Helicopter Teaching In-flight

by Philip Greenspun and Kasim Te; updated March 2014

Used in helicopter training at East Coast Aero Club in Boston.

This document is intended for a helicopter CFI teaching VFR maneuvers in flight in a Robinson R22 or R44. It suggests exact wording both for describing maneuvers initially and responding to common errors. The initial descriptions are deliberately brief so as not to overload a student.

Start Up and Rotor Engagement

In general: "Keep your left hand on the throttle unless you're putting on your headset." If they ask why: "Be wary of the governor taking control of the throttle and rolling up to full RPM."
Just before cranking: "Double check that the throttle is closed." If they ask why: "If you start with the throttle open, you will overspeed the engine. We will then need to box up the engine and send it to Lycoming for repair."
When cranking: "If the engine doesn't start, then stop and wait at least a five seconds before trying again. The starter ring is still spinning but you can't hear it. In the military, you have to take your hand off the key and touch the back of your head before you start again."
During warm-up (R22 only): "Do not linger in the yellow arc from 60-70%. The R22 is subject to sympathetic resonance in this region which may damage the ship."
ATIS: "Wind, runway, and temperature/dewpoint split are the most important items. If the temperature/dewpoint split is greater than 11 degrees C, carb icing is unlikely."
During the mag check: "Count down two clicks to test the first mag and two clicks back to go to back to both mags. Then count down one click to test the other mag and one click to go back to both mags. This will help ensure you don't fly away on only one mag."
If you turn the engine off by mistake: "Do not try to turn the engine back on or you will risk damaging it. Wait for everything to spin down."
Sprag clutch check: "Keep your feet on the pedals. When on ice, you may need slight right pedal to maintain heading when you split the needles."
Hydraulics check (R44 only): "Confirm you can turn the hydraulics off here if need be. If the hydraulics start making undesirable inputs, we will know we can turn them off."
Just before liftoff: "Do not skimp on the flow check. It is easy to forget things and this is your last check before takeoff."

Attitude Flying

Straight and Level Flight:

"Cyclic controls your flight attitude."
"Pedals maintain trim."
"Collective determines climb or descent rate."

Turns:

"Temporary cyclic side pressure to hold a slight bank."
"Slight aft cyclic to maintain altitude."
"Slightly before reaching your desired heading, neutralize the cyclic to a level flight attitude."

Common Errors and Responses:

Change of pitch in a turn: "Focus straight ahead, even when in a turn."
Increasing bank while already established in a turn: "Input a small bank, hold that bank, and wait for the ship to turn to your desired heading."

Initial Hovering

"Pedals control heading."
"Collective position is associated with a particular hovering altitude."
"Cyclic controls flight attitude. Keep the attitude constant."

Common Errors and Responses:

Looking too close: "Focus on a specific object in the distance. This will improve your perception of attitude. Looking too close leads to over-controlling."
Pedal turns that are too fast: "Strive for a controlled and slow-rate turn. Return the pedals to neutral shortly before the helicopter completes the turn."
Holding cyclic inputs: "The cyclic should remain in a neutral position a majority of the time. Use small inputs and then move the cyclic back to the neutral position."
Fear of sinking and hitting the ground: "If you make your collective inputs small, then you should not have to worry. Ground effect increases as the ship descends, so you are unlikely to hit the ground. Even if you do lightly, it is unlikely to damage the ship."

Takeoff to a Hover

"Gages green, fuel (in hours), lights out, area clear."
"Raise the collective in small increments until light on the skids. Gradually add slight left pedal to maintain heading and feel for the sweet spot with the cyclic."
"Feel for the change in CG as the helicopter lifts up the first skid (usually the right skid)."
"Slowly raise collective to a five-foot hover."

Common Errors and Responses:

Failure to check the gages: "Fuel exhaustion is the number one cause of engine stoppage. Check the gages before every takeoff."
Raising collective too fast: "Raise the collective smoothly and slowly. If a skid is caught and you raise rapidly, you will dynamically rollover. Therefore, you should make your inputs small so you can always undo them."
Sliding/yawing: "Neutralize after each small collective raise. Every pickup is a slope pickup due to the CG change."

