Ask a helicopter pilot anything
Discussion
Collectingbrass said:
What's the most accurate representation of helicopter flying in Hollywood and what's the most inaccurate?
What helicopter would you pick as your chariot of choice?
Great question - 99.9% of it is utter b*llocks tbh as you would expect. The best one for me, hands down, is Black Hawk Down and even that is not quite right imho. The initial scene where they are flying a Blackhawk at ultra low level over the beach to pickup the Delta force guy who was out hunting pretty much hits the nail square on the head for military flying (yes I know it's not a shooty bit!). It's awesome. I guess Apocalypse Now does a pretty good job too and really captures the feeling of being part of a large formation of helicopters thundering into armageddon. I did a 8 ship assault mission into a range in the UK and I promise you it felt exactly like that scene in Apocalypse Now where they raid the village in a massive formation.What helicopter would you pick as your chariot of choice?
Minus the shooty bits, heat, vietnamese etc but you get the picture
Most inaccurate is difficult to pin down from a wide cast, but just pick pretty much any James Bond and go with that.
Edit: chariot of choice I forgot sorry, but it depends on what for really. For just about anything barring heavy lift or taking masses of troops around a Bell 412 (twin engined Huey) can do it all.
geeks said:
What's been your favourite "watch this!" moment that you would be willing to admit to on the internet? 
Did you do some prior training on fixed wing? A friend is an ex-Navy pilot and learned to fly in a Chipmunk before they let him loose on whirly things.
Heaps of those moments, but probably the only safe one I can explain was 8 helicopters going into Spadeadam range at ultra low level all in a big stream. The leader took us over a gap in some woods and we simultaneously noticed it was a viewpoint chock full of people, without a word on the radio all 8 of us closed into close formation and thundered over together almost as one. Sounds crap but it was like some crazy ESP where we all knew exactly what we had to do....must have looked awesome...for a helicopter Did you do some prior training on fixed wing? A friend is an ex-Navy pilot and learned to fly in a Chipmunk before they let him loose on whirly things.
I flew the Firefly as part of my initial training and was sent direct to helicopters (I volunteered to be honest, which almost nobody did in those days...in fact I was told to unvolunteer, put jets down as first choice on my wishlist and was then sent helicopters anyway...explain that one
). Before I retired I flew air cadets at an Air Experience Flight on the Grob Tutor, which was great fun. Having not flown fixed-wing in 14 years I got a massive 2hrs with an instructor and was sent solo...luckily I remembered not to hover 
yellowjack said:
I'm guessing that first one was the "Sooty incident". If so, what a dumb way to kiss you flying career goodbye.
My only other notable experience in a helicopter was a brief flight sitting in the door-gunner's position on a US Huey, again during the clear-up after the Gulf War. We were co-located for a few days with a US Army tank transporter unit, and their mail, rations, etc all got delivered by air. They even got the aircrew to bring out a couple of baseball bats, gloves, balls, etc so the American truck crews could embarrass us at baseball.
After that, my only helicopter flights were as "cargo" in the back of Merlins and Chinooks over Iraq during Op Telic. Lots of eerie green glowing lights in a Merlin, and the sense that the ground is rushing past quite quickly (and not very far away) beyond the gunner on the partially open ramp...
Yes you're right it was before GW1 and having read the accident report it specifically mentioned the "Sooty glove" antics prior to the wingover....hell of a way to finish your career. Not the worst way I've heard though and a chap on my elementary flying course did it in real style but sadly not for this website My only other notable experience in a helicopter was a brief flight sitting in the door-gunner's position on a US Huey, again during the clear-up after the Gulf War. We were co-located for a few days with a US Army tank transporter unit, and their mail, rations, etc all got delivered by air. They even got the aircrew to bring out a couple of baseball bats, gloves, balls, etc so the American truck crews could embarrass us at baseball.
