Hover button....

By the way, Jon, I'd fly with you too and I only yelled at a pilot once and it wasn't his fault, (no fun running out of power while landing) and I didn't hit the mike button

See Ya on the Hill soon, Jon.

 

Keith

Congrats on getting the hang of it. I'm sure you'll find Army aviation to be "fun". Especially when you're in a field exercise sitting in a hasty foxhole at 4:00AM with a 9mm silently cursing the Battalion Sgt. Major out for having all flightcrews not on crew rest do stand-to. Heh, enjoy ;)

I'd like to draw you attention to some little-known heroes of flight training, the Chinook or Blackhawk crew chief and flight engineer. Nothing quite approaches the sheer pucker factor of hooking a slingload with a W-1 or O-1 on the controls fresh out of flight school.  The absolute terror of being in the hole and seeing a 10k concrete block rushing up at you as someone up front stirs the cyclic like a soup kettle is quickly followed up by the dawning realization that you have to fix whatever gets dented, lost, ripped, or otherwise broken. I still wake up sweating in the middle of the night screaming "CLIMB CLIMB CLIMB!"

Again, congrats on this phase of your flight training. Remember, even when you're up to your armpits in suck that it's all worth it and you'll do great things in the Army.

Congradulations Jon

Cobrahistorian wrote:

Well guys, I'm a rated Army Aviator!  Passed my checkride this morning.  Did pretty well and I NAILED that damn standard auto! Now I get 2 free mornings to work on my AH-64 kit!

That is OUTSTANDING!

Now once you get assigned to a troop, squadron, company, or battalion, don't forget about the guys turning wrench's, chasing sparks and pumping gas. :)

Seriously though, congratulations.

 

Jonathan Primm

Hey Gino, you sure you don't want him to build up just a little more time first?

Congrats Jon!!!! Enjoy sleeping in the next couple of days!

Congrads Jon.  Good deal.  I'll fly with you any day. 

Now get to work on that AH-64 model.

 

Well guys, I'm a rated Army Aviator! 

Passed my checkride this morning.  Did pretty well and I NAILED that damn standard auto!

Now I get 2 free mornings to work on my AH-64 kit!

October eh? Am I still invited, even though I can't fit into my Class As anymore?? :-)

Doesn't look good for FDR, I'm all over the country the next few months.

Gimme a shout at home when you get the chance, I'll PM the number in case you lost it.

J

Jeff,

Wedding isn't until October, I think I have a little time yet to pull the black and yellow handles!  (Its about time you poked your ugly mug into the helo forum!) Miss ya bro.  Any chance you'll make FDR?

Now that Jon has mastered the intricate, complex, and highly erratic art of flying helos, maybe he'll figure out that whole female thing!!!

(Inside joke...love ya little brother!! Congrats!!)

Jeff

I think I need to get a mirrored visor for my helmet....

 

Here are some pix from Jon's solo yesterday:

In cockpit:


Post-flight:

With apologies to Salbando

    No confirmation here. However, reliable military sources have told me that F-16's were scrambled from Eglin to check out an erratic blip showing up on the screens in southern Alabama!

Have heard from a reliable source that our budding aviator(cobrahistorian) solo'ed today

I think the Pave Low probably has an autorotate button too.

Good luck to you Jon, let us know how it goes.

PS autorotation button is right next to the hover button

Solo on Monday.  Got a little behind due to weather and some difficulties that my stick buddy's having with his size (6'4 300lbs!).  Getting left seat checkout tomorrow and I MAY get to go then, but will probably go Monday.  Hope the winds hold out for us! 

Now if I could only find the autorotate button.....

Hey Jon,

   It won't take long and you too will be like that masterful IP you have that can hover the machine with one fingertip on the top of the cyclic.  Great to hear that you are finally in the seat and having the time of your life. Let me know when your Solo day is and I'll try to take a "training flight" to Cairns.  Drop me an e-mail and let me know how you are doing.  Stay safe and have fun.

 

Hey Jon,

 

Congrats, Jon, glad to hear you are up and flying. Would have said something sooner but been out of the loop for a few weeks, my last computer picked up a nasty bug (thank goodness for teenagers that shut off your firewall and anti-virus to play games on the net) and finally decided to put it out of it's misery (the computer not the teenager). Well Congrats again, good luck with the training and maybe we'll run into eachother on the Hill sometime (just hopefully not you in a helo and me in my worktruck).

 

Keith

 

P.S. The Apache does have wheels, no need for hover taxi.

And I as the instructor alays love to roll that throttle off, particularily when the student is more than busy enough doing something else! That gets the white out QUICKLY! (I say that of course with a sadistic grin on my face) ALWAYS expect the unecspected!! Cheers H.

Have fun Jon, I always enjoyed the ride when pilots practiced doing auto's, Most fun was doing it on newbie's with no warnings to them, saw a few white faces.

FOUND IT!!!

I was a hoverin fool for about an hour and a half today!   My SEF at altitude looked like crap, but my hovering and hover taxiing was AWESOME!!!  Standard Autos tomorrow... psychin myself up for the rollercoaster ride!  Did some landings, etc.  Had a really good time, even with the 20kt wind. 

Bugs, you said the magic words.  The second I tense up on the controls, things start gettin wonky.  I just relaxed, felt the aircraft and counteracted its movements. 

Once you get the hang of that -67, everything else will be easy.

I can't speak from personal experience but I have flown with alot of stick wigglers and some of them turned out to be pilots...and out of those pilot's, I like flying with one or two of them.  The ones who get it and become good pilots learn not to try too hard and don't try to out think the situation.  I have seen all of the tricks mentioned used and they may or may not work for you.  The only one that I will repeat is find a reference point far from the aircraft, it won't move around on you as much and makes it easier to hold your position, this may be especially helpful in the NVG portion.  FLIGHT TIME is the most important factor.  You will learn to feel the aircraft and know what everything is doing and not fight the controls.

Just a CE's point of view.

Mac

Jon,

   Fugetaboutit! There are no tricks! Their is no magic formula...it's Karma. Relax..Feel the aircraft...it is you; it's a part of you. It will do what you will it to. Forget about the mechanical BS. Honest to God, Jon, when you relax , caress the controls..balance..float.

Bugs

Winnie,

Nope, not allowed to use any friction and only the IFR birds have Force Trim.  I did hear about the finger on the thigh trick and I plan on using it Monday (today was our second weather day in a row!) 

 

And try to put some frictin on that cyclic too, since you are in the TH-67 you should be able to. Or perhaps there is force trim in your machine? Anyways, a little resistance (and I'm saying a LITTLE, not much) helps a lot.   Good luck with your future as a member of Quad A!

I was going to offer the pencil between the fingers trick, but Sharkbait beat me to it.  It's good advice.  If you're having trouble controlling power, try putting your left thumb on your thigh (or on your knee, depending).  It'll give your hand a good frame of reference to tell how far you're pulling collective. 

And stay relaxed.

And have fun.

Snakedriver,

I agree with you on the TH-55, I began my instruction on the 300C, and still to this day, I don't see what all the fuss is about having "high turbine time."  I felt more cockpit management and more going on during a VFR flight in a 300C than a turbine, especially with a manual throttle you really learn to manage your power.  Unlike say a Blackhawk, where you can yank an armpit full of collective and watch the torque only slightly dip!