Wow, this was great. I've never flown a helicopter but I "believe" I know how to control them. The hand, eye, brain connection is quite subtle and I'm not sure I'd do as well as you did. I learned a great deal just watching you two. Great inputs from the instructor. Thanks.
I have never flown a manned helicopter, but have done RC helicopters for a while, hovering is like balancing a stick on your finger. small movements and you have to move before you need it. looks like fun, but I think I will stick to fixed wing for the full scale stuff.
So nice to see some more rotary content! I’m another Fixed Wing convert😅 Hovering is hard for everyone at first but it will click before you know it! Great instructor too and looking forward to seeing more in future.
The R22 is a touchy little chopper. The R44 is so much easier and nicer to fly. Plus, it's much faster. I'm glad you didn't roll over with that ground contact. That was close. That's how Harrison Ford crashed and totaled that Bell 206 with his CFI. Skid caught and he rolled it.
That ground contact made me wince as well. The hover practice seemed pretty low to me. I'd pick it up to about 6 feet or so the first time I was letting someone try to hover. The R22 is sensitive, but learn to hover it and you can hover anything. Overall, great job! Three to five hours and it will click.
Had the opportunity many years ago to fly a B206 Jet Ranger. Had 2 one hour lessons (weren't really lessons, but learned a lot). Coming from a lot of time in fixed wing, it was a pretty steep learning curve. The guy I flew with was a sales manager for the North Texas area. First he took off and went to around 2000 ft put it in a hover, then gave me the control and told me to keep the intersection below centered. Yeah, that went well :-( But after working closer to the ground, I started to get the hang of it. We zoomed off following I-35 N where there was a burger joint off I 35, He took controls and landed the damn thing just on the grass out front, went in had a bite to eat, then took off again. NOW *that was the coolest thing ever.* Great guy and good friend back in the early 80's
Looks like fun. I would like to try it some day. We have a helicopter training company at Pearland KLVJ. There was a recent incident (not the training company) with a helicopter losing control and hitting a Cessna 150. I did get to look at the plane the other day. I imagine nervous anticipation before the flight. Not much time to be nervous during the training, just staying focused on the task at hand. Kind of like your first solo flight not having a lot of time to enjoy the flight due to concentrating on flying the pattern and radio calls by yourself for the first time.
Learning to fly a helicopter has truly been one of the highlights of my aviation career. It’s also a lot like starting over! But it’s up there with floatplanes as some of the most fun you can possibly have in aviation! You’ll love your journey!
Awesome video Dan. It was so cool watching your first heli lesson. I’m sure it’s a humbling experience. Looked like you did pretty well for your first time. I’m excited to watch your journey and progression. Keep up the excellent work. Safe skies my friend 🇺🇸🛩️🚁
You did very well at hover as he said. Think of every control as a broom you have to balance on your hand. I really hate it when instructors say don't move anything much. In the TH-55 or Hughes 269 at Ft. Wolters, just west of there, my instructor said, "Move the controls. How else are you going to learn what they do." So yes, the thing costs a lot, not like the Army where we didn't care. But we learn faster if we act like a baby and use gross movements to make it happen until we learn to use fine movements. Gross, but dynamic and proactive. Everything, always, dynamic and proactive. To keep the tower between your legs, walk the pedals rapidly dynamically and proactively. To keep hover height, move the collective up/down rapidly dynamically and proactively. To keep the tip path plane level, move the cyclic (yes a stick between your legs is easier) like the broom on your hand dynamically and proactively. Like left turning tendencies in airplanes, left pedal with power and right pedal with less torque is physically correct, but we get out of phase thinking that way. Moving dynamically and proactively gets us moving and allows natural balance to bracket centerline or height or level. At Wolters, Lt. Pobre from Hawaii had trouble with hover in ten hours as required by the Army. He finally got it around eight and asked, "Will they now put a control in my mouth?" In the Matel Messerschmitt, we had to roll the motorcycle type throttle on when we moved the collective up and off when we put the collective down.
Welcome to the club! Well done!
Look forward to watching you progress to your add-on!
Great instructor
I agree!
Wow, this was great. I've never flown a helicopter but I "believe" I know how to control them. The hand, eye, brain connection is quite subtle and I'm not sure I'd do as well as you did. I learned a great deal just watching you two. Great inputs from the instructor. Thanks.
I have never flown a manned helicopter, but have done RC helicopters for a while, hovering is like balancing a stick on your finger. small movements and you have to move before you need it. looks like fun, but I think I will stick to fixed wing for the full scale stuff.
