LEARNING TO FLY A HELICOPTER MY STORY:
Introduction:
I have wanted to fly a helicopter for as long as I can remember and 6-months before my 74th Birthday I decided to do it, learning in a Robinson R22. This book is basically ‘My Flying Journal.' Please note that my book (Journal) does not cover navigation or any of the other myriad things involved in gaining a PPL(H).
There are many books available on how to fly helicopters so apart from the fact it’s cheap why should you buy this one? The clue is in the title! My book is primarily about learning (as well as how) to fly a helicopter and describes the problems I encountered and how I overcame them.
But my book is much more than that. During my 25 years in the military (Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers) I qualified as an ‘Airframes and Engines Technician Class One’ and was attached to the Army Air Corps where I worked on de Havilland Beaver’s and ‘Westland Scout’ and ‘Bell 47G Sioux AH.1’ helicopters.
I have read many books on aviation and, in my opinion none of those books described the theory of flight as well as my instructors did all those years ago. When I was taught the theory of flight we learnt fixed wing first and then rotary wing. I believe that knowing the theory of fixed wing helps understand rotary wing and I have included both in my book.
Whilst I know how aeroplanes and helicopters fly I had never flown a helicopter before I started my course so it was a completely new experience for me. After every lesson I wrote down what I had learnt and then condensed that knowledge in the form of bullet points. During subsequent lessons I revisited those early bullet points and amended them as necessary in the light of experience.
My book is in the form of a Journal and as such contains an amount of what some people would consider trivia; e.g. the regular cancellation of lessons due to bad weather, but it’s all part of the learning process.
From the beginning I had a ‘Plan A’. During the pursuit of my dream my plan was amended a few times, but in the end I decided that to pursue a PPL(H) was rather pointless at my time in life. Consequently I returned to Plan A which was to carry out sufficient training to enable me to; take off, hover, fly a circuit and land again without instructor intervention.
'My Story' includes why I decided to take the plunge, the theory of flight for fixed and rotary wing aircraft, choosing a flying school, and my flying log. My flying log includes daily progress, bullet points for each flying manoeuvre learnt and list of Costings.
My conclusion includes the total cost breakdown.
Index:
Chapter: / Heading:
1. Prologue:
2. The Theory of Flight:
3. Choosing a Flying School:
4. Taking the Plunge:
5. January 2019:
6. February 2019:
7. March 2019:
8. April 2019:
9. May 2019:
10. Epilogue:
Appendices: -
Appendix A: - Aircraft Maintenance:
Appendix B: - Are Aeroplanes & Helicopters Safe:
Appendix C: - Why I Didn’t Become a Pilot in the Army Air Corps:
Appendix D: - Helicopter Flying Manoeuvres:
Appendix E: - Helicopter Flying Exercises:
Appendix F: - Phonetic Alphabet:
Appendix G: - Recommended Books:
Appendix H: - Glossary:
Appendix J: - R22 Start Up Procedure:
Appendix K: - Thinking Outside the Box:
Appendix L: - Correspondence with the FAA.
Appendix M: - Cancellation of Lessons:
In my book you will discover that the average cost per hour to learn to fly a helicopter is £354. That's £5.90 per minute or 9.83 pence per second. Letss round it up and call it £6 per minute and 10 pence per second. If you are learning, or are interested in learning to fly a helicopter then instead of buying my book for £4.99 you could have an extra 50 seconds of flying time. Which do you think will benefit you the most? There is no doubt in my mind that purchasing my book will save you its cost many times over.
My book was released as an Amazon e-Book on 23 May 2019.
The cost is £4.99
So what it is like to fly a helicopter? If you read books on the subject they will describe it as hard, very hard. Personally I never found it to be too difficult and I found it much easier than flying an aeroplane as, to me anyway, operation of the controls was much more instinctive.
There is no doubt that it is very expensive and to learn in a 2-seater will cost you in the region of £350 per hour, inclusive of VAT. If you want to learn in a 4 seater then add another £150 per hour.
