#53 HELICOPTER PILOT Radio HOG! Don't Be THAT GUY!

And you'll hear pilots do that. You'll hear them going, hey, George, you're.

Going down to the fish dinner tomorrow night? Yeah, me and my buddies are going down there.

Blah, blah, blah. Don't do that. That's so unprofessional. And what if somebody is out there.

Needing help and you're covering them up.

Because you're talking about the fish dinner on Friday night?

Don't be a helicopter radio hog, because then you could be considered ask hole. I like the cup. A person who consistently asks for your advice, yet always does the opposite of what you told them. That could be a guy in a radio or on the radio in a helicopter. When you've trained him to talk short and sweet and opening up a coffee cup. First one sent to me.

I knew this would happen.

You tell people, oh, short, sweet, to the point in the radio. And what they do, they get on.

There and go, yeah, Billy Bob, we. How. How'd you like the fish the other night at the fish dinner?

Blah, blah, blah.

Don't be that guy. Make your radio call. Short, sweet, to the point. I'm gonna go out and we'll go back in the helicopter.

Just gonna show you a standard traffic pattern.

Okay. And the radio calls aren't gonna be anything spectacular.

Ooh, this is cool. I'm just gonna do.

It's just I was out flying around the other night.

I thought, oh, just grab a camera and record while you're out flying, having a good time in the evening. I love flying right about sunset, just before, you know, when the lights kind of start. Start to get kind of cool.

Look at this.

Very nice. Heck, yeah.

Thank you very much, Sky Pro Aviation.

We will do another video and make that the coffee cup for the day, since I'm already drinking out of whichever one I'm drinking out of today, so.

Oh, yeah, ask whole.

So we're now back out to the helicopter. We do have a really a free radio communications course. I'll put that link down below and I'll put a link up here, too, that free radio course.

You can go in, check it out.

It's free. Lots of little tips and things that can help you learn to talk on a radio. So let's go back to the helicopter and we'll be back shortly.

All right, so we're going to go out and do some radio communications at an uncontrolled airport. Doing it at my home here in Plymouth, Indiana. And I'm going to stop just short of the old short line and take a look both directions. Clearing traffic and make a radio call. So let's clear to the right. Looks clear to the left. I'm just going to go ahead and make a call that I'm basically departing before I cross that line Because I'm going to go out just about a hundred feet or so and turn right and take off.

Traffic helicopter November 59, Foxtrot Sierra departing. Two eight right hand traffic.

I'm almost out to the Runway. Gonna clear my tail left before I make the turn. Checking the Runway again. Warning caution lights are out. Gauges in the green. My timer's running. I'm good on fuel. Everything looks good. So I'm gonna do a nice normal takeoff. So I've already made a call that I'm taking off. So most of you already know, or maybe not, that at an uncontrolled airport, you don't even have to talk on the radio. At most uncontrolled airports in the United States, that is. Now, is it a good idea to not use the radio? Of course not. It's always best to be talking on the radio so people are looking out for you, you know, know what you're doing. So I don't usually make a crosswind call. You certainly could if that's what you want to do or that's what procedures you're using at the airport, the flight school where you're flying totally fine. A clear left, clear right. And I'm thinking about the radio call. What I like to do is I like to just get the radio call.

Out of the way and then I.

Can do my downwind checks. I can make sure I get the altitude and airspeed that I want. I can get everything set and ready to go. So again, I'm on my crosswind right now to clear left and right, and I'm going to start my turn. And basically as soon as I get through the turn, I'm going to go ahead and make my down one call. I'm looking outside and looking for traffic as always. And I'm on right down one. So I'm going to go ahead and make my call.

Plummet traffic. Helicopter 59 Foxtrot Sierra, right downwind. 4:28 plumber.

Man, that's loud. I'm gonna turn that thing down here. Hopefully. One, two, three. One, two, three. That's better. Okay, so I'm on a downwind. So we do my downwind checks, get my altitude, my air speed, make sure everything's looking good. Morning caution lights are out, Everything's looking good. So now I'm not gonna make another radio call. Until I turn base and final. And I've mentioned that in a couple of the recent videos I've done for during coffee with Kenny. And I just combine right base and final or left base and final, depending.

On what you're doing.

So I just like doing that to make it into one radio call. At the school you're at, they may want you calling right base and then they want you calling final and that's okay. If that's what their procedure is, that's what they want you to do. You should always be doing what your flight school wants you to do or the airport you're flying at, depending on some kind of set procedure. You know, those are the things that you have to know as pilot in command for the area or airport that you're flying in. So I'm getting ready to set up my. Getting ready to turn on my right base again. You know, I just know when I'm ready I'm going to call right base, turning final. So I'm doing my descent, kind of getting ready for my approach and my pattern laid out here in the ground. I apply the same pattern pretty much all the time. Nice tree line to follow for base. So I'm going to level out and look both directions for traffic.

And then.

I'm going to make the downwind call or I'm sorry. Right base to final call plymouth traffic.

Helicopter 59, Apocalypse Trot Sierra.

Right base.

Turning final, Plymouth traffic.

