obvious" thing and look at the ground just in front of you.'

Mmmm, I just spent the last 2hrs looking straight down through a B2 vertical reference window over snow with no reference but a drill pad 100ft below, which looks the size of a postage stamp.....had no trouble holding a stable hover.....mind with 2000lbs of drill tower to pin, I guess it focuses the mind... oh yeah, thats why its called 'vertical reference' flying Doh.....

[spinwing]

Billy Rae ....

Stop worrying ..... I often feel (particularly after getting back from Ops leave) that I am not in control (even after 10 K hours flying the slippery suckers) ... that being said ... SOME (be quiet Griffo) would tell you I was NEVER in control ever at all !!! Lol

ENJOY .... as Whirls said ... one day you'll go out there and 'CLICK' you'll be able to balance the pingpong balls ...

Good luck

[chriswhi]

Hmm, how many hours have you got newfieboy ? Just got your ppl (I suspect not)

[toptobottom]

BillyRae Steele

Whoaaa - spot the ego!! As I've said before, lots of egos in this forum! It doesn't matter if it takes 15 minutes or 30 days to learn to hover. The point is, you WILL learn to hover, so just relax and don't worry about it. You don't even think about it too much; it will just happen as it has for thousands of other sceptical pilots! Read Whirlygig's post again and, best advice, look out - don't look at the ground. You'll be there in no time.

Good luck

[the coyote]

Mmmm, I just spent the last 2hrs looking straight down through a B2 vertical reference window over snow with no reference but a drill pad 100ft below, which looks the size of a postage stamp.....had no trouble holding a stable hover.....mind with 2000lbs of drill tower to pin, I guess it focuses the mind... oh yeah, thats why its called 'vertical reference' flying Doh

Get your hand off it man.

[ReverseFlight]

For some years, a number of helicopter flight schools in the USA have started off ab initio pilots with simulator training for a few hours before transferring to a real helicopter. It saves sweating brows as well as dollars and besides most newbies manage to maintain a steady hover during their very first flight. That's a good way to start.

I came from the traditional school though.

[Gordy]

For some years, a number of helicopter flight schools in the USA have started off ab initio pilots with simulator training for a few hours before transferring to a real helicopter.

That had nothing to do with their training but EVERYTHING to do with money----it was part of Silver State Helicopters scam to get all of the students loan money released from the bank, (which took 90 days), before putting the student in an aircraft and spending real money on them.

There is however a train of thought that involves not teaching a student to hover. The student would learn straight and level, climbs, turns, descents etc and would slowly be taught to control the aircraft at slower and slower speeds until it was just natural to hover.

Many, many years ago when I was doing primary instruction, and even when teaching CFI's I would always try to push the student to more complicated maneuvers before mastering the simple ones. For example, I would have 10 hour students working on autos...because normal approaches would then come easy.

Therefore, do not worry about your skill level which such low hours, so long as your instructor is not "stalling" or holding back on your training.

[ReverseFlight]

always try to push the student to more complicated maneuvers before mastering the simple ones

Reminds me of one of my most respected (civilian) instructors - he was initially trained by the Ozzie Army where they had to learn all manoeuvres from scratch in a Squirrel in 10 hours. He was actually discharged because he could perform everything except a steady hover in those 10 hours, which is by any standard asking a bit much. But then that's the Army.

[Whirlygig]

And after the hovering, come the hovering and talking bit ....

After just about being able to keep the bloody recalcitrant machine under control in a sort of wobbly hover, my instructor asked to request a right hand circuit Northside.

Me: "Norwich Tower, Silver One Nine, request right hand ....ffffffuuuuuuuuuuu ...."
(I didn't even have the mental capacity left to complete the expletive)

Instructor: "Tower, Silver One Nine, we can't hover AND talk just yet"

But once the hovering becomes a motor skill, there will be enough capacity for talking. And then, even thinking.

Cheers

Whirls

[GPS user]

What a relief to know that it all gets easier and the out of control feeling goes away. tongue in cheek, good luck mate, some people never can quite get the flying sorted but i suspect it's because they are mostly focused elsewhere. You'll be right.