I arrived overhead, looked down. Yep. That's the heli-terminal. Rows and rows of shiny little helicopters, parked in neat, white circles. Down I went. Nice approach. Noticed this funny, rather high barbed wire fence all around the heli-terminal. Strict security, eh? Hey-ho. Hop over the fence. Land in a nice, big circle beside a big shiny fellow. Great! Hey-hum. Don't want to shut down just yet. Having too much fun. I'm in circle number twenty. I see. Well, let's do some practice. Hop over to circle number eighteen. Lift up, hover checks, across we go. Settle down in the hover, DOWN we settle, BINGO!
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Moggy's Musings
I heard 300,000 people registered their drones in response to the new FAA requirements. Amazing. Might be a niche market developing for an enterprising A&P. Knowing the FAA, there’s always a chance this may evolve into a separate airworthiness category like experimental or light sport; which require annual condition inspections by qualified individuals.
Since current drones are more rotor wing than fixed…who knows. Me personally, I’m waiting to see how long it takes someone to tie 50 Walmart drones to a lawn chair and take-off into the wide blue yonder, BB gun in hand.
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Categories:
ROTORwrench
The Robinson R-22...
Long time ago. Early model days. Old fashioned twist grip, no governor, straight tail. I was suspicious, still, about the mechanical integrity of the beast. It looked so flimsy. Like a bunch of surplus tin cans beat roughly into shape. Now masquerading as a flying machine.
A wind up, clockwork, plastic toy.
In a quiet moment, I ambled in to the work shop. Asked for the chief mechanic. Boss man engineer. Out he came, pleasant, friendly, American. I wanted to ask some questions? Learning to fly at the school? Sure, go right ahead.
"Thanks. First. This here rotor system. It looks so home made. So fragile. What is the history of Robinson crashes due rotor system structural failures? As opposed to pilot error, and people losing Rotor Rpm due to incorrect technique?"
I thought that was pretty well the fifty million dollar (and some cents) question.
He laughed and told me: one. That he was aware of. Early on in the history of the R-22, some guys had noticed rotor delamination. Somebody had wondered if it would still fly okay. One way to find that out, eh? Let's go fly! It didn't work out, and they augured in.
Oh!, I thought. You can't really blame that one on the designer. I was later to hear that there was also a minor matter of overflying the component times involved. (5,500 flight hours on a 2,000 component life)
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Moggy's Musings
So you’ve provided all of the required training to your student. That’s it, they're ready to visit the FAA and apply for that sought after certificate or rating. However, there’s one last thing you have to do: You must certify to the federal government that as an authorized flight instructor you have provided the required ground and flight training, and found the applicant prepared to take the appropriate FAA practical test.
So what defines an authorized instructor? The Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) define specific training requirements an instructor must meet to provide training for a certificate and/or rating. This definition is found within FAR 61.1: Applicability and Definitions. Most of the time, there is little confusion on this issue. However, over the last few years many regulatory changes and FAA Legal Interpretations are worthy of a closer look.
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Rotorcraft Checkride
I’m going to give you a simple mental tool to keep you safe: Risk Resource Management (RRM). It’s a tool Chesley Sullenberger used for 14 years before he famously landed his Airbus A320 in the Hudson River. It’s also a tool he instructed his students to use when he taught crew resource management at US Airways. It’s a tool you can use in your helicopter to make better decisions, whether you’re flying single-pilot or multicrew.
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Categories:
My Two Cents Worth
Well, we made it through another year. And 2016 looks to be an interesting year ahead, especially for those working in the offshore market. Hopefully, with the repeal of the 40 year-old ban on domestic oil exports, these operators will be able to weather the “storm.” It will also be interesting how the rest of the industry reacts as the offshore side downsizes by adjusting fleets and manpower.
On a closer note, I am going to experiment with a few things on the blog this year. Received a few suggestions from readers. In addition to the monthly trick or tip, I will add one or two bits of reading material that never seem to make it out to the field level from aircraft manufacturer’s, ground support vendors, FAA, etc. We’ll see how this section develops this year.
Finally, besides hanging a new shingle out front, there are several other additions I’m working on, to include a possible “maintenance question-of-the-month” section, so check back regularly.
And here we go for 2016….
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ROTORwrench
The first time I heard this story, I thought it was a Gulf myth. I didn't believe it. But then I saw the photographic evidence. It was kind of interesting. Irrefutable. Good grief. Yep. Many years ago, on a sunny day in the Gulf of Mexico, this event actually happened...
A helicopter 'communications center' is, if you like, is the 'eye in the head shed'. It's a large room, with lots of telephones ringing, lots of screens, and lots of people hunched over those screens, and quietly cursing the telephones. . Out there, somewhere, lots of little helicopters are plying their trade. Pilots are calling the commcenter, and the commcenter is calling pilots. Position reports, landing reports, flight plans...
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Moggy's Musings
Another Bendix booklet, but for the good old C28. Appreciate all the support from the peanut gallery this year. And as requested, look for some changes next year as I add new content and info. Enjoy.
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ROTORwrench
Occasionally fate (sometimes luck) steps in to break a link in an error chain, serving to protect us from ourselves. That’s what happened to me in August 1974 while ferrying a Hughes 300C 300 miles, from McArthur River Cattle Station in the Northern Territory of Australia to Mt. Isa, for the aircraft’s scheduled 100-hour inspection. I’d been flying over parched, featureless landscape for 30 minutes; each minute becoming more and more perplexed because nothing I saw outside fit my woefully inadequate map.
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My Two Cents Worth
My wife and I recently went to see a movie starring Robert De Niro. I truly enjoy most of his movies, however I wasn’t really sure at first I would like his latest: The Intern. In it De Niro portrays 70-year-old widower Ben Whittaker looking to come out of retirement to fill a void left by the passing of his wife. I wound up enjoying the movie and related to Whittaker’s journey and perspective on the ever-changing workplace.
In the movie, Whittaker’s co-workers are much younger than him, thus their work culture is somewhat different. From Day One, his co-workers comment on the way he dresses while mocking his work ethic. I won’t spoil the ending, however this movie got me thinking: Are my expectations of our younger pilot population too out of touch? After much thought and reflection, my answer is: I don’t think so.
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Categories:
Rotorcraft Checkride