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Charlie One Six: Sorry to say that somehow I missed those mast bump statistics - quite appalling. Looking at pages of statistics one sometimes needs to have the wheat sorted from the chaff which your figures do. Perhaps it's the same attitude which causes some of the terrible driving I've seen on the roads down here!

I posted this in Rotary Nostalgia three years ago but it seems apt to post it again here for Caco as an indication of what is to come. It refers to a first solo in a R22, not a R44 but what's two more seats and a bit more power between friends......

The day is just right for companion-less flight,
winds are calm with no clouds in the sky,
the critical gear has received the “all clear” –
now she’s fueled and deemed ready-to-fly.

The mixture’s full-rich, I confirm that the pitch
will adjust as I move the controls –
and the tach isn’t fazed as collective is raised,
since the grip automatically rolls.

I pull it up slow – wonder which way she’ll go
until finally she’s light on the skids –
then I counter the yaw and correct for the draw
that could lead to what safety forbids.

She lists to the side as collective’s applied,
‘cause the fuel weighs a bit more than me –
but the wonderful gift of additional lift
makes the earth set the two of us free.

It’s hard to describe what it feels like to ride
on a cushion just feet from the ground
in an aerial sled – as the blades overhead
beat the air with a thunderous sound.

The pound of my heart when I’m cleared to depart,
makes me wonder if all that I’ve learned
will ensure I survive, that I’ll get back alive –
still intact when my flight is adjourned.

I know I’ve progressed and that leaving the nest
is a ritual all must transcend,
but I find it profound that there’s no one around,
if I panic – that might be the end!

I start on my roll with the cyclic control,
get in trim with the help of a string,
then I push for the shift to translational lift
and I climb like a bird on the wing.

I’m really content with my rate of ascent,
it’s much faster than any before –
the reduction in crew makes this R22
fly a lot like an R44.

I’ve reached AGL in my flying gazelle
and the tower has cleared me to land –
I’ve already seen that the gauges are green
and the cyclic is firmly in hand.

I reach by my seat and I pull in some heat
so my rotors continue to spin –
then I pilot my coach onto final approach
and the two of us softly descend.

I try to be neat with my hands and my feet,
keep her straight ‘till we come to a stop,
and I’m back to the stand where my journey began –
the experience – over the top.

My memory’s tossed to the hurdles I’ve crossed
and the times I was ready to quit –
the tasks I assailed and consistently failed,
and a few that I hate to admit.

This tunnel has light that is barely in sight
and there’s no turning back now for me –
I’ll stay on this course if it leads to divorce,
but a pilot – I’m destined to be!

Superb C16 .

Whence comes this verse which has left me chaffing at the bit as the weather blew me out this week and each lost opportunity to fly means that the thin veneer of skills gained to date washes off "like tears in the rain".

I guess that your poem would have been based in a Wessex but then I am not sure what type the navy trained you young officers in back in the day? I suppose that you still remember your first solo like yesterday or did all the other memorable stuff that came later dull the edge of that memory over the years?

As for the coming divorce, my better half has been remarkably supportive of this endeavour in the interim, but as we all know, that could flap back on me in an instant if I am not careful!

Caco

As for the coming divorce, my better half has been remarkably supportive of this endeavour in the interim, but as we all know, that could flap back on me in an instant if I am not careful!

You haven’t told her about the trip with Slasher, have you

Caco - the poem was posted by 'tradford' on TOP some years ago after his first solo on a R22.

In my day - and that of FD2 - our first helicopter type was the Hiller UH-12E. For a training machine it was relatively overpowered with a 305hp Lycoming VO540 6 cylinder engine. My first solo was in XS166 (15 July 1964) and I got 56 hours on the type before moving on to the Whirlwind, then the award of Wings before going to Advanced and Operational Flying Training on the Wessex and then to an operational squadron. The photo of Hiller XS166 was posted by FD2 in Nostalgia and is copied here. Whilst I remember my gliding and Tiger Moth first solo flights clearly, my memory is sadly a bit dull when recalling the Hiller first solo.

Ah the Hillier, I should have guessed. I made a fool of myself after watching Dennis Kenyon put on one of the most extraordinary displays of aerobatics I have ever seem in my life at North Weald many years ago. He was in his late 60's then, I think, and I got the opportunity to have a chat with him afterwards but kicked off by making a total faux pas by mistaking his Schweizer 300C for a Hillier! He gently corrected me and then talked to me for over half an hour. What a nice chap who seemed to be genuinely pleased to talk to a bumbling enthusiast like myself.

