Helicopter Teaching In-flight
by Philip Greenspun and Kasim Te; updated March 2014
Site Home : Flying : One Article
Used in helicopter training
at East Coast Aero Club in Boston.
This document is intended for a helicopter CFI teaching VFR
maneuvers in flight in a Robinson R22 or R44. It suggests
exact wording both for describing maneuvers initially and responding
to common errors. The initial descriptions are deliberately
brief so as not to overload a student.
Start Up and Rotor Engagement
- In general: "Keep your left hand on the throttle unless you're
putting on your headset." If they ask why: "Be wary of the governor
taking control of the throttle and rolling up to full RPM."
- Just before cranking: "Double check that the throttle is closed."
If they ask why: "If you start with the throttle open, you will
overspeed the engine. We will then need to box up the engine and send
it to Lycoming for repair."
- When cranking: "If the engine doesn't start, then stop and wait at
least a five seconds before trying again. The starter ring is still
spinning but you can't hear it. In the military, you have to take your
hand off the key and touch the back of your head before you start
again."
- During warm-up (R22 only): "Do not linger in the yellow arc from
60-70%. The R22 is subject to sympathetic resonance in this region
which may damage the ship."
- ATIS: "Wind, runway, and temperature/dewpoint split are the most
important items. If the temperature/dewpoint split is greater than 11
degrees C, carb icing is unlikely."
- During the mag check: "Count down two clicks to test the first mag
and two clicks back to go to back to both mags. Then count down one
click to test the other mag and one click to go back to both
mags. This will help ensure you don't fly away on only one mag."
- If you turn the engine off by mistake: "Do not try to turn the
engine back on or you will risk damaging it. Wait for everything to
spin down."
- Sprag clutch check: "Keep your feet on the pedals. When on ice,
you may need slight right pedal to maintain heading when you split the
needles."
- Hydraulics check (R44 only): "Confirm you can turn the hydraulics
off here if need be. If the hydraulics start making undesirable
inputs, we will know we can turn them off."
- Just before liftoff: "Do not skimp on the flow check. It is easy
to forget things and this is your last check before takeoff."
Attitude Flying
Straight and Level Flight:
- "Cyclic controls your flight attitude."
- "Pedals maintain trim."
- "Collective determines climb or descent rate."
Turns:
- "Temporary cyclic side pressure to hold a slight bank."
- "Slight aft cyclic to maintain altitude."
- "Slightly before reaching your desired heading, neutralize the
cyclic to a level flight attitude."
Common Errors and Responses:
- Change of pitch in a turn: "Focus straight ahead, even when in a
turn."
- Increasing bank while already established in a turn: "Input a
small bank, hold that bank, and wait for the ship to turn to your
desired heading."
Initial Hovering
- "Pedals control heading."
- "Collective position is associated with a particular hovering
altitude."
- "Cyclic controls flight attitude. Keep the attitude
constant."
Common Errors and Responses:
- Looking too close: "Focus on a specific object in the
distance. This will improve your perception of attitude. Looking too
close leads to over-controlling."
- Pedal turns that are too fast: "Strive for a controlled and
slow-rate turn. Return the pedals to neutral shortly before the
helicopter completes the turn."
- Holding cyclic inputs: "The cyclic should remain in a neutral
position a majority of the time. Use small inputs and then move the
cyclic back to the neutral position."
- Fear of sinking and hitting the ground: "If you make your
collective inputs small, then you should not have to worry. Ground
effect increases as the ship descends, so you are unlikely to hit the
ground. Even if you do lightly, it is unlikely to damage the
ship."
Takeoff to a Hover
- "Gages green, fuel (in hours), lights out, area clear."
- "Raise the collective in small increments until light on the
skids. Gradually add slight left pedal to maintain heading and feel
for the sweet spot with the cyclic."
- "Feel for the change in CG as the helicopter lifts up the first
skid (usually the right skid)."
- "Slowly raise collective to a five-foot hover."
Common Errors and Responses:
- Failure to check the gages: "Fuel exhaustion is the number one
cause of engine stoppage. Check the gages before every takeoff."
- Raising collective too fast: "Raise the collective smoothly and
slowly. If a skid is caught and you raise rapidly, you will
dynamically rollover. Therefore, you should make your inputs small so
you can always undo them."
