Thup-thup

The Doug Doty Vertical Flight Foundation

2010-12-09T14:09:00.000-08:00

I wrote about Doug's accident. That left a big hole in a lot of people's lives. Well, his wife, Jesika turned a lot of that horrible event into something fantastic.

The Doug Doty Vertical Flight Foundation,

The website says it best:

Our mission
The Doug Doty Vertical Flight Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization (pending), was founded by Jesika Doty in 2010 after the death of her husband, a flight instructor, in a helicopter training accident. The foundation is dedicated to helping helicopter pilots pursue their dream of flying, keeping Doug's dream alive through them, as well as bridging a gap between the time spent as a flight instructor and getting the first turbine job.
The Doug Doty Vertical Flight foundation's mission is to help where help is needed most. Our focus currently is on providing scholarships for turbine transition certification (after all we need to start somewhere), however, we are always on the look-out for other opportunites. Opportunites where we can have a positive impact on the industry.

and why
Today, the industry requires a minimum of 1200 hrs if not 1500 hrs of total flight time along with turbine experience. Many schools are releasing their flight instructors at 1,000 hrs.
This is the gap.
This is what the foundation hopes to help fill. Being able to provide scholarships for turbine transition time will help these pilots find their first turbine position. It won't do all the work for them, as they will need to find ways to continue building flight hours, but it will help where help is needed most. It will help those pilots that are determined and skilled, so that one day, they may be helping you.
Prior to his death, Doug wanted to eventually become an EMS pilot. Both Doug and Jesika saw that this path would be difficult as the helicopter industry was changing. There were not as many opportunities to gain valuable experience such as turbine time, if you had less than 1500 hours. They saw this gap, that was created in the industry, and were working on ideas of how to bridge this gap for themselves when Doug's accident occurred.
Moving forward, Jesika felt that helping other pilots would enable her to continue the legacy that Doug left. She is not ready to get in the pilot's seat but has a strong belief that if we do not help the pilots that are in this gap, then, not only the industry will suffer in the long run, but we, as individuals, will suffer.
Have you read the story about the sick child needing the services of Life Flight? Or maybe on the news you saw someone being air lifted from an accident site? What about those that fight forest fires or fly mountain rescues? All of these pilots have thousands of hours of turbine experience. The majority of them may not have had to deal with this gap. They went from being a CFI to sitting in a turbine helicopter receiving training at their first job and probably only had 1,000 hrs under their belt. This doesn't happen anymore.

we need you
This is why we need your help and support. Doug wanted to help people. He wanted to make a difference and he relished in the fact that he could make a difference while doing something that he loved.
He made a difference in many people's lives as a flight instructor, a husband, a father and a person. The contribution that you make to this foundation makes a difference not only in a pilot's life but possibly a life down the road. A difference that Doug would be proud to see and humbled by.

This explains a lot.

2010-08-09T10:06:00.001-07:00

Flying in North Jersey... forgettaboutit!

2010-08-08T21:58:00.000-07:00

So, we've relocated from Portland, OR to Bryn Mawr, PA and during the transition I've not been able to fly... at all... for about 2 months. Was starting to get the shakes from the lack of 100LL in my blood. Scary.

Luckily I've got a new friend out here, Jefferson, who runs HeliFlights.Net. Jefferson actually got his CFI from Jerry Trimble - same as me - so I know he's got a very high standard for his students. He is a great pilot and put aside some time to fly with me a little bit. Luckily I remembered to keep the big spinny part on top.

Nothing particularly interesting from the flying side, just a few patterns, some quick-stops and maneuvers. Just getting used to the airspace, airport and helicopter. Nothing but good.

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Robinson R22 Pre-Flight Checklist - Website

2010-06-08T07:29:00.000-07:00

I was just passed this very well done R22 Pre-Flight Checklist page that someone took a lot of time to do and post. Really worth a view if you fly R22s.

Filling in the history...

2010-02-05T14:35:00.000-08:00

As you will see, there is a horrendous gap between May 2009 and February 2010. I have been flying, studying, and testing all during that period, but had not blogged about it.

Lots of reasons, honestly. Some to "protect" people involved and to not hurt any feelings, and well, I just ran low on time. Family, work, and life take precedence over blogging and they got the attention.

Now, I'll go back in and fill in some of the empty space. I plan to back-date the entries to approximately the same time I would have made them. One of the great benefits of having a pilot log book... I know exactly what I did on any given flight day. I'll mark them with the "backdate" label, and also mention it at the top of the entry.

Enjoy, and please feel free to ask any/all questions - as usual.

CFI Checkride Details : Part 2 : The final chapter.

2010-02-05T14:29:00.000-08:00

Yup, that's right, yesterday I became a Certified Flight Instructor : Rotorcraft Helicopter.

Been a long journey, but boy does it feel good.

So, from the previous entries you have probably seen that this the 2nd face to face with my DPE, Ron G. I now understand why he wanted me back.

First of all, I did not fail the first Check Ride - meaning I was not issues a "Letter of Discontinuation" denying my application the first time. He just wanted me to brush up on something before he was willing to sign. Basically, the "examiner is always right".

Turns out that while he thought my explanation for why blade flapping reduces lift on the advancing blade was thin, it was correct. (Phew!) He just did not like the way I got to the point. I could have certainly explained it much better the first time, but I didn't. So, after getting his comments to come back again, I dug in deep. Way deep into the Wagtendonk text. If you are not familiar with this book and are reading (and understanding the technical aspects) of my blog... you probably should be. It is fantastically elaborate and detailed. So much so, that it is probably the worst book for a Private student. Too much detail. Too much theory. Too much physics and math for the introductory student. But, if you want to know exactly why a rotor blade does xxx or yyy, this is your source of truth.

So, I dug in, and learned it. I know all about force vectors, resultant vectors, inflow angles, blade planes, etc. I can explain it pretty damn well now.

I took all that knowledge down to Ron, threw it up on the white board and stepped back, all proud of what I had done. The look on his face was rather like Carl Fredrickson from Up. Actually, he really does have a Carl look in general.

Anyway, he says, "Nope, missed it again". Shit. SHIT!. How could I possibly have missed this? I know I'm right, I even have the book in my bag. I can cite references!

"You are going the wrong direction here. Sure, your explanation is correct, but I have no idea what the hell you are talking about, and neither will your students. Sit down, listen."

So, Ron proceeds to tell me how he would do it. He clenches up his hand... and swings (slowly) at me:

Ron: "Where is the Relative Wind?"
Me: "Coming from..."
Ron: "No, show me. With your hand."

Ron: "Great. Right. Now, where it the Relative Wind?"

Ron: "Great. Right. My point here is I just explained Relative Wind to you without vectors, without math, without all that crap you put up on the board. Your student will understand this, they may not understand that.", as he gestures to my 4 color vector diagram explaining relative wind.

Ron: "Relative Wind is opposite in direction to the movement of an object."

Me: "Right, opposite and equal in magnitude to the direction of an airfoil..."

Ron: "No! Well, yes.. but no. Why magnitude? Why airfoil? Don't cloud the issue here. This is simple, and your student must understand this fully before they will understand any of the stuff to follow. Got it?!"