Landing from a Hover

"Focus in the distance."
"Stabilize your hover."
"Lower collective slightly to establish a descent rate."
"Continue lowering collective slowly to overcome ground effect."
"Fly the helicopter to the ground."
"Once firmly on the ground, smoothly lower collective to flat pitch."

Common Errors and Responses:

Slamming the collective down: "If you suddenly load the skids with weight on a soft or sloped surface, you could damage the crosstube or dynamically rollover."
Over-controlling: "Ground effect will increase closer to the ground. Anticipate this and continue smoothly lowering collective."
Failure to control pitch and roll: "Every landing is a slope landing. One skid should touchdown first (usually the left skid), at which point you will have to compensate for the change in CG with slight cyclic movement."
Ignoring the wind: "A headwind stabilizes the ship and makes set downs easier."

Normal Takeoff

"Gages green, fuel (in hours), lights out, area clear."
"Stabilize hover."
"Slight forward cyclic to accelerate."
"At ETL, more forward cyclic to prevent the nose from rising and right pedal to maintain trim."
"At 45 knots, aft cyclic to lift the nose to a 60 knots attitude."
"Raise collective to maximum continuous power."

Common Errors and Responses:

Adding power on the takeoff run: "Control the takeoff with cyclic only. The ship may sink slightly initially but will become more efficient as it gains airspeed. You may not always have the extra power, in which case, the rotor would slow down if you pull more collective."

Traffic Patterns

"After takeoff, climb on upwind."
"Check clear and turn crosswind."
"Check clear and turn downwind."
"Just before reaching pattern altitude, lower power (to 17 inches in the R22, to 19 inches in the R44) and pitch to maintain altitude."
"Check gages, fuel (in hours), lights out, pull up carb heat."

Common Errors and Responses:

Climbing above pattern altitude: "Reduce power slightly earlier and pitch down to control your altitude."

Normal Approach

"Check gages, fuel (in hours), lights out."
"Abeam your spot, pull full carb heat."
"Decrease power (15 in the R22; 14 in the R44). Aft cyclic to prevent the nose from dropping."
"Check clear and turn base."
"Check clear and turn final."
"Level off at 300' AGL and 60 knots."
"Wait to intercept your approach angle (approx. between the yaw strings and the compass)."
"On final, maintain the spot in the same position in the windshield with collective. Use aft cyclic in response to ground rush."
"At 100', push down the carb heat."
"At 50', transition from a crab to a slip to align the skids with the ground track."
"Zero out your airspeed and descent rate at a 5 foot hover above your spot."

Common Errors and Responses:

Fixating on the gages: "It is impossible to settle with power if you maintain your approach angle. All the information you need is outside."
Loss of airspeed near the end of the approach: "Near the end of the approach, you will need some forward cyclic to maintain your closure rate."

Maximum Performance Takeoff

"Roll the throttle down to 75% and do a mag check."
"Roll up to the green."
"Carb heat off."
"Gages green, fuel (in hours), warning lights out, and area clear."
"Increase power until light on the skids."
"Increase power to an inch below maximum and maintain a slight nose low attitude (level attitude in the R44)."
"When climbing through 10 feet, check your power again and pull in maximum power if you haven't already done so."
"Use cyclic to pitch for ETL airspeed in the climb."
"Once clear of the obstacle, accelerate to best climb speed."

Common Errors and Responses:

Using too much power: "You will not always have the extra power to pull. In many situations, pulling above maximum power will result in low RPM and a sink back towards the ground."
Using too little power: "Take advantage of all the power available. This will maximize your chances of making it over your obstacle safely."

Steep Approach

US Army method:

"The maneuver is the same as a regular approach except the angle is steeper and the descent rate is greater."
"On final at 300' AGL and 60 knots, intercept a steep approach angle. The spot should be just around the yaw strings or slightly lower."