- Sliding/yawing: "Neutralize after each small collective
raise. Every pickup is a slope pickup due to the CG change."
Landing from a Hover
- "Focus in the distance."
- "Stabilize your hover."
- "Lower collective slightly to establish a descent rate."
- "Continue lowering collective slowly to overcome ground
effect."
- "Fly the helicopter to the ground."
- "Once firmly on the ground, smoothly lower collective to flat
pitch."
Common Errors and Responses:
- Slamming the collective down: "If you suddenly load the skids with
weight on a soft or sloped surface, you could damage the crosstube or
dynamically rollover."
- Over-controlling: "Ground effect will increase closer to the
ground. Anticipate this and continue smoothly lowering collective."
- Failure to control pitch and roll: "Every landing is a slope
landing. One skid should touchdown first (usually the left skid), at
which point you will have to compensate for the change in CG with
slight cyclic movement."
- Ignoring the wind: "A headwind stabilizes the ship and
makes set downs easier."
Normal Takeoff
- "Gages green, fuel (in hours), lights out, area clear."
- "Stabilize hover."
- "Slight forward cyclic to accelerate."
- "At ETL, more forward cyclic to prevent the nose from rising and
right pedal to maintain trim."
- "At 45 knots, aft cyclic to lift the nose to a 60 knots
attitude."
- "Raise collective to maximum continuous power."
Common Errors and Responses:
- Adding power on the takeoff run: "Control the takeoff with cyclic
only. The ship may sink slightly initially but will become more
efficient as it gains airspeed. You may not always have the extra
power, in which case, the rotor would slow down if you pull more
collective."
Traffic Patterns
- "After takeoff, climb on upwind."
- "Check clear and turn crosswind."
- "Check clear and turn downwind."
- "Just before reaching pattern altitude, lower power (to 17 inches
in the R22, to 19 inches in the R44) and pitch to maintain
altitude."
- "Check gages, fuel (in hours), lights out, pull up carb heat."
Common Errors and Responses:
- Climbing above pattern altitude: "Reduce power slightly earlier
and pitch down to control your altitude."
Normal Approach
- "Check gages, fuel (in hours), lights out."
- "Abeam your spot, pull full carb heat."
- "Decrease power (15 in the R22; 14 in the R44). Aft cyclic to
prevent the nose from dropping."
- "Check clear and turn base."
- "Check clear and turn final."
- "Level off at 300' AGL and 60 knots."
- "Wait to intercept your approach angle (approx. between the yaw
strings and the compass)."
- "On final, maintain the spot in the same position in the
windshield with collective. Use aft cyclic in response to ground
rush."
- "At 100', push down the carb heat."
- "At 50', transition from a crab to a slip to align the skids with
the ground track."
- "Zero out your airspeed and descent rate at a 5 foot hover above
your spot."
Common Errors and Responses:
- Fixating on the gages: "It is impossible to settle with power if
you maintain your approach angle. All the information you need is
outside."
- Loss of airspeed near the end of the approach: "Near the end of
the approach, you will need some forward cyclic to maintain your
closure rate."
Maximum Performance Takeoff
- "Roll the throttle down to 75% and do a mag check."
- "Roll up to the green."
- "Carb heat off."
- "Gages green, fuel (in hours), warning lights out, and area
clear."
- "Increase power until light on the skids."
- "Increase power to an inch below maximum and maintain a slight
nose low attitude (level attitude in the R44)."
- "When climbing through 10 feet, check your power again and pull in
maximum power if you haven't already done so."
- "Use cyclic to pitch for ETL airspeed in the climb."
- "Once clear of the obstacle, accelerate to best climb speed."
Common Errors and Responses:
- Using too much power: "You will not always have the extra power to
pull. In many situations, pulling above maximum power will result in
low RPM and a sink back towards the ground."
- Using too little power: "Take advantage of all the power
available. This will maximize your chances of making it over your
obstacle safely."
Steep Approach
US Army method:
- "The maneuver is the same as a regular approach
except the angle is steeper and the descent rate is greater."
