Ask a helicopter pilot anything
Discussion
Blatantly stolen from the other "Ask a etc" type posts I'd be happy to answer any questions on military or civilian helicopters if anyone is interested, or not of course 
My background is 17 years as a military helicopter pilot/flying instructor, with last 9 years flying commercially offshore in the North Sea/Atlantic (oil rigs, boats etc).
My background is 17 years as a military helicopter pilot/flying instructor, with last 9 years flying commercially offshore in the North Sea/Atlantic (oil rigs, boats etc).florian said:
What's your opinion on multi-rotor VTOL aircraft for passenger transport such as Lilium? Do you think they will succeed and compete successfully with helicopters for short to medium range passenger transport (e.g. < 200km)?
https://lilium.com
Great question. My company is trying to get into them but it's fair to say the technology isn't there yet. There are issues with obstacle clearance etc from tiltrotors and as we land offshore on some fairly small platforms/boats I am not so sure they will work in my current role. Also, the key advantage of a tiltrotor is speed and to maximise that you really want to be using them over a long range, Most of the flights in the North Sea are fairly short at 45mins - 1:30 or so and the modern generation of helicopters cruise pretty effectively (and very cheaply) at 150kts, so not as much of an advantage as you might think over a short range. https://lilium.com
Also, the problem as ever is pure lifting ability and tiltrotors effectively trade lifting ability for speed - the AW tiltrotor I think can only lift 9 whereas most Med/Large Helos will left 17-19 easily. Obviously doing two fast trips in a tilt compared to one slower in a helicopter is probably not economically viable. Long term, like Garlic Bread, it's the future imho and I suspect we'll get there but not just yet.
GroundZero said:
First of the 'proper' questions.... (ok 2nd, was just beaten to it by above poster)
Have you ever encountered engine failure on any copter that you've flown?
Is there any merit/practicality of fitting a parachute fail-safe system to copters to protect against engine failures?
Touch wood no - although I had an engine flameout on a ground run once which was weird....it just shutdown. Started fine again afterwards.Have you ever encountered engine failure on any copter that you've flown?
Is there any merit/practicality of fitting a parachute fail-safe system to copters to protect against engine failures?
Possibly but the weight of such a device would hinder the performance/safety/payload drastically. Offshore we fly to PC2e, which means the weight is restricted such that in the event of an engine failure at Takeoff Decision Point (30' above the deck), we could takeoff safely but would potentially only miss the deck edge with the tail rotor by 1 foot. So carrying a heavy parachute around that could carry a 12 tonne helicopter would either impact your performance (see above) or your payload - I suspect you could carry a parachute or a payload but not both
hidetheelephants said:
How often do you inspect your jesus bolt?
I look at it on my walkround like you would look at your wife going through your internet browsing history....It scares the pants off me that it would come off but there are wonderful chaps such as JamieM who make sure it doesn't.
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.
What’s a Jesus bolt
Easy one first - Jesus bolt is the one above the rotor blades which if it lets go means you are going to see Jesus or {insert relevant religious figure here}.What’s a Jesus bolt
Age is no major issue and of course you aren't allowed to age discriminate anyway. It will cost you £150k or so to get your licence and a year or two of your life. Starting salaries as a co-pilot in the offshore world approx 55-70k and average captains salary probably 90-100k, with allowances on top for trainers, remote bases etc. So if the maths works then go for it
Lots of better advice available is at PPrune website, probably the best single bit of advice I can give you is to get your CAA Class 1 medical first. £400 iirc but will save you ££££ if they find something medically that stops you holding a licence. Flying schools will happily take your cash even if you'd never be able to hold a CPL/ATPL H. Second bit of advice (sorry I know I said only 1!) is go have a trial lesson (£2-300 or so). If it's what you want to do more than anything else then you'll do it, but you may find you hate it and would rather spend the cash on something better. There are other ways to fund it including scholarships but these tend to go to youngsters to be honest, older chaps tend to remortgage the house or self-fund through a few hours here and there, which obviously takes a lot longer. Good luck
TO73074E said:
Whatever makes your task easier!
I'll stop being stupid and throw a serious one your way now. How many different types of helicopter have you flown (civilian or military etc) and do you have a favourite / least favourite and why?
Hey don't worry I'm happy to answer anything....I didn't think anyone would be interested anyway I'll stop being stupid and throw a serious one your way now. How many different types of helicopter have you flown (civilian or military etc) and do you have a favourite / least favourite and why?
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
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 
El stovey said:
What’s the smallest site you’ve landed on.
hi mate, good question. Probably a clearing in the military, iirc we could land with 2m from the edge of the disk which was nearly 19m diameter in the Merlin. essentially you could and did land anywhere, especially operationally so landed in some incredibly tight spots day/night. Have never clipped the blades yet (touch wood) though!In the offshore world we land on boats and you may have seen the yellow circle marking for the helideck - that's the 'bumline' and essentially if you park your backside on it you are guaranteed obstacle clearance behind you, but a lot of the boats we land on have the helideck on the bow and the bridge with whip aerials immediately behind it...plus they like to point into wind obviously so you have a difficult landing direction with all the obstacles behind you (you can't see them) which are bang on your limits and can be moving significantly! I tend to come in slightly out of wind if a boat is pointing into wind to give me better visibility of the bridge/aerials.
Dr Jekyll said:
What's the oldest you've know someone to get a Helicopter PPL?
In their 40s personally and that is for someone who came to fly in the Offshore world afterwards. But I know there are lots of older people doing PPLs who just want to fly for fun as opposed to commercially. Hovering a helicopter is probably the most difficult thing you do whilst learning and it is easy when you know the nack - my first instructor just told me to "hold the stick like it's your best mates **** " and he was right 
yellowjack said:
Have you flown both of those types (I mean the real "base" helicopters)?
I'm presuming Aerospatiale Gazelle is a given after your intro, but what about the Bell 222?
Sadly not the Bell 222, looks like a fun one though. Helicopters are fun to fly, honestly. They'll kill you in a heartbeat but can do amazing things when treated with a bit of respect and a soft touch on the controls. I'm presuming Aerospatiale Gazelle is a given after your intro, but what about the Bell 222?
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....Narcisus said:
Can you give me some lessons on the DCS AH-64 ?
Get the copilot to fly and you do the shooting 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.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.....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...
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