Kenny Keller (Helicopter Online Ground School) explains why movie/TV helicopter takeoffs (quick, nose-low, no hover checks) are unsafe and demonstrates his preferred real-world method: always perform a hover pre-takeoff check, then build airspeed "painfully slow"—often without changing power—while trimming to maintain attitude and following the height–velocity diagram. In an instrument helicopter demonstration he cites specific figures (about 26–27 inHg manifold pressure, ~500 ft/min climb, speeds reaching 60–80 mph, and 500 ft AGL reference) and shows controlling the aircraft largely via trim for pattern work.
Questions this video answers
About 26–27 inches of manifold pressure.
Approximately 500 ft per minute.
Mentions 60, 70 and 80 (mph) during various phases of the takeoff/pattern.
About 500 ft AGL (he mentions "1300, which is 500 AGL" in the transcript).
Chapters
We normally keep our hand right there in the collective, but for this video, I want to show you how cool the instrument is.
There.
It's a trim. There's our 60. Almost got my 500ft per minute climb, and I'm only pulling 27 inches of manifold pressure. I got wind coming down the Runway, the weather's cool, and here goes my feet off the pedals. There's my hand off the collective, and I got 70 at a 500ft per minute climb. Check me out. Okay, so I'm going to try to do most of the pattern not touching the controls. I know people will love this. We don't normally do this. Okay.
Oh, man. I really love today's cup, and this is a great one for this video. So coffee number three is ready. And there's a glimpse of your upcoming coffee with Kenny. New coffee cups, quick glimpse. All right, so I'm Kenny Keller, creator, Helicopter Online Ground school. We're gonna go out flying in the helicopter in just a minute. And I love this copy cup, copy cup. I can't say coffee cup. My brain is 80% movie quotes. So we're gonna go back to the helicopter here in just a minute and I'm gonna show you a real world takeoff versus movie and television takeoff. Which is why I like the coffee cup. My favorite movie is Blue Thunder. And I think of those quotes from that movie all day long. Especially, you got the good pilot and the bad pilot, right? Or the good guy, the bad guy. And the smart ass pilot says, well, do you think you can fly it? And the good guy says, well, you flew it, didn't you?
I love that.
So anyway, there goes the coffee machine. So what I'm gonna show you and we're gonna go back out in the helicopter like I said. But I want to explain this right here first. Then we're gonna go to the aircraft. So what do we all know that we see in movie and television? Here's what you see, right? Rooftop heliport. You know, some fancy LA video. And here's the helicopter pilot, he's getting ready to go. Somebody jumps in and wham, away they go. I mean, no hover pre takeoff check. It's off the pad. Go like crazy. All right, that's not a good idea, by the way. Top 10 track ride, chips, tips. There's about four left signed by me and Taz. That link's below. So anyway, you know what you see on tv, right? And then. And you also see the, you know, it can be taken off from the ground, people taking off and they're just, there's no pre takeoff check. They just up and go like this, you know, nose low and away you go. All right. Is that the best method? Probably not. So what I teach regardless. Private, commercial, I don't care what rating you're going for. I teach takeoffs the same way. Of course. We start with a really nice pre hover takeoff check. Anytime you lift up before you take off, you should do a hover pre takeoff check. I don't care if you're flying ems movie filming. No matter what you're doing, you need that hover pre takeoff check. Now here's what I teach. Spring, summer, all year round. So that later in your career, no matter what you're flying, hot day, heavy day, your limited power, you're to max power. Here's how you got to take off very slowly, building the airspeed. We call it painfully slow. You can do this without ever adding any power and just get nice and slow. Just keep moving forward, moving forward, moving forward, start getting some airspeed, and then as per the height velocity diagram for the aircraft you're flying, you build up your airspeed and you do your takeoff. And it continues nice and level, following the height velocity diagram. That's your best chance of survival if the engine fails. Now, you'll see pilots all the time during a takeoff. Here's what they do. They get ready to go and then it's nose low and away they go. You can do that. It's pulling max power. You're more likely to have an engine failure. If the engine quits, you're more likely going to go smack. And then what's going to happen if you're taking off like this, Nice and slow, engine quits, boom, right on the ground. So I welcome you to go down in the comments below and challenge me on this. It's the way I've been doing it for 20 years. And it's the reason why when I've had some good opportunities to fly with some key people in the industry, they all said, kenny, don't change a thing about the way you teach. So I've always listened to them, right? And the one I mention often, legend in the industry, you know, he taught me you got to fly to the high velocity diagram. And if you fly like that, taken off every time, it helps you later in your career. Helps you on those hot, heavy days when you're pulling max power. And if you're following a height velocity diagram, you're doing it nice and slow. You can do this whole thing and never even change the power. They tell us the engine is going to quit. Most likely to power change. So if you use the same power and do a nice smooth takeoff, build your airspeed till you hit etl, let it climb out, you can do the whole thing with never changing the power. And we're going to go on the helicopter. I'm going to show you in the NSTROM how you can do the whole takeoff not changing the power, and how I fly the helicopter in the pattern with only the trim in the instrument because the instrument is such a cool aircraft. So many of you been asking me, I'm going to do more instrument stuff because I can. The theory is the same with all the things we teach. Doesn't matter what helicopter I'm flying. Just so happens the instrument is a beauty. So let's head out to the helicopter and I'm going to show you exactly what I'm talking about this way, because.
