Mussings of an unknown Helicopter Pilot
Jan 21, 2018 14:22:25 #
Musings of an unknown Helicopter Pilot
Anything that screws its way into the sky flies according to unnatural principals. You never want to sneak up behind an old high-time helicopter pilot and clap your hands. He will instantly dive for cover and most likely whimper...then get up smack you. There are no old helicopters laying around airports like you see old Airplanes. There is a reason for this. Come to think of it, there are not many old high-time helicopter pilots hanging around airports either so the first issue is problematic. You can always tell a helicopter pilot in anything moving, a train, an airplane, a car or a boat. They never smile, they are always listening to the machine and they always hear something they think is not right.
Helicopter pilots fly in a mode of intensity, actually more like "spring loaded", while waiting for pieces of their ship to fall off.
Flying a helicopter at any altitude over 500 feet is considered reckless and should be avoided. Flying a helicopter at any altitude or condition that precludes a landing in less than 20 seconds is considered outright foolhardy. Remember in a helicopter you have about 1 second to lower the collective in an engine failure before it becomes unrecoverable. Once you've failed this maneuver the machine flies about as well as a 20 case Coke machine. Even a perfectly executed autorotation only gives you a glide ratio slightly better than that of a brick. 180 degree autorotations are a violent and aerobatic maneuver in my opinion and should be avoided.
When your wings are leading, lagging, flapping, precessing and moving faster than your fuselage there's something unnatural going on. Is this the way men were meant to fly?
While hovering, if you start to sink a bit, you pull up on the collective w hile wisting the throttle, push with your left foot (more torque) and move the stick left (more translating tendency) to hold your spot. If you now need to stop rising, you do the opposite in that order. Sometimes in wind you do this many times each second. Don't you think that's a strange way to fly?
For Helicopters: You never want to feel a sinking feeling in your gut (low "g" pushover) while flying a two bladed under slung teetering rotor system. You are about to do a snap-roll to the right and crash. For that matter, any remotely aerobatic maneuver should be avoided in a Huey. Don't push your luck. It will run out soon enough anyway.
If everything is working fine on your helicopter consider yourself temporarily lucky. Something is about to break.
Way back while I was flying Huey gunships in Vietnam, Harry Reasoner wrote the following about helicopter pilots: "The thing is, helicopters are different from planes. An airplane by its nature wants to fly, and if not interfered with too strongly by unusual events or by a deliberately incompetent pilot, it will fly. A helicopter does not want to fly. It is maintained in the air by a variety of forces and controls working in opposition to each other, and if there is any disturbance in this delicate balance the helicopter stops flying; immediately and disastrously.
There is no such thing as a gliding helicopter.
"This is why being a helicopter pilot is so different from being an airplane pilot, and why in generality, airplane pilots are open, clear-eyed, buoyant extroverts and helicopter pilots are brooding introspective anticipators of trouble.
They know if something bad has not happened it is about to. " Having said all this, I will also tell you that flying in a helicopter is one of the most satisfying and exhilarating experiences I have ever enjoyed.
What I miss most is skimming over the trees at 100 knots + in a light observation helicopter.
And remember the fighter pilot's prayer:
"Lord I pray for the eyes of an eagle, the heart of a lion and the balls of a combat helicopter pilot."
Many years later I know that it was sometimes anything but fun, but now it is something to brag about for those of us who survived the experience.
Basic Helicopter Flying Rules:
1. Try to stay in the middle of the air.
2. Do not go near the edges of it.
3. The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there.
By: Unknown
Anything that screws its way into the sky flies according to unnatural principals. You never want to sneak up behind an old high-time helicopter pilot and clap your hands. He will instantly dive for cover and most likely whimper...then get up smack you. There are no old helicopters laying around airports like you see old Airplanes. There is a reason for this. Come to think of it, there are not many old high-time helicopter pilots hanging around airports either so the first issue is problematic. You can always tell a helicopter pilot in anything moving, a train, an airplane, a car or a boat. They never smile, they are always listening to the machine and they always hear something they think is not right.
Helicopter pilots fly in a mode of intensity, actually more like "spring loaded", while waiting for pieces of their ship to fall off.
Flying a helicopter at any altitude over 500 feet is considered reckless and should be avoided. Flying a helicopter at any altitude or condition that precludes a landing in less than 20 seconds is considered outright foolhardy. Remember in a helicopter you have about 1 second to lower the collective in an engine failure before it becomes unrecoverable. Once you've failed this maneuver the machine flies about as well as a 20 case Coke machine. Even a perfectly executed autorotation only gives you a glide ratio slightly better than that of a brick. 180 degree autorotations are a violent and aerobatic maneuver in my opinion and should be avoided.
When your wings are leading, lagging, flapping, precessing and moving faster than your fuselage there's something unnatural going on. Is this the way men were meant to fly?
While hovering, if you start to sink a bit, you pull up on the collective w hile wisting the throttle, push with your left foot (more torque) and move the stick left (more translating tendency) to hold your spot. If you now need to stop rising, you do the opposite in that order. Sometimes in wind you do this many times each second. Don't you think that's a strange way to fly?
For Helicopters: You never want to feel a sinking feeling in your gut (low "g" pushover) while flying a two bladed under slung teetering rotor system. You are about to do a snap-roll to the right and crash. For that matter, any remotely aerobatic maneuver should be avoided in a Huey. Don't push your luck. It will run out soon enough anyway.
If everything is working fine on your helicopter consider yourself temporarily lucky. Something is about to break.
