Another Helicopter Flight

My scheduled fixed wing lesson last weekend got called on account of wind and rain. I rescheduled for Friday (tommorow) at 10AM.

So yesterday evening, with my wife's generous support and blessing (even in the face of car trouble), I splurged and bought another helicopter lesson. Helicopters are fun, but expensive; fun things usually are. So I wanted to squeeze in as much hands-on time as I could during this lesson; I'm not sure when I'll be back. The good news is that I flew almost the entire time. The bad news is I don't have any pictures - because I was flying almost the entire time.

I flew with Travis because it was chilly and we needed doors on the R22 this time. Why Travis? Because with Derrick and doors, my fat a$$ puts us over the R22 max load. Stupid, delicious Krystals.

Travis lifted off and got us out to 2,600 ft.

"You have the controls," he said.
"Copy, I have the controls," I replied.
This communication is critical in helicopters. We did two things: turning and hovering.

Turning
The turning practice was an extension of the last lesson. It got progresively more complex:

"Turn right to a heading of 32, hold 2,600 feet, hold 60 knots."
"Now turn left to a heading of North, descend to 2,200 feet, hold 60 knots."
"Now give me a right turn to a heading of 17, ascend to 2,500 feet, speed 75 knots."

Left/Right, Up/Down, Faster/Slower .. all simultaneously using all the controls in coordination.
I had it down pretty good. Time in fixed-wing helped.

Hovering
After 45 mins of turns and basic navigation, we returned to the taxi-way for hovering about 10 feet off the ground.

I practiced first with only the cyclic (roll /pitch), then only the pedals (left / right), then only the collective (up / down). I kept it stable and hovered without problem. This earned some praise from Travis. He had never seen a student hover like I did the first time out. I felt my big head swell with pure awesomeness.

I am a unique and special snowflake. The voodoo child.

Then he gave me both the cyclic and pedals. I held the hover for about 3 seconds. Combined with the wind, it was more than I could handle and we got blown around every which way. We started spinning and sidewinding. He pulled us back from the brink. My head deflated back to mere mortal size.

I am not a unique and special snowflake. I am the same decaying organic matter as everything else.

We wrapped it up. I got some pats on the back for how well I did, settled up, and was off home to my wife whom I love for not only putting up with but eagerly supporting my high maintenance, overdeveloped sense of ambition and challenge. While I was playing helicopter pilot, she was dealing with a dead car battery. To show my gratitude, I went out later and picked up some ribs from Sonnys in time to watch Barack Obama's 20 minute music video.

This experience reminded me of what I love, fear, and respect about piloting aircraft: Your mind, body, and senses are in tune with the world. You aren't dealing in artificiality. There is only dangerous and beautiful reality. You're in it, part of it, connected to nature by the work of countless fellow human beings who came before you. If you choose awareness of, respect for, and harmony with that nature, you experience what few others ever do. But if instead you choose arrogance over awareness, or trade reality for wishful thinking, it may cost you your life.

I'm Doug Hale and I approve this message.