Helicopter Flight Information

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He Who Hesitates Is Lost!

With regard to helicopter aviation, pilots must learn to react positively to all situations. Hopefully this reaction will be the result of good training and practice. Know what to do in a given situation, and then take action without delay. This works well in other situations also, always know what you will or should do and then don't hesitate, but act intelligently.

Safety

Safety can not be stressed enough, I just can't say enough about this. Often students ask why they cannot practice some types of flying that we have accomplished during training. Some maneuvers are even restricted after they have obtained their ratings. This is because they do not have the knowledge, and the skills to know when they may get into trouble.

Some restricted maneuvers are:

Extended Air Taxi maneuvering other then down the runway which is favored by the winds in which the ultimate goal is to practice Quick Stops, aka Deceleration Flares.

This is restricted for two reasons, one because students, and low time pilots often get confused when reading wind indicators, and could consequently end up in a downwind Quick Stop.

The second reason is because many students want to practice air taxi when they have not yet developed the courage to fly at altitude. This is a false sense of security. Their thought is that they are safer at the lower altitude, which is completely false, it is quite the opposite.

Soft surface landings other than in an emergency. These are restricted because students in their inexperienced and tense state can become dangerously close or even encounter Dynamic Rollover. This is because the skids will not slide on the soft surface as they will on hard surfaces which creates a rolling moment where control can quickly become lost.

Off-airport landings. Absolutely disallowed except in an emergency. There are many dangers involved in off-airport landings, both legal, and hazardous. A student pilot an be refused licensing for this.

I teach these techniques because students need to know them. That does not make it ok for a student or even a rated pilot to act against policy. The largest cause of aviation accidents is the failure of pilots to know and recognize their personal limitations. Overconfidence is a big issue with low-time pilots.

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Last modified: 01/19/08