Kenny Keller explains why helicopter pilots need to practice go-arounds during unsafe approaches. He describes a tough EMS landing at a hospital heliport and warns against the macho culture that pushes pilots to land anyway. Going around is not failure, it's the right call.
Day 245, that's right out on the pontoon. Had a 12 hour day today at the airport. Busted out there to come home, wanted to hit the boat, got out and I was gonna do a sunset video and starter was having a problem, so I had to work on the starter. And the night got away from me and I thought, you know what, blow it off. And then something inside of me just couldn't do it. Just went out for a cruise, just got back in. And what's been on my mind is go arounds. Been a little while since we talked about them. Why don't you just go around? And I say that because all these years of teaching, we teach people to go around and as instructors we need to do that because if we don't teach you to do it, you won't. So hopefully you as a student, your instructors, hopefully teaching you go arounds maybe once every hour, lesson or so, or anytime you have a bad setup for like say a normal approach and you starting to get kind of ugly. Go around, go around, start over again. And I like telling the EMS story. I don't think I've told this specific story before. I was on an approach to a hospital in an EC135 and I learned the term circling the drain. And I didn't know what that meant. But I'm flying an approach into the hospital and this was a difficult heliport. And it was one of those that really kind of made me nervous, man. And I felt like I had to be on my game shooting this approach into that heliport. And I didn't like my approach. I felt like it was too steep and I felt like I was settling a little bit and I just didn't like it. So I went around and the medical crew's like, what are you doing? And I'm like, ah, that I, that approach sucked. I'm gonna go around. They're like, well, our, our patient's ctd. And I'm like, ctd? What's that? They're like circling the drain. And I'm like, oh my God. Well, you know, as a pilot you have to fly a safe approach. It doesn't matter what's going on with the patient in the back. If I wreck the helicopter, I kill everybody, right? So this has been on my mind all evening when I'm thinking about something I want to talk about today. And go around just kept popping up. And as instructors, we have to teach go arounds. And there are so many times that pilots don't go around. And it's got to be most of the time a macho thing, right? I can do this, I can pull it off. And I can tell you that. Czech airmen in general and designated examiners in general. Usually if you're setting up a bad approach, they're going to appreciate you going around. So you know, when you're out flying with your friends, your family, or you're doing a commercial job somewhere, don't be afraid to go around. And I know it's got to be that, you know, thing inside of us that it's a macho thing. I can do it, I can get it in there. But you know what? You don't need it. I mean, if the approach is ugly at the beginning, go around, you're halfway through, you're three quarters of the way through, and you're screwing it all up and you know the numbers are off and it's not where it should be and your gut's telling you it ain't right. Freaking just go around and people, I want to add 20 years of teaching. There's so many times I'm just waiting for a person to go around and when they finally do it, I go, thank you. You know, I don't want to say it in the beginning. I tell them to do it, but I want to see you over time learn to make that decision when it's time to go around. So for those of you that are new to this, I hope your instructors are doing go arounds with you. There is no shame in going around. There's no shame whatsoever. A good, safe and prudent pilot has the guts to go around. Bottom line, all right, had to get in there. Had to get day 245 in. I just couldn't skip it, man. I'm still enjoying it too much. I just had to do it. All right, like, subscribe the channel, make your comments down below. You can check out helicopterground.com in the description box below. Check out our courses. Private, commercial, CFI and instrument. Go check those out. Subscribe to the channel. Click the bell. We'll see you in day two. 46. Peace out.