Ok, got his point here. I'm not trying to impress my students with my physics and math background... I'm trying to teach a very complex concept of lift to someone who probably does not have any interest at this stage. Some day they will.. just not right now.

So, then I went on to simply explain how mixing "2 winds" from different directions produces Resultant Wind in a different direction than the first two. Ron used a good, and simple, example of a stream of water from a garden hose can be deflected by another stream of water to produce a mixed stream going somewhere else.

Bamm... we have Resultant Relative Wind. Relative Wind across a rotor blade, mixed with the 'wind' from Induced Flow creates a new Resultant Relative Wind across the rotor blade. this new wind is at a different angle than the original and will give us a new angle of attack on the blade. Hence a change in lift.

Ok, so I think he was rather unclear about what he wanted me to do on my 2nd run at this... but he's right. I dove in way too deep... and I should have gone shallow.

Point taken sir... point taken.

After a bit of light discussion he congratulated me and asked for my final paperwork and ID.

Boom goes the dynamite.

While he was at it, I asked him for my SFAR73 200hr endorsement. Which he happily gave me, and I immediately entered into my logbook.

That was it. The end. I made it. Phew!

Afterwords I asked Ron if he would mind giving me a quick tour of the facilities at HTS Helicopters, in particular the Sikorsky SkyCrane helicopters they have on site.

All I can say is WOW. Those things are absolutely amazing. The one above is from Evergreen Aviation, and not in HTS' fleet. Although they just did buy a few from them, at about 26M a piece.

As you can see, they are massive. I believe I read on the underbelly by the hook that they have a max lift capacity of 25,000lbs. The legs could easily straddle a 18 wheel semi truck.

Couple of interesting facts. The skycranes

...burn approximately 500gal of fuel per hour.
...have approximately 1500gal fuel tanks.
...cost about $500 to start-up and immediately shut down.
...have a low inertia rotor system. I mean, it is all relative I guess. But the point is that they are paid to lift... and the first thing a helicopter lifts before it picks up is its own rotor blades.

Thanked him for the tour and the "beating", and headed home. Tired, happy and proud.

I'm a Certified Flight Instructor for Helicopters!

2010-02-04T15:40:00.000-08:00

Well, it is official, I'm a CFI!

CFI : Checkride : Part 1

2010-01-29T22:43:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time coming… but today was the day; CFI Checkride day. I was both physically and mentally ready for the session, and I felt good going in to this one. Not at all like last time.

The day started out early, at about 5:30am when I got up, got ready, grabbed a pop-tart and some coffee from the local espresso hut. I had loaded the car up with my 100lbs of books and lesson plans the night before. A quick check of weather and a small update of my flight plan(Oregon mornings in January pretty much start out the same… 7-9ºC, 29.95-29.98) and I was on the road.

After getting settled in on the road to McMinneville to pick up Jerry's "Old Yeller" for the flight to Corvalis, I called in to 800-WX-Brief to file my flight plan and get a standard weather briefing. Outlook looked pretty darn good for the flight down, minus a few AIRMET Sierra's in the valleys to the West and a AIRMET Zulu for 10kft. 10kft does not mean much to a Robinson pilot, although mountain obscurement and low level mist/fog tend to stick to the numerous little hills and valleys around here. The outlook for my flight back was good, but had the potential to get hair near sunset. With all luck, I'd be out of there before 3pm, so all systems go.

In a practical proof of Murphy's Law, just as I passed Newberg, OR (about 10 minutes North of McMinneville), the front driver-side tire on my Mini Cooper S decided to blow out. Yup, that is right, 15 minutes before my flight to my CFI checkride I have a total blow-out. Luckily the Mini has fun flat tires, and a blow out in that car consists of a loud puff of air, slight left drift, and a console warning light. I pulled over to check out the damage, grabbed my tire pressure gauge figured I would see if it was really an issue or just a false working. I checked the pressure in front… no reading. Great, and now my tire gauge is shot! Checked the back tire… 38.5psi. Hmmm… could it be a total blow out? I figured I would rub my hands along the tread and come across a mega nail or something. Nope. How about the back sidewall? Reached around and instantly and put my finger into a 2in x .5in hole on the inboard sidewall of the tire.   Total blowout. 0psi.

I gotta say, If it were not for the run-flats, the day would have been over then and there. The run-flats let the Mini limp along at <55mph for <100 miles - so day was saved - somewhat.

I pulled in to McMinneville about 10 minutes late to see Jerry Trimble just using a very cool portable generator to warm up the Helicopter via the electrical block heater. "Old Yeller" is Jerry's newest helicopter in the fleet; a Robinson R-22 HP - bumble bee yellow. Nice ship. Jerry keeps his helicopters in tip-top shape; he just did a track and balance the previous day, and it was ready for me.

I've got to say, the electrical generator and electric engine-block heater is a great combo. Fast and not as tricky as the propane driven hair-dryers that I used before at Hillsboro Aviation. I suppose each has their benefit, but this method seemed a little more civilized.

After some chit-chat with Jerry, I belted my bag of books and lesson plans into the CFI side of Old Yeller and did my morning pre-flight inspection. All go. Jerry disconnected the generator and heater and hung around just until I got the engine started - just in case. Of course, no problems and I picked up. Have to say, it is rather nice to have some weight in the left seat on a solo… CG is just better.

I climbed out into a cool, clear MMV day. Headed west and met up with Route 99W for my travels down to CVO. It was an IFR flight. (In this case, IFR means I Follow Roads. :) I called up McMinneville Radio to open my previously filed flight plan and got another all clear on the weather.

Flight down was enjoyable and uneventful. Winter mornings, in Oregon, are quite dramatic. There is usually thick mist/fog hanging in the valleys and on the mountain tops - sticking to all the fir trees. As the morning warmed up and we got a little breeze it all dissipates and you get a nice reveal of what makes the Pacific Northwest such a visually impressive place to fly.

I've been down this way number of times, but I like to have as much in-flight information as possible. As such, I fly with my iPhone affixed to my kneeboard, running the Motion GPS application. I have pre-programmed it with about 30 or so GPS coordinates of local airports and VORs. It gives me a non FAA Approved HSI analog that I use as information to backup my pilotage and dead reckoning. In 99% of the cases I just use it for the distance to the airport. I like to make radio calls at 10, 5, 2, an 1nm out. May be a little excessive, but there are a lot of uncontrolled and private airports around here and I'd rather fail to the side of safety.

Wind was from 180@3 so I called a straight in, 1 mile final to Runway 17. Floated in and aimed for the touch-down stripes. Crossed over the runway to the north of the wind indicator / segmented circle.

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Crossed over 9-27 via the taxiway and parked on the first chevron near the FBO. I shut down Old Yeller, did a post-flight walk around and called Jerry to let him know I made it in one piece. He likes to know when his people land at their destination - just the kind of guy he is. I'm sure I'd be the same way.

I grabbed my bags, had and headed over to the Helicopter Transport Services (HTS) building where I was to meet my Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE), Ron G. I walked in, but there was not a soul to be found. Of course at that point, I thought… "great, I'm in the wrong building!". I walked back outside and looked for another entrance and found none. I called Jerry on his mobile, again, to see if I he could give another direction on where to meet Ron. Jerry validated I was in the right spot… just no DPE. This is the, completely normal everyday occurrence, that throws me off balance on CheckRide day.

