Ground 01 (Bad Weather)

by Philip Greenspun; revised March 2006

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Objective

If the weather is IMC or too windy/gusty/turbulent, the student will be introduced to helicopter instruction at East Coast Aero Club, get a solid introduction to the process of a thorough preflight inspection of an R22, learn basic helicopter aerodynamics, and satisfy the requirements of SFAR 73.

Elements

airfoil basics
lift production and angle of attack
rotating wing means airspeed without ground speed (hovering capability)
torque and the need for a tail rotor
dissymetry of lift, flapping, and the teetering rotor system
SFAR 73 section 2(a)(3) required awareness training:
1. Energy management in an autorotation
2. Low G hazards and mast bumping
3. Rotor RPM decay and Low rotor RPM (blade stall)
the basic components of the R22
the preflight checklist for an R22
components of an FAA-approved P.O.H.

Schedule

0-30 minutes: tour of the facilities, explaining aerodynamics with the blackboard and models in the classroom
30-75: drive to helicopter hangar and go through a preflight inspection, also demonstrate how the flight controls connect to the swash plate
75-90: SFAR 73 briefing
90-120: R22 P.O.H.
120-150: student works independently on written (open book) quiz (see below)

Equipment

toy helicopter
FAA Rotorcraft Flying Handbook
R22 in hangar
R22 preflight checklist
R22 P.O.H.

Completion Standards

Student should be able to give a basic explanation of how a helicopter flies. Student should be able to identify the major components of an R22.

Evaluation

Reading Assignment

Section 7 (Systems Description) of the R22 P.O.H. Chapters 1-5 and 9 of the Rotorcraft Flying Handbook.

Quiz

Your mom has fixed you up on a blind date with a young woman. You have communicated by phone and offered to give her a helicopter ride to a restaurant that is an hour's flight away and no fuel is available there. You decide to preflight and fuel the helicopter in advance of her arrival so that she won't be waiting around while you monkey with the machine. You weigh 200 lbs. She shows up and turns out to be larger than you'd imagined from the phone conversation. She weighs 245 lbs. You're out in beautiful Los Alamos, New Mexico at 7000' above sea level and it is a fine warm summer's day.

Roughly how much fuel did you put into the R22, in anticipation of the two-hour round-trip flight?
Checking Section 2 of the P.O.H., could a pilot of any weight legally give this passenger a ride?
Suppose that you loaded yourself and your date into the R22 and pulled up on the collective in an attempt to hover. What would happen to the angle of attack on the blades and the rotor RPM?

The next day, you decide to participate in the Experimental Aircraft Association's Young Eagles program, in which young people are given rides in small aircraft to introduce them to the joys of aviation. You never did go on that date, so you still have 2+ hours of fuel in your R22. Your first passenger is an 11-year-old boy weighing 100 lbs.

you're a beginning pilot, with only 150 flight hours and the wind is gusting up to 27 knots; is it prudent for you to make this flight? Is it legal? (check Section 2 of the P.O.H.)
you decide to go up and turbulence from the strong gusts pushes the helicopter forward so quickly that you feel light in your seat; what is your biggest hazard at this point and what should you do with the cyclic to avoid it? What could you have done with your airspeed to have avoided the hazard altogether?
after you've recovered from the turbulence, you find an airplane participating in the Young Eagles program coming right toward you in the traffic pattern of the airport (airports are busy places where you need to keep a lookout for other pilots). In addition to banking right as the FAA suggests for avoiding a collision when two aircraft are converging, you want to dive underneath the airplane's altitude. Do you use the collective or the cyclic to descend? Why?
following the near mid-air collision, the engine on your R22 quits suddenly. What is your first action? What sources of energy are you tapping into to get back on the ground without damaging the R22? Which source of energy is the least powerful?

Back on the ground, the 11-year-old seems to have had no idea that landing without an engine is not a normal procedure. He asks you some questions:

What does this "clutch" switch on the dashboard do?
Can I plug my Gameboy into the cigarette lighter? How many volts is the electrical system on this puppy? (most modern airplanes are 28V)
I got a ride in an airplane yesterday and the pilot turned on an electric fuel pump. How many fuel pumps are in this R22 and how are they powered?