Congrats for taking the plunge Dan. You will know you've got it when the instructor no longer hovers his hand on the controls.
Great vid, that looks very difficult! Can’t wait to see your progression Dan 👊
So nice to see some more rotary content! I’m another Fixed Wing convert😅
Hovering is hard for everyone at first but it will click before you know it! Great instructor too and looking forward to seeing more in future.
The R22 is a touchy little chopper. The R44 is so much easier and nicer to fly. Plus, it's much faster. I'm glad you didn't roll over with that ground contact. That was close. That's how Harrison Ford crashed and totaled that Bell 206 with his CFI. Skid caught and he rolled it.
That ground contact made me wince as well. The hover practice seemed pretty low to me. I'd pick it up to about 6 feet or so the first time I was letting someone try to hover. The R22 is sensitive, but learn to hover it and you can hover anything. Overall, great job! Three to five hours and it will click.
Had the opportunity many years ago to fly a B206 Jet Ranger. Had 2 one hour lessons (weren't really lessons, but learned a lot). Coming from a lot of time in fixed wing, it was a pretty steep learning curve. The guy I flew with was a sales manager for the North Texas area. First he took off and went to around 2000 ft put it in a hover, then gave me the control and told me to keep the intersection below centered. Yeah, that went well :-( But after working closer to the ground, I started to get the hang of it. We zoomed off following I-35 N where there was a burger joint off I 35, He took controls and landed the damn thing just on the grass out front, went in had a bite to eat, then took off again. NOW *that was the coolest thing ever.* Great guy and good friend back in the early 80's
Great story!
Looks like fun. I would like to try it some day. We have a helicopter training company at Pearland KLVJ. There was a recent incident (not the training company) with a helicopter losing control and hitting a Cessna 150. I did get to look at the plane the other day. I imagine nervous anticipation before the flight. Not much time to be nervous during the training, just staying focused on the task at hand. Kind of like your first solo flight not having a lot of time to enjoy the flight due to concentrating on flying the pattern and radio calls by yourself for the first time.
Learning to fly a helicopter has truly been one of the highlights of my aviation career. It’s also a lot like starting over! But it’s up there with floatplanes as some of the most fun you can possibly have in aviation! You’ll love your journey!
Awesome video Dan. It was so cool watching your first heli lesson. I’m sure it’s a humbling experience. Looked like you did pretty well for your first time. I’m excited to watch your journey and progression. Keep up the excellent work. Safe skies my friend 🇺🇸🛩️🚁
Great stuff Dan! LOVED IT! I’ll be a helicopter someday soon!
Cheers 🥂 my friend!
Caleb’s Aviation
Great job Dan...a lot better than I would do that's why I stick with air planes
Good afternoon from Minnesota! Great first lesson!!
I thought you did great. Thanks for putting this out
I used to work on Blackhawk/MD-500 helicopters. You’re one loose nut away from a serious problem. You are doing great.
Great job Dan
👍✅ Great job Dan👏
Dan, this is awesome! You make me want to go get a helicopter intro lesson!
You should do it!!!
You did very well at hover as he said. Think of every control as a broom you have to balance on your hand. I really hate it when instructors say don't move anything much. In the TH-55 or Hughes 269 at Ft. Wolters, just west of there, my instructor said, "Move the controls. How else are you going to learn what they do." So yes, the thing costs a lot, not like the Army where we didn't care. But we learn faster if we act like a baby and use gross movements to make it happen until we learn to use fine movements. Gross, but dynamic and proactive. Everything, always, dynamic and proactive. To keep the tower between your legs, walk the pedals rapidly dynamically and proactively. To keep hover height, move the collective up/down rapidly dynamically and proactively. To keep the tip path plane level, move the cyclic (yes a stick between your legs is easier) like the broom on your hand dynamically and proactively. Like left turning tendencies in airplanes, left pedal with power and right pedal with less torque is physically correct, but we get out of phase thinking that way. Moving dynamically and proactively gets us moving and allows natural balance to bracket centerline or height or level.
At Wolters, Lt. Pobre from Hawaii had trouble with hover in ten hours as required by the Army. He finally got it around eight and asked, "Will they now put a control in my mouth?" In the Matel Messerschmitt, we had to roll the motorcycle type throttle on when we moved the collective up and off when we put the collective down.
lol... Brilliant, well done Dan😂. Tried it once... Found it extremely difficult to hold it in the hover. You did good. 😉👍
Nice.
Hovering is hard for everyone at first, especially fixed wing guys. :)