Eventually I met up with Ron and took a seat in his office. Clearly a busy man as he was on the phone 15 minutes before we actually got to talking. He was very polite and apologetic for the delay. In that time, I got to survey his office and get a little visibility into the mind that is Ron. He is very organized in his own way, but has a good deal of clutter in his office. I could tell by his 250 well labeled, 3-Ring binders that his a man for records and process. He had a few pictures drawn by his children, and various computers in places. Seems like we're going to get a long well. Ordered chaos abounds.

Once we got things started, at about 9:45am, we started with a bit of chit-chat; or as Jerry calls it, "Foreplay". It does help break the tension and did make me quite a bit more relaxed with what was about to come. Ron is just a guy, not a hard-assed judge wanting to break my spirit and cause me to fail.

He started off with a very standard question; "Why did you become a pilot?" That, of course, can be anything for anybody, and we spend 5 or 10 discussing each of our motivations. While it did not get us any closer to the CFI Check Ride, it was just good conversation.

Ron kicked off the examination with a thorough look at my Logbook / Certificates / Medicals. No point in starting the process if I ended up not being legally prepared to continue. This went rather quickly, and I had all required information, test results, endorsements, identification and 8710 available. From there we jumped right in.

He asked me to, using PTS, to "design your own checkride examination". Actually, quite an interesting and probing question. You better be pretty damn familiar with the PTS to design your own checkride. There are very specific requirements in the PTS for the CFI checkride and I think his purpose for setting me off on this task was to make sure I knew my way thought the PTS. It took me about 10 or 15 minutes to write out a 2 page, high-level outline. During this time he set off for a quick hallway meeting with another HTS employee. When he returned, I handed it over to him and he seemed pleased that it was complete.

Putting my selection for examination topics aside, he went by his own "outline". First he started by asking some thought provoking questions about the PTS and Fundamentals of Instruction (FoIs). A word to the wise for anyone who comes across Ron in their future checkride paths… he loves questions with many wrong answers and no right ones. What do I mean by that? Well, things like, "What is the most important characteristic of a CFI? and Why?" and "Give the single choice of 'Critique' or 'Evaluation' what would you pick? and Why?". It is definitely an interesting tactic to use. No only do you have to know the entire subject completely, meaning you need to know all the characteristics of a CFI, but you need to understand them deeply enough to make a good attempt at picking the best. Then, on top of all that, you need to be able to defend your selection.

This FoI topic continued for about 45 minutes. More than half was conversational discussion around topics. I feel like he understood I had the basic knowledge, but kept the dialog doing to see if I knew the correlation between the learned knowledge and how to apply it to students. I had told him that I did quite a bit of teaching in undergraduate and graduate school. I suppose I'm pretty comfortable in that scenario and it hopefully came through.

From there we jumped, heavily, into the PTS. Let me stress this… Ron is a master of the PTS. He knows it inside and out, frontwards and backwards… and I would be surprised if he could not recite entire pages by heart. He loves it, and expects you to as well. Anyway, one of the standard "Ron-ish" questions came up; "What is the most important part of the PTS?". This question brought up about 45 minutes of discussion around the Introduction. If I had to put the PTS Introduction into a few sentences, it is, "The Introduction to the PTS acts as the rules of engagement for all that follows. It lays out requirements for passing and failure of candidates."

I don't plan to explain ever question and answer put to me in my session… but just be familiar with the PTS. You can ignore the following:
    - the inside of the cover,
    - the last 3 pages,
    - and the inside of the back cover.
Go get your PTS.. check out those pages… you can skip those.

Next we reviewed regulations on CFI logbook entries, record keeping, certificates, endorsements. This should come as no surprise to the CFI candidate coming up for their Check Ride. This stuff it pretty obvious and straight forward. They are regulation and you have all been through the Private and Commercial regulation cycles. You should know 'em. No surprises here.

Ron then dove into performance. A rather out of the box question, actually. The question was, "How many lbs of weight can 1" of manifold pressure lift in a R22?". I can honestly say that I had never come across this question in any of my training, but all the information you need to solve this is in the PoH. The discussion was pretty lively and I truly enjoyed chasing this one down. I gave him a reasonable answer by applying known theory. Once satisfied at my response, we moved on to blade flapping.

Ron started off saying that dissymetry of lift is an aerodynamic phenomena that is counteracted by blade flapping. Without teaching a lesson here, the advancing blade flaps up, the retreating blade flaps down. As the blade flaps up, the angle of attack decreases and we lose lift on that blade. The blade that flaps down increases AOA and increases lift. Great. Now comes the question. "Why?". Wow, with that one question he sent me into a spiral. I really did not have a good answer as to why, and I quickly admitted that fact, but I gave him an answer that I would honestly give to a student, "Honestly, I don't know the answer, but if you want to research it with me right now, we will find it.". He liked this response, and let me dive into my books.

Well, about 20 minutes later I had a pretty good idea. I had drawn about 15 pictures of rotor blades at various phases of blade flap in multiple view angles with their resultant force vectors. Think one of the scenes in "Beautiful Mind". Unfortunately, as he said, "You are going to kick yourself when you actually get this. You are circling the answer, very closely… you just need one more step to get you to the answer. Lets move on."

Wham, there it is, with that single question "why?" he found a true and honest hole in my knowledge of helicopter aerodynamics. No reason to beat around the bush with it… he got me. But, I think the fact that I admitted it and said that right up front kept me from failing right then and there. I'll come back to this a little later.

We talked then about Settling With Power, and with the obvious hole illustrated with the previous question, I gave him what he needed.

He, then, asked me to prepare a lesson on anything I chose. I prepared a 20 minute lesson on the Lift Formula, Low Rotor Blade Stall and Low Rotor RPM identification and recovery. I got to say, I'm really proud of myself for this. I was really in my element here and I used the white board to illustrate my points. During the entire presentation, he sat back and just nodded. I asked pertinent questions to "probe the understanding of my student", and he played right along. About halfway thorough he asked if he could start in on his lunch.   At the end of my lesson he said, "well done, why don't you grab your lunch and head out and pre-flight he helicopter."

I asked for the number of the CVO FBO fuel truck, and I gave them a quick call to request fuel. After adding 2gal of fuel I finished the pre-flight and was ready to rock and roll. Ron strolled out a few minutes later and jumped in the right seat.

I kicked off the flight by asking if how he wanted me to "treat" him; as a student or as a DPE? I suppose I was most interested about carb heat. Left seat in the Robinson makes pulling carb heat a bit difficult. Honestly, I thin this is one of the failing in the R22. As a CFI you don't want to let go of that collective for any longer than you absolutely have to. Reaching over or under your knee to pull carb heat may take 1-2 seconds. Depending on your student this might be .999 seconds too long. So, I asked. He said he would be more than happy handle the carb heat for me. Good. One less thing for me to do in flight. Cockpit resource management, baby!

I asked for the startup checklist and began the startup procedures. I have a tendency to talk this whole process out loud and mark my position with my thumb as I do it. It has always been one of my things and I think as a CFI it is a good way to help the student know where they are as well. Plus, when taking a passenger on a scenic, they seem receptive to the whole thing as it helps them understand what is going on. Some are quite interested in how these things work as it is, and hearing you call out that "magnetos, check" seems to give them a thrill. On the other hand, if you are a very knowledgeable pilot I sound crazy. So, just prepped him for that.

