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ImplicitAssembler posted:I suspect the thing that surprises most people when they start flying, is just how power limited helicopters actually are. (I kinda surprised me). Power management is #1 priority. Yeah, I just went back and looked at my lesson footage from confined areas and it was Summer and we were at 100% power in the hover after landing. Had to get real close to the ground to get deep into ground effect then rely on translational lift to get back out. The area was nowhere near as confined as the one you went into though. Back when I first started flying about 15 years before that, the area we went into was probably about the same as what you went into there. We had the power for a towering takeoff on that occasion though.
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Aug 29, 2020 16:45
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| # ? Jun 10, 2024 09:58 |
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The full summer means full foliage, making that zone extra fun to spot and clear. Tall grass too to light on fire! (#ospreyproblems)
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Aug 29, 2020 17:29
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Captain Apollo posted:Yeah also don’t trees block the “good wind” so sometimes it’s hard to lift back out of an area if you get too blocked in? Well, you initially judge 3 things, suitability (Does it look like you can land a helicopter there), wind (roughly estimate) and power available. Power available, is based on the amount of power it took to hover at your initial take-off and you then ltake the altitude of the landing area into account. Then you do a low recce, 3-500 feet over the landing site and judge: - size: confirming that a helicopter can fit) - shape: does it favour approaches from specific directions, taking the wind into account. - slope: Will it be fllat enough to land. - surface: Ground effect is strongest over concrete tarmac, gravel/rocks will take away some power, grass even more. Snow, mud, etc means you might sink in, get stuck. - surrounds: Now that you're lower, you'll have a better idea of how tall the obstacles are and again use that to judge arrival and departure. - sun: will the sun be a factor as you make your approach: Especially in the winter, if the sun gets blocked out by a nearby mountain etc, the light might get too flat to judge distances accurately...or if you're landing into a low sun. At the same time you try to pick up better wind signs and plan your approach accordingly. Trees, ripples on water, etc. You then do a dummy approach, flying to the commitment point, ie, if you get any lower you will have to land and then do a max power climb out. This should confirm (or adjust) your observations and it will give you a good idea of how much power you have available to get back out. You then fly the actual approach, but always with the intention to overshoot. You wont make the decision to land until the commitment point. When you then arrive in the hover, you still have work to do. Often the surface is not what you thought when looking at it from 300', so your initial choice of landing spot may not be suitable, so you'll have to maneuver around to find a suitable landing spot. The actual landing then has to be done very carefully, to make sure that the ground will actually support the aircraft and that it's sitting stable On rocks you'll wriggle it with the anti-torque pedals to make sure you aren't sitting on any loose rocks and you'll shift the cyclic forwards and back to make sure it's not rocking forwards and back. Take-off is equially interesting, Before lifting off, you'll decide on best departure. This may change depending on what you experienced on the way down. If you have room to manuever, you'll do a normal take off, ie hover, move forwards into ETL and then lift off. If you have low obstacles, you might do a towering take off, where you'll move forwards as soon as you see the rotor blades clear, or a vertical take-off. My instructor prefers the vertical take-off over the towering take-off, unless you have a clear area to reject your departure.. Lift-off itself also has to be super-gentle, especially on mud or snow, where the skids might stick and dynamic rollover can occur. Had one where one skid was stuck in the mud, lifted one skid slightly out and then had to wait for the mud to release the other skid. Anyways..it's just a lot of new processes to adopt in a fairly short amount of time. Sure, I've been exposed to some of it during the other flying, but none of it has been as critical as it is here and it doesn't really compare to anything I've tried fixed wing.
