Flight Training Phase 1B

Training at RotorWay

May 3rd 2001 on a Thursday night after arriving home from work at about 5:30 pm I got a call from Bill at RotorWay, Seems they had a cancellation on a Phase 3 guy and told me if I could be there Monday May 7th at 6am in Phoenix Time I had a spot for Phase One training.................................KEwlllllllllllllllllll!!!!!!

We loaded up the DaBus that Thursday night with food and stuff and Friday morning I was off to Arizona!

You know the road to Phoenix is one that gets longer as you travel it lol.  I arrived at RotorWay in Phoenix Saturday night after one hell of a trip fighting winds all the way from crossing the Mississippi river to Flagstaff Arizona. Phoenix is an impressive place to visit. From the time you come down the mountain until you drive into RotorWay's drive way it's just beautiful. Well at my last refueling stop I had a boo boo that really would have an affect on my flying, I had laid my glasses on the dash and when I took off to relocate from the parking lot to the fuel island they went sliding across the dash and hit the passenger door and to the floor, no big deal I thought as that had happened a time or two before.  Well when I went to get them they were indeed broken and that meant no flying for me unless I could get them repaired Sunday <sob>.

Well I spent the night in RotorWay's driveway Saturday night.  Once I got settled in I called Donna at home and she got on the computer and found the closest LensCrafters.  Sunday morning I was off to the local mall and in no time they had my glasses fixed and I was back in business.  Since I was there I went ahead and got two new pairs, one regular and one polar sunglasses set and headed back to RotorWay and set up camp for the night back in their driveway.

Monday Morning......Time for class ......KEwL!!

I went in and met Bill and Steve our flight instructors and the 3 other class mates that were all there for Phase one training and we were off and running.  In the better part of about 15 minutes we were outside and getting ready to takeoff for training. Bill Orth, my instructor, showed me how to do a preflight and gave me the tour of the ship and explained everything I asked him and in no time we were in the air and flying out to Memorial Field, a small airport about four miles or so from the RotorWay Air Park.  Well I was super glad we were at the other field because it was away from everything and isolated so just Bill, Steve and another classmate could see me at the controls lol, let me tell you it wasn't pretty :o(.

    In short I was in shock at just how hard it was to fly this thing. Bill first let me have the pedals then the collective and last, but believe me not least, the Cyclic <Whaaoah!>.  The ship was all over the place, up down, left, right, zinging and zagging and any other position you can imagine and a few you can't, about the only position I didn't have it in was upside down lol.  After an hour Bill took the controls and we headed back to RotorWay.  Humbled is an understatement of what I was feeling.  I was super shocked in my lack of ability to fly this thing.  An hour and a half later it was time for flight two and we were back at it..................it was still all over the place and I had made absolutely no progress what so ever by the time we had to head back. 2.4 hours logged.

After Class I moved the motorhome into RotorWays RV Port.
I had everything but a phone and cable TV lol.

Tuesday.......Ohboy!

  Tuesday very much resembled Monday, I just wasn't getting it. I would get the thing in control and in a heart beat I'd loose it again and again. To put it short, if it could be done wrong I did it. Like Monday I didn't feel I had progressed a bit.  On the way back to Stellar Bill said I would get it in about another hour or so but I really didn't feel like I was ever going to. My personal thoughts after class was over was I should go home now because at this time really felt I wasn't going to get a handle on the thing. That night I made a call back home to Donna and told her I was feeling pretty humbled by all this and didn't think I was going to be able to handle it. We'd spent a bunch of time and money on this thing and at the moment I was feeling it was all in vain. I hung up the phone and made me a drink lol. <Sigh>. 2.5 hours logged.

Wednesday morning

After the morning preflight we were off to Memorial Field again and I was still feeling pretty uncomfortable. Lord if you ever want to hear com radios that suck be sure to check out the ones RotorWay has installed in their factory ships. Bill could make out what they were saying but I sure couldn't. I don't know if they were improperly installed or just crappy coms and or headsets but they sure sucked. It sure made me glad Donna and I bought good stuff for ours lol.  Bill showed me an autorotation and then it was time for me to take the controls and try to hover this beast again. Humm,, After 15 to 20 minutes or so it began to click.  I'd get it under control and I could manage to keep it in about a 20 foot circle or so for a few minutes.  Another 15 or 20 minutes and I had it down to a 10 foot circle.  Bill was right on the money when he told me all I needed was another hour or so and it would click.  Feel froggy we went back to Stellar and I took a break while bill took another student out.  The 2nd run was even better then the first and I was now feeling I had a handle on this thing, with every passing minute I'd get better and better and at the end of that flight I was one happy camper!! <OhYeah!> 2.2 hours logged.

Thursday morning

6am came early and here we go again, off to Memorial Field. Today as we came up on the air field Bill showed me another autorotation, only this time it was a 180 degree one.  Today we did lift offs and set downs and one slight slope landing.  I also got to control the ship in flight to Memorial and back to Stellar. On the 2nd run of the day we did lift offs and sit downs at Stellar on the pavement and that was way different then doing it in the dirt. Everything had alot more feeling when you lifted off and sat the ship down. Today was another great day! 2.1 hours logged.

Friday morning

Today we did more of the same thing we did Thursday except we did less of it. It was a shame to have to quit and head back to Stellar as I was really feeling I was getting the hang of it.  My feelings were I'd done fairly well but another hour or two sure wouldn't have hurt me. In my head it was borderline on whether or not I had passed the course.  I could hover the ship and get the ship up into a hover and back down, it wasn't pretty but at the same time I did have control of the ship. After our flight back, at RotorWay in the class room, Bill gave me my endorsement to hover my ship and I was pretty tickled. Today we only flew 1.0 hours giving me a grand total of 10.2 hours all together for my Phase One training session. this trip was over and it was time to set set sail and head back to Knoxville.  Oh what a feeling lol.

There was alot more than just hovering the ship.  Back at RotorWay, after lunch, we had an hour or two of class time Monday through Thursday which covered every thing in the the manual except hovering autos. We didn't cover them in class, nor did we do any during the hovering sessions.  A hovering auto is something I really think I should have been taught but they didn't, and to tell the truth I was kinda glad until I got home.  While hovering one day it dawned on me that if my engine went out I'd be screwed because I had no idea how to get her back on the ground in such an event.