He did like to ask questions and chit-chat during my startup, but I think that was purely to see if he could get me to skip something on the checklist, but no… I mark my progress with my thumb. Not catching me on that.

We picked up and took off with a normal departure. We headed East and did some straight & level, controlled turns to specific headings and then validated "best rate of climb" and the fact that power usage is different at 40, 60, and 70 knots. He had a few questions about various Robinson specifics, VNE, max weight, etc. After about 10 minutes he had me head back to that airport and pointed out a nice confined area.

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This is, clearly, a space he comes to often because it was perfect, about 75f wide and 400ft long and surrounded by 75foot trees.    Certainly not a place I would take a private student, but Commercial and CFI… it was a great test. I'm pretty sure I could have refused it and he would have picked another, but it really seemed good at first glance. I did a high reconnaissance left orbit for AWOTFEEL and found the space to be suitable. Came in on for a steep approach and cleared the trees on the leading edge by about 40ft. I came in to a gentle hover about 75ft from the end of the space. He then asked, "how do you plan to get out now?". Gentle 180º in Old Yeller and headed back to the furthest point and turned back around again. Nice max performance on the way out. There was no wind, so it was a bit on the close side on the way out. Not dangerous or concerning, but with two big guys in there we needed every bit of power for our climb.

After we were out of the confined area he asked me to do a normal pattern on the "Closed west taxiway". I've got to say, this is a pathetic excuse for a taxiway. Cracks, puddles, mud. Sure, it is closed, but geez, what a poor excuse. Looked like a back road at the beach. Anyway, came in for a normal approach and then took off for another "survey" of the pattern area. About 2/3 of the way down the taxiway there is a 6x6 foot box with an "H" painted in day-glo orange. This was going to be my "target" going forward. The next time around he asked for a steep approach and executed that flawlessly. He then asked for a rapid deceleration / quickstop and knocked that out without any issues.

He asked for an autorotation with a power recovery on the next time around. I came in a little hot the first time. I have to say that "target" is pretty hard to see. Anyway, I entered the auto smoothly, got RPM under control and started my glide. Within the first 5 seconds I got a clear view of the landing pad and was able to recognize that I would be about 100ft high if I let it go, so I called a "Go Around" and recovered at about 400ft. Next time around I entered a earlier and was about 5 ft short of the spot. He asked for another "autorotation with a power recovery". I think I knew he was going to want a touch down, but played right along. Came in, same as before, and right at the flare I felt him take grip of the throttle. I knew this was going to be my surprise touchdown and just got ready. As I touched down I was slightly right of center and drifted slightly left. I would would have preferred a centerline slide, but given that it was a "surprise" I was OK with my performance.

Once we stopped, he said "I guess that was your touch-down, eh?". I said that I guessed so, and motioned to the collective on his side. He responded with a "What, I didn't do anything." Ok, whatever.

He asked me to do a hover autorotation. I picked up, and turned to the left by about 30º to line up with something in the distance. "Eyes outside, hand all the way around the throttle, establish a smooth and low hover, in 3, 2, 1, roll off throttle, correct heading with pedals, wait and raise collective to the max."   Now, I know this is going to sound like I'm bragging. And, well, I am. That was the best hover auto I've ever had… no question. There was almost no perceptible contact with the taxiway. Seriously, like falling into a 150lb marshmallow. Heading control was spot on as well. Maybe 1º right deviation?

Ron then asked, "Well, was that within commercial PTS standards?" and I said, "Yes, sir… well within." with a grin.   "Well then, take me back to parking, please."

And that was it.

As soon as I touched down, he said, "Flight was enjoyable and I'm happy with your performance there. The oral went well, except for your explanation of flapping. You were very close and reasoned it out pretty well, but you never got it completely. I'd like to have an additional conversation on the topic after you have some review with your CFI. I'm not going to charge you or anything, I just want you to know this stuff completely."

So, I'm not done yet. Not a pass, not certainly not a fail. Honestly, I feel very good about the whole thing. While I would have loved to have been done, I really feel that I held my own with one serious DPE. He did find, and exploit, a true and honest weakness in my knowledge. Unfortunately neither my Private or Commercial training ever answered the question, "Why does a blade flapping up reduce lift?"

I've been studying the answer to this question and will be taking that knowledge back down to Ron in Corvalis next week.

Stay tuned…

Mea Culpa...

2010-01-28T12:39:00.000-08:00

I've been really bad about updating my Blog. So, consider this a formal apology.

Here is the situation. I'm going for my CFI license, and I've found the perfect place for me to get this training; Jerry Trimble @ Jerry Trimble Helicopters. He's on Facebook if you are interested in learning more about the school and his programs.

I've been under Jerry's expert teaching since 2009-08-10, taking my time, getting the most out of this experience possible. Short version, it was the perfect decision. Great pilot, great CFI, period.

When I pass this checkride, I'll be back to explain it all, I promise.

It has been a hell of a ride.

RIP Doug & Chris

2009-09-22T14:30:00.000-07:00

Quite a sad day here at Hillsboro Aviation. Doug Doty and Thomas "Chris" Hagner were killed during a training flight. At this point, there is only a preliminary report from the NTSB, but when it is available, it will be available via the query page at the NTSB.

New Link

CFI Flight #1 @ Jerry Trimble Helicopters

2009-08-10T21:55:00.000-07:00

Backdated.

This was the right decision. No question.

I wish that McMinneville (MMV) was closer... we're at about 45-60 minutes. It is a really nice and easy drive into Oregon country... but it does add and additional 2 hours to any training I might set up.

We spent about 1hr doing ground and 1hr in the air. My initial reaction is that Jerry is an very down to earth instructor and an incredible pilot. The ground lesson was more or less a level set on what is to be covered and a basic FoI level information. Mostly review as I've just come off of my FOI test.

The flight... well, it was mostly a "proof" of my ability. We did at least one of every maneuver. He wanted to see what he had to work with. Interestingly, he knew where I got my training because I executed the maneuvers to HAI standard. There are flavors of maneuvers, obviously, and mine are all HAI tinted.

For example, HAI is a proponent of a "little flare" and then "big flare" in an autorotation with a power recovery. After I did it, Jerry asked me "Why?". And, the only response I could give him was "Because that is the way I was taught at Hillsboro." Now, while he understood that, and took it as a valid reason he said that he was going to break me of all the bad habits I picked up at Hillsboro. Not that it was dangerous or anything, but if I can't back up every thing I do in the helicopter with a concrete reason based in aerodynamics, mechanics or safety... I should not be doing it.

Good point.

Jerry teaches the autorotation with a big flare, lowering collective to prevent ballooning up, level the helicopter and recover.

Seems quite reasonable.

He also rode me pretty hard about my Max Performance Takeoff. I've been taught, MIPOC:

M : Magneto Check
I : Instruments Check
P : Available Power
O : Identify Obstacle(s) to be cleared.
C : Clear the side, skids, tail.