After that, my only helicopter flights were as "cargo" in the back of Merlins and Chinooks over Iraq during Op Telic. Lots of eerie green glowing lights in a Merlin, and the sense that the ground is rushing past quite quickly (and not very far away) beyond the gunner on the partially open ramp...
I may have flown you in the Merlin in Iraq, was out there only once between Nov 05-Feb 06.
Narcisus said:
Actually i'm getting better .... Slowly ! Yes trimming isnt 2nd nature but I keep watching youtube and listening to the pro's advice of course. If they can do it in the next 10 or 11 years i'll be there
Yeah it's dull as hell but second nature when you get it. Think of it like your cruise control, if you want to speed up you can either accelerate and overcome the cruise control or hold the speed up button and it will do it and maintain it. If you do the former you are fighting the cruise control and it will return you to the speed you were before. Basically just keep pressing the trim button ReverendCounter said:
have you ever had to do an autorotation in the wild? (or urban setting?)
Yes I've landed many times without engines during training, but not for real. During training on the Squirrel we would practice putting the engine to idle and autorotating from height and low level/high speed....it is actually quite easy with practice in a small light helicopter like that, but in a big heavy one it is vastly more difficult and a very valid reason why you only do it in the simulator. The first time I had one demonstrated to me was by an Army Captain at RAF Ternhill, which had tarmac runways and a large grassed area we used for "engine-offs". He did a glorious auto down to the grass but didn't flare as much as he should, which left us sliding along the wet grass (on skids) at about 40kts or so. It was all fine until he realised we had run out of grass and were about to go across the tarmac runway which also had a bit of a raised edge...cue just about the fastest opening of a throttle I have ever seen and we just got the power to the engine in time to lift a couple of feet into the air as we crossed the runaway. We would probably have rolled over if we hadn't cheated (!) and a chum did almost exactly that a few years later during a running landing in heavy snow when it built up under his skids until it tumbled over itself. He was ok but the aircraft wasn't Edited by Siko on Wednesday 30th March 15:23
Dr Jekyll said:
What's the drill if the tail rotor fails?
Pretty much the same drill as if the Jesus nut goes However it can be done and we do train for it a lot (in the Simulator of course) in the hover, cut the throttles and land....it's pretty much ok if you get the throttles off before it spins too much probably within 45 degrees or so. If you are slow to get them off through 90 degrees then the aircraft builds up rotational speed very quickly and even cutting the throttles at this stage will almost certainly result in a crash.
In forward flight it's not quite as bad, because of aerodynamic effects on the tail boom. For my helicopter you have to go into autorotation as quickly as possible by lowering the collective lever, confirm it has failed rather than is fixed (the S92 has a spring that can hold the TR to a fixed pitch) which you do by briefly raising the lever and seeing if you have any control, assuming it has failed you close the engines down and conduct an autorotative landing.
Pretty much the worst place for it to happen is from a high hover or late on approach/shortly after takeoff. Sadly the Leicester City chairman who was killed when his helicopter lost the TR was in 2 of those conditions taking off and unsurprisingly it was unsurvivable. There are lots of varieties of failures you can have (if you're lucky
) and diagnosing exactly what has happened quickly is incredibly difficult...
king time Lost ranger said:
What happens mechanically when you press a pedal to control yaw in a chinook?
Oofffff. I'm not a Chinook pilot so I had to google this, I have no shame. When you press a yaw pedal one disk tilts one way and the other the opposite way. helicopter flying controls are literally the work of the devil - did you know the inputs are put in 90 degrees in advance of the intended direction? (same as a gyroscope - you push it up it goes left etc!).
Sam2022 said:
Why is it at my flight school if I haven't flown in a month, do
need a PC every 30 days? I am sure it was only every 90 days of not flying.
Maybe that's a specific if you are in training, sorry I'm not an instructor (TRE) in the civilian world. Sounds expensive and painful though need a PC every 30 days? I am sure it was only every 90 days of not flying.
