Had the second helicopter lesson yesterday. Although I hadn’t learned anything it all seemed much easier and I was able to hover for 5 seconds before the machine went out of control. Perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel.
7 thoughts on “Up to 5 seconds now”
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time for a simulator maybe? :O)
Good idea, Rob, except that a realistic helicopter simulator costs a lot more than a helicopter. And people who have experience with RC helicopters or cheap sims aren’t able to hover the real machines.
Simulators are good for practicing things that are too dangerous to practice in real life.
Oh yes, you might ask exactly how expensive a good simulator is. The latest issue of Flying just hit the doorstep here in Cambridge. University of Alaska Anchorage bought a six-axis motion Cessna Caravan simulator for $2.5 million (a Caravan is a very simple slow airplane with fixed landing gear and a single engine/propeller). A slightly used real Cessna Caravan can be purchased for less than $1 million (still kind of pricey due to turbine engine and large size).
feh! a mere $2.5 million!
actually, i can really see how there is a gulf of difference between the simulator and reality, if trying to fly a helicopter is anything like i think it is. small movements … big consequences?
a few years ago i was in london and this guy had a bicycle that had a steering reversal mechanism (simple cogs) for the steering column (steer left, go right; steer right, go left). anyway, he had two chalk marks on the ground approx. 3 metres apart, and for 2 pounds, would give you three goes to ride the bike, without touching the ground, from one mark to beyond the other. if successful, you got
oh, when i say “without touching the ground”, i really meant without putting one’s feet down on the ground (helium balloons notwithstanding) …
rob
Rob: I think the $10 million simulators are pretty darn good in terms of realism and control feel, maybe not fabulous in terms of simulating the effects of wind and the interaction of the downwash with the ground. But on the other hand the U.S. Army uses $1 million Bell JetRangers as primary trainers rather than a simulator so the sims must be lacking in some respects.
but isn’t it the wind effects etc. that make what you’ve been doing so hard? at that price, the real thing sounds cheaper and more authentic, which is probably why you’ve taken that tack :O)
btw, i read your bit on nz the other day. very interesting. one of the more accurate travellogs on nz that i’ve read. (i’m a kiwi but elsewhere …).
rob