Well, "Why do you need to check the magnetos before your max performance takeoff? Should we get out and check the rotor blades? Check the oil? There are plenty of things that could be checked, but they are working now, we can expect them to work for the next 15 minutes too."

Point taken.

Flying, just because I can!

2009-07-03T10:26:00.000-07:00

So, I guess I lied a little about never spending any more money at Hillsboro Aviation. I needed to fly, so over the past month or so, I grabbed a few hours in the sky with their helicopters.

Anyway, had some fantastic flights. Nothing fancy, just tooling around up there flying one of the most complex machines man has ever dreamed up. :)

Look, let me be clear on one thing. I don't resent HAI, I don't hate them. Really. They taught me an incredible skill. They taught me well. The school is filled with excellent CFIs. My issue comes in where they decided to rotate out the high-time instructors. Just makes no sense for people at the end of their Commercial training.

If you have questions... ask, I'd be happy to explain further.

See ya Hillsboro Aviation. Hello Jerry Trimble Helicopters!

2009-06-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

Backdated.

As of today, I'm done with Hillsboro Aviation. Don't get me wrong, HAI gave me 100% of my helicopter flying to date. They taught me well, and I truly appreciate that. And, honestly, I would recommend them to anyone interested in their Private or Commercial certifications. CFI training... no sir.

Today I took my CFI : Fundamentals of Instruction (FoI) test with LaserGrade. Kicked out a 94%, so I'm happy with that, and I can say that today was a good day, in general because of that. The other day, I could not be more pissed off - here's why.

We were all sitting around in the HAI classroom putting the final touches on our training folders. See, HAI is a 141 school and they have an approved syllabus. Even though there are not any requirements on hours set forth by the FAA for the CFI certification, HAI has set up a program which they have to follow - to the letter.

Well, it turns out that with all the cancellations and errors around the CFI class, we were .7hrs short of the requirement. We had to sit there... and I mean sit there and burn the time. They did not charge us for the time we sat there, which is only fair, but the poor planning was just too much. I'm done with HAI.

So, that day, I took my FoI test. Took my "First Solo" picture off the wall, grabbed my training folders, and left the school. No more money being spent there.

Again, thank you for the education, and everything you gave me so far... but the recent changes and lack of respect for student CFI's time is just too much to handle.

I called Jerry on the car ride on the way home, and we started planning my first CFI lesson with him. August 10th.

Jerry Trimble Helicopters

2009-06-04T21:42:00.000-07:00

Backdated.

There have been a few instances over the past few days where I have gotten off of work to drive to the classroom at Hillsboro to find out that we're canceled for one reason or another. Today the projector was unavailable and we canceled.

Not acceptable.

Today I met with Jerry Trimble of Jerry Trimble Helicopters. Actually, Jerry bought me dinner. Jerry, Alison his wife, and I have a meet and greet at the Baja Fresh. I've been pretty dis-heartened about what has been going on w/ HAI and I'm starting to question my decision to stay with them. Fact is, I'm not getting what I need from the school and they are getting what they need from me... my money.

Anyway, Jerry comes highly recommended by a lot of people I respect. He is a small, one helicopter outfit out of McMinneville (KMMV). Why would this take value over the 18 helicopter shop at Hillsboro Aviation? Because I'm tired of throwing my money at someone who cold care less about my training.

From friends and the dinner, I learned that Jerry has flown almost everything out there with a rotor blade. EMS, Tourism, Sky Cranes, you name it. I have no idea how many hours he has, but it is upwards of 15,000 or 20,000. Yes, you read that correctly. 35 years doing this.

Here is a little snippet from his website.

I received my A&P certificate at Northrup University in Inglewood, California in 1978 and started working for Frank Robinson as an A&P mechanic in January of 1979. My first day on the job I was selected to fly with Frank in ship s/n 002. Serial number 001 had done a nose dive into the ocean before I got there so we were flying the backup. It was something for me to be the unqualified flight test engineer with Frank Robinson flying the prototype on my first day. I spent two years with Robinson and worked my way up to production test flying. Bob Golden one of Frank's certification test pilots flew with me to help me get my CFI Helicopter in September of 1980 in an R-22.

In December of 1980 I started Hillsboro Helicopters in Hillsboro, Oregon. I was a one man band in the beginning. In 1992 when I sold the company to Ed Cooley we were over 40 people strong with over 25 aircraft. Since then I have flown corporate turbo props, fought fires in the skycrane, flown EMS in BO-105 and the EC-135. I have been a Chief Pilot, Director of Operations, Director of Maintenance and a Chief Flight Instructor for both airplanes and helicopters.

Impressive, right?

He was equally impressive face to face. He gave me the CFI Syllabus he uses and asked "if you end up not going with me for my training, I ask that you destroy this. Fair?". That is the attitude I really appreciate. Impress me with your skill, give me your trust and then see what happens.

I think I'll be seeing more of Jerry.

FoIs at HAI

2009-06-03T15:29:00.000-07:00

Backdated.

I have decided to stick with HAI for a number of reasons. As usual with a big decision I make pro / con lists. (This is the actual list I made, I found the post-it note in my 2009 FAR/AIM)

Pro

They are very close to my home. 15 minute drive.
I'm familiar with the airspace, the airport and the school itself.
I have invested lots of $$$ in the school so far.
The school is very well known in the industry.

Con

They treat their CFIs pretty poorly.
Their program is longer and more expensive than some others.
This will be a group training setup, not 1 on 1.

Pro's won. I signed up and have been working the Fundamentals of Instruction for a few weeks.

We are in a semi-convenient group classroom setting. It is not ideal, but it is what it is.

My concern about being CFI trained by a new CFI has pretty much been removed. We have been working with the Chief Flight Instructor for this portion of our training.

This is both good and bad. We have the expertise at the ready, but are not his first priority. There have been quite a few instances where he has either forgotten to tell us class is canceled due to a conflict, and we find out when we walk into the room. Or, he just has to cancel class because of prior commitments. Not ideal.

Quality of the course is spot on, so it is hard to complain about that.

CFI : The Next and Final Step...

2009-05-27T15:10:00.000-07:00

Note: I'm backdating a number of these entries because, for a number of reasons, I was unable to do them at the time. Based on my logbook and classroom notes I'm re-creating these entries as best as I can.

Done with my Commercial, and I've decided to kick right off into my CFI Training. Honestly, I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with Hillsboro.

Look, HAI gave me a great education. They taught me to fly. I got my Private here and just now got my Commercial license. I've paid them many thousands of dollars and have put some real time on their birds. So, I owe them a debt of gratitude, no question. Good school. Buuuuuut....

...isn't there always a "but". Here it is... and this is probably one of the big reasons I did not blog about this in real time and waited till months later.

I think HAI is a shitty place to work. I'm not at all impressed how they treat their CFIs.

Ok, so here is all the back story. I started this journey in 2008 with my instructor. She was fresh off the CFI boat and had 20x hours in the sky. Compared to me, she was infinitely more qualified. I had 0, she had 20x. No question, she was qualified.

As the hobbs time ticked by, I gradually picked up skill, and so did she. Obviously at a much highter rate that me since she had multiple students. Throughout the entire process I would fly with other, high time, CFIs for Stage Checks and pre-Check Ride checks, etc. All good.