- "On final at 300' AGL and 60 knots, intercept a steep approach
angle. The spot should be just around the yaw strings or slightly
lower."
Hillsboro method:
- "The maneuver begins like a normal approach, but you decelerate
earlier."
- "On final at 300' AGL, slow down to 30-40 knots."
- "Upon intercepting a steep approach angle (the stop should be just
around the yaw strings or slightly lower), bring in power to establish
a descent rate of 100-200 feet per minute."
- "Keep the collective stationary and maintain the angle to your
spot with cyclic only."
Common Errors and Responses:
- Angle too steep: "Shed extra energy earlier by decelerating and
losing altitude. Compared to a normal approach, a steep approach
offers less opportunities to shed energy on short final."
- Breaking 30/300: "The Robinson rule for avoiding settling
with power. Your descent rate should be less than 300 feet per minute
before decelerating to under 30 knots. Note that in an army-style
steep approach, it is possible to fly the maneuver safely although the
instruments may show you breaking the envelope due to instrument
lag."
Shallow Approach and Running Landing
"Shallow approaches are hard because you need control your descent
rate with cyclic. Near the ground, if your descent rate is too high,
use forward cyclic to accelerate."
- "A shallow approach begins just like a normal approach."
- "Fly a pattern to line up on final at 300' AGL and 60 knots."
- "As you intercept your angle, the spot should be approximately at
the compass on the windshield."
- "Maintain your angle similar to how you would on a normal
approach."
- "At 100', you must push down the carb heat."
- "At 50', align the skids with the ground track with pedals."
- "Maintain airspeed just above ETL and keep your power constant."
- "If your descent rate is too high, forward cyclic to
accelerate."
- "Before touchdown, cyclic to level the skids, pedals to maintain
skid alignment, and collective to cushion the landing."
- "During the slide, cyclic controls lateral track, pedals maintain
heading, and reduce collective to brake."
- "Avoid aft cyclic."
Common Mistakes and Responses:
- Losing ETL before touchdown: "Maintain forward cyclic and
touchdown with airspeed, even if it feels unnatural. If you actually
needed to do a running landing (lack of power, tail rotor failure,
hydraulics failure, etc.), you would not want to linger in a
hover."
- Not leveling the skids before touchdown: "Touching down tail low
can cause tail boom strikes. Touching down nose low can cause the
helicopter to tumble forward. Memorize the skids level attitude and
keep it maintained at the end of the maneuver."
- Aft cyclic after touchdown: "The collective is the brake. Aft
cyclic will cause a tail boom strike."
- Slamming collective down after touchdown: "Down collective should
be applied smoothly and slowly after touchdown. The goal is to load
the skids with the weight of the helicopter gradually. If you load it
suddenly, you may lurch the helicopter forward and tip over."
- Forgetting to remove carburetor heat: "This is a simulation for a
potential emergency. If you keep carburetor heat applied before
landing, you are robbing yourself of power."
Slope Operations
Slope Landing:
- "Consider the wind. A headwind will stabilize you."
- "Approach your spot at a 45 degree angle so that you can see where
your tail rotor will be. Do not turn your tail rotor into
the slope."
- "Focus in the distance to stabilize your hover above your
spot."
- "Lower collective slightly to establish a descent rate."
- "Continue lowering collective slowly to overcome ground
effect."
- "Descend vertically until the uphill skid contacts the slope."
- "Use uphill cyclic to lock the skid into the hill. Wiggle the
pedals to make sure the front and rear of the skid are both in contact
with the hill."
- "Lower the downhill skid slowly. Input cyclic to keep the
helicopter from sliding."
- "When the downhill skid contacts the slope, continue to slowly
lower collective."
- "When power is down to 15, slowly center the cyclic."
- "Slowly lower the collective to flat pitch."
Slope Takeoff:
- "Gages green, fuel (in hours), warning lights out, area
clear."
- "Slowly load the disc by raising power to 15."
- "Use cyclic to pin the uphill skid against the slope."
- "Slowly raise collective until the downhill skid is level with the
uphill skid. Simultaneously center the cyclic to keep the ship level."
- "Slowly center the cyclic until you feel the uphill skid break
free."
- "Raise the collective to climb vertically above the slope."
- "Move away from the slope without pointing the tail rotor into the
slope."