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Aug 29, 2020 18:30
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The Slaughter posted:Those vids are awesome. I got my electronic furlough letter today, the paper one is coming via USPS so it'll probably show up around Christmas. It's so weird how the good times went from so good, to so bad so quick. Sorry to hear dude  Networking is so important in this field, I loving hate sometimes how critical it's "Not what you know, but who you know" to get a job. It's great when it works in your favor, but not when the obviously most qualified candidates are getting passed over due to bullshit like dad knowing the chief pilot or similar stuff.On an unrelated note, Desi, is your firm hiring? I'm really intrigued by the crimes against nature you're doing in the CRJ, since I'm now getting fat and stupid switching to the mainline jet over at the mormon air force. I miss the CRJ already and could use a challenge or two that isn't MEL-related. Butt Reactor fucked around with this message at 22:20 on Aug 29, 2020 |
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Aug 29, 2020 22:16
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The Slaughter posted:Those vids are awesome. I got my electronic furlough letter today, the paper one is coming via USPS so it'll probably show up around Christmas. It's so weird how the good times went from so good, to so bad so quick. poo poo deal, StarAlliance bro. I'm a few months into the furlough from Big Red Maple Leaf and even though you know its coming its a kick in the teeth to actually get it. As for the connection thing, connections can come from strange places - the current flying gig I got was the result of a drinking buddy I made in the crew room one day at the last regional. We were shooting the poo poo and realized we lived a few blocks from each other and started going out for pints. He went back to his old-old job and put in a good word. Keep your pilot social circles going, you don't necessarily need to know a Chief Pilot or something, just someone that will vouch for you usually is enough in my experience. Butt Reactor posted:On an unrelated note, Desi, is your firm hiring? I'm really intrigued by the crimes against nature you're doing in the CRJ, since I'm now getting fat and stupid switching to the mainline jet over at the mormon air force. I miss the CRJ already and could use a challenge or two that isn't MEL-related. Hah, crimes against nature. That is fairly... accurate. They actually are hiring still to a limited degree, RJ Captains mostly. Interestingly enough CRJ PIC time is pretty rare on the open market in Canada as Jazz is the only real operator of them and they are very much so a destination company despite being a regional. I got my PIC time at a short-lived-now-defunct regional. The UN demands Captains have 4000TT, 2000PIC, 1250RJ, 750RJ-PIC. Beyond that you need a Canadian ATPL and the legal right to work in Canada as you technically work for a Canadian company (but can choose to live anywhere on the planet your months off).
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Aug 30, 2020 07:52
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Butt Reactor posted:Sorry to hear dude This doesn't work so well when your network consists entirely of people who are getting furloughed, work for an airline that's going/gone out of business, or not hiring. We followed an Atlas 767 last night into ONT, I was contemplating asking them if they had stairs in their house and following up with asking about a job.
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Aug 30, 2020 14:14
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Yeah, and ultimately a lot of networking can be totally and entirely random. Being at the right place at the right time. I met a United chief pilot while on vacation in St Maarten at a timeshare as an aerial survey pilot, and stupidly never kept in touch. My UA buddy that just got hired at a 135 for his furlough job, it was a good friend of his families, nothing to do with actively networking really. On the other hand two of the LOR I had at UA were gained from doing various ALPA things, so.. it's definitely critically important but you can spend a lot of time and energy trying to network and end up with very little in the way of results. I did see one of my old bosses from long ago is now at XOjet and hit him up to see if I could name drop him as the employee referral. They're not hiring right now, but they'll probably start again next year I have to assume.
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Aug 30, 2020 22:03
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If anyone is desperate enough to go back to regional FO, the regional arm of Eskimo Virgin may be hiring next year as well.
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Aug 31, 2020 00:54
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Anti-networking is a thing too. You make too many enemies where you are (particularly if you're a lazy dumbshit) and bad things happen. One of our instructors got hired away, then another instructor asked the first instructor for a reference, and let's just say it's not by random chance the guy didn't get a callback.
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Aug 31, 2020 04:12
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PT6A posted:Anti-networking is a thing too. You make too many enemies where you are (particularly if you're a lazy dumbshit) and bad things happen. One of our instructors got hired away, then another instructor asked the first instructor for a reference, and let's just say it's not by random chance the guy didn't get a callback. I know a guy like this, I actively got him not hired at my company.
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Aug 31, 2020 04:19
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azflyboy posted:If anyone is desperate enough to go back to regional FO, the regional arm of Eskimo Virgin may be hiring next year as well. Honestly I've got my stuff in and would highly consider it, only because I live in Seattle. As long as I didn't have to resign, obviously. Sitting reserve would be a joke, if I could get 175 especially it's a lovely plane to fly and I miss it, and the way they build the pairings is far more productive than Compass did... I've got several friends that are CA there.
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Aug 31, 2020 05:47
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Eskimo Lite Q400 with 13 pax, on a 19 minute route was my experience as a pax recently. I'm thinking deck angle starts to become a concern considering the takeoff I was recently blessed with. Bags may shift in flight indeed Airborne either before or just right as the "2" marker whizzed by. Strange times to fly, all these machines designed for max-effort performance they no longer need.
