Principles of Flight books
 

Recommendations please. I’m long time ATPL(A), have just had a trial lesson and am looking to start PPL(H) later this year.

Thanks

dh

Try Shawn Coyle’s books. The Art and science of flying helicopters and Cyclic and Collective

Have a look at the FAA Helicopter Flying Handbook (free download)

Helicopter Flying Handbook

Try this first

Absolutely my preferred helicopter author.

But won’t mean a lot to you before you have at least 250 hrs on helicopters.

Thanks all. Any others?

For a beginner (like me, who merely dabbled in RW flying), I found the two pertinent books by Helen Krasner ("Flying Helicopters" and "Helicopter Pilot's Companion") quite helpful and very hands-on (but IMO not just focused on RW principles of flight). "Cyclic and Collective" by Shawn Coyle is an excellent read, too, but more advanced as already mentioned (can't tell about the 250 hrs threshold, though, as I maybe have a tenth of that). "FAA Helicopter Flying Handbook" is an informative source as well. Another recommendation (but admittedly not on principles of flight) would be "Fatal Traps for Helicopter Pilots" by Greg Whyte.

Try to obtain a copy of 'Sikorsky Helicopter Flight Theory For Pilots And Mechanics' by John R. Montgomery. I was given my copy by the Sikorsky rep. in the early seventies and so I don't know if its still in print. However, if you can find it anywhere I don't think that you will be dissapointed.

Here you are! 😊
https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a119096.pdf

Phil Croucher - Helicopter principles of flight

I just shared that with a co-worker. When I hired into Sikorsky, they had stopped handing that book out to new hires, and had other "training" instead. I have my dad's hardcopy.

Start with: cyclic = attitude = airspeed and collective = power = height.

Remember in a helicopter, the pedals aren't footrests and you will need to concentrate on keeping in balance.

Good luck and enjoy it - you will realise what you have been missing.

Thanks for all of that. Crab, this is my unscratched itch from 23 years in the RAF! I really enjoyed my trial and look forward to the next episode and new skill set.

Ray Prouty
 

Damn - Now I know what I've been doing wrong all these years... ;)

Have you thought of the relevant sections of AP3456? It is available in pdf under the FOI Act if requested.

"The Helicopter, History, Piloting and How it Flies"
by John Fay....if you can still get one.

Link to previous FOI for this

The late Ray Prouty's Helicopter Aerodynamics manuals are very informative; I still refer to them after 40 years in the helicoptering business.

Given that, by common consent, hovering is the most difficult skill, the most useful tip I received was "Fly the disc" . External conditions aside, the ONLY way a helo can change position is if the disc moves first! Thereafter pure magic! The second tip was to arrange the pedals to allow a comfortable wrist rest. All this on a Whirlwind 10, initially - everything else was easier!:)

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