Well, just before I got my Commercial w/ about 180hrs of my own, Hillsboro decided they needed to make changes with their hiring policies. They decided that in order to maintain a predictable and constant flow of CFIs in the school, they needed to set a cap on the hours that a CFI could have and still work in the school. The cap would be at 1000hrs. My instructor had 1400, the others I regularly worked with had 1500, 1100 and 1200.

Now, don't get me wrong, I understand the school's position. However, in the current business market jobs are scarce all over, and to eject someone from their job for too much experience so that you can replace them with less experienced people seems pretty unfair. Obviously to the CFI, but also to the students they have.

Hell, l was down right pissed off at this for very selfish reasons. I have paid thousands of dollars to get the best education I can and to be told that I am going to be given a CGI with 20% more hours than me is offensive. I'm pretty sure they had something to teach me, but certainly not as much as someone with 4x, 5x more air time.

I literally finished up my Commercial with someone that had 25 more hours than me. I was pissed.

It was at this point that I started investigating other schools.

I'm a certified Commercial Pilot: VFR61 Rotocraft:Helicopter:Commercial!

2009-05-26T13:25:00.000-07:00

Flight #: 142 Commercial VFR61
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N956SH
Duration, as PIC: 1.1hrs
Cumulative Time: 184.40hrs

WooHoo! Passed my Check Ride today! So it is official, I'm a FAA Certified Commercial Helicopter Pilot as of 1:00pm today.

Oral test went very well... definitely was prepared. Actually, it was pretty easy. My Check Ride for Private was a bear. Not only cause it was the first time I've done a test like that but my examiner, Dale, was one tough dude. This one was with Mark H, and while they both are required to follow the same PTS (Practical Test Standards), the oral exam is all about presentation. Mark was friendly throughout the whole process... not easy, friendly. I did not feel like I was in a battle, but a conversation with someone who knows a hell of a lot more than me. Mark was very much by the book. He had an interesting way of asking questions. He would start with an FAA approved/required question. Then follow it up with a related question that was not necessarily in the PTS. Something that required a little extra knowledge, discussion or interpolation. I learned a few things out of the whole event.

The flight itself was equally as rewarding. Really by the book. One bit that I found particularly interesting was the off airport portion. We flew west, out to the WPA (West Practice Area) and picked out a clear-cut logging peak. I actually started an approach, downhill, but did a "go around" when I realized that was not the best of my options even though it was directly in to the wind. Got to watch that tail-rotor you know.

View Larger Map

Anyway, other than that... I'd say I was spot on for the flight.

Damn, feels good to have that under my belt.

Down:

HAI Written Exam : Pass : 97%
FAA Written Exam: Pass : 96%
HAI Commercial Oral Exam : Pass
HAI Commercial Flight : Pass
FAA Commercial Oral Exam : Pass
FAA Commercial Check Ride Flight : Pass

0.0 PIC Remaining - Commercial Requirements - Complete

2009-05-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

Flight #: 141 Commercial
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N8361N
Duration, as PIC: 3.7hrs
Cumulative Time: 183.8hrs

Well, I've done it. Made it to the end of my Commercial Helicopter rating. You need 100 PiC (Pilot in command) hours for your commercial... and I had 3.7 yet to go. Well, as of tonight... done!

I really enjoy night flying. Night has to be great, since your margin for error gets pretty small at night, but when it is good... it is great. Tonight was perfectly clear, full moon, all goodness.

Nothing out of the ordinary to speak of on this flight. Only thing to note is how bored the PDX tower / controllers get at night. Really nothing landing or taking off at 12:30 am... so they like to talk and help out. In fact, I got VFR flight following from PDX most of the way since they had nothing better to do.

Now comes the FAA test.

Commercial Pilot Certificate - Movin' right along.

2009-05-08T21:01:00.000-07:00

Down:

HAI Written Exam : Pass : 97%
FAA Written Exam: Pass : 96%
HAI Commercial Oral Exam : Pass
HAI Commercial Flight : Pass

To Go:

FAA Commercial Oral Exam : TBD
FAA Commercial Check Ride Flight : TBD

Commercial Pilot Certificate - FAA Written Test - Pass - 96%

2009-04-10T14:29:00.000-07:00

Commercial Pilot Certificate:
FAA Exam: Name: Commercial Pilot Rotorcraft Helicopter (CRH)
Date: 2009-04-10
Expires: 2011-04-30
Site: LAS97101
Score: 96 / Pass / 1st Take

'aint nuthin' wrong with that!

Solo X/C - Day - South

2009-03-06T14:42:00.000-08:00

Flight #: 127 Commercial VFR61
Aircraft: Robinson R22
Aircraft ID: N2356T
Duration, as PIC: 1.5hrs
Cumulative Time: 160.6hrs

Another cross country solo flight... this time during the day. It was a beautiful day and just there just happened to be an open helicopter for me.

No real special stuff to note on the trip, except this time I decided that I wanted to circle some things to look at later. And, as you can see from the map below... I did.

You'll see a prison, a logging yard where the logs are stacked radially, and this really odd building up on a hill - in the middle of nowhere. I think it might be an insane asylum or possible a rehab for movie stars. Who knows.

View Larger Map

Equipment

2009-02-27T15:43:00.000-08:00

One of my readers, Jeff, asked me a few questions about some of the light equipment I use while flying... and I though I might as well post it all here. I've done some research on these products, and I might as well share that as well.

Lets start at the bottom, and work our way up.

Shoes: Yes, I have special flying shoes. Most people don't I've noticed, but I wear Birkenstocks, almost exclusively, when my feet are on the ground. Loose shoes are really not something you want while flying around, so I had to find something better. I tried standard running shoes, but found that the tread design often got caught up on the petals in the R22. Not anything significant, mind you, but I found myself holding my foot at funny angles so that the pedal-bar did not fall into the tread groove. I found these Puma SpeedCats (nice name, eh?) in a discount shoe store... perfect! They have no tread at all, and the tread runs all the way up the heel. Apparentely they are driving shoes, and it works out very well when flying. The heel tread allows a little bit of extra cushion while flying and reduces some of the fatigue. Be forewarned... no tread means they suck on snow and ice tho.

Kneeboard: I was forced to buy this model... by my CFI, Kristie. Actually, she just highly recommended I get the loose-ring type as there is much less chance that the rings would get caught up on the cyclic. Obviously a plus. Anyway, you can get this from MyPilotStore, and it is really a great price for what you end up getting. It has the standar 7-Ring format for plates and pockets, as well as a bunch of elastic straps for holding pens, lights, etc. The hard plastic clip-board that slides in the back gives the kneeboard enough rigidity to be useful, but the flexible material molds comfortablly to you leg in flight. Plus, it works with my TiMount and TiMount XT Kneeboard Timer Mounts!

Flight Timer: I use the ASA Flight Timer. It is, honestly, a little expensive for what it does, but it has done we well. In particular, I like the fact that it has a fuel-usage countdown as well as a count-up timer. Large buttons and a light, make this a great option. It has some approach features, which I have not seen as even a little bit useful. But, this is what I use... and it has done me fine.

Now, here is the big question...

Chris, how do you mount your timer to your kneeboard?