Hillsboro method:

"The maneuver begins like a normal approach, but you decelerate earlier."
"On final at 300' AGL, slow down to 30-40 knots."
"Upon intercepting a steep approach angle (the stop should be just around the yaw strings or slightly lower), bring in power to establish a descent rate of 100-200 feet per minute."
"Keep the collective stationary and maintain the angle to your spot with cyclic only."

Common Errors and Responses:

Angle too steep: "Shed extra energy earlier by decelerating and losing altitude. Compared to a normal approach, a steep approach offers less opportunities to shed energy on short final."
Breaking 30/300: "The Robinson rule for avoiding settling with power. Your descent rate should be less than 300 feet per minute before decelerating to under 30 knots. Note that in an army-style steep approach, it is possible to fly the maneuver safely although the instruments may show you breaking the envelope due to instrument lag."

Shallow Approach and Running Landing

"Shallow approaches are hard because you need control your descent rate with cyclic. Near the ground, if your descent rate is too high, use forward cyclic to accelerate."

"A shallow approach begins just like a normal approach."
"Fly a pattern to line up on final at 300' AGL and 60 knots."
"As you intercept your angle, the spot should be approximately at the compass on the windshield."
"Maintain your angle similar to how you would on a normal approach."
"At 100', you must push down the carb heat."
"At 50', align the skids with the ground track with pedals."
"Maintain airspeed just above ETL and keep your power constant."
"If your descent rate is too high, forward cyclic to accelerate."
"Before touchdown, cyclic to level the skids, pedals to maintain skid alignment, and collective to cushion the landing."
"During the slide, cyclic controls lateral track, pedals maintain heading, and reduce collective to brake."
"Avoid aft cyclic."

Common Mistakes and Responses:

Losing ETL before touchdown: "Maintain forward cyclic and touchdown with airspeed, even if it feels unnatural. If you actually needed to do a running landing (lack of power, tail rotor failure, hydraulics failure, etc.), you would not want to linger in a hover."
Not leveling the skids before touchdown: "Touching down tail low can cause tail boom strikes. Touching down nose low can cause the helicopter to tumble forward. Memorize the skids level attitude and keep it maintained at the end of the maneuver."
Aft cyclic after touchdown: "The collective is the brake. Aft cyclic will cause a tail boom strike."
Slamming collective down after touchdown: "Down collective should be applied smoothly and slowly after touchdown. The goal is to load the skids with the weight of the helicopter gradually. If you load it suddenly, you may lurch the helicopter forward and tip over."
Forgetting to remove carburetor heat: "This is a simulation for a potential emergency. If you keep carburetor heat applied before landing, you are robbing yourself of power."

Slope Operations

Slope Landing:

"Consider the wind. A headwind will stabilize you."
"Approach your spot at a 45 degree angle so that you can see where your tail rotor will be. Do not turn your tail rotor into the slope."
"Focus in the distance to stabilize your hover above your spot."
"Lower collective slightly to establish a descent rate."
"Continue lowering collective slowly to overcome ground effect."
"Descend vertically until the uphill skid contacts the slope."
"Use uphill cyclic to lock the skid into the hill. Wiggle the pedals to make sure the front and rear of the skid are both in contact with the hill."
"Lower the downhill skid slowly. Input cyclic to keep the helicopter from sliding."
"When the downhill skid contacts the slope, continue to slowly lower collective."
"When power is down to 15, slowly center the cyclic."
"Slowly lower the collective to flat pitch."

Slope Takeoff:

"Gages green, fuel (in hours), warning lights out, area clear."
"Slowly load the disc by raising power to 15."
"Use cyclic to pin the uphill skid against the slope."
"Slowly raise collective until the downhill skid is level with the uphill skid. Simultaneously center the cyclic to keep the ship level."
"Slowly center the cyclic until you feel the uphill skid break free."
"Raise the collective to climb vertically above the slope."
"Move away from the slope without pointing the tail rotor into the slope."