Note.
The hourly charge is calculated from engine start to engine stop. The true hourly charge for time in the air in a 2-seater is approximately £405.
Is it worth it? It depends on what your goals are! There are two basic options. First do you want to find out if you have the skill, coordination and ability to fly a helicopter? Second do you want to learn and then continue to fly one as a hobby, or possibly as a career?
Despite changing my mind several times and fluctuating between both options I eventually came to realise that I was an 'Option One' candidate.
Many people will tell you that flying a helicopter is addictive. Personally I never found it to be addictive, but I did find it a challenge. There is no doubt that for many people learning to fly a helicopter is much harder than learning to fly an aeroplane, and hovering is very hard. I had previously heard it described as balancing on a beach ball at the deep end of a swimming pool while patting yourself on the head with your left hand and rubbing your chest or belly with your right hand. To be honest it's nothing like that. What it is is teaching your brain to get your feet to work either independently off your hands or with them, additionally your hands have to learn to operate independently, or with each other, and independently or with your feet. To many people this is known as 'Muscle Memory' which can take a long time to become a natural synchronised movement.
Now that sounds a bit complicated so I'll try another way of explaining it. During normal helicopter flying manoeuvres (in a helicopter where the main rotor blades rotate anti-clockwise when viewed from above), when you raise your left hand you will need to apply pressure with your left foot. When you lower your left hand you will need to apply pressure with your right foot. When you push your right hand forward you will need to apply pressure with your right foot and when you pull your right hand back you will need to apply pressure with your left foot. If you move your right hand to the left or right you often have to raise your left hand and when you centralise your right hand you will often have to lower your left hand. Either of those two movements will require you to push either of your feet. Generally your left hand and right hand movements will be coordinated; e.g. moving one hand will require a movement of the other hand, how they move will depend on what manoeuvre you are doing; e.g. sometimes when you pull your right hand back you need to lower your left hand, other times you need to raise it. Conversely when you push your right hand forward you often need to either raise or lower your left hand, and all of these manoeuvres will require you to push one way or other with the feet.
Sounds very complicated doesn't it? Fortunately your brain is capable of learning to do all of these things, but it can take several hours.
Once your muscle memory is in place in your brain then everything becomes instinctive! Your left hand will automatically make the necessary collective control changes to select or keep the height you want. Your right hand will automatically adjust the cyclic control to make the changes necessary for the desired direction and speed, and your feet will automatically keep the nose of the helicopter pointing in the direction you want it to be.
By the time I had completed Lesson 7. I had accrued 6 hours and 7 minutes of flying practise and thought that I could fly solo. By the time I had accrued 9 hours I knew I could. However I never got the chance to prove it as I was learning in a Robinson R22 and the FAA prevents flying the R22 solo until you have accrued at least 20 hours in your Log Book.
Note.
Two of my instructor informed me that the rules on flying solo had been changed and no one can go solo in a helicopter now until they have completed 20 hours regardless of type. However the only reference I have been able to discover is the 20 hours minimum required in a Robinson R22 before you can fly solo.
At the end of my helicopter flying training I settled for hiring a 4-seater Robinson R44 and taking my wife for a flight whilst my instructor sat as a passenger in the left seat.
Incidentally whilst most aeroplanes are flown from the left seat helicopters are normally flown from the right seat. This is because the cyclic control, which is normally between the legs and operated by the right hand, requires constant attention. The collective lever and most of the other controls (knobs and switches) are situated towards the centre of the cockpit and are therefore operated by the left hand.
Note.
I estimate that 90 minutes of those first 7 lessons were spent learning to hover.
Summary:
It cost me £5864.32 to find out if I had the skills to fly a helicopter but to me it was worth it to satisfy a long term ambition.
Robinson R22 ’Golf - Delta - Hotel - Golf -Sierra’.
The helicopter in which I learnt to fly.
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