Way back while I was flying Huey gunships in Vietnam, Harry Reasoner wrote the following about helicopter pilots: "The thing is, helicopters are different from planes. An airplane by its nature wants to fly, and if not interfered with too strongly by unusual events or by a deliberately incompetent pilot, it will fly. A helicopter does not want to fly. It is maintained in the air by a variety of forces and controls working in opposition to each other, and if there is any disturbance in this delicate balance the helicopter stops flying; immediately and disastrously.
There is no such thing as a gliding helicopter.
"This is why being a helicopter pilot is so different from being an airplane pilot, and why in generality, airplane pilots are open, clear-eyed, buoyant extroverts and helicopter pilots are brooding introspective anticipators of trouble.
They know if something bad has not happened it is about to. " Having said all this, I will also tell you that flying in a helicopter is one of the most satisfying and exhilarating experiences I have ever enjoyed.
What I miss most is skimming over the trees at 100 knots + in a light observation helicopter.
And remember the fighter pilot's prayer:
"Lord I pray for the eyes of an eagle, the heart of a lion and the balls of a combat helicopter pilot."
Many years later I know that it was sometimes anything but fun, but now it is something to brag about for those of us who survived the experience.
Basic Helicopter Flying Rules:
1. Try to stay in the middle of the air.
2. Do not go near the edges of it.
3. The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there.
By: Unknown
Jan 21, 2018 14:28:10 #
Jan 21, 2018 15:58:05 #
Huey Driver wrote:
Musings of an unknown Helicopter Pilot br br Anyt... (show quote)
Great insights Hueydriver. I spent a fair amount of time in the back of a Huey, and I was alway impressed by the seeming elan of the pilots under difficult (read near impossible) circumstances. As Mario Andretti reportedly said to Craig Breedlove (land speed record holder at the time): “how do you fit into that little seat with the great big balls it takes to drive this thing 600+MPH?”
Jan 21, 2018 16:08:17 #
LOL
LOL
TriX wrote:
Great insights Hueydriver. I spent a fair amount of time in the back of a Huey, and I was alway impressed by the seeming elan of the pilots under difficult (read near impossible) circumstances. As Mario Andretti reportedly said to Craig Breedlove (land speed record holder at the time): “how do you fit into that little seat with the great big balls it takes to drive this thing 600+MPH?”
LOLJan 21, 2018 18:37:39 #
Jan 21, 2018 19:23:13 #
[Pretty good place to live. Been here in this area since i returned from Vietnam in 1965. quote=George Rains]Noticed you are in FTW, that's my home town.[/quote]
Jan 22, 2018 06:45:03 #
Huey Driver wrote:
Musings of an unknown Helicopter Pilot br br Anyt... (show quote)
I was med-evacked (spell check) by helicopter twice in Vietnam. Good guys, GREAT pilots. As best I can remember is as soon as I was carried on board the pilot (still with a sense of humor in the middle of a combat situation) said "Welcome aboard! Please put your trays in the upright position, hope you enjoy our airlines. If you have any dope or booze ... pass it up here." I'll never forget my few rides in helicopters.
Semper Fi
Jan 22, 2018 09:04:12 #
silver-rail
Loc: harrisburg, pa
My time in Nam in regards to helicopter pilots was they got me here but I pray to god they can get me out. Always did thank you all and Semper Fi
Jan 22, 2018 10:20:21 #
An army buddy described helicopter flight as "beating the atmosphere into temporary submission."
Jan 22, 2018 10:37:25 #
Jan 22, 2018 11:56:27 #
Huey Driver wrote:
Musings of an unknown Helicopter Pilot br br Anyt... (show quote)
Flying in the Navy we used to describe the helicopters as "1,000,000,001" pieces flying in close formation most of the time".
Jan 22, 2018 12:00:01 #
Great points and a funny read on a serious subject. I have been in one helicopter in my life. They were selling rides at an air show. I had my camera and they took two people up at a time. It had the clear glass bubble to see out of and my other rider was a young teen age boy. He asked if he could be on the outside seat whereas I sat in the middle. I wanted to be in the outside seat to take aerial shots but thought what the heck, it will be exciting for the kid. The only reason he wanted to be on the outside seat was to SPIT OUT SIDE! LOL If I had known that, I would have sat there. The flight is one of the strangest feelings though. Not like a plane ride at all. I hope to do it again before I leave this earth. Cheers.
Jan 22, 2018 12:21:05 #
Jan 22, 2018 12:27:36 #
Actually, like bumblebees helicopters can't fly. They're so ugly the earth repels them. However from what I've read above there were a lot of guys in Nam that would disagree✌
Jan 22, 2018 19:34:58 #
I spent four years in USAF riding in the back of a Huey a few times a week. Fortunately I was defending Missouri from the communist hordes and the only danger we faced was the status of our pilot. Had some fun times in the chopper, I was young and ignorant, not knowing enough to be concerned.
My best pilot buddy received orders to Nam. After that he was practicing low level flight, clipped a phone pole and landed in a civilian's back yard. The lady of the house was sunbathing, the basic reason for the low level flight. He had to report to the Colonel's office. As he recounted the story, the Colonel started chewing on him. My friend got up and said to the Colonel, "what are you going to to do me, I already have orders for Nam"?. My friend walked out. Never heard from him again, but did not find his name on the wall.
My best pilot buddy received orders to Nam. After that he was practicing low level flight, clipped a phone pole and landed in a civilian's back yard. The lady of the house was sunbathing, the basic reason for the low level flight. He had to report to the Colonel's office. As he recounted the story, the Colonel started chewing on him. My friend got up and said to the Colonel, "what are you going to to do me, I already have orders for Nam"?. My friend walked out. Never heard from him again, but did not find his name on the wall.
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