Week 2 (12-17 Feb 06)

Straightforward week. Still academics in the morning and miscellaneous things in the afternoon.
Monday we had a closed-book NATOPS exam for the T-38C Talon. Didn't get the results back, but I think I passed. Also had a brief on flying safety chase and photo chase flights as well as instrument ground school. The morning academics were exactly like college... class from 7-8, 8-9, 9-10, 10-11, 11-12 BUT it was in the same classroom each time. Academics this past week were Calculus, Report Writing, Engineering Mechanics, Airborne Systems, and Pitot-Statics.

On Wednesday afternoon, I found out I was on the flight schedule on Thursday (day 1 of flying for my class). The instructors are doing a lot of different things with class 130. For starters, I think I set a record by being the first civilian engineer to fly on day one. In the past, the engineers have always been LAST when it came to the flight schedule. Also different was the implementation of ORIENTATION flights. All the jet students would get their first flight in a helicopter, and all the helo folks would get their first flight in a jet.

SWEET! My first helo flight! TPS only has 3 helos to choose from (but I don't get to actually choose).... a TH-6B (Magnum PI helicopter), an OH-58C (Bell JetRanger), and a UH-60 (Seahawk). I was on the flight schedule for the OH-58C. Here's some specs on the OH-58...

Preflight was at 1330, with takeoff at 1530. Per TPS SOPs, I am not allowed to takeoff or land, but the instructor can allow me to fly once I'm above 200-ft AGL. My instructor was an Army CW4 with lots of time in helos. He walked me through the preflight, showed me how to strap in, and walked me through engine start procedures. After everything checked out, we hover taxiied to the helo pad at TPS. What a weird first-time feeling...hovering about 2 feet above the ground and slowly moving to a helipad. It was very cool...

After we lifted off and and as soon as the altitude was 200-ft, he said "Ok, she's yours.."
"WHAT??" I said, half expecting him to say 'just joking'...
"Yeah, you have the controls..."
A slight pause and "Ummm..ok I have the controls." "Roger, you have the controls."

So there I was... 250-ft and climbing. "Take us to about 1500-ft and nose it forward to get us 80-knots." Talk about a quick learning curve. Above 50-knots or so, the OH-58C flys similarly to a fixed-wing airplane. Once we reached 1500-ft he said, "Ok, slow us down to about 20-knots." Easier said than done. With a helo, any single control input requires inputs in all other controls. I'll give you an example...

I'm flying level at 1500-ft and 80-knots forward airspeed. I want to slow down to 20-knots forward airspeed but maintain 1500-ft altitude. To slow down I want to pull back on the cyclic (stick). This changes the lift vector of the main rotor to slightly aft, thereby slowing us down. The problem is 1) the lift vector now helps the drag to slow us down and 2) it's still pointing upward. Just pulling the cyclic aft would cause us to slow down but also climb. To keep from climbing, you have to lower the collective (equivalent of the throttles in a jet). This makes the main rotor generate less lift by changing the pitch on the blades. Easy right? Pull back the cyclic and lower the collective....easy...yeah... not really! Now, there is less torque on the helo, so the unbalanced torque effect is to cause the helo to rotate nose-left (for American-made helos only). How do you stop the yawing? The rudder pedals control the pitch of the tail rotor, which produces thrust to counteract the natural yawing generated by the main rotors. So, less torque means more right pedal. More torque means more left pedal. IT'S ALL ABOUT BALANCING THE EQUATIONS OF MOTION..... Physics baby, pure physics...

So, I finally get it figured out and slow to zero forward speed. Weird feeling. At a 1500-ft hover, we were actually moving backwards b/c I was facing into a 20-knot wind. It was cool to look down and see us moving backwards. Cooler yet, the doors were off the helo so I could actually lean out and see straight down below us. The unnerving part was feeling the helo bouncing around like a spinning top....just teetering there. You can actually feel that!

Anyhow, after learning how to transition from a hover back to forward flight, he had me start a descent back to Pax. This was easy... keep the same pitch attitude for the speed, just lower the collective and start a descent. Different from what I'm used to in a fixed-wing aircraft. We flew right OVER the solomons bridge back to Pax. As we got closer he took the controls and demonstrated an approach to a hover about 5-ft off the grass. We then took off again flew back around and setup a high descent approach to a hover. Once were were at 2-ft, he showed me slow forward, aft, and sideways flight (which is cool in itself). Then he rolled the throttle to idle to simulate an engine failure just above the ground. No sweat. We slowly settled on the skids.

Now, for the more interesting stuff. Autorotations!!! This is where you lose an engine and take advantage of the situation to safely land. At 500-ft he rolled the engine to idle. The ENGINE FAIL tone sounded loudly in my helmet. He lowered the collective and we started falling towards the ground at over 1500-ft per minute. About 50-ft from the ground, he pulled the collective slowly upwards and we slowed to just above the ground with a soft touchdown. Amazing...

The final part of my flight was demos of sloped landings and tactical maneuvering. We landed on a 6-deg slope both laterally and longitudinally (sideways and forward for those who have know idea what I just said). That was a weird feeling....I thought we might tip over, especially with the main rotor imparting lots of vibrations. Next, liftoff to about 50-feet, then steeply point the nose to the ground and pull collective to loose about 20-ft and gain about 40-knots forward flight. We skimmed the ground near the runway at about 5-ft, quickly approaching a row of trees. "Ummm....Umm.......Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm.." as I was beginning to wonder if we were about to be an expensive weed whacker. Just then he pulled the collective and we smoothly climbed over the trees. As soon as we cleared them, he quickly lowered the collective and we descended back to about 2-ft off the water (the pond on the other side of the trees). We zoomed down the shoreline, popping up to miss trees here and there, then back down to skim the surface. At the last line of trees, he yanked back on the cyclic and lowered the collective. My heart was racing. We stopped about 1-ft off the water and 30-ft from the trees...
"The mission of this helo in its day was to scout for the enemy. Here's how..."
We slowly popped just above the trees to take a look. All I saw was an empty field. "All clear.."

And then we climbed over the trees to head back home. "So, what did you think?"
"DAMN that was exciting!" "Good, I was hoping you'd like it. Take the controls and get us back home."

So I did....(twist my arm, eh?)

He landed at the helo pad, taxiied back to the TPS ramp, and set us down. With the engine running (blades turning) I unbuckled to get out and 'hot seat' with another classmate who was about to pilot HIS first helo as well....

Not a bad 2nd week. The only negative thing was the OPS Officer telling us we were NOT to take cameras on the aircraft. DAMN, no more cool pics to put on here. Oh well, I'll deal with it. Next week, my first T-38 flight! (HOPEFULLY)
-Vanna