I want to see if anybody's coming in behind me.
No.
All right, let's talk through a nice normal takeoff warning. Caution lights are out, gauges in the green. I got the fuel leaned where I want it. Everything's looking good. So a really good pre takeoff check every single time. Now, I'm gonna do this takeoff, and I'm not gonna pull any power. I'm gonna leave the power sitting right where it's at, man. Right now it's only about 20.
Wow.
About 26 inches. 27 inches. So I'm just gonna start moving it forward, man.
See?
What's the fly? Left hand. I keeping it close to the collective. I'm trimming through ETL. I'm already at 40. This is crazy. This is gonna give me 60 and 500 there. I'm at 60 already. So I don't get some climb going and I can just trim this thing. We normally keep our hand right there in the collective, but for this video, I want to show you how cool the instrument is. There's a trim. There's our 60. Almost got my 500ft per minute climb, and I'm only pulling 27 inches of manifold pressure. I got wind coming down the Runway, the weather's cool, and here goes my feet off the pedals. There's my hand off the collective, and I got 70 at a 500ft per minute climb. Check me out. Okay, so I'm gonna try to do most of the pattern not touching the controls. I know people will love this. We don't normally do this. Okay. This is for demonstration purposes, pretty much. I can leave everything the way it is. And then just trim it where I want it to go. So I'm gonna trim to the right a little bit to make my right turn. I get nervous, but, I mean, you see the little tiny trim movements. My feet are not on the pedals, my hands not on the collective. So there I got 80 mile an hour. I got my 15 or 1300, which is 500 AGL. I've got my altitude, so now I'm going to have to lower a little bit of power. So I'm going to kind of put my hands on everything as I just make a nice adjustment here. I'm gonna lower the power a little bit. Got about 80. Got my 500. I'm gonna continue the turn. Some little trim movements. I hope this video comes out because this is pretty cool. It's working out today. So those of you beating your head against the wall trying to work the pedals, stop it. For those of you beating your head against the wall trying to operate the collective, stop it. For those of you trying to, well, what helicopter you're flying on the Robinson, you can't take your hand off. But in this one, there's my 500 AGL wanting to take off or nose up on me a little bit there.
Okay. I hope you enjoyed that clip in the instrument. I recommend get an hour in an instrument. Everybody says. I've heard good things about them. Just never had a chance to fly one. If you get a chance somewhere, you're even, you're traveling or something. Get an hour in one. I just created a link. Hogshoodies.com A lot of people have been asking, how do I get them? They're below the videos on YouTube, but for some reason doesn't show on some devices. So this morning I just grabbed it. Hogshoodies.com common spelling h o g s hoodies h o o d I e s.com hogshoodies.com that's where they're at. So give us a like and a share. Subscribe to the channel. When you subscribe, click that little bell. I'd love to hear your comments down below. I'd like to see some arguments going on this one. I won't very much on this one. You can jump in there and argue all you want, but taking off like that and taking up like this is never going to be as safe. Is slowly just building your speed, building your speed. Get through atl. Follow the height velocity diagram for the aircraft you're flying, and that's going to be your best chance of survival in the event of an engine failure. Give us a thumbs up for today. Subscribe to the channel, leave your comments down below and we will see you tomorrow. I like it. I love it. I want some more of it.
