Ask a helicopter pilot anything

Ask a helicopter pilot anything

Author
Discussion

normalbloke

7,401 posts

218 months

Wednesday 30th March 2022
quotequote all
Ilovejapcrap said:
Theraveda said:
Ilovejapcrap said:
If I suddenly decided I wanted to be a helicopter pilot now at the age of 40 what would I have to do.
Learn to fly a helicopter? biggrin

Ilovejapcrap said:
What’s a Jesus bolt
Thing that holds the rotor blades on.
Is it a left handed thread ?
That would probably be determined by which way the rotorblades rotate. The industry can’t even standardise that….

LimaDelta

6,507 posts

217 months

Wednesday 30th March 2022
quotequote all
Given flying is a very perishable skill, and rotary is arguably more difficult than fixed-wing flying, what is the minimum number of hours a year you think a pilot requires to be safe? (not legally current)

Narcisus

8,055 posts

279 months

Wednesday 30th March 2022
quotequote all
Can you give me some lessons on the DCS AH-64 ?

yellowjack

17,065 posts

165 months

Wednesday 30th March 2022
quotequote all
Siko said:
Hey don't worry I'm happy to answer anything....I didn't think anyone would be interested anyway smile

Have flown Squirrel HT1 (AS350), Bell 412 HT1/HAR2 (Huey basically), Puma HC1, Merlin HC3, Agusta 109 and Sikorsky S92A all as Captain/P1. Other types I've flown as a jolly or just as a co-pilot for air experience include Gazelle, Sea-King, AS355, Lynx, Sikorsky S76...ones I've only flown in the simulator include Chinook and EC225 (Super Puma).

Probably my least favourite was the Sea King which I feel a bit guilty about. It was like a big boring tank, slow, heavy and dull....I jumped in the LHS for a trial which involved flying the same procedure for nearly 2 hours and actually fell asleep - I got woken up by the pilot flying it who punched me on the shoulder and was not happy smile Favourite was probably the Gazelle...it's got a huge bubble canopy, is fast as fck for a helicopter and is responsible for me being a helicopter pilot today. When I joined the RAF and went through officer training we did a station visit to the tornado F3 base at RAF Leuchars, we visited the Tornado Squadron and it was all very exciting, sat in an F3 but very much look don't touch, now fck off please. Luckily we were also hosted by an Army Air Corps gazelle flight based there, they took me and a chum flying and we spent an hour of my life at probably a max height of 50' and doubt we went below 120knots...chasing deer across Scotland and generally having a blast....was the most fun I'd had in my life at that stage and here we are smile
Sounds awesome. I had experience with a Gazelle flown by an all-NCO crew immediately after the 1991 Gulf War ended. The Gazelle crews' task was to take a number of us Royal Engineers up, fly us around for a bit looking for abandoned vehicles which were 'property of the armed forces of Kuwait', and land us to assess them for potential recovery. They sent Sappers initially to check for booby-traps on the vehicles. We were also tasked to mark concentrations of Iraqi armour for recovery/denial of future use. All of the flying was done at low level, mostly fast, and sometimes sideways, so that I was looking out of the cabin window directly at the ground below. The AAC crew were happy to be flying, I was happy to be doing something instead of sitting about doing feck all. And we recovered plenty of expensive-to-replace assets for the Kuwaiti army. Absolutely terrifying, some of the things a Gazelle can be made to do. The AAC crew were keen to have some souvenirs to take home, and were glad to be able to "harvest them safely", and I got a front-seat ride on the flight back too.

Sadly it was never going to be an entry point to military aviation for me. My FMT 600 is stamped 'This driver's Standard Of Colour Perception does not meet the standard required for service airfields' (or words to that effect). If they won't allow me to drive "airside" then I doubt they would have ever considered me suitable for pilot training, whether NCO or Officer entry...