Talking of his exploits I didn't realise that he was awarded the CAA’s ‘Flying Safety Award’ for landing an Enstrom 280C Shark safely and without damage following a Tail Rotor failure at Biggin Hill.” Pretty topical at the moment.

Caco

The displays that Dennis did were amazing but scared me rigid! He got caught out by a high density altitude during this display in US....

I was reading about that accident. In the first link below there is an interview where he explains what happened in a totally open and honest way. What a thoroughly decent man he is and so sad to read about his son.

http://rotarywingshow.com/rws-15-displa ... on-part-2/

http://www.helicopterlife.com/wp-conten ... rchive.pdf (page 27)

Caco

Density altitude will get you every time unless you pay attention. I am lucky in that I live at 5,000' and most of my flying is above 7k DA. This is a fun little spot outside of McCall, Idaho doing repeater work.... 8,600' PA

Is that a classic Garmin I see astride the instrument panel alongside the lucky heli gnome G~Man?

Caco

Yep. I have got one of them

Cacophonix wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 09, 2018 9:36 pm

Is that a classic Garmin I see astride the instrument panel alongside the lucky heli gnome G~Man?

Caco

You know it is...... The gnome is "Timothy", named after Timothy Leary as he is on the "trip of a lifetime", he now has a "mate Tabitha.

You can follow their adventures here: https://www.instagram.com/timothy_tabitha/

Lots of helicopter pics---they get one a day.

Timothy Leary!

Not so much on the outside looking in but on the inside looking out. Let's hope he keeps flying your Astral plane, taking trips around the bay for many a long day G~Man.

Your gnomes appeal to my hippy soul.

I see the tech has been upgraded to a glass cockpit, Garmin again, or at least an i-Pad or tablet running something like Sky Demon, perhaps connected to a Bad Elf GPS!

Well good health to you, Tim and Tabitha. Great pictures and now on my favourites list.

PS - Don't tell Captain Slash. He shoots gnomes.



Caco

Searched up and found yer first eggbeat flight vid last night Caco (hope you didn't mind) and I must say you don't sound at all like I thunked. Very sorta pleasant and clear-sounding. In fact I'd go so far as to say you should get a job as a BBC radio announcer!

PS - Don't tell Captain Slash. He shoots gnomes.

Damn right! Evil little critters they are!

Slasher wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 10, 2018 8:28 am

Searched up and found yer first eggbeat flight vid last night Caco (hope you didn't mind) and I must say you don't sound at all like I thunked. Very sorta pleasant and clear-sounding. In fact I'd go so far as to say you should get a job as a BBC radio announcer!

PS - Don't tell Captain Slash. He shoots gnomes.

Damn right! Evil little critters they are!

I wouldn't have posted if I minded Slash. Just as well I managed to hide the club foot, glass eye and the hump. As for the voice thing and radio, well funny you should say that!

Caco

Looking at that instagram account, not good in California

Cacophonix wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 10, 2018 5:36 am

Timothy Leary!

Your gnomes appeal to my hippy soul.

I see the tech has been upgraded to a glass cockpit, Garmin again, or at least an i-Pad or tablet running something like Sky Demon, perhaps connected to a Bad Elf GPS!

Well good health to you, Tim and Tabitha. Great pictures and now on my favourites list.
Caco

I now have an i-pad using Foreflight...works great and by utilizing an app called Avenza, I can download the daily operations map for the fires and fly around on it instead of airspace maps. When on fire we normally put up a TFR so the airspace is ours anyway.

Woody wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 10, 2018 1:56 pm

Looking at that instagram account, not good in California

Nope, we were smoked out most of yesterday and woke up to freezing cold and smoked out again today on the "Camp Fire. We lost 6,500 homes and 9 deaths so far, and the whole town of Paradise:

G~Man

You make me realise why I want to fly...


Caco

Cacophonix wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 10, 2018 8:01 pm

G~Man

You make me realise why I want to fly...


Caco

Glad I am an inspiration....Of course barefoot is best.....Of course I will be beat down by those who say I should wear flight boots..... I flew 7 years in Hawaii and did not even own a pair of shoes....

Oh, bare feet and shorts, that's the life, G~Man! So much better than my many years of having to put on thermal underwear, survival suit, lifejacket with flares, Sarbe, etc etc.

Really respect the job you're doing over there . The images from California that we are getting on Brit TV are quite horrific.