The_Doc said:
What would you suggest *currently* ie in this 2022 market , as the next good career move for a CPL(H) pilot, with about 2000 hours on Robinsons, Instrument and Instructor rated.
Is there an obvious next step/job....
I think a ME/IR would get you an offshore/corporate job tomorrow. PM me if you need any advice, but Brexit has vastly reduced the quantity of CVs we used to get. A good mate is head of training at one of our rivals and he said they struggle to get pilots through the door with a UK CPL H/ME IR and right to work etc. I see jobs advertised on a regular basis and it is turning into a sellers market. The offshore world isn't for everyone and Aberdeen isn't either, but most companies offer some form of commuting roster (one company in Aberdeen only has a 14/14 commuting roster!) and even though you would probably not be suitable for a Police/HEMS role (no NVG etc) those jobs come up regularly and suck pilots away from offshore or corporate who want a bit of fun. Is there an obvious next step/job....
We've just lost two copilots to a corporate job in the ME, sit around in a 5 star hotel then onto a super yacht and do a little bit of flying every now and then, go back to the 5 star hotel and head off shift home for a few weeks. Offshore is a good place to build some experience and P1 time, which will be a lot slower to come in Corporate. Given the issues with energy supply that the UK is slowly working out need addressing pronto, the offshore world, in my opinion will swiftly turned around from the SNP/Greens target #1 to a necessary evil. I am not going to go out and say it will be a boom offshore, but I think things are changing for the better as even the most hardcore are realising we have our own energy supply readily avialable.....
Edited by Siko on Wednesday 30th March 16:26
Earl of Hazzard said:
If you could have a go in any chopper, which one would it be? Mine would be the Mi24 Hind -although I can't fly helicopters so I imagine that it wouldn't end (or even start) very well.
Have you ever shouted "get to the choppa" in an Arnie accent
Can you 'do stunts' in choppers? Like - if given the opportunity- would you do stunt flying for a film?
Good call on the Hind....a few mates have flown them as part of an exchange. It's a beast but comparing it to something like an Apache is a bit like comparing a Transit Van to a 5 series estate. I think I would love to fly something like the KA50 Hokum - no tail rotor which allows you to do some wacky flight manoevres and ejection seats too if it all goes wrong - what's not to like?!Have you ever shouted "get to the choppa" in an Arnie accent
Can you 'do stunts' in choppers? Like - if given the opportunity- would you do stunt flying for a film?
I have never shouted "get to the choppa" but I will almost certainly do so from now on
I used to do a flying display in one of my military helicopters which involved a manoevre a bit like a "split s" but not as extreme, kind of a very big wingover all flown visually judged. I know someone who has looped and barrel rolled one of my military helicopters (a few years before I joined the military) but it is a really bad idea in most helicopters and overstresses heaps of things - I know the Red Bull guy does it but that's a special aircraft - just don't go there it's a recipe for insta-death
I've done it for fun in the Simulator but whether it would be the same in real life I am not prepared to investigate...normalbloke said:
To be fair the Leicester incident wasn’t a loss of tailrotor, it went full hard over (in my understanding) Not being a smartass. I don’t think there was any input that could have changed the outcome. I’ve got a bit of experience in rotary wing, but am really enjoying this thread. Thanks for your input.
Yeah you're right - I've not seen the report yet (not sure it's out?) but got the gist of it. Horrible way to go anyhow. Thanks for the vote of confidence davidexige said:
That’s a bit strange, I did see your original reply but somehow my question was posted again.
It’s a shame we don’t fly with you guys anymore, since we switched I’ve not had one flight on time yet, in fact the running joke at the moment is to add an extra day to the trip to take into account the inevitable delay
Sorry to hear that and hope to see you guys again in the future It’s a shame we don’t fly with you guys anymore, since we switched I’ve not had one flight on time yet, in fact the running joke at the moment is to add an extra day to the trip to take into account the inevitable delay
Edited by davidexige on Wednesday 30th March 16:22
The_Doc said:
That's very useful. thank you for the insight.