TO73074E

400 posts

26 months

Wednesday 30th March 2022
quotequote all
Siko said:
Luckily we were also hosted by an Army Air Corps gazelle flight based there, they took me and a chum flying and we spent an hour of my life at probably a max height of 50' and doubt we went below 120knots...chasing deer across Scotland and generally having a blast....was the most fun I'd had in my life at that stage and here we are smile
Thank you. That sounds amazing in the Gazelle, an appropriately named helicopter it would seem! My father is ex-RAF and was stationed at RAF Lossiemouth up in Scotland many years ago. I was very young at the time but my older brother had the privelage of riding in a Sea King, apparently I was very upset that I was a bit too young to ride the big yellow helicopter. I still am to be fair!

Collectingbrass

2,198 posts

194 months

Wednesday 30th March 2022
quotequote all
yellowjack said:
Siko said:
Hey don't worry I'm happy to answer anything....I didn't think anyone would be interested anyway smile

Have flown Squirrel HT1 (AS350), Bell 412 HT1/HAR2 (Huey basically), Puma HC1, Merlin HC3, Agusta 109 and Sikorsky S92A all as Captain/P1. Other types I've flown as a jolly or just as a co-pilot for air experience include Gazelle, Sea-King, AS355, Lynx, Sikorsky S76...ones I've only flown in the simulator include Chinook and EC225 (Super Puma).

Probably my least favourite was the Sea King which I feel a bit guilty about. It was like a big boring tank, slow, heavy and dull....I jumped in the LHS for a trial which involved flying the same procedure for nearly 2 hours and actually fell asleep - I got woken up by the pilot flying it who punched me on the shoulder and was not happy smile Favourite was probably the Gazelle...it's got a huge bubble canopy, is fast as fck for a helicopter and is responsible for me being a helicopter pilot today. When I joined the RAF and went through officer training we did a station visit to the tornado F3 base at RAF Leuchars, we visited the Tornado Squadron and it was all very exciting, sat in an F3 but very much look don't touch, now fck off please. Luckily we were also hosted by an Army Air Corps gazelle flight based there, they took me and a chum flying and we spent an hour of my life at probably a max height of 50' and doubt we went below 120knots...chasing deer across Scotland and generally having a blast....was the most fun I'd had in my life at that stage and here we are smile
Sounds awesome. I had experience with a Gazelle flown by an all-NCO crew immediately after the 1991 Gulf War ended. The Gazelle crews' task was to take a number of us Royal Engineers up, fly us around for a bit looking for abandoned vehicles which were 'property of the armed forces of Kuwait', and land us to assess them for potential recovery. They sent Sappers initially to check for booby-traps on the vehicles. We were also tasked to mark concentrations of Iraqi armour for recovery/denial of future use. All of the flying was done at low level, mostly fast, and sometimes sideways, so that I was looking out of the cabin window directly at the ground below. The AAC crew were happy to be flying, I was happy to be doing something instead of sitting about doing feck all. And we recovered plenty of expensive-to-replace assets for the Kuwaiti army. Absolutely terrifying, some of the things a Gazelle can be made to do. The AAC crew were keen to have some souvenirs to take home, and were glad to be able to "harvest them safely", and I got a front-seat ride on the flight back too.

Sadly it was never going to be an entry point to military aviation for me. My FMT 600 is stamped 'This driver's Standard Of Colour Perception does not meet the standard required for service airfields' (or words to that effect). If they won't allow me to drive "airside" then I doubt they would have ever considered me suitable for pilot training, whether NCO or Officer entry...
If your eye sight is that bad how do you know the "blue" wire you're cutting is the right blue wire????

Collectingbrass

2,198 posts

194 months

Wednesday 30th March 2022
quotequote all
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?

davidexige

481 posts

205 months

Wednesday 30th March 2022
quotequote all
Do you take me to work? I fly out of CHC to the Apache platforms, Beryl’s and Forties, if so wavey

Guffy

2,310 posts

264 months

Wednesday 30th March 2022
quotequote all
davidexige said:
Do you take me to work? I fly out of CHC to the Apache platforms, Beryl’s and Forties, if so wavey
He already replied to you an hour ago!

