My first autorotation (Page 2): Agreed! Roller coasters and me have NEVER got along well!

hookedupin2005 Loc: Northwestern New Mexico

dancers wrote:

shudder....................I avoid such things.......always have, always will!

Agreed! Roller coasters and me have NEVER got along well!

RichinSeattle

Huey Driver wrote:

My first autorotation

No such thing in my F-4 Phantom. If power shuts down (and won't restart), it'll glide - like a brick. All you can do is say a quick prayer, and pull the stripy handles over your head. The parachute ride down is the only fun thing about the situation. (Never had to do it.)

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Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

RichinSeattle wrote:

No such thing in my F-4 Phantom. If power shuts down (and won't restart), it'll glide - like a brick. All you can do is say a quick prayer, and pull the stripy handles over your head. The parachute ride down is the only fun thing about the situation.

That would be a trip, for sure.

biggin1a Loc: San Antonio, TX

Doing night autorotations in a Huey with Night Vision googles was always a matter of waiting until you could not wait any longer to pull the collective.

PRETENDER Loc: Micanopy,Florida

Never have been a fan of having the s... scared out of me. I get enough adrenaline worked up just driving in today's traffic.

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

biggin1a wrote:

Doing night autorotations in a Huey with Night Vision googles was always a matter of waiting until you could not wait any longer to pull the collective.

We didn’t have those in 1968-69. I guess we were just expected to have excellent night vision. I remember one time we were bringing ammunition to a company engaged in a firefight with the VC and I was told to black out all my lights and come in “blind.” At the last minute some GI fired up his Zippo lighter and I decided to turn on the landing light for a second. Good thing, because I was about to land on a straw hootch! Quick slide to the left, dump the ammo and get out of there. Nice adrenalin rush that time.

TreborLow

That reminds me of the time I did the "take off my finger trick" for a very young cousin. He was totally aghast with a similar expression and I thought maybe he was too young. But 10 seconds later, he said, "Do it again!" and I was relieved....

14kphotog Loc: Marietta, Ohio

I Have had SO much fun with my grand kids with the take off my thumb trick.

Tinkwmobile

I rode in USAF SAC huey's for four years. Never had an engine failure, too much paperwork, not allowed :)

We guarded Missouri from the invasion of the communist hordes. Quite successfully, never saw any around.

PhotogHobbyist Loc: Bradford, PA

TreborLow wrote:

That reminds me of the time I did the "take off my finger trick" for a very young cousin. He was totally aghast with a similar expression and I thought maybe he was too young. But 10 seconds later, he said, "Do it again!" and I was relieved....

I tried that trick with my grand sons and they were not impressed, knew it was fake. They are just too darn smart.

Wallen Loc: Middle Earth

Huey Driver wrote:

Many of us paid the price with 4 years of military service including one of those in Vietnam. I don't regret any of that.

A great adventure i'm sure that is.
I love the training but got kicked-out of ROTC for standing my ground, not obeying a wrong order.
Bad eyes (colorblind they say) prevented me from flying, which was my life long dream. Got about a thousand hrs in fixed wing simulators though and around a 50 on a rotary.
Never got over on how to neutralize an oscillation during hover, crashed it every time.

GregS Loc: Central Illinois, USA

Huey Driver wrote:

My first autorotation

Always felt bad for the guys in the back when they didn't know it was coming.....well, maybe not that bad!! :)

Huey Driver Loc: Texas

GregS wrote:

Always felt bad for the guys in the back when they didn't know it was coming.....well, maybe not that bad!! :)

Yeah, me too * * * * * * What I really felt bad for was that I couldn't see their faces when I granted them the opportunity to see and feel what unauthorized things I could preform in a Huey.

Leo_B Loc: Houston suburb

Wingpilot wrote:

Once you realize that you still have full control of the helicopter, it’s just a matter of timing.

Yeah, it's that timing part. I don't know a lot about it but based on my ignorance it seems like get the timing right and it's a scary ride, get the timing wrong and it's either then drop like a rock or go splat.

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

Leo_B wrote:

Yeah, it's that timing part. I don't know a lot about it but based on my ignorance it seems like get the timing right and it's a scary ride, get the timing wrong and it's either then drop like a rock or go splat.

Well, in my case, it wasn’t the timing being off, but a mechanical failure of the tail rotor driveshaft that resulted in an unplanned landing in the jungle. Well, yeah, the timing was off, because the timing is never good when you crash!!