This is a short YouTube vlog (Day 157 of Kenny Keller’s series) where Kenny interviews Ray about Ray’s Day 2 transition flight from a Robinson R-22 to an Enstrom after a 20-year hiatus. They discuss windy conditions (winds reported ~19 kt, gusting to 25–30 kt), how the Enstrom’s instrument/correlator and throttle friction handled RPM control during hovering and pattern work, and plans for additional practice sessions. The video also includes a brief community note from Charlie Keys and routine maintenance commentary (grease on the Enstrom windshield).
Questions this video answers
Day 157
20 years
Wind reported 19 kt, gusting to 25 kt (described elsewhere as gusting almost 30 kt)
Chapters
Hey, day 157, coffee with Kenny. I'm gonna drag Ray over here to the camera and let him talk a little bit about his flight yesterday. But we just got in here this morning, and we agreed we're gonna make a quick video to talk about yesterday. In the video, we had just sat or we're getting ready to look over the instrument. So we did that yesterday morning. Spent a couple hours just talking about the aircraft and all the little nuances and little tips that I wanted to give him before going out to fly. And then it was really windy, gustin almost 30. And he goes, what do you think? And I go, well, let's. Let's just go out and we'll maybe do some hovering, pick up some set downs, get you comfortable. After 20 years since he got his rating, and really, I didn't tell him it was 20.
I told him it was a few years.
A few years.
And then I broke out my log book. It was 20 years.
So 20 years without flying helicopters, having a rating, and then flying one time with the instrument that he purchased, but with the owner, probably not a cfi.
No.
So he was probably careful about what he let you do.
Right.
Which totally makes sense. And we got out there in the wind, and he did really good, and all that wind. I'm gonna let him tell you the story because he was surprised.
I was. I was surprised about how stable it was and the wind was. You know, I checked the wind blowing 19 and gusting 25. I thought, oh. But the instrument handled it just fine. And, yeah, I. Kenny. The first thing he did is he said, well, take the controls. And we went, whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's slow down a little bit. But right away, picked it right back up again. And I was probably off my mark, hovering around maybe ten foot or so. And other than that, it was fine. I was surprised about how the correlator works, how well it's, I guess, timed to the engine and stuff, so you don't really have to chase that around. That's kind of very handy.
I think we had the friction right about right. We talked about friction at length on the throttle before we went out. And I said, you know, it feels stiff right now, and let's just leave it. And once you start moving it, you know, it's hard to find that sweet spot sometimes. But I think yesterday it was in a pretty good spot because we didn't have any trouble even with gusting almost 30 knots. We had zero trouble with RPM and you had zero trouble with RPM. Right.
I mean, couple times Kenny caught me, you know, the RPM got just a bit low just out of the green. But quickly. Just basically feel that throttle just a little bit and it's right back in the green. It was no problem at all.
That was the only thing that I did was a few times I'd reach over and just adjust the throttle just a little bit. And I wanted to do that for him so that he would see that most people, when they make the throttle adjustment will overcorrect and then, you know, it kind of makes everything messy.
Well, I could see where if you had the throttle friction too loose, you'd be chasing that throttle. So you will leave it a little bit stiff. It's just fine.
Yep. You'll be fighting it. Yep. I got a something here from one of our ground school members. Sent this to me randomly. I have no what idea what it is. It is Charlie Keys, who has visited us at the old Hog studio and hopefully we'll see him again soon. So I'm gonna open this dude up. Is there anything else you can think about we can talk about or you can talk about while I try to see what's in this tube?
Well, I was, I was just pleasantly surprised that after 20 years that it kind of came right back as far as the hovering and stuff. And then we did about four laps around the pattern and you know, I was chasing the altitude a little bit. But today I'm ready to go, so I think I can do better.
And this is nice because I told him yesterday, said, well, you know, it's windy out and you're going to struggle, but hey, you know, whatever, because the first day out struggling will make the next day better. And today, sun shining. It's beautiful. Little bit of wind, but not much.
Bluebird weather for sure.
Our add on guys coming tomorrow. So we got all day to go out with Ray and just really trying to just hone his skills and getting really comfortable in the instrument. Really nice note from Charlie. I'll read that here after we get off the camera. Let's see what he sent. This could be interesting. Your awesome, Kenny. Charlie keys. Charlie Keys. Two time world champion trick roper. 2006, 2007 Guinness World Record holder. Awesome. Is that, is that you, man? Hopefully you see this video today. I know you tune in almost every day, so. Yeah, give us a little background on that. Thanks for sending it. Very, very cool. Awesome. All right, well, we're gonna. Ray was just wiping the windshield down a little bit. Clean the grease off on an Nstrom. If you don't have grease flopping out of it, then there's probably a problem. So on an Nstrom, you're always, you know, wiping the grease off here and there. If you don't have any grease coming out, then you might have an issue. So put your comments down below. Day 157 Coffee with Kenny tomorrow will be day 158. Like subscribe to the channel. Put your comments down below. And I think since the videos are going good, we'll probably tune in tomorrow morning and let you know how today went. But I think we're going to have a good story to tell you tomorrow. And I'll bet Ray's going to say after two or three flights today, bet you he's going to be really, really happy with his performance in the instrument.
So I can't wait. Really looking forward to another day.
Awesome. Like subscribe put your comments down below and we will see you tomorrow.