Common Errors and Responses:

Not enough uphill cyclic: "Go slowly and ensure the uphill skid is pinned. The helicopter may dynamically rollover if you slide down the slope."
Too much uphill cyclic: "Slowly neutralize the cyclic as you raise the downhill skid on liftoff. If you keep too much cyclic toward the hill, you may dynamically rollover uphill. Input the same amount of uphill cyclic as you had previously before starting your liftoff."
Not pinning the uphill skid rear and aft: "After pinning it to the hill, try wiggling the pedals to test if it is truly pinned before lowering the downhill skid."
Allowing the tail rotor to swing toward the slope: "The ground is higher in the direction of the slope. Maneuvering your tail rotor in the direction of the slope may result in a tail strike. Try to enter and depart on 45 degree angles so you can always see where your tail rotor will be in advance."

Air Taxi

"Gages green, fuel (in hours), warning lights out, area clear."
"The maneuver is just like a normal takeoff except when you climb through 75 feet, reduce power to 18 inches (R22; 17 inches for the R44) and pitch for a level altitude."

Common Errors and Responses:

Leaving the ground too early: "You look outside and maintain altitude and I'll call out the time for you to lift."

Rapid Deceleration ("Quick Stop")

"Establish an air taxi."
"Aft cyclic to flare, lower collective to prevent the balloon, and right pedal to maintain heading."
"Level at ETL and bring in power."
"Fly a steep approach to your spot."

Common Errors and Responses:

Descending in a tail-low attitude: "Keep the flare in to maintain altitude and bring in the power slightly earlier. Descending before leveling may result in a tail strike."
Ballooning: "The more aggressive the flare, the more you will have to lower collective."
Yaw: "The more you lower collective the more right pedal you will need."
Losing ETL: "Avoid conditions conducive to settling with power. If you stay above ETL, then you will have no chance of developing settling with power."
Flaring too aggressively: "It is okay to flare slowly and gradually. There is no standard for flare speed in the PTS."

Hover Autorotations

"Focus on a specific tree or building in the distance."
"Reposition your hand underneath the throttle."
"Count down and roll the throttle into over travel to disable the correlator."
"Add right pedal and slight right cyclic."
"Just before touchdown, raise collective to cushion the landing."

Common Errors:

Yaw: "Focus on something in the distance. Anticipate the yaw and add right pedal to maintain the ship with reference to your long-distance focus."
Drift: "Focus in the distance. This will help you sense the drift earlier. The mast is rigged slightly to the left to counter translating tendency. When you roll off the throttle, the translating tendency disappears and you usually need a little right cyclic to maintain position."
Early collective pull: "Wait until you are one foot above the ground to cushion the landing."

Straight-In Autorotations

"Full carb heat."
"Gages green, lights out, fuel (in hours)."
"Stabilize on final at 70 knots (R22; 75 knots for the R44)."
"When nearing a steep approach angle, countdown."
"Down collective to enter, with right pedal and aft cyclic. The goal is to preserve the power-on attitude."
"Throttle off to split the needles."
"Crack the collective slightly to check rotor RPM."
"Pitch for autorotative speed (R22: 65 KIAS; R44: 70 KIAS)."
"Eyes outside."
"At 200', confirm airspeed, rotor RPM, and descent rate within acceptable limits."
"At 40', aft cyclic to flare."
"At 10' feet, twist throttle above 80% to rejoin the needles and forward cyclic to level the ship."

