Blimey - even more. Thanks all and for the AP3456 stuff. I tried reading that many years ago when I was trying to scratch that itch, so maybe revisit.

Support Rigga ... "The helicopter & how it flies". Old but good.

And take Shawn's "Little book of Autorotations" as well as Greg Whyte's "Fatal Traps for Helicopter Pilots" (well, for the nightmares...) into consideration.

And if you use the FAA books, make sure you download the corrections to all the "mistrakes and errers"

DH - as Cornish Jack says, the key to hovering is being able to make very small movements (finger pressure) with the cyclic - the enabler for this is a good seating position so that your forearm rests on your right thigh and is relaxed, this allows wrist and finger movements to control the cyclic. If your arm is off your leg then you are far more likely to overcontrol as you are moving your whole arm.

The other critical factor is understanding how very small attitude changes have instant results in moving the helicopter - once you recognise the hover attitude (helicopters hover one skid/wheel low in most conditions) and can reselect it when it has changed, you are most of the way to good hovering.

One of the benefits of the T-bar cyclic: that you can always rest your wrist on your lap. And then independently adjust the pedals to match the length of your legs.

Again, thanks all. Plenty to get my teeth into!

Hi Delta,
I found two great books that helped me, they may have been mentioned prior! Phil Crouchers 'Private Helicopter Pilot Studies' with a full chapter on the principles and Pooleys 'JAR PPL-CPL Helicopter Manual-Principles of Flight, Technical H' in addition Helen Krasners 'Flying Helicopters-A Companion to the PPL (H) is a cracking read! All the very best

Principles of Helicopter flight by W.J. Wagtendonk

If you are going to pass a test for your issuing authority make sure you use the P of F book that they base their examinations on.

You need to answer the questions correctly not actually know how a helicopter flies - 2 different things!!

With ref to RVDT's post, the EASA POF exams have been realigned with Wally Wagtendonk's book, after the abysmal episode where they (or the CAA) based things on POF for engineers - I know that, because I rewrote the syllabus ;) I also edited the Pooley book

Phil