Simulated Solo Lesson Plan

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For a student who is preparing to solo, it may be a confidence-booster to go up on a simulated solo flight. An instructor is present in the helicopter, but does not touch anything, say anything on the radio, or say anything on the intercom. The instructor takes notes for a post-flight debriefing. The instructor can hold the lesson plan for the student and read off the next task. Ideally those should be the only things that he or she says. Obviously if safety of flight is an issue, the instructor must speak up or nudge the controls, but the instructor should stay silent even if the student is having difficulty communicating with ATC, for example.

Sequence

• startup, including flow check; ensure that instructor has notepad and pen
• lift off from the ramp and hover taxi to another location on the ramp and set down (suggest the Customs ramp); this simulates having to put the helicopter back down to adjust radio volume, carb heat, or headset.
• request air taxi to Romeo for hover work
• hover taxi precisely up and down Romeo, practicing forward, sideways, and backwards hover
• call Tower to request pattern work to Romeo
• fly five or six normal patterns (instructor should note consistency of horizontal pattern, consistency of maintaining 700' on downwind, consistency of power changes). Each pattern should be to a full set-down on the ramp. Instructor should note whether or not student is careful to check engine and fuel gauges prior to each lift.
• call Tower to request a departure from Romeo with a landing on the East Ramp (if Tower is confused and thinks that you want an air taxi, be explicit that you're requested either right or left traffic to the East Ramp, below 700')
• land in the north taxi lane of the East Ramp, abeam Taxiway Alpha.
• additional 5-10 minutes of hover practice and pickup-setdown practice on the East Ramp (north taxi lane and Customs ramp)
• shutdown