It's not me, its my brother. - He's the glamourous one in the family,
although my *other* brother is a Director here: https://www.edmiston.com/ and also deals with helicopter things, they sponsor the London Heliport. https://www.londonheliport.co.uk/
Wow - looks like he's doing ok there indeed! If he wants to go further as a professional pilot he does need to get his ME/IR though (if he hasn't got one) and jobs would open up if he wants them. Sadly 2000 VFR hrs in an R22 (no offence to him) don't count for a huge amount more than 200 hrs when going for an IFR job such as offshore or Corporate. I have worked with 2000hr R22 guys and they are brilliant hands-on pilots but you do very little of that in a modern helicopter.It's not me, its my brother. - He's the glamourous one in the family,
although my *other* brother is a Director here: https://www.edmiston.com/ and also deals with helicopter things, they sponsor the London Heliport. https://www.londonheliport.co.uk/
Mercdriver said:
Have you read “chickenhawk”? Best book on helicopter flying I ever read. Amazed at skills they developed to remain alive.
If you have read it what is your opinion?
Mandatory reading going through flying training as a helicopter pilot If you have read it what is your opinion?
I would edge "Low Level Hell" marginally ahead of it though and am just listening to "To the Limit" which is also outstanding and on a par with Chickenhawk. All Vietnam helicopter books.geeks said:
Superb thank you! As an aside I did AEF with the Air Cadets one flight in a Chipmunk before they sent us up in Bulldogs which were replaced by the Grob but I had left by then and had my dreams of being a (fast jet) pilot shattered by a diagnosis of a mild spine deformation, later learned I could have gone and flown choppers but thems the breaks! Still have an ache to fly again and will now covid is clearing off and the house move is pretty much complete.
Sorry to hear about your spine Yeah I first flew Chippies "Jump john, jump!" as an air cadet, funnily enough with the same AEF I flew with later as a staff pilot. Sadly you probably wouldn't have been allowed to fly anything with your deformation (unless it has changed since I left), the rules when I was in were that you had to pass both the medical and the assessment for single-seat fast jets prior to be accepted. Anything that deteriorated after joining was fine but on joining you had to be like some super cyborg....however day 1 if anything happened it was ok as long as a medical board judge you fit to fly. that's why you have some pilots in the military flying with all sorts of ailments and issues that they would never have been allowed to join with.Nothing to stop you getting our Class 1 medical and going down the civilian route - there are some real fun jobs in the civilian world and avenues into warbirds, aerobatics, police, HEMS etc that are huge fun without needing you to be in the military. Good luck.
normalbloke said:
What been your favourite civilian role, out of your very varied experience? In my experience with pilots, the roles I thought would be interesting for them, have often turned out to be quite the opposite. ie Police roles, especially now it’s all under the ‘expert’ guidance of NPAS and West York’s HR!
Hi mate I've only done offshore in the civilian world and really enjoy it....one of those jobs that looks crap but is actually really satisfying with great Ts&Cs. I swore blind I would never go offshore after leaving the military (who wants to wear a rubber suit for a living, flogging around the North Sea in the worst weather known to man and living in the granite city?), but having done it for 9 years I don't live in Aberdeen, the rubber suits are very fetching thank you and pretty comfortable too ecsrobin said:
The Dutch loop the apache as they don’t have the longbow fire control radar and of course fire flares at the same time to add to the entertainment.
Yes you're right and the Army Air Corps Lynx used to loop aswell. I think it tends to be aircraft with a rigid rotor head that can do it (Lynx and the red bull one) although the Apache's isn't, I think it's an articulated head. I must admit I don't know how they get away with it on the Apache, but I know in general it isn't good for them and I don't want to loop ANY helicopter Gassing Station | Boats, Planes & Trains | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff