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8-15-00
Schweizer 300C Helicopter
Instructor: Bernie Stooss
I went to Dutchess County Airport today for an introductory helicopter lesson today, and I shouldn't have - I think I could easily get addicted! The copter is a different beast entirely than an airplane, and takes more coordination to fly. Bernie and I agreed that since I already fly planes we could forego the sightseeing he usually does for a first-timer, and teach me a few things.
He gave me a briefing on the parts and flight controls, and then up we went. Three feet up, that is. The first thing is to learn how to hover. This is a supreme act of coordination involving your feet on the pedals, right hand on the cyclic (the stick - it angles the rotor disk), and left hand on the throttle and "collective". The collective changes the pitch angle of the rotor blades themselves, adding lift. Bernie explained that helicopters don't really want to fly - you have to MAKE them fly. And it's no easy job, let me assure you.
I touched the controls as Bernie flew and could barely detect his control inputs as he hovered. It takes very little to get it to respond, which means it's also easy to over control. He let me try with each set of controls individually to see how they reacted. I found the collective to be extremely sensitive. The pedals are tricky because the copter naturally rotates to the right. Unless you keep the left pedal pushed in a bit it will start a yaw spin to the right - fast!
Bernie then showed me a bit of what the copter could do by doing a little dance over the grass. He flew forward and then yawed it around in pirouettes as we moved. It felt like square dancing! It was a great feeling of freedom of movement when compared with a plane. We could go forward, backwards, sideways, whatever!
Then we went up to pattern altitude do demonstrate landings. Bernie let me control the stick to set up a downwind leg and adjust the airspeed. The approach to land was a lot like a plane, except that you have to bleed off your airspeed as you descend, which is completely unlike a plane. Once you arrest the airspeed over your landing point, you hover and gently lower it to the ground using the collective. No throttle necessary once it's in a good hover - just decrease lift with the collective to go down.
The really fun part was an autorotation landing. We went up to 800 feet, cut the power and allowed the rotor blades to spin freely. Bernie banked us hard to the right and we dropped like a rock. This was extra fun for me since I was sitting in the right hand seat, and there were no doors! Did a glide approach and then pitched back to kill the airspeed. Very neat, but also apparently very dangerous if it happens for real. If you drop it even a few feet without power you will be lucky to only damage the helicopter.
At the end Bernie let me try to hover on my own using all the controls. Took me a few tries, but I was able to keep it still for a little while. This took all of my concentration, and was lots of fun! I told Bernie it reminded me of riding a unicycle. Also reminded me of juggling, the way every body part is involved in controlling something.
Flying a helicopter is extremely
expensive, which is why I probably won't be able to make a habit of it.
But one day when I'm rich and famous...
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