Flight Training Phase 2E

Night Flying In TN

October 26th, 2002 

I got to do my required night flying time with a Tennessee based company

 I wasn't too thrilled about doing it over the bumps and humps of Tennessee but with time running short due to my Phase III training coming up fast you guys on the RotorwayFun MSN site talked me into it lol. I'm very glad I did it too because I feel I got alot more out of it than if I'd waited for the outfit in Phoenix. We did it in a Schweitzer Helicopter and it was pretty kewl.   The Owner/CFI was really great with me and we did alot more than just the 50 mile cross country with 10 full stops take offs and landings that are required in the FAR. He put me through the paces of everything from Night Autos to Night Run On Landings and that was just the flight part of the lesson. He was very thorough with the pre flight briefing and we went over all kinds of things that affect us during night flight. I learned all kinds of things.

Here's a list of topics we went through:

Route selection, Altitude Selection, Airport Facilities Directory/Lighting, Pilot Controlled Lighting, Airfield Lighting Night Take Offs, Traffic Pattern Flights, Night Approaches, Weather Considerations, Obstacle Detection, Night Vision and the Preservation of Night Vision, Visual Illusions, Night Flight Techniques and Cockpit Organization. After at least an hour in the class room we went out and took the the air. All and all everything went by the book and I didn't have too rough of a time with it all like I thought I would. I hadn't flown since Jan 4th so I was hesitant on what my performance would be. My flying abilities were pretty much the same in a short time even though I was in a totally different machine with a totally different look and feel.  Everything from the seat I was sitting in to the way the instrument panel was laid out was different, I was higher off the ground, had a totally different view, totally different instruments and everything was in reverse lol. The pedals were the biggest obstacle to conquer not because of the opposite rotation but the lack of feeling of back pressure on your foot. This thing had mucho tail rotor authority and you couldn't feel anything in them, It was 99.9% visual to control the ship. Feel wise the cyclic was pretty much the same with the exception of having to keep the ship in trim in flight. At one point flying it the cyclic was in about 10 o'clock position to keep it flying straight and level and with the touch of a top hat button on the grip you could trim the ship and pretty much put the center where you wanted it. I'm not sure if I like that option or not as I'm unclear of what different trim settings do to you when you enter an auto, we never seemed to have a problem and every one we did felt the same on the way down at least to me anyway lol. We did a couple run on landing and you couldn't have put a pin up my rear lol. After hearing about all the rollovers in RotorWay ships this was a maneuver I didn't want anything to do with. When the ship began sliding on the ground I was amazed how easily it slide like it was on ice. Now when it came to a stop it was a different story lol. The last couple feet of travel the ship stops on a dime as it grabs onto the pavement. Seat belts are a must have here lol.

       Lights really trick you up in the dark and everything you read in the Rotorcraft Flying Handbook on night flying is certainly true. Seeing other aircraft is much different than seeing them in daylight conditions. We saw what we thought was a very low and slow flying helicopter at one point and never did get a response from it over the Com. It turned out to be a blimp, just what I needed to see on my maiden night flight experience lol.  It wasn't lit up like you would think after seeing the Goodyear blimp running around.  It just had regular Nav lights and strobes like our ships with the exception that they were alot further apart. We were much higher than it was and if you looked straight at it, it would blend in with the ground lights and was impossible to see until you actually saw the movement of the displaced lights in your peripheral vision, it looked like a black hole moving across the ground. This is just a small bit of what all I learned that night and I thought I'd share the experience of it with you all. The only thing The guy came up short on is not providing me with new underwear after we skidded in on the shallow approach run on landings we did lol, I about had a bird when that ship slid along the ground lol.

Clell