Common Errors and Responses:
- Not enough uphill cyclic: "Go slowly and ensure the uphill skid is
pinned. The helicopter may dynamically rollover if you slide down the
slope."
- Too much uphill cyclic: "Slowly neutralize the cyclic as you raise
the downhill skid on liftoff. If you keep too much cyclic toward the
hill, you may dynamically rollover uphill. Input the same amount of
uphill cyclic as you had previously before starting your
liftoff."
- Not pinning the uphill skid rear and aft: "After pinning it to the
hill, try wiggling the pedals to test if it is truly pinned before
lowering the downhill skid."
- Allowing the tail rotor to swing toward the slope: "The ground is
higher in the direction of the slope. Maneuvering your tail rotor in
the direction of the slope may result in a tail strike. Try to enter
and depart on 45 degree angles so you can always see where your tail
rotor will be in advance."
Air Taxi
- "Gages green, fuel (in hours), warning lights out, area
clear."
- "The maneuver is just like a normal takeoff except when you climb
through 75 feet, reduce power to 18 inches (R22; 17 inches for the
R44) and pitch for a level altitude."
Common Errors and Responses:
- Leaving the ground too early: "You look outside and maintain
altitude and I'll call out the time for you to lift."
Rapid Deceleration ("Quick Stop")
- "Establish an air taxi."
- "Aft cyclic to flare, lower collective to prevent the balloon, and
right pedal to maintain heading."
- "Level at ETL and bring in power."
- "Fly a steep approach to your spot."
Common Errors and Responses:
- Descending in a tail-low attitude: "Keep the flare in to maintain
altitude and bring in the power slightly earlier. Descending before
leveling may result in a tail strike."
- Ballooning: "The more aggressive the flare, the more you will have
to lower collective."
- Yaw: "The more you lower collective the more right pedal you will
need."
- Losing ETL: "Avoid conditions conducive to settling
with power. If you stay above ETL, then you will have no chance of
developing settling with power."
- Flaring too aggressively: "It is okay to flare slowly and
gradually. There is no standard for flare speed in the PTS."
Hover Autorotations
- "Focus on a specific tree or building in the distance."
- "Reposition your hand underneath the throttle."
- "Count down and roll the throttle into over travel to disable the
correlator."
- "Add right pedal and slight right cyclic."
- "Just before touchdown, raise collective to cushion the
landing."
Common Errors:
- Yaw: "Focus on something in the distance. Anticipate the yaw and
add right pedal to maintain the ship with reference to your
long-distance focus."
- Drift: "Focus in the distance. This will help you sense the drift
earlier. The mast is rigged slightly to the left to counter
translating tendency. When you roll off the throttle, the translating
tendency disappears and you usually need a little right cyclic to
maintain position."
- Early collective pull: "Wait until you are one foot above the
ground to cushion the landing."
Straight-In Autorotations
- "Full carb heat."
- "Gages green, lights out, fuel (in hours)."
- "Stabilize on final at 70 knots (R22; 75 knots for the R44)."
- "When nearing a steep approach angle, countdown."
- "Down collective to enter, with right pedal and aft cyclic. The
goal is to preserve the power-on attitude."
- "Throttle off to split the needles."
- "Crack the collective slightly to check rotor RPM."
- "Pitch for autorotative speed (R22: 65 KIAS; R44: 70
KIAS)."
- "Eyes outside."
- "At 200', confirm airspeed, rotor RPM, and descent rate within
acceptable limits."
- "At 40', aft cyclic to flare."
- "At 10' feet, twist throttle above 80% to rejoin the needles and
forward cyclic to level the ship."
Common Errors and Responses:
- Prematurely rolling off throttle: "There is a difference between a
straight-in practice autorotation and a simulated engine failure. When
practicing straight-in autorotations, lower collective
before twisting off throttle. "
- Allowing the nose to drop during entry: "The 70 knots power-on
attitude is the 65 power-off attitude in the R22 (75 and 70 in the
R44). Keep your eyes outside and maintain attitude during the
entry."
- Failure to lower collective: "This is the most important part of
the maneuver. Unlike other maneuvers, this should be done quickly. If
you fail to lower collective after an engine failure, you will lose
rotor RPM and never regain it."