Common Errors and Responses:

Prematurely rolling off throttle: "There is a difference between a straight-in practice autorotation and a simulated engine failure. When practicing straight-in autorotations, lower collective before twisting off throttle. "
Allowing the nose to drop during entry: "The 70 knots power-on attitude is the 65 power-off attitude in the R22 (75 and 70 in the R44). Keep your eyes outside and maintain attitude during the entry."
Failure to lower collective: "This is the most important part of the maneuver. Unlike other maneuvers, this should be done quickly. If you fail to lower collective after an engine failure, you will lose rotor RPM and never regain it."
Looking inside too much: "The most important thing is a constant attitude, which you can only hold if you keep looking outside at the horizon, which is your VFR attitude indicator. After a quick verification of airspeed there is no reason to look inside again during an auto. If you hear the low rotor RPM horn, push the collective halfway down to the floor from wherever it is. Don't bring your eyes back inside to fixate on the RPM gauge.
Failure to maintain trim: "When you are out of trim, your airspeed indicator will be inaccurate and your descent rate will be higher."
Failure to control RPM: "Don't chase the needle. Keep the collective in a narrow range and be patient."
Slowing down/flaring too early: "You need your airspeed up to arrest your descent rate near the ground. If you slow down early, you are giving up needed energy."
Flaring too aggressively: "The Robinson numbers for autorotation give you more kinetic energy than you really need. You shouldn't need that aggressive a flare to arrest your descent rate near the bottom. The end of an autorotation should look a little bit like an airplane landing."
Not flaring aggressively enough: "Flare enough to arrest your descent rate or you will fly into the ground."
Failure to level the aircraft: "You don't want to land on the tail."
Failure to power recover smoothly: "Start your power recovery just as your flare is starting to lose effectiveness. Twist the throttle open slightly and smoothly raise collective. Don't try to add more throttle than is necessary. Let the governor do its work to avoid an overspeed."

180 Degree Autorotations

"180 autos are just like straight-ins except with a turn. The greatest challenge is to control your pitch and airspeed in the turn."

"Full carb heat."
"Gages green, fuel lights out, fuel (in hours), area clear."
"Abeam your spot on downwind, enter autorotation."
"Once established in a straight-in, turn toward your spot."
"Divide your attention between straight ahead and your spot."
"In the turn, maintain pitch with cyclic and raise collective slightly to contain RPM if need be."
"When rolling out, remove any collective that you had pulled for the turn."
"By 200' AGL, the turn must be complete."
"End the maneuver just like a straight-in autorotation."

Common Errors and Responses:

Late entry: "Start from a higher altitude (suggest 900' AGL)."
Nose drop in the turn: "Maintain pitch by reference straight in front of you in the turn. Letting the nose drop will increase airspeed and descent rate, and reduce RPM".
Failure to turn immediately to the landing spot after stabilized: "As you wait, you are flying away from your spot and losing altitude. If you wait too long, you may not have sufficient energy to make it to your spot"

Confined Areas

"High recon at 500' AGL and check for four Ws (wind, wires, way in, way out) and four Ss (size, shape, surface, slope)."
"Fly a traffic pattern to your spot."
"Your final approach is the low recon."
"Cyclic controls ground track and speed, collective controls your angle, and pedals maintain trim."
"At 100', push down the carb heat."
"At 50', align the skids with the ground track with pedals."
"Before sinking below obstacles, make a no or no-go decision."
"Zero out your airspeed and descent rate either at a 5 foot hover above your spot or directly on the surface as appropriate."

Common Errors and Responses:

Failure to go-around if the approach is not going well: "You are not committed to the approach until you are below the obstacles surrounding the area. You should make a conscious decision whether to continue the approach or go-around before sinking below the obstacles."
Left turns instead of right turns: "Keep the spot on your side of the ship so it is easy to see."

Pinnacle Approaches

"Pinnacle procedures are difficult due to lack visual references on approach. Include the airspeed indicator in your scan."

"High recon at 500' AGL and check for four Ws (wind, wires, way in, way out) and four Ss (size, shape, surface, slope)."
"Fly a traffic pattern to your final approach."
"The final approach is the low recon."
"Cyclic controls ground track and speed, collective controls your angle, and pedals maintain trim. Also glance at your airspeed indicator."
"At 100', push down the carb heat."
"At 50', align the skids with the ground track with pedals."
"Zero out your airspeed and descent rate either at a 5 foot hover above your spot or directly on the surface as appropriate."

