Helicopter Flight Information
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Helicopter Flight Information |
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Piston Engine Over-torqueWhile reviewing the maintenance log sheets at the company where I work flying turbine helicopters, I noticed that there are some two pilot groups who have an excessively high number of over-torques. Upon checking into their backgrounds, I have learned that they are from two very different back-grounds. They have either come up the civilian side where they have never been taught what an over-torque is with regard to piston helicopters, and have therefore not been taught the importance of observing the indicator. The other group of pilots are military pilots who have been flying large aircraft with significant disposable horse power and have just become complacent in their technique and do not maintain a good instrument scan. In either case, this is an exhibition of extremely poor piloting skills and technique. With regard to a piston engine, the torque limitation is the manifold pressure gauge. I guess that even most flight instructors don't know this, and therefore don't teach it since they have never been taught this themselves; I know I wasn't, but I was taught that the manifold pressure gauge was a limitation, and was taught to heed the limitation. Now days it seems that student pilots are just taught to pull what ever it takes to get the job done, and that there is always a fudge factor built in anyway. NOT TRUE! The piston engine manifold pressure gauge is the counterpart to the turbine engine torque meter, and should be used in exactly the same way. They are both limitations and must be closely monitored and respected as such. It has become common place to over fuel piston aircraft especially in the flight school environment causing an over-gross situation which is further compounded by pulling to much manifold pressure which is the same as an over-torque in a piston engine aircraft. Pilots who are taught proper procedure and respect of limitations from the beginning will not have over-torque issues when they make the transition to turbine helicopters later in their career.
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