Okay, so I'm going to line up on final and I don't really have to make another call until I'm down to the Runway. So I'll just chit chat with you here for a minute. When I went out to the ramp today, I didn't make a call going from the ramp over to the taxiway. I certainly could have if there was other traffic around. Would have been a good idea to say, you know, helicopter so and so transitioning from the ramp over to the taxiway. But it's really quiet here tonight. There's nobody around, it's evening time. So I chose not to make the call. Going from the ramp over to the Runway. I'm sorry, taxiway. Now when I get down to the Runway, down to my hover, I'm gonna do a clearing turn because I'm at an uncontrolled airport. So I want to look around before I make my call, tell everybody, know what I'm gonna do in the event right now. Let's say I screwed up the approach and I wanted to go around. I would just make a simple radio call on the traffic helicopter 5, 9 Foxtrot Sierra going around for 2A Plymouth. So it's important that you always start with the city that you're at or the airport you're at and end with the airport that you're at. Because a lot of times someone will only catch the beginning or only catch the end of your transmission. And you hear a lot of pilots do this where they only say it at the beginning. And then people go, where were they at, what airport they had? So it's always good to start with the airport name and end with the airport name. Okay, so now I'm down to hover. So first thing I want to do, because I'm at an uncontrolled airport, I need to be looking around the pattern for anybody else that might be coming in, might be somebody out here flying that. They don't have a radio, they don't have a radio on. They're on the wrong frequency. Whatever the case may be, you never know. And you can never trust that other people are stating their intentions. You just don't know. And by doing this turn, I can also clear the area, look for traffic. And now I know I'm not rushed for my takeoff, so I can take my time, finish my turn, do a great. Do a good hover. Pre takeoff check.

Warning.

Casting lights are out. Rpm's in the green, ample. Pressure's good. All my gauges are good. My fuel's good, Timer's running, everything's looking good. So now is a good time to make a call that I'm departing 28.

Per Wright traffic Coleman traffic helicopter November 59 Foxtrot Sierra departing 28 for right traffic.

Now that call, I use November.

Why?

I don't know. Because I just did. Normally starting out for the day when I my first call, either leaving the ramp or going to the taxiway. I should have started with November and then said the full call sign. It's a good practice to use November and your full call sign. And then after that, most people abbreviate and after you've done your first call sign the first time for that flight, say it's a half an hour flight or an hour lesson, then it's appropriate to abbreviate like pullman traffic helicopter 59 Foxtrot Sierra dropping off the November. So that is just some basic, basic uncontrolled airport flying. I did a video the other day. We'll put this in this course here about some tips on using a radio, talking confidently. But it's all about stating your intentions, even if you mess it up, or even if it's wrong, at least if you're talking, other people are looking and they might even say, hey, you just said right traffic. You mean left traffic, or whatever the case may be. Other pilots are going to help you out. So, you know, you're always thinking about these radio calls prior to the flight. You can practice in your car, driving to the airport, whatever the case may be. So that was just some normal pattern flying. So let's say now I wanted to land at the ramp, okay? Wind is out of the west, so it would be appropriate for me just to go to the Runway. But let's say I didn't want to land on the Runway. So what I'm gonna do is think about it there for a minute, what I wanted to say, which is all part of it. I'm technically on a right downwind. I'm just not going to use the Runway. So I'm going to just make up what I think sounds good, make someone understand. So here would be an example.

Plumber traffic helicopter November 59 Papatra Sierra, right downwind, landing main ramp, parallel Q8 plumbing.

So in that instance, I said landing parallel 2, 8, landing at the main ramp. So I don't want to use Runway when I go to the ramp. Very common for helicopter pilots to go straight direct to a ramp if it's safe. In training, we pretty much keep people going to the Runway and the taxiways for, you know, a nice, good standard traffic pattern. But as you get more and more into it, you get your license, you got there. Flying the real world, there's going to be times where, you know, you want.

To get to the.

You want to get on the ground and you'd rather just go, you know what, I got a nice straight shot right here to the ramp. I'm just going to do that. So again, I already made the call, so I can make another call and I can just come up with whatever, anything sounds right.

Plummet traffic, helicopter 59, Foxtrot Sierra, midfield final for the main ramp traffic.

So again, you know, trying to think of what you want to say in the clearest, shortest, most, I don't know, most clear terms using the least amount of words is gonna be best. You know, I first learned that as a police officer, right? You want to limit your time on the radio in case somebody's calling for help. It's the same thing in an aircraft. You don't want to drag your.

Transmissions.

Out into some big, long ordeal. And you'll hear pilots do that. You'll hear them going, hey, George, you're.

Going down to the fish dinner tomorrow night? Yeah, me and my buddies are going down there.

Blah, blah, blah. Don't do that. That's so unprofessional. And what if somebody is out there.

Needing help and you're covering them up.

Because you're talking about the fish dinner on Friday night? All right.

I am Kenny Keller, creator helicopter line ground school. Free radio course down below. Put the link up above too. Thanks again for the coffee cup. Sky Pro Aviation.

That's slick.

That's a nice cup. Very, very cool.

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