Simviation Forums

Beautiful landscape. Only 16k hours. sound like the Doc. I knew 30 years and still practice

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTqu9iMiPIU[/youtube]

pilotwin7 wrote:Beautiful landscape. Only 16k hours. sound like the Doc. I knew 30 years and still practice

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTqu9iMiPIU[/youtube]

That was nice to see. I have spent a lot of time in the mountains in my friends Robinson R-44 like the one in the video and also in my other friends turbine-powered Bell JetRanger Three.....with AUTOPILOT. I really love that autopilot. It was very expensive but since they fly it on a lot on trips to places like Alaska , its very worth the expense.

I was in an Auto-rotation in the JetRanger 3 in the mountains and it was a total non-event. If I had not been told that he was going to demo the auto-rotation for me I would never have known it wasn't a normal landing. Flying a Helo requires some pretty special skills that can only be learned by instruction and skills training. Auto-rotation is one of the skills that you should practice often. Its easy to screw one up and the result is unacceptable to say the least. Very nice video in the B.C. mountains.

The only time that I ever managed to "fly" a helicopter successfully was in the 8-bit/16-bit versions of; "Gunship" computer games...
...with "invincibility" turned up to the max!

After "dying" countless times in various sim Helicopters, since FS '98, I decided that me and Helicopters really don't go well together!... ...!

But, on the other hand, I do have loads of fun exploring the scenery at low level in my selection of delightful little FS 2002, FS 2004, and FSX; "Gyrocopters" ....>>>>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8IB-5PbL9U

....almost impossible to die in one of those!

My favourite is my Bensen Gyrocopter, (with my much-modified instrument panel), and my Xenon Gyrocopter with its pre-rotator control!

The "rotor" is merely a flying wing, like my little Cessna 150!

Paul...loads of fun in a Gyrocopter!...try it...you'll like it!.... ...!

...try the Bensen!.... ....>>>

http://www.fs2000.org/2007/10/08/fs2002 ... yrocopter/

Paul.... ...!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bensen_B-8

I flew helicopters professionally for over 20 years and truly enjoyed practicing autorotations - fortunately, I never had to do one for real. Each aircraft autorotates differently due to different blade and hub designs, as well as the airfoil characteristics of the fuselage.

IMHO, of the 10 or so different helicopter types I flew, the easiest was the Bell 206 Jet Ranger; the most fun was the Sikorsky S-58T (bigger and therefore somewhat more satisfying); the most challenging were the AS350 Écuriel (Squirrel) and the SA360 Dauphin. This picture shows a Dauphin at the moment of an autorotation touchdown: 15+ degrees nose up, tail wheel first then cushion the mains with collective. If I remember correctly (it's been a while), it needed about 20 degrees nose up for a zero ground run landing.

The gearbox in a Helicopter always worries me!

Similar to a motor vehicle gearbox, but mounted vertically.

A single ball/roller/thrust rotor bearing, taking the whole weight of the helicopter and all of its contents, when off the ground!

Its difficult to imagine a more rigorous application for a mechanical part!

Hanging on a bearing!... ...!

Paul.