Articles for category Rotorcraft Checkride
Periodically, I have the privilege of assisting Part 135 operators with temporary management and training position services. My role may include providing instructor and/or check pilot services for their Part 135 Operating Certificate. In many cases, the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) inability to support an operator training and checking program is driven by their [FAA Inspector} lack of experience and/or currency in the aircraft operated by the Part 135 certificate hold
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Rotorcraft Checkride
The latest on the Bell 525 is a 2019 delivery date. However, with the offshore industry saturated with existing aircraft, a Bell spokesman stated it plans for a “soft” service debut. It will be interesting how the old school pilots will take to the fly-by-wire controls in every day operations. Definitely something to keep an eye on.
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Rotorcraft Checkride
Every two (2) years, all Flight Instructors are mandated to renew their highly coveted flight instructor certificate. Although the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) provides several paths to obtain a renewal, my preferred method is to attend a Flight Instructor Refresher Course or FIRC.
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Rotorcraft Checkride
On October 20th, 2009, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) published significant additions and alterations to the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR). Several changes can be found in 14 CFR 61.129 which identifies the aeronautical experience to meet commercial pilot certification requirements. The changes made to the existing regulation were welcome by many within the ab initio helicopter training industry. However, some of the changes to the regulation may have facilitated instructional coddling that’s proving detrimental to our commercial pilot cadre.
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Rotorcraft Checkride
A couple months ago, an article in the newspaper caught my eye. The article was titled “The First Air Taxi Coming to Dallas”. Initially, I thought a new Part 135 helicopter operator popped up and this was an attempt to market themselves in the area. However, this was not the case. The article provided an overview of the relationship between Uber and Bell (formerly Bell Helicopter), and how their newly founded joint venture Uber Elevate would launch in Dallas around 2023. This got me thinking...
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Rotorcraft Checkride
On 17 October 2017, a flight instructor and commercially rated pilot were practicing instrument approaches at the Molokai Airport (Hawaii) when they were lost from radar. Debris from the helicopter was found floating on the water northwest of the shores of Molokai. Although they were operating on an IFR flight plan, the flight was being conducted under VFR as a Part 91 training flight. (NTSB Identification: WPR18LA010)
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Rotorcraft Checkride
During the last quarter of 2017 (October 2017 – December 2017), there were three (3) helicopter accidents within the Instructional/Training segment. This represented 16% of the total accidents that occurred during that timeframe. Of those accidents, 1 was fatal. Although there has been a reduction in the number of helicopter training accidents, the maneuvers in which many of our accidents occur remain steady. Of those maneuvers, the 180-degree autorotation remains near the top of the list.
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Rotorcraft Checkride
A student I was training for a night vision goggle (NVG) instructor course was tasked to teach a segment on confined area operations. The student lesson plan included settling-with-power as a consideration when conducting confined area operations. The scenario I provided for the student was that this confined area operation would be conducted at night using NVGs. The recovery technique the student selected to teach was the Vuichard Recovery, which is a lateral recovery method that provides a more expeditious recovery with minimal altitude loss.
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Rotorcraft Checkride
Last week, I was speaking at a helicopter safety event when a young flight instructor asked me a question. His question began with a statement…”I was told that it was far safer to conduct operations requiring a hover in the Height/Velocity Diagram (HV Diagram) in a turbine engine helicopter instead of a piston engine helicopter”. The HV Diagram is a graph that provides the ability for a pilot to conduct pre-flight planning of a helicopter so if the engine fails in flight, the ability of the helicopter to complete an autorotation is known. The follow-up question was directed at me. “Which type of helicopter engine do you believe is safer and why”? he asked.
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Rotorcraft Checkride
I was talking to a local helicopter pilot that had recently obtained his private pilot helicopter
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Rotorcraft Checkride