“From hooves to helicopters” is worthwhile reading for instructors. What does it feel like to take a first lesson? Most of us can’t remember, of course!
Here’s one argument in favor of a flight school using Robinson R44s for primary training:
I was led out into the hangar by my first flight instructor. With two headsets in hand, she walked me over to what I was certain was a glorified go-kart. [The R22’s] airframe left little to the imagination and the exposure of its components was unsettling to my extremely untrained eye.
Not related, but I wish that we had space for it: bunkbed/home theater/desk for kids made from Bell 206 parts.
Well, a female student basically socialized to understand living things more than machines. Personally was more terrified of sitting on a wobbling horse, 6ft above the ground, that could throw me off than anything else. Millenials are incredibly traditional.
Moderns are used to driving impact ready 3 ton steel SUVS so it’s hard to think of flying thru the air in a 900 lb. aircraft. If you think of it more like “a bicycle that flies thru the air” and less like a “house on wheels” then it makes sense.
Why are aircraft controls so sensitive? When would you use full travel on a machine that usually needs just the thought og pressure on the controls for regular operation?
Andrea, maybe in the context of a “fly by wire” aircraft your question makes sense because you could program as much or as little sensitivity as you wanted but in an R-22 there is a direct mechanical link between the cyclic/collective and the swashplate. This is like asking why the steering on a bicycle is so sensitive. It’s inherent in the nature of the mechanical control system and for reasons of cost, weight and reliability that is the system that they used on an R-22. You could design a bicycle that had a steering system that was less sensitive than handlebars acting directly on the fork also but we don’t for the same reason. Also because the direct system works quite well once you learn how to use it properly – it’s not like it is beyond the range of human capability for a properly trained operator.
As I said before, if you think of a helicopter as being more like a flying bicycle (with the added twist that you have to operate in 3 dimensions) and less like a flying car then it makes more sense. If you’ve never driven a bike, you can’t just sit down and press the go pedal and flail at the handlebars and expect to remain upright, but once you get the hang of it, it is perfectly controllable.
Andrea: To add to what Jackie wrote above… for an airplane, the full control deflection might be needed for maneuvering at speeds just above a stall (lift is a function of airspeed squared). That gives you about 10X the amount of travel that you would ever need in a normal climb/cruise/descent. For a helicopter the FAR 27 airworthiness standards require a certain amount of flight control travel to be available even after you read some limit, e.g., Vne (redline speed). Plus, as with an airplane, a temporary large input might be required to respond to a gust when hovering.