Thank you so much for this VERY EXCEPTIONAL point of view : dashboard, cyclic and collective and the forward, I felt as I was piloting for real even if a disability can't led me to any cockpit to try !
Nice job....great video reminds me of my days in a Bell Ranger when I was a radio tech for our local police dept. Never forget that turbine whine. I'd go up after we repaired the police radios & or antennas, to make sure all was well in flight. Nothing like a flight over the Atlantic Ocean at sunset in Summer ! Good Luck to you.
Thanks for sharing this. I'm transitioning to a 206B2 and appreciate people like you sharing this. Nice smooth AR's. They're so much nicer to do in the 206 vs R22's.
Gordon power off autos are taught as well... I own a bell 407, and I've practiced both power down, and power off autorotations.. so yes power off autos are taught as well.
Although this was a good film to watch and touch control on the students part was very good, it gripes me to no end that the civilian training does NOT teach power-off touchdown autos.....
Gordon Mccoy YES! Granted in the army we only do touchdowns while in the school house but we still always chop the throttle to idle. Its just not the same training value without that.
Right - agreed! I'm finding out that even in the US Army they aren't teaching power-off touch-down autos any more.... Keep in mind that I did my solo in the Spring of '68 @ Ft Wolters, TX - a long time ago.... Things change...
Gordon Mccoy not sure what will happen at Rucker once they transition to lakotas for primary trainers instead of th-67's/b06's. But for now in 67's and 58's we still did touch down power off autos. Currently im flying 58D's... Till they divest the rest...
Gordon Mccoy That is not true!! At my school whenever winds are 10 kts and higher we do power off touchdown on hardsurface!! so thats pretty much each flight!
This is awesome. A couple weeks ago I was up in a B-407 Long Ranger and I guess I'm so used to them them that I sometime forget I'm in a helicopter. Very quiet (with headset on) and very smooth with the 4-blade rotor. Very comparable to being in a Cadillac going down the highway. I've now been in the Bell 47G, UH-1 Huey, 206 Ranger, and 407 Long Ranger. I've thought about other make helicopters but I'm still impressed with Bell helicopters so that is the one I always request. At some point I want to ride in the Huey 2 with composite blades.
Last flare was kind of high or this point of view is deceiving me? As for me, I aim slightly before where I want to land, because the flare gives you time to cover some more distance depending on the speed you initiate the flare with.
+Georgi Galabov Not all are perfect, that's why we practise ;) last one was high yes. Also when we do a power recovery we do them slightly higher to reduce the risk of hitting the tail during the flare
+Tim Loens Don't apologize for your talents. Most don't know how difficult it is to fly a helicopter. You did it just right. Well done and well said. No tail-boom strikes when we practice. You can fly with me any day.
BTW, one of the reasons (not the only) we don't do a full down is that you don't have to ask permission. Depending on location, some property owners get quite righteous. Happens w/hot air balloons too.
Well done. I miss the JetRanger - haven't flown one in years. You don't appear to rest your right forearm on your leg - have you tried that? Most pilots find it helps. Good luck!
+motokid032 Hi, sorry for the late reply. you want the RRPM as high as acceptable during an autorotation so you can use it later to cushion the landing and just to be on the safe side of the arc.
Were you at idle during descent? It sounded like you were at 100% engine RPM throughout the maneuver and I didn't see a yaw indicating throttle down or throttle up. The only yaw appears to be when you transitioned from flat pitch to hover torque.
Good point Gordon McCoy. Every9one always says the military had the money to spend on dings or burning out skid shoes....but evern with 4000 hours in the huey it was the touchdown that mattered when I had a catastrophic engine failure at 700 feet agl. Nope, let them touchdown....power recoveries are cheating them of valuable realistic training.
Tim Loens Cool, a friend posted your video on Facebook and we were just trying to figure out what happened. I figured the best way was to ask you. Thanks for the reply and good job on the autos!
so how do you initiate the autorotation, do you have a timer that tells it to cut off engine power at a certain time? does someone push something the moment before?
@ bgast 33...watch his left hand, he lowers the collective to minimum main rotor blade pitch, and reduces the throttle, which is the twist grip throttle on the collective lever, this allows the free-wheeling clutches to kick in and basically with downward and forward momentum, the rotor system drives itself (maintains nominal rpm), the flare up at the end is to be able to raise collective pitch without lowering rpm when you need it most, allows for a nice cushion to slow the aircraft down while not slamming into the ground.
I see, thank you for your detailed answer. I did not know there was a freewheeling way of transmitting power (given the right settings and situation of course).
Rotor and Turbine RPM gauge, big one more or less in the middle of the instrument panel. you see the two needles split when the autorotation is initiated.
And that's what does not make sense; he's, (or who ever is sitting in the PIC seat) only rolling it off to 90%, (the turbine needle is the larger of the two). If he was rolling it off to flight idle, it would drop to 62% and he'd be getting a low rotor horn as well. The only needle you care about during an auto is the small rotor needle and keeping that in the green. I've never done a auto in any helicopter, 206's, 500's, and 44's that didn't get a low rotor horn during a full down or power recovery auto.
I have never done an auto in a 206 that produced a low rotor horn. Technique in the 206 is to begin by closing the throttle and then lowering the lever (reverse of R44). Yet rotor RPM stays in the green. Nor have I got low rotor horn in the 500 during auto.
Tim Loens Of course....I made my CPL on a Jet Ranger as well at Ranger Helicopters ( now called Canadian Helicopters ) in Sault St. Marie / Canada. Total training time 100 hrs 60 on the R22 and 40 on Jet Ranger incl. some slinging time. They always trained the AR's full on even on tarmac, insane noise..., grass and ice...