No he doesn't.

Siko

Original Poster:

1,976 posts

241 months

Wednesday 30th March 2022
quotequote all
normalbloke said:
That would probably be determined by which way the rotorblades rotate. The industry can’t even standardise that….
biggrin Bang on - US/UK goes Left, French goes Right

geeks

9,121 posts

138 months

Wednesday 30th March 2022
quotequote all
What's been your favourite "watch this!" moment that you would be willing to admit to on the internet? hehe

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.

Siko

Original Poster:

1,976 posts

241 months

Wednesday 30th March 2022
quotequote all
LimaDelta said:
Given flying is a very perishable skill, and rotary is arguably more difficult than fixed-wing flying, what is the minimum number of hours a year you think a pilot requires to be safe? (not legally current)
Another good question...in my last job in the military I was predominantly flying a desk and probably averaged 5-10hrs a month. Despite being a qualified Captain and passing all my checks easily enough I knew I wasn't cutting it and stood down to fly as a co-pilot. The aircraft I was flying was going out of service aswell and even my co-pilot hours dried up to probably 3-5 a month at which point I grounded myself before I embarrassed myself. It depends on the role of course but for me, 10hrs a month was my tipping point where I felt I could no longer fly in command competently (I was safe) low level, NVG, formation, IFR etc. It's a bit different in the civilian world as it is clearly a much simpler job, but I would guess 5hrs a month for my current role is bare minimum. I think the legal requirement off the top of my head is 3 takeoffs and landings in 90 days....

Siko

Original Poster:

1,976 posts

241 months

Wednesday 30th March 2022
quotequote all
Narcisus said:
Can you give me some lessons on the DCS AH-64 ?
Get the copilot to fly and you do the shooting smile I haven't got the Apache module sadly (I had some of the old ones on my ancient PC and had a lot of fun flying the A-10, KA50 etc) but it sounds like everyone is struggling with trimming. You trim almost all the time you are hand flying a real helicopter and it does differ to be fair, but most types I've flown had the same rough technique. if you are moving the stick a long way (eg transitioning into forward flight) you press the big red FTR button and hold it in until the stick is where you want it to be, then you release it. Any small forces can be trimmed out with a 4 way beep trim or coolie hat. It's one of those things that you just do when you are flying for real, but is probably a real pita when you are in DCS and trying to remember which button does what - plus you won't get the feedback from the stick that you get for real.

Siko

Original Poster:

1,976 posts

241 months

Wednesday 30th March 2022
quotequote all
yellowjack said:
Sounds awesome. I had experience with a Gazelle flown by an all-NCO crew immediately after the 1991 Gulf War ended. The Gazelle crews' task was to take a number of us Royal Engineers up, fly us around for a bit looking for abandoned vehicles which were 'property of the armed forces of Kuwait', and land us to assess them for potential recovery. They sent Sappers initially to check for booby-traps on the vehicles. We were also tasked to mark concentrations of Iraqi armour for recovery/denial of future use. All of the flying was done at low level, mostly fast, and sometimes sideways, so that I was looking out of the cabin window directly at the ground below. The AAC crew were happy to be flying, I was happy to be doing something instead of sitting about doing feck all. And we recovered plenty of expensive-to-replace assets for the Kuwaiti army. Absolutely terrifying, some of the things a Gazelle can be made to do. The AAC crew were keen to have some souvenirs to take home, and were glad to be able to "harvest them safely", and I got a front-seat ride on the flight back too.

