|
|
Flight Training Phase 3C
Training At Frank Sweet's In Tulsa, Oklahoma, After RotorWay June, 2002
We arrived back at John Spurling's late Friday night after what was the longest ride of my life, I must have went over the whole thing at RotorWay in my head a million times trying to figure out what just happened to me. John came down to the hanger when he saw us and I told him what had transpired at RotorWay over the last week. After I told him how I felt about it all and how down and stupid I felt he recommended calling Frank the CFI I had flown with the week before I went to RotorWay and tell him about it all. Saturday morning came around and I did just that. Frank said, get your butt over here and we'll jump in my ship and see what your problem is. John loaned us his pickup and we drove into Tulsa to the airport Frank was at. We arrived and chatted for an hour or so about what happened to me at RotorWay. Frank said let's go fly and see what your problem is because you didn't have one before and he couldn't see why I would have one there. He showed Donna where the pattern was and where we'd be taking off and landing at and we headed out the back door into Frank's hanger. Oh boy, I thought as if I haven't been through now I'm going to feel even dumber jumping into an altogether different ship. I've got less then 3 hours in make and model at the controls of one of these. I had flown a Schweitzer with the aid of another CFI instructor for my night flight training back in Tennessee but that was before I had been mentally shot down so I just knew this was going to be a mistake.
Wow! Nice ship. Frank's ship was, what I used to call back when I was in to the boating world, "in bristle condition" meaning great shape. We wheeled it out of the hanger removed the wheels and called the fuel truck. While we waited for it Frank spent the time going over the controls and operations of the ship with me. It was similar to the one I had flown in Tennessee with the exception it wasn't a turbo.
|
|
The fuel truck came and went and we lifted off for the training area of the airport we were operating in. Frank sat her down in a grassy field between some hangers. Wow I thought! these were some tight operating conditions. North was a large row of hangers, south was another row of hangers. To the east there was a slot heading out to the runways and to the west there were some tall power lines and a huge pile of dirt left over form some airport operation in the past. Frank told me to pick the ship up into a hover and get a feel for it. So here we go I thought to myself grabbing the controls in preparation of making an ass out of myself. I rolled the power up bringing the main rotors to about 95% and began to pull collective feeling it get light on the skids. When I felt it was right I pulled a little more collective and we were air born and at a perfect 100% rotor rpm. I'll never get used to these shocks on the landing gear I thought to myself lol. You have to keep on going to get the skids clear of he ground until the slop is out of the shocks before the skids actually leave the ground. It is an odd feeling but once you feel it a time or two it's no problem. Adding left cyclic instead of right was odd to as this ship counter rotates. The translating tendency is in the opposite direction on lift off but it's what the ship needs at the time and you just feed it what it wants.
The hardest thing I had trouble with was the pedal and the tachs. Just like the other Schweitzer I flew there was absolutely no back pressure feedback in either pedal like I'm used to feeling in my RotorWay. I was mr wiggly even more than my usually self lol, tap dancing the pedals like the first time I got to hold the cyclic in a hover. The Rotor/Engine Tach was a marry the needles type and I had a bit if difficulty getting used to it. We played for a few minutes until I felt I had control of the beast and Frank pointed out the path to take off and enter the pattern. Eww! Wouldn't you know it was west right over the power lines and then a sharp left to run along the outside of the power lines. The pattern was a true helicopter pattern, very tight. When you reached the first turn you had to roll the ship on its side and hold it there until you were on your downwind, it was that tight of a pattern. Looking to the right all you could see was straight down in a turn, pretty neat lol. Well we went around the pattern a few times landing and taking off and a few other maneuvers. We did a few hovering autos and just basically fooled around all the while Frank was telling me what I was about to do wrong next and what I call tweaking me lol. After a few more times around the patch, taking off and landing and all was well with the world, he started playing rough on me lol.
While I was turning and just as I was just about lined up for a take off he chopped the power on me and to my surprise I sat her right down. Wow! I hit the correct pedal, handled the cyclic, and didn't swing as much as 6 inches from where he did it at, I was impressed with me, lol. We did another one with me not knowing when it was coming and for the first time I was actually comfortable doing it, nothing to it!
