Teller1900
En-Route
The video proof:
The story:
This past summer someone on here pointed out a deal on TravelZoo for 50% off a helicopter discovery flight here in Denver. My wife, the wonderful woman she is, noticed that I had the webpage open for about a week and asked if I wanted it for my birthday.
I've been sitting on the coupon for this flight since April. Between work and the kid, and the fact that they were booked 3 months in advance (they expected to sell ~150 rides; they sold 680+), I hadn't gotten around to scheduling it. As many of you know, conditions at work have...changed, so I suddenly found myself with some free time. So I finally got around to making the call.
This past Monday I went out to TYJ Global (formerly Rotors of the Rockies) at KBJC.
It was a cool but clear fall afternoon. The sun was quickly retreating toward it's home behind the mountains making for some long shadows across the ramp. It was jacket weather outside, but very comfortable inside the bubble that is the R44.
We did the Robinson SFAR training, started up, and taxied out to runway 2. As we approached the hold short line the instructor, Raymond, gave me first clue as to what I had coming for me. "So, fixed wing guy, you know I'm going to have to mess with you, right?"
Every helicopter pilot I have ever ridden with has said those words to me. I don't mind, though, as it usually ends with something fun that my airplane definitely can't do.
We were hovering over the 20 numbers, cleared to take off runway 2. I assumed we'd just pull pitch and head straight out. Nope. Ray had something else in mind. We ran down the runway, backward, for about 2000 feet, while our shadow chased close behind. About half way down the runway he kicked the tail around a full 360 degrees, to end up facing the right way again. A quick run down runway 2, this time forward, and we were off.
We spent about 15 minutes flying around the area. It was a crystal clear afternoon, with winds fairly light out of the northeast. The air was perfectly smooth, with a few tall lenticulars over the mountains just to make it a little more picturesque. We did some steep turns, followed roads, a bit of hovering at altitude, and checked out a maze in a farm field. He had me flying the whole time.
We came back to BJC on the "Charlie 2" arrival. Tower had no traffic for runway 2, so they let us have it for hover work.
I will say, hovering is one of the toughest, most fun, and most humbling things I've done in an aircraft! It took several iterations of "smaller correc...no, the other way...steady....no, the other way...lets stay away from the edge lights," but I finially got it! I had a solid three minutes of hovering before our time ran out. He even let me (hover) taxi back in to the parking spot!
The R44 is a great little ride. With about 900 lbs usable, a surprisingly large cabin, coupled with a very smooth running flat 6, cleaver belt drive clutch system, and a high inertia rotor system that made the auto-rotation demo seem fairly mundane, it's a perfect trainer/personal use helicopter (for the rich). The one gotcha it has are the hydraulic flight controls. The collective gives you a fair bit of wiggle room, and the pedals aren't terrible, but the cyclic is easily the touchiest flight control system I have ever flown.
Being smooth on the cyclic at 4 feet is even tougher than trying to hold altitude at FL410. Once you learn to hold the stick with only 2-3 fingers, keep your arm on your knee, and keep your movements to less than the width of a dime (no joke, that's all the more it takes) it handles brilliantly.
Those of you who haven't tried a helicopter yet really should! I'll warn you, though, it's highly addictive.
Denver and mountain west folks, I would recommend Rotors of the Rockies, as well - ask for Raymond.
The story:
This past summer someone on here pointed out a deal on TravelZoo for 50% off a helicopter discovery flight here in Denver. My wife, the wonderful woman she is, noticed that I had the webpage open for about a week and asked if I wanted it for my birthday.
I've been sitting on the coupon for this flight since April. Between work and the kid, and the fact that they were booked 3 months in advance (they expected to sell ~150 rides; they sold 680+), I hadn't gotten around to scheduling it. As many of you know, conditions at work have...changed, so I suddenly found myself with some free time. So I finally got around to making the call.
This past Monday I went out to TYJ Global (formerly Rotors of the Rockies) at KBJC.
It was a cool but clear fall afternoon. The sun was quickly retreating toward it's home behind the mountains making for some long shadows across the ramp. It was jacket weather outside, but very comfortable inside the bubble that is the R44.
We did the Robinson SFAR training, started up, and taxied out to runway 2. As we approached the hold short line the instructor, Raymond, gave me first clue as to what I had coming for me. "So, fixed wing guy, you know I'm going to have to mess with you, right?"
Every helicopter pilot I have ever ridden with has said those words to me. I don't mind, though, as it usually ends with something fun that my airplane definitely can't do.
We were hovering over the 20 numbers, cleared to take off runway 2. I assumed we'd just pull pitch and head straight out. Nope. Ray had something else in mind. We ran down the runway, backward, for about 2000 feet, while our shadow chased close behind. About half way down the runway he kicked the tail around a full 360 degrees, to end up facing the right way again. A quick run down runway 2, this time forward, and we were off.
We spent about 15 minutes flying around the area. It was a crystal clear afternoon, with winds fairly light out of the northeast. The air was perfectly smooth, with a few tall lenticulars over the mountains just to make it a little more picturesque. We did some steep turns, followed roads, a bit of hovering at altitude, and checked out a maze in a farm field. He had me flying the whole time.
We came back to BJC on the "Charlie 2" arrival. Tower had no traffic for runway 2, so they let us have it for hover work.
I will say, hovering is one of the toughest, most fun, and most humbling things I've done in an aircraft! It took several iterations of "smaller correc...no, the other way...steady....no, the other way...lets stay away from the edge lights," but I finially got it! I had a solid three minutes of hovering before our time ran out. He even let me (hover) taxi back in to the parking spot!
The R44 is a great little ride. With about 900 lbs usable, a surprisingly large cabin, coupled with a very smooth running flat 6, cleaver belt drive clutch system, and a high inertia rotor system that made the auto-rotation demo seem fairly mundane, it's a perfect trainer/personal use helicopter (for the rich). The one gotcha it has are the hydraulic flight controls. The collective gives you a fair bit of wiggle room, and the pedals aren't terrible, but the cyclic is easily the touchiest flight control system I have ever flown.
Being smooth on the cyclic at 4 feet is even tougher than trying to hold altitude at FL410. Once you learn to hold the stick with only 2-3 fingers, keep your arm on your knee, and keep your movements to less than the width of a dime (no joke, that's all the more it takes) it handles brilliantly.
Those of you who haven't tried a helicopter yet really should! I'll warn you, though, it's highly addictive.
Denver and mountain west folks, I would recommend Rotors of the Rockies, as well - ask for Raymond.
it usually takes a few hours to be able to hover it smoothly. You are correct, they are about the most responsive aircraft out there. I fly with my thumb and two fingers lightly gripping the cyclic. Turns require about 1/4 " of movement. 
Yeah, we didn't quite get to that lesson. 