Sadly it was never going to be an entry point to military aviation for me. My FMT 600 is stamped 'This driver's Standard Of Colour Perception does not meet the standard required for service airfields' (or words to that effect). If they won't allow me to drive "airside" then I doubt they would have ever considered me suitable for pilot training, whether NCO or Officer entry...
That sounds like a similar experience to mine! I actually thought you were going to tell me you were invioved in the infamous "Sooty glove" Gazelle crash post GW1 where a crew were buzzing a convy waving a Sooty glove out the window and crashed pulling a wingover.....

yellowjack

17,065 posts

165 months

Wednesday 30th March 2022
quotequote all
Collectingbrass said:
If your eye sight is that bad how do you know the "blue" wire you're cutting is the right blue wire????
I was never an EOD operator! The booby-traps I'm talking about in those Iraqi tanks were simple enough. Gaffer-tape a hand grenade to the hull in an out of the way spot, and connect the grenade pin to the turret with string or wire, that sort of thing. Clever trap-setters would use two grenades, otherwise it's be 50/50 depending on which way you cranked the turret. Other methods included a grenade with the pin removed stuffed inside a tube or can (to hold the fly-off lever in place) and string to draw it out of the tube. Very simple, but lethal inside the confines of an armoured vehicle. Very effective too. Pretty much the first thing a non-tankie soldier will do upon getting into a turret is to hand-crank the traverse and elevation levers. My Section Commander punched a Guardsman for doing just that on one job. We were tasked to "clear" the captured tanks by sweeping for booby-traps and then unloading all of the ammunition. The Guards were tasked to do just that. Guard. But some couldn't resist getting into uncleared vehicles and pissing about with switches and levers. The solution, in the end, was to show the Guards exactly how these booby-traps functioned by setting one up with a pulling cable (part of our mine warfare toolkit). The sober looks on faces when it went off was enough to ensure they left us to do our jobs after that. "Tell me and I will forget, show me and I will remember, let me do it and I will understand" etc, etc... We'd told them dozens of times but they always ignored us, eventually. Then we showed them what might happen if they didn't do as we instructed, which kinda drove the lesson home.

Siko

Original Poster:

1,976 posts

241 months

Wednesday 30th March 2022
quotequote all
davidexige said:
Do you take me to work? I fly out of CHC to the Apache platforms, Beryl’s and Forties, if so wavey
Hi David yeah I did reply earlier sorry mate! I did use to take you to work, but no more sadly - always enjoyed going out to the Apache platforms frown

Siko

Original Poster:

1,976 posts

241 months

Wednesday 30th March 2022
quotequote all
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.

Minus the shooty bits, heat, vietnamese etc but you get the picture biggrin

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.

Siko

Original Poster:

1,976 posts

241 months

Wednesday 30th March 2022
quotequote all
geeks said:
What's been your favourite "watch this!" moment that you would be willing to admit to on the internet? hehe

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 biggrin

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 confused). 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 wink

yellowjack

17,065 posts

165 months

Wednesday 30th March 2022
quotequote all
Siko said:
That sounds like a similar experience to mine! I actually thought you were going to tell me you were invioved in the infamous "Sooty glove" Gazelle crash post GW1 where a crew were buzzing a convy waving a Sooty glove out the window and crashed pulling a wingover.....
That one must have been a week before the "shooting war" started. The only Gazelles listed as 'Lost' for that first quarter of 1991 were...
http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1991.htm
UK Serials loss list said:
(on 10/01/1991) - ZB675, Gazelle AH1 of AAC Gulf Detachment: Crashed into the desert in Saudi Arabia after the main rotor struck the ground during an "unauthorised display".

...and...

(on 16/01/1991) - XW886, Gazelle HT2 of 705 NAS: Crashed into a field in the Goonhilly Exercise area, near Predannack, Cornwall after the pilot lost yaw control during a semi-wing-over manoeuvre when avoiding another Gazelle. He escaped from the wreckage but was seriously injured. Recovered by a Sea King and sent to the AIU at Lee-on-Solent by road. The aircraft had been flown into an undefined area of the flight envelope known as the Fenestron Vortex. The Fenestron, a shaft driven 13 blade fan, replaces the conventional tail rotor. This was the twelfth accident to a British Forces Gazelle attributed to this effect.
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...



Siko

Original Poster:

1,976 posts

241 months

Wednesday 30th March 2022
quotequote all
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 smile

I may have flown you in the Merlin in Iraq, was out there only once between Nov 05-Feb 06.