Here comes the rough stuff, its auto time in Tulsa.
Here we go again my pucker factor just went into overdrive. We made the pattern and Frank ran me through the maneuver and did the first one with me on the controls with him. Wow! That was nothing like the autos Kye at RotorWay was making me do, what's up with that. Basically we just flew the ship to the ground and did a quick stop at the bottom no more than we needed to arrest the forward movement of the ship and set her down, I can do that I thought to myself. Next time around the patch I guess Frank figured I could to because he never grabbed the controls and told me to go for it as we approached the spot. Gulp! I rolled the throttle off, dropped the collective, and down we went. Just like it was supposed to go, I just flew it to the ground pulled a slight quick stop at the bottom to arrest the forward speed and went to set her down and Frank came in and pushed the cyclic forward a bit more making it feel like I was going to fall forward out of my seat, that was an odd feeling.
Frank explained to me that if you set it down on the rear of the skids it will cause the nose to slap down resulting in a nose first roll over.
Wow! This was way different compared to my RotorWay. In our ships we are in a bit of a reclining position when the ship is level and in this Schweitzer sitting level on the ground your back is completely vertical. When you come in on a 0 stop touch down auto in this Schweitzer you have to have the nose down to the point that you feel like your leaning way forward.
Here we go again and this one was even better than the last like it should have been. I was getting more comfortable all the time and the more relaxed I got the easier everything was. On the 4th, 5th or maybe even the 6th time around the pattern doing autos Frank got me again. At mid field to our landing spot Franked snapped the throttle off on me by surprise and down we went, a full blown 180 degree engine out auto. You couldn't have put a pin up my butt with a hammer lol. There wasn't time for me to think, just like in the hovering auto's when Frank chopped the power on me, I just feed the ship what it needed and flew it to the ground and this time I put it down at the proper attitude and all. Frank told me I did just fine and he was very happy with me and we headed back to the hanger. LOL I was so excited with doing so well I had the tail of that helicopter waging like a dogs tail as we took to the air flying back to Franks hanger. Frank even let me land the ship in front of the hanger about 20 feet from the door and like I had done it a thousand times I went into a steep approach went through transition and sat her down right where he wanted it just like I knew what I was doing lol.
That was all done in 1.6 hours on the hobbs meter with about 18 total take offs and landings. Frank was happy with me when we hit an hour on the meter but I had enough money for another 30 minutes so we used that time to do it again and again until I ran out of money lol.
For some reason I "the dummy" got thru it all without a hitch. About the only thing I need to work on is getting it all smooth because my inputs are still a bit jerky but as far as having control of the ship I feel comfortable saying I'm doing alright for the time I've got in the air.
Donna, Brandy and I thanked Frank and set out for the ride back John's place. When we got back to John's place they were gone to a wedding so I couldn't brag and tell him how good I did <kickin pebbles>.
On the trip back home, I felt a hell of a lot better than the trip from Phoenix to Tulsa. I was feeling better about myself, but as the miles went on and I did all the retakes in my head I grew even more pissed at RotorWay! That's pretty much the whole story from start to finish. I may have left out little tid bits here and there but that's the whole thing as well as I can remember it.
The moral to the story is think twice before getting involved with RotorWay
for training at least until they get their act together and get better CFI's and a better Flight Examiner. I can't help thinking all this was RotorWay politics resulting from my supporting the cog belt. I could fly before and after attending their school but not while I was there. You all do the math and come to your own conclusions because I still don't know what hit me.
After attending Homer's Fly-In in July I got to talk to quite a few fellows that went through RotorWays Flight school and seems I'm not the only one to have horror stories from going there. Although I had had several friends tell us several times that their flight school was not good, they never had any stories any where near as bad as ours. Oh how I wish I had took their advice and spent all the money I spent going to, at, and coming back from RotorWay I would be an ace pilot by now if I had spent all that money with somebody like Frank Sweet!
These are pictures of me doing "0 stop Autos in a helicopter I've never been in, Imagine that!
These still pictures were captured from the camcorder and they aren't that good but you can get the idea.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This is parts of a video Donna took