- Looking inside too much: "The most important thing is a constant
attitude, which you can only hold if you keep looking outside at the
horizon, which is your VFR attitude indicator. After a quick
verification of airspeed there is no reason to look inside again
during an auto. If you hear the low rotor RPM horn, push the
collective halfway down to the floor from wherever it is. Don't bring
your eyes back inside to fixate on the RPM gauge.
- Failure to maintain trim: "When you are out of trim, your airspeed
indicator will be inaccurate and your descent rate will be
higher."
- Failure to control RPM: "Don't chase the needle. Keep the
collective in a narrow range and be patient."
- Slowing down/flaring too early: "You need your airspeed up to
arrest your descent rate near the ground. If you slow down early,
you are giving up needed energy."
- Flaring too aggressively: "The Robinson numbers for autorotation
give you more kinetic energy than you really need. You shouldn't need
that aggressive a flare to arrest your descent rate near the
bottom. The end of an autorotation should look a little bit like an
airplane landing."
- Not flaring aggressively enough: "Flare enough to arrest your
descent rate or you will fly into the ground."
- Failure to level the aircraft: "You don't want to land on the
tail."
- Failure to power recover smoothly: "Start your power recovery just
as your flare is starting to lose effectiveness. Twist the throttle
open slightly and smoothly raise collective. Don't try to add more
throttle than is necessary. Let the governor do its work to avoid an
overspeed."
180 Degree Autorotations
"180 autos are just like straight-ins except with a turn. The
greatest challenge is to control your pitch and airspeed in the
turn."
- "Full carb heat."
- "Gages green, fuel lights out, fuel (in hours), area clear."
- "Abeam your spot on downwind, enter autorotation."
- "Once established in a straight-in, turn toward your spot."
- "Divide your attention between straight ahead and your spot."
- "In the turn, maintain pitch with cyclic and raise collective
slightly to contain RPM if need be."
- "When rolling out, remove any collective that you had pulled for
the turn."
- "By 200' AGL, the turn must be complete."
- "End the maneuver just like a straight-in autorotation."
Common Errors and Responses:
- Late entry: "Start from a higher altitude (suggest 900' AGL)."
- Nose drop in the turn: "Maintain pitch by reference straight in
front of you in the turn. Letting the nose drop will increase airspeed
and descent rate, and reduce RPM".
- Failure to turn immediately to the landing spot after stabilized:
"As you wait, you are flying away from your spot and losing
altitude. If you wait too long, you may not have sufficient energy to
make it to your spot"
Confined Areas
- "High recon at 500' AGL and check for four Ws (wind, wires, way in,
way out) and four Ss (size, shape, surface, slope)."
- "Fly a traffic pattern to your spot."
- "Your final approach is the low recon."
- "Cyclic controls ground track and speed, collective controls your
angle, and pedals maintain trim."
- "At 100', push down the carb heat."
- "At 50', align the skids with the ground track with pedals."
- "Before sinking below obstacles, make a no or no-go decision."
- "Zero out your airspeed and descent rate either at a 5 foot hover
above your spot or directly on the surface as appropriate."
Common Errors and Responses:
- Failure to go-around if the approach is not going well: "You are
not committed to the approach until you are below the obstacles
surrounding the area. You should make a conscious decision whether to
continue the approach or go-around before sinking below the
obstacles."
- Left turns instead of right turns: "Keep the spot on your side of
the ship so it is easy to see."
Pinnacle Approaches
"Pinnacle procedures are difficult due to lack visual references on
approach. Include the airspeed indicator in your scan."
- "High recon at 500' AGL and check for four Ws (wind, wires, way
in, way out) and four Ss (size, shape, surface, slope)."
- "Fly a traffic pattern to your final approach."
- "The final approach is the low recon."
- "Cyclic controls ground track and speed, collective controls your
angle, and pedals maintain trim. Also glance at your airspeed
indicator."
- "At 100', push down the carb heat."
- "At 50', align the skids with the ground track with pedals."
- "Zero out your airspeed and descent rate either at a 5 foot hover
above your spot or directly on the surface as appropriate."