TiMount & TiMount XT Kneeboard Timer Mount: My own personal invention! You can get these from MyPilotStore.com too, as well as a number of other places. Anyway, there are two models. The both fit with you kneeboard and either slip vertically behind the clipboard or hook into 4 of the 7 rings. You then mount your timer to the heavy duty Velcro® (provided) and you get your timer in easy reach. No muss, no fuss. Pretty cheap for an aviation product, don't you think? Buy one... support a starving pilot. :)

Flashlight: You will realize you need one of these the first time you try to take a flight at night or early morning. It is perfect for pre-flight and post-flight walk throughs. The hyperbright light is 5-LED in white... whith a very bright red LED in the middle. It is pretty small, and you can actually hold it in your mouth when using both hands to check things, like the main rotor, for example. A little expensive for a flashlight, but it is also built like a tank. Dropping it from 5 feet on to the runway is no issue. (Trust me, I've done it myself). You can use red or white light (via two buttons) and that works out nicely when trying to protect your night vision. Trust me, the white lights can completely blind you for a few minutes... so don't use this in the cockpit. Sporty's sells these.

Headset / Comms: This badboy is, by far, the most expensive item of the bunch. Coming in at $995.00 each, the Bose Aviation X Active Noise Cancelling Headset is awesome. Really, you get what you pay for with headsets, and this one comes through with flying colors. It is light, comfortable, and most importantly... it seriously reduces engine noise. The noise cancellation circuit is fantastic and allowing your voice to be easily heard over the roar of a Lycoming 0-360 engine running at 100%. Totally worth the price.

Head Lamp / Cockpit Light: While you can get this many places, I found it cheap at REI. The reason I like this is that:

it is held to your forehead... one less things to do with your hands.
it has lots of lighting options. Red/White/Flash-Red/Flash-White
it has 2 off positions, so you don't have to go through the white light to get to the red. Thus, eliminating the slaughter of your precious night vision.
it comes with its own little plastic container to keep it from getting lost / smashed in your flight bag.
it is cheap.

I think that's it. That is what I fly with everytime I go up. (I only use the lights at night, obviously, but they are in my flight bag... just in case.)

Night Cross-Country Solo - a.k.a Heaven & Hell

2009-02-20T00:52:00.000-08:00

Flight #: 125 Commercial VFR61
Aircraft: Robinson R22
Aircraft ID: N2223p
Duration, as PIC: 3.1hrs
Cumulative Time: 157.4hrs

First of all, I love night flying. On a clear night you can see incredible distances and you get to see amazing views of the city, towns and roads. Purely awe inspiring.

There are, obviously, negatives to night flight:

emergency landing spots - hard to see good ones... simple as that.
clouds / mist - again, hard to see them.
obstacles - yet again, can't to see them in time.
distance estimation - at night, your depth perception is off... so it is hard to judge distances and altitudes. Coming in to land is rather tricky as you can't really tell where the ground is. All you get to see is two hyper-bright spots where your headlights meet the ground. I happen to come in to a high hover each time. Practice.
weird wind patterns - as the earth cools down, you get some changes in wind... and as I found out on this flight... it can be a really big deal.

So, lets talk about the flight... in general a really good flight. The flight down had great visibility, a little bit of turbulence in the known spot where 26E meets 217S, but nothing to write home about. Kept the helicopter controls loose and under 60kias, went right on through just fine.

On the way down I decided to make a quick approach at Aurora (KUAO) airport. I've had a few approaches here in the past, but this was my first at night, so I felt relatively comfortable with the layout of the airfield.

I have to mention one of my favorite things about night flights... pilot controlled lighting. Basically, airport landing lights are just for aircraft landing at that local airport. No other reason for them. So, when there are no aircraft, no point for them to be on. Most airports will power down their lighting systems after XX minutes of innactivity on the radio. Basically, everything goes dark. (Except the airport beacon... you can see that flashing white-green from miles away.)

So, at night, on a speficic communications frequency, you can click your mic and turn on/off the airport lights. 3-clicks within 5 seconds = low intensity. 5 clicks within 5 seconds = medium intensity. 7 clicks within 5 seconds = high intensity.

There is something incredibly cool to be flying along... know the general location of the airport (from the rotating beacon), clicking your mic 7 times, then all of a sudden a full airport lighting system comes on to welcome you. Obviously the bigger the airport, the cooler it is... but still, even at a little airport like Aurora... it is cool.

So, as long as nobody is near the airport with me... I will put the lights on full for an approach. After I turn downwind, put them on low (or off), then put them back on high as I turn base. Kind of childish, I suppose. But it is really cool to turn final and click on the lights and see it just jump up out of nowhere.

Cheap date.

After departure, I headed down to Salem (KSLE). Salem is a Class-Delta airspace, so you are required to get permission to enter their airspace. It is good practice to enter these airspace from time to time. Luckily, Hillsboro is also a Delta airspace, so I'm used to the back and forth communications. On the way in they had me come in rather close to the runway and I obliged. They then told me that if I could make it, I was able to do a quick / hard right turn... followed by a hard left to make a direct in approach to the runway. Being a helicopter, this was no issue. I did a few approaches, and then headed down to Albany (KSLE)

This is where the fun began. Another Hillsboro student / CFI were doing their first night cross country flight here, and I could recognize their voices. I joined the pattern and made a few appraoches, but also noticed that there was another helicopter on the ground, in front of the 24 hr, self-serve fuel pump. No big deal... happens all the time. I'd just wait my turn.

Well, as it turns out, this person happened to have an overspeed. A serious overspeed during the run-up after getting fuel and could not fly the helicopter from that point on. Why? Well, lemme tell you. Pull up a chair, sit back...

The main rotor blades are mounted to the mast via a series of bearings and hinges. The outward force, directed along the length of the blade, is proportional to the speed at which the blades rotate around the central hub. The faster the rotation, the more force there is trying to pull the blades out of the hub. To allow the pilot to still be able to conrol the pitch of the rotor blades with the cyclic, there have to be bearings at that rotor/hub junction. Apply too much force at that joint, you could have blade seperation (rare) or serious damage to the bearing itself (common). This damage is called Brinelling. Think of it as the internal hub bearings being stressed to the point where they either crush, or dent the inner/outer surfaces of the bearing itself. Basically... bad. Real bad thing to have happen to you.

If you get an overspeed with 100% - 104% rotor RPM, things are egenerally fine. The helcopter (Robinson R22) can take it... and you don't have much to be concerned about. 104% - 110%, you need to shut down, and have the helicopter inspected. >110%... is really bad. Basically, the aircraft it completly torn down, and sometimes requires that the ship be sent back to the factory for an overhaul. At that speed, they have to check, not only the rotor blades, bearings and hub, but they have to check every bit of the drive train as well. Everything has to be going over-max speed to get the rotors going that fast.

Lets just say, you do not want an overspeed of any kind. Definitely not one >110%. This one was "well above 110%". The result of all of this... that helicopter was not going to be moving from the spot that it was in... directly in front of the refueling station. Which meant... I was not going to be refueling the helicopter at Albany as planned.

So, I headed back to Salem to refuel. Certain Delta airports close down at certain times... Salem shuts down, converts to Echo airspace, at 10:30pm. The first time I was here, it was a Delta airspace, now it was Echo. Basically, no tower to help me find the fuel pump.