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Aug 31, 2020 06:55
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marcopolo posted:Eskimo Lite Q400 with 13 pax, on a 19 minute route was my experience as a pax recently. I'm thinking deck angle starts to become a concern considering the takeoff I was recently blessed with. Bags may shift in flight indeed Airborne either before or just right as the "2" marker whizzed by. Strange times to fly, all these machines designed for max-effort performance they no longer need. I've joked with a couple crews recently that their airplanes seem to actually climb, now. Airbusii climbing at 2500fpm is a godamned christmas miracle.
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Aug 31, 2020 14:45
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MrYenko posted:I've joked with a couple crews recently that their airplanes seem to actually climb, now. Airbusii climbing at 2500fpm is a godamned christmas miracle. Does that mean you'll see the CRJs up to 250fpm in the flight levels? 
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Aug 31, 2020 17:01
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:Does that mean you'll see the CRJs up to 250fpm in the flight levels? The CRJ200 is so drat anemic it doesn’t matter if it’s empty or not it climbs like dogshit above fl240 or so
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Aug 31, 2020 17:13
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The Slaughter posted:Honestly I've got my stuff in and would highly consider it, only because I live in Seattle. As long as I didn't have to resign, obviously. Sitting reserve would be a joke, if I could get 175 especially it's a lovely plane to fly and I miss it, and the way they build the pairings is far more productive than Compass did... I've got several friends that are CA there. I don't think you'd be required to resign. Mini Eskimo basically lurches from one self-imposed staffing crisis to the next, so we tend to be kind of desperate when we hire. As long as you told the interviewer that you've always wanted to work for Virgin Eskimo because it's the greatest airline in the history of anything ever (they still operate under the delusion that they're FedEx or Southwest levels of desirable) and you hinted that you want to do Anchorage flying (we just got flying up there with spectacularly awful trips that no one wants), you'd probably have no trouble getting hired, especially with a type rating.
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Aug 31, 2020 21:26
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"I see here that we hired you for Virgin Eskimo, and you decided to decline it and go to United. Would you like to explain that?" "uhhh.... 787 fuel pump go brrrrrrrr?" (Not just type rated though, I was a check airman on the 175 and a SME, heh. But it's the same hiring/onboarding people as Big Eskimo, I'm pretty sure so... the awkwardness would be absolutely palpable.)
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Sep 1, 2020 21:44
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“After evaluating all the options I made the best choice for myself and my family. I foolishly didn’t anticipate a global pandemic would decimate the travel industry. However I am glad I can provide false pity and smug satisfaction to pilots who are lucky enough not to be losing their jobs on Oct. 1st.” “Sir this is a Wendy’s drive thru.”
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Sep 1, 2020 23:22
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Pretty much. Gotta plan for 30 years of career, not "what's convenient or easy right now" and yep didn't foresee a global pandemic, thought maybe a minor recession. It's easy in hindsight though... if only I'd had.... 2020 vision. *ba dum tisk*
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Sep 2, 2020 02:09
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The Slaughter posted:Pretty much. Gotta plan for 30 years of career, not "what's convenient or easy right now" and yep didn't foresee a global pandemic, thought maybe a minor recession. Hey that's my unions slogan for the now forgotten contract negotiations! Betcha didn't see that one coming, mutherfucks! Totally unrelated: anybody here got a glider license? Been watching a lot of soaring videos on YouTube, looks fun.
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Sep 2, 2020 02:54
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I went soaring once and it was totally awesome, and pretty quick to pick up for a fixed wing pilot... If you've got a place near you, do it. I'd do it more if it was a little closer to my house. It's about 1:20.. honestly I thought it was a little worse.
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Sep 2, 2020 03:10
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Made a little bit of effort: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huvhc9MGoeA Easily my most enjoyable flight so far.
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Sep 2, 2020 03:36
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Arson Daily posted:Hey that's my unions slogan for the now forgotten contract negotiations! Betcha didn't see that one coming, mutherfucks! I do, it’s real fun, highly recommend it
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Sep 2, 2020 03:46
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ImplicitAssembler posted:Made a little bit of effort: Every single part of this is my jam. Hit like and subscribed. What makes that river water that bluegreen color? Is it some kind of plant/algae growth, or is it like industrial runoff?
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Sep 2, 2020 12:14
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ImplicitAssembler posted:Made a little bit of effort: Living the loving dream, right here.
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Sep 2, 2020 14:12
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:Every single part of this is my jam. Hit like and subscribed. Glacial run-off. Glaciers will grind the rocks and the melt will carry the dust down the rivers.