Common Errors and Responses:
- Excessive airspeed on final approach: "You won't have ground rush
for sensing your ground speed on final. Give some attention to your
airspeed indicator."
Settling with Power
- "Begin at at least 3000' AGL."
- "Point into the wind and establish an OGE hover."
- "Lower collective to establish a descent rate of 500' feet per
minute."
- "Watch as the descent rate begins to rise."
- "Raise collective to demonstrate that more power increases the
descent rate."
- "Recover by lowering collective slightly and pitching down to fly
out of the vortices."
- "As soon as the airspeed is alive, bring in full climb power and
pitch for a 60 knot attitude."
- Optional: "Repeat the maneuver with a tailwind to see the
difference in recovery time."
Common Errors and Responses:
- Waiting too long to establish a climb: "Most cases of
unintentional settling with power occur near the ground. If you wait
to establish a climb, you increase the chance of crashing."
Governor-Off Operations
"With the governor off, keep the tachs in your scan. Manipulate the
throttle manually to keep RPM in the green. Compensate for the
imperfect correlator. The correlator won't work well particularly
below 18 inches, so be careful with pickups and set downs. When might
we need to fly with the governor off? Safety notice 35 states flying
near broadcast towers might interfere with governor operation. "
Low Rotor RPM and Recovery
Introduction: "During high density altitude, high gross weight, and
high power (e.g., four fat guys going on a steep approach into a
confined area near Big Bear, CA), you may encounter low rotor RPM. The
natural reaction of a pilot is to decrease speed and pull more
power. We practice this because the proper recovery is just the
opposite: lower collective, roll on throttle, and increase forward
speed."
Demonstrate low rotor RPM and recovery in the hover:
- "With the governor off, induce low rpm by slowly rolling off
throttle to 97% so the horn comes on."
- "Simultaneously raise collective to maintain altitude."
- "Note the reduction in noise and slight increase in vibration
before the horn comes on."
- "To recover, lower collective and simultaneously roll on a touch
of throttle to compensate for the correlator."
- Optional: "Try again but lower the RPM to 95%."
Induce low rotor RPM and demonstrate a hover: "Note the ship will
still fly in many conditions even with low rotor RPM."
Once the student is comfortable with low rotor RPM recovery in the
hover, try it in the air:
- "Low rotor RPM recovery in a cruise is the same as on the ground
except you input a little aft cyclic."
- "Note the decrease noise and increase in vibration before the horn
comes on."
- "Note that ship will still fly with slightly low rotor RPM."
- "To recover, lower collective, roll on a touch of throttle, and
apply aft cyclic."
Common Errors and Responses:
- Lowering collective without rolling on throttle: "Lowering
collective without rolling on throttle decreases power and RPM. Roll
on some throttle simultaneously to compensate for the correlator. The
goal is to do exactly what the governor would do, which is roll on
throttle to keep the tachs in the green."
- Rolling on too much throttle: "Rolling on throttle aggressively
will overspeed the engine and it will have to be shipped back to
Lycoming for disassembly and inspection."
Hydraulics-Off Training (R44 only)
Demonstrate the hydraulics off in the cruise: "Note control inputs
are heavier and there is lag. Consequently, hovering is difficult and
perhaps hazardous. Keep the airspeed at 60 knots and come in for a
running landing. We will terminate at a 15' hover to be safe."
Shutdown Procedures
- Starting: "Roll down first and then friction the controls before
taking out the checklist."
- Cooling down: "Cool down for at least two minutes (R22; three
minutes in the R44) and wait until the cylinder head temperature
needle is to the left of the '3' in '350'."
- If they ask why: "Shutting down without a cool down will cause an
exhaust valve to stick. The next time you start the engine, the piston
will hit the exhaust valve and ruin the engine."
- If they ask why airplanes are different: "Airplanes are not using
full power on approach and while taxiing in. They essentially have
already done a cool down."
- During spin down: "As the blades slow down, large cyclic inputs
are more hazardous. The blades flap more as they slow down and aft
cyclic could result in a tail boom strike."
Want to start training in Boston with East Coast Aero Club? Call
781-274-6322 to enroll, or email philg@mit.edu
Copyright 2008-2014 Philip Greenspun.
philg@mit.edu