So, being a helicopter, it really is not that big of a deal... you just go searching. Off in the distance I found a nice, bit BP sign and headed that way. As it turns out, this is a mega-self-service pump with multiple hoses, and the other student/CFI who I saw in Albany were there doing the same thing. We chatted a bit, stretched and refueled.

By the way, the seats in the R22 suck. After about 90 minutes, your ass is numb. But, you are flying a helicopter... so things could be worse.

I finished up first, and headed out... back to Hillsboro. Back with the pilot controlled lighting. But, this time, I was at a big airport, with real lights and approach lighting systems. So, 7-clicks, and the world just lit up. Taxiway lights, approach lighting systems, all kinds of cool stuff. Thrills!

Headed north, as usual. Now, as I mentioned before, wind gets a little weird at night around here. I expected to run into a few bumps on my way back when I hit the 217N & I5N intersection. And boy did I.

I am, in general, not a motion sick kind of person. I have been on plenty of boats, car rides, airplane rides to know what turbulence is... how you just have to take your knocks... and move on. This was different. I was sick as a dog - this was horrible. I can honestly say, I have never been in such a bad batch of turbulence in my life... let along behind the stick at the time. After the fact I checked the wind in the area (local airports had minimal wind), but right at that spot... 20knot gusts. PDX, after I landed, had 30 knot gusts. Now, that kind of wind sucks in general... let alone in a tiny R22.

I swear I was getting knocked around like I was in a inflatable raft on the open ocean. I would yaw 30º in either direction. +50 feet, -50 feet in altitude. My speed would jump from 60kias to 40kias in a second.... then jump up to 75kias. Really, sucked. About halfway in, I had to make a real decision about what I was going to do. Would I make an emergency landing? What if I puked? Finally I decided to pick out two points of decent spot for an emergency landing. If I made it to the first, I would pick one just on the other side of the second and limp my way along. If I puked... I would just do it right in my own lap, and clean up afterwards. Twice I thought... "Ok, this is it... I'm going to boot."

Now, everyone knows that fresh air helps when you are nauseous. What about 2º air at approximately 60 knots? Sure, it helps, but you freeze too. So, I opted for uncontrollable shivering rather than puking on myself. Nice choices.

Anyway, I made it back to the airport safe... which, in the end, is all that matters. But, it sucked.

I landed, post-flighted the helicopter, and stuffed the helicopter log-book into a door slot and went home. Sandy greeted me at the door and said I looked "really green, are you OK?".

As Sandy pointed out, there is a good thing as a result of the last 15 minutes of flight... "You know your limit now... you can do it again if you had to, and you know the outcome." She is absolutely right.

I would certainly never intentionally go through that again, but if circumstances forced me there again, I'd make it through. Puke / Emergency free.

View Larger Map

Commercial Night Flight - North

2009-02-17T00:15:00.000-08:00

Flight #: 121 Commercial VFR61
CFI: Kristie E.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N856HA
Duration, as PIC: 3.1hrs
Cumulative Time: 152.9hrs

Knocked out another night cross country flight. This time, we went North into Washington. The interesting stuff on this flight was that neither Kristie or I had been this far North before... neither day nor night. So, it was fun for us both.

Since for night flights you stick to lighted areas, we fly over I5. That takes us right into PDX airspace... and actually right across the approach path for PDX's runways. This is not a problem... since you are on with PDX Tower at all times, but it does make for some interesting situations.

Me: "Portland Approach, Helicopter 856HA, one-thousand-five-hundred feet, 11 South-West with request."
PDX: "Helicopter 856HA, Portland Approach, go ahead."
ME: "Request transition through the airspace to the north, via I5"
PDX: "Squawk 0124 and Ident"
ME: "Squawk 0124 and Ident, 856HA"
PDX: "Radar contact, 6HA, maintain 1500ft, remain on or west of I5, Transition Approved"
ME: "Remain west of I5, maintain 1500ft, transition approved, 6HA"

So, we keep putting along at a slow, but adequate pace of about 75kias to the north, and we see that we're coming to the approach path for PDX's active runway. Not a problem, PDX tower is aware of us, and knows what we want... but it is still funny looking out the right window and seeing the airport... then out the left at a line of jets lining up for a landing.

PDX: "Helicopter 856HA, I've got some jets coming in, I may need to vector you for spacing."
ME: "Roger, 6HA"

...puttering along...

PDX: "Helicopter 856HA, 30º to your left, I'm going to bring this jet in."
ME: "30º left, 6HA"

Now, at this point, we are about 5 miles from the jet... but headed directly towards them. They are crossing our path, left to right... quite a bit faster than we are. The is no chance for collision, but is does feel weird. He is descenting as well, so the controller is just giving the jet more time to descend, before sending us behind him.

PDX: "Helicopter 856HA, 20º to your right, pass behind the jet landing 10R, climb and maintain 3000ft. Caution for wake turbulence."
ME: "20º right, behind the jet, climbing to 3000ft. Cution for wake turbulence. 6HA"

OK, so as you might imagine the wake of a landing jet is quite intense... in any aircraft, let alone a tiny little R22. Wake turbulence always falls and is behind an aircraft. SO, if you cross their path above and in front of their line of travel, you will be fine. Only problem is that an R22 does not climb so fast. I start a 1000ftp climb, and make it to 3000ft well before any point of concern, but what ends up happening is that we are about 1500ft above the jet while it lands. Directly above. Got to tell you, that was pretty interesting to see.

Rest of the flight was pretty uneventful. Easy to follow the road all the way up to Chehalis, where we refueled. Turned around and headed back home the same route.

All in all, pretty good night.

Now that I have the north and south run down, I'll pick and choose which one to do for my upcoming 5hrs of night solos. Actually, I'm going to try to knock those guys out pretty quickly as the days are getting longer and I'd rather not be leaving for my night flight at 9pm.

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Whirligear - It's Official!

2009-02-16T15:32:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official... Whirligear products are now available through web-based pilot stores, like MyPilotStore.com!

If I didn't mention it before, I decided to fill a large hole in the aviation product market. There is no way to mount your flight timer to your kneeboard. Well, there is if you like to use a wooden ruler, duct tape and cardboard. I kind of think that a method of like that is rather ghetto... so I made a product (patent pending, BTW), that will securely mount your timer to your kneeboard.

Nice, eh?

I'm doing this under a new company I created called, In Ground Effect, LLC. The product is branded under the Whirligear name. I'm pretty psyched about it. It's not a major money making venture or anything, but it is pretty cool - I think.

Take a look, and hell, pick up one while you are at it.

TiMount and TiMount XT : Kneeboard Timer Mounts

Designed to work with standard kneeboards (both loose and fixed 7-ring style) to orient flight timers where they are visible, accessible, and will not interfere with control-stick movement.

Specifically engineered for taller pilots and small cockpit environments.

Mounting angle of flight timer provides enhanced in-flight viewing.

Industrial strength Velcro Dual Lock for secure and repositionable mount.

Durable ABS plastic for long life under real flight conditions.

Extremely small, lightweight and ultra-portable.

Innovative design slides cleanly into pocket of most kneeboards.

Mounting tab compatible with almost any personal flight timer available.

Designed to support needs of both rotor-wing and fixed wing pilots.