Common Errors and Responses:

Excessive airspeed on final approach: "You won't have ground rush for sensing your ground speed on final. Give some attention to your airspeed indicator."

Settling with Power

"Begin at at least 3000' AGL."
"Point into the wind and establish an OGE hover."
"Lower collective to establish a descent rate of 500' feet per minute."
"Watch as the descent rate begins to rise."
"Raise collective to demonstrate that more power increases the descent rate."
"Recover by lowering collective slightly and pitching down to fly out of the vortices."
"As soon as the airspeed is alive, bring in full climb power and pitch for a 60 knot attitude."
Optional: "Repeat the maneuver with a tailwind to see the difference in recovery time."

Common Errors and Responses:

Waiting too long to establish a climb: "Most cases of unintentional settling with power occur near the ground. If you wait to establish a climb, you increase the chance of crashing."

Governor-Off Operations

"With the governor off, keep the tachs in your scan. Manipulate the throttle manually to keep RPM in the green. Compensate for the imperfect correlator. The correlator won't work well particularly below 18 inches, so be careful with pickups and set downs. When might we need to fly with the governor off? Safety notice 35 states flying near broadcast towers might interfere with governor operation. "

Low Rotor RPM and Recovery

Introduction: "During high density altitude, high gross weight, and high power (e.g., four fat guys going on a steep approach into a confined area near Big Bear, CA), you may encounter low rotor RPM. The natural reaction of a pilot is to decrease speed and pull more power. We practice this because the proper recovery is just the opposite: lower collective, roll on throttle, and increase forward speed."

Demonstrate low rotor RPM and recovery in the hover:

"With the governor off, induce low rpm by slowly rolling off throttle to 97% so the horn comes on."
"Simultaneously raise collective to maintain altitude."
"Note the reduction in noise and slight increase in vibration before the horn comes on."
"To recover, lower collective and simultaneously roll on a touch of throttle to compensate for the correlator."
Optional: "Try again but lower the RPM to 95%."

Induce low rotor RPM and demonstrate a hover: "Note the ship will still fly in many conditions even with low rotor RPM."

Once the student is comfortable with low rotor RPM recovery in the hover, try it in the air:

"Low rotor RPM recovery in a cruise is the same as on the ground except you input a little aft cyclic."
"Note the decrease noise and increase in vibration before the horn comes on."
"Note that ship will still fly with slightly low rotor RPM."
"To recover, lower collective, roll on a touch of throttle, and apply aft cyclic."

Common Errors and Responses:

Lowering collective without rolling on throttle: "Lowering collective without rolling on throttle decreases power and RPM. Roll on some throttle simultaneously to compensate for the correlator. The goal is to do exactly what the governor would do, which is roll on throttle to keep the tachs in the green."
Rolling on too much throttle: "Rolling on throttle aggressively will overspeed the engine and it will have to be shipped back to Lycoming for disassembly and inspection."

Hydraulics-Off Training (R44 only)

Demonstrate the hydraulics off in the cruise: "Note control inputs are heavier and there is lag. Consequently, hovering is difficult and perhaps hazardous. Keep the airspeed at 60 knots and come in for a running landing. We will terminate at a 15' hover to be safe."

Shutdown Procedures

Starting: "Roll down first and then friction the controls before taking out the checklist."
Cooling down: "Cool down for at least two minutes (R22; three minutes in the R44) and wait until the cylinder head temperature needle is to the left of the '3' in '350'."
- If they ask why: "Shutting down without a cool down will cause an exhaust valve to stick. The next time you start the engine, the piston will hit the exhaust valve and ruin the engine."
- If they ask why airplanes are different: "Airplanes are not using full power on approach and while taxiing in. They essentially have already done a cool down."
During spin down: "As the blades slow down, large cyclic inputs are more hazardous. The blades flap more as they slow down and aft cyclic could result in a tail boom strike."

Want to start training in Boston with East Coast Aero Club? Call 781-274-6322 to enroll, or email philg@mit.edu

philg@mit.edu