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Sep 2, 2020 15:57
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e.pilot posted:I do, it’s real fun, highly recommend it Did you get it as an add on? If so, could you tell me a bit of your experience?
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Sep 2, 2020 18:53
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Arson Daily posted:Did you get it as an add on? If so, could you tell me a bit of your experience? Yeah I did it to get a few fun hours to get to 1500, my 1500th hour was spent in a Schweizer SGS 2-33. The requirement are silly to do it as an add on, 10 solo flights for a private or 20 solo flights for a commercial. Plus whatever training you need to get to the point of soloing, which isn’t much. It’s really easy and relatively affordable. I had a whopping 11 glider hours when I took my private add-on.
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Sep 2, 2020 20:26
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Arson Daily posted:Totally unrelated: anybody here got a glider license? Been watching a lot of soaring videos on YouTube, looks fun. I have. I did a propaganda post in the Aeronautical Insanity thread a while back.
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Sep 3, 2020 01:13
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Practiced engine failures/autorotations today...this was (also) a lot of fun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVPTf_1ucXk
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Sep 3, 2020 01:25
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E.pilot and Saukkis, thank you! Your soaring (gliding?) anecdotes gave me a lot of insight. My wife got me a ride in a glider about five years ago but the guy giving me the ride wouldn't let me touch the controls. Which was whatever but I didn't really mind since it was his ticket and I was just some idiot off the street. Still I thought at the time it would be a cool new skill to learn and a way to get my new address on my license  I haven't flown a plane without some kind of jet engine attached to it for like 14 years so I think this would be a good way to learn something new
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Sep 3, 2020 01:42
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Saukkis posted:I have. I did a propaganda post in the Aeronautical Insanity thread a while back. I would say learn powered first then do glider as an add-on, nothing you do in a glider counts towards your power certificate. Having your power certificate makes getting the glider add-on an absolute piece of cake. Unless all you're planning on doing is flying gliders of course.
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Sep 3, 2020 02:24
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ImplicitAssembler posted:Practiced engine failures/autorotations today...this was (also) a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing these, they’re really cool and you have a very pretty training environment. If money were no object, I would definitely transition and add on a helicopter instructor rating next 
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Sep 3, 2020 02:35
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Yeah, I have a hard time thinking of a better environment to practice in and the timing has been pretty good. Weather has been good enough to get a lot of my solo done and then early autumn weather will then give me some weather so that I can also learn how to deal with that. We get some basic mountain training and the receeding water levels gives us lots to stuff to play with on the rivers. I'll (hopefully) finish too early to get any snow to play with, but I'm sure I'll get plenty of that in due course, as it seems a lot of the low hour jobs are up north. It's been a really good week already and if I can keep the progress going, I should be in a good spot to test early. Written exam is booked for the 24th and we've just finished all the ground school, so the next 3 weeks will be filled with re-reading everything and a bunch of practice exams.
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Sep 3, 2020 03:58
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e.pilot posted:I would say learn powered first then do glider as an add-on, nothing you do in a glider counts towards your power certificate. Having your power certificate makes getting the glider add-on an absolute piece of cake. I looked it up for Canada and wow, you aren't kidding. The requirements are basically gently caress all if you already hold a PPL or greater. 3 hours, 1 of which must be dual, and 20 solo takeoffs and landings, as far as I can tell.
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Sep 3, 2020 05:06
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PT6A posted:I looked it up for Canada and wow, you aren't kidding. yeah if you're bored and have a spare couple of weekends I highly recommend it, it's a ton of fun, I did mine over the summer a few years ago
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Sep 3, 2020 05:21
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e.pilot posted:yeah if you're bored and have a spare couple of weekends I highly recommend it, it's a ton of fun, I did mine over the summer a few years ago By my reading of the regulations I could even get a glider instructor rating after 25 flights in a glider. That doesn't seem ideal but, whatever, Transport Canada!
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Sep 3, 2020 06:07
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Aviation Megathread: If money were no object, I would
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Sep 3, 2020 15:31
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PPL checkride is approaching fast. Of course, right now the forecast is 20g25 + rain when I'm scheduled lol 
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Sep 3, 2020 17:16
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Mine also is scheduled for next week and I hope the fires are somewhat burned out by then because it's been 2 1/2 SM FU HZ the last several days. There's ash on the car every time I go outside. Hell World 2020 
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Sep 3, 2020 20:20
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