Transitioning from rotor to fixed wing

[RynoB]

I know that when I started flying rotors after 2500 hrs in fixed wing that I had problems adjusting my sight picture during approaches. I'm wondering if rotor pilots have that same problem when transitioning to fixed wing. Is it tougher at first to fly the shallower approaches?

[scottyboy75]

I had trouble with approaches at first always to slow in fixed then too fast in rotor. I fixed it by scheduling rotor and fixed back to back in the same day.

[Ian J]

I guess the hardest for me is coming to grips that on approach I had to stay moving... couldn't slow it down to a hover.

Plus, having flown a 32,000 lb helo for so long, a 1670 lb airplane was a little touchy to fly.

Overall though, it wasn't too tough a transition.

[UH60driver]

Well, I transitioned from fixed wing to helicopters and that was quite an experience. The first time trying to hover felt like being in a rodeo riding a wild horse....whoah whoah; then someday later I finally found the hover button and everything was fine until my IP said: Ok, make the radio call...
I said:Huh?(back in the rodeo)

The tricky part was when I got back home to Louisiana and started flying fixed wing again. I was making 30 degree bank turns in the pattern and doing dive bomber approaches to the runway. I was tapping on the AS indicator thinking "something is wrong with this airspeed indicator, it should be reading less." It took me a little playtime with the airplane to make it do what I wanted it to do.

After flying airplanes for a while, if I get in a helicopter, my approaches are shallow. The other pilot's remarks are: OK buddy, do you see that big thing spinning on top? This is a helicopter!

Oh well.

[RynoB]

I know what you mean about the rodeo. When I was learning to hover my instructor was constantly asking me where I was taking him next. We saw parts of the airport neither of us knew existed. I finally got it nailed down, just in time to get engaged and go house hunting. That put the hiatus on my rotor training.

[Ian J]

I am absolutely amazed with helo instructors... allowing a student to hover for the first time has to be nerve racking. I remember sitting out at the stage fields in Alabama just watching the rodeo show... students bucking those 206s around so close to the ground... scary stuff.

[RynoB]

Originally Posted by ChinookDriver

I am absolutely amazed with helo instructors... allowing a student to hover for the first time has to be nerve racking. I remember sitting out at the stage fields in Alabama just watching the rodeo show... students bucking those 206s around so close to the ground... scary stuff.

My instructor had nerves of steel. He would just sit there with his hands folded in his lap. I would be all over the place. Finally I'd have to yell, "YOU HAVE THE CONTROLS, YOU HAVE THE CONTROLS." He'd calmly take over and ask what all the excitement was about.

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by RynoB

My instructor had nerves of steel. He would just sit there with his hands folded in his lap. I would be all over the place. Finally I'd have to yell, "YOU HAVE THE CONTROLS, YOU HAVE THE CONTROLS." He'd calmly take over and ask what all the excitement was about.

Yeah, mine too... he'd let the madness go on forever. Then the SOB would calmly put ONE FINGER on the cyclic and all would return to normal. Man... I hated and loved that guy.

[RynoB]

Mine would tell me to just quit moving the cyclic. So I would quit moving it, then we would just be flying sideways, or back wards, anyway but in a hover. Then he would say, "well, you can move it if you need to." One thing I had just started before I had to stop training was the box patterns over the ground. It was very difficult, but very fun. I wish I would have mastered that before I stopped. I did one lesson of autos. That is really scary for a fixed wing pilot used to a shallow 600 or 700 fpm decent in a 172. I was naturally trying to flare way too early.

[scottyboy75]

It used to trip me out when I would look at the alt and see I was at 10,500 headed to Wendover.

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by scottyboy75

It used to trip me out when I would look at the alt and see I was at 10,500 headed to Wendover.

Holy carp! Robbie's operate at that altitude? I had no idea! Not a bad machine I think!

[scottyboy75]

This was in the Katana. The Robbie ceiling is about 10,000. The problem is at that altitude vne is 68 knots @ 10 degrees c. After that performance decreases drasticaly. I have personally never been above 9,500 in it. The performance chart goes higher but the airspeeds are not practical for an auto.

[UH60driver]

Wow, that is one low Vne. Still, I want to get in one just to say I did it. Must be fun flying a Robbie. What is your recommended autorotation speed? What about Max glide distance speed?

[rocco16]

A little off, but still on subject. I've been flying fixed wing since I was 15, now 22, and I've been in helos, but never at the controls. However, I do have FS2002 with a helo addition package. Is flying the helos on the flight sims for the PC realistic or not? Just curious.

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by rocco16

A little off, but still on subject. I've been flying fixed wing since I was 15, now 22, and I've been in helos, but never at the controls. However, I do have FS2002 with a helo addition package. Is flying the helos on the flight sims for the PC realistic or not? Just curious.

Sort of... but not really. The aerodynamic properties are built in there, but with out having peripheral cues those things are impossible to fly at the highest realism settings.

[UH60driver]

do have FS2002 with a helo addition package. Is flying the helos on the flight sims for the PC realistic or not? Just curious.

Nah, you can not roll of the throttle without losing rotor RPM. When you attempt to recover by lowering the collective, it does not go back to within rotor limits regardless of how much you change pitch attitude or bank. Eventually, the blades stop spinning and you're just a passenger to the ground.

[scottyboy75]

Originally Posted by UH60driver

Wow, that is one low Vne. Still, I want to get in one just to say I did it. Must be fun flying a Robbie. What is your recommended autorotation speed? What about Max glide distance speed?

We auto at about 65 knots. Our glide ratio is about 1mile for every 1500 ft agl. We can get max glide at about 75 knots. I have only set one up like that once though. We practice autos non stop so I don't ever think about it anymore. Down, roll, right, aft, catch. Outside, rpm, airspeed, outside rpm, airspeed. To this day I chair fly it whenever I get the chance.

[scottyboy75]

Originally Posted by ChinookDriver

Sort of... but not really. The aerodynamic properties are built in there, but with out having peripheral cues those things are impossible to fly at the highest realism settings.

There is a company that pimps its simulator for primary training. You have to have 20 hrs in the sim before they let you in a 22. I don't see the use really. I could be wrong but unless it is a full motion sim do you get the sensation of what it feels like inside the ship?

[UH60driver]

Even if you have a full motion sim, it still doesn't really feel like the aircraft. The UH-60 simulator, for example, has horrible graphics at the bottom, which I think makes it difficult to hover. Try doing an ITO and the thing gets harder to control than if one is doing it actual. You can't beat the g's that actual aircraft gives.