Kenny Keller (Coffee with Kenny, day 57) gives practical instruction on hovering autorotations for helicopter students and instructors. He emphasizes mental preparation and precise timing (use a 1-2-3 countdown), keeping the aircraft nose straight, repositioning the hand for throttle roll-off while applying right pedal smoothly, and a recommended "11000 pull" (check POH). He also suggests a slight forward-right cyclic on entry to counter tendencies. The video includes an anecdote, and ends with a promotion for his online ground school (40% off with code "Crazy 40", sale through March 15; yearly memberships are subscriptions).
Chapters
Good morning. Coffee with Kenny. We're going to cover the number five. Helicopter flight training pilot struggle, hovering auto rotations. I've got, like, three total hovering auto videos already on YouTube. But you know what? All I really need to teach you, the best tip is my kitchen. This morning, I coffee number one, I come up with the idea. I'm going to do hoverado coffee number two, I got everything set up, so I'm going to grab coffee number three. We all have our own strengths and weaknesses as instructors. One of the toughest ones I find to teach is slope landings. I struggle teaching people that one. But hoverados, for whatever reason, this is the one I like to teach, and this is the one that I can help people with. And even when I. Early on, when I was working at a busy flight school, when somebody was struggling teaching a student hoverados, they'd send them to me. Don't know why. Yeah, I do, because I. Because I learned early on it's all about timing, okay? Really and truly. No helicopter required. You have to have the knowledge up here, and you have to understand it up here, or else it's never going to work in the aircraft. So we got a little simulated Runway here. Because what I want to show you is during your checkride, during the hoverado, here's what's important. And I'm using this because I want to make the point. It's about keeping the nose straight. Most likely, even if you set down a little hard, if you keep that nose straight, you're gonna pass, okay? So you need to have a good plan. You have to get a good setup going. Your hover needs to be nice. You need to reposition your hand on the throttle so that you've got room to twist the throttle off. And when you enter this thing, it has to be like this, where it's rolling the throttle off, pushing the right pedal in a smooth motion. And then the key is 11000 pull. Okay? Now check the POH for any aircraft you're flying, anything that. That your school or instructor wants you to do. But I can tell you, in all the aircraft that I've been flying over the years, this pretty much works. The 11000 might be a little too long or not enough. But in general, in the instrument, it works really well. So if you're prepared, good setup. Reposition your hand, have everything ready, and be looking outside, not down at the ground, not over here, not the controls. You need to be looking forward, and it has to be 1, 2, 3, enter, or whatever you say. 3, 2, 1, enter. Whatever your countdown is, but it has to be 1, 2, 3. And you got to be smooth as you roll throttle. You got to do the right pedal. And it's learning how much. Everybody says, well, why don't you do a video and put the cameras, you know, inside and on all the controls? And, you know, that's pretty complicated. That's hard to do. And you can do it, and I'm sure somebody's done it. But every single aircraft, the amount of that movement is going to be different. You have to know for the day, and you have to know in your mind, 1, 2, 3, enter. Nice and smooth, coordinated with throttle off, right pedal. Now, this is, of course, counterclockwise system. That's what I fly. Everything I fly is a counterclockwise system looking down from above. So understanding the timing is key. If you don't have the timing up here in your mind, it's not going to work. You. You have to understand it up here first before you're going to make it work in the aircraft. The problem people do this or they jam that. That's the first problem. So smooth. Then there's got to be a pause and then pull to set down nicely. And I'll give you one example from the beautiful black instrument we fly. And My good buddy, Dr. Nick, I remember on his private, he enters nose goes right, but he pulls it back right before he sets down, and boom. And the examiner's like, after the. On the debrief, he was like, you almost failed on that hoverado, but you saved it because he had the nose straight. So the maneuver, it's all about the nose and it's about being controlled. And then last tip I can think of works for me, may not work for you. When I enter it with the cyclic, I push a little bit forward and a little bit to the right. Because most generally the tendency is the aircraft nose wants to go this way and it wants to come back a little bit. That's my experience. Okay? So over the years, my technique is when I enter it, I push a little bit forward and a little bit to the right, but it's ever so slight, you can't even see it. It's so slight to just help keep that aircraft in place and make it nice and smooth coming down. Those are my tips. That's what works for me. Hopefully that helps you. Day 57, coffee with Kenny. It's been amazing. Got to thank everybody for being here. Day 14 of our seven years online sale started yesterday, goes to the 15th of March. I'm going to put the links down below for all the big discounts and the links below will take you direct to the page that shows you what the discount is. It's big. 40% off crazy 40. That's the code. But if you go to the proper link down below, you won't even need the code. Crazy 40 is the code for 40% off yearly or professional pilot membership. And remember, if you go with the yearly, it is a subscription. So you got one year to remove your credit card unless you want to keep it for year two. It is a subscription. You can sign up, you can unsubscribe an hour later if you want to, and the training will be there for a year. But you have to either remove your credit card or end your subscription. And PayPal if you do not want to be billed for year number two. Hope that helps with hoverados. That's good stuff. That's what works for me and has worked for me for years. It's about timing. It's got to be up here. You got to have it right in your mind. If you don't understand it up here, it's not going to work in the aircraft. So happy 7 years online ground school, helicopter line ground school. Thanks everybody. Your comments, every comment helps. Every like helps. You all help keep coffee with Kenny going. You help keep a helicopter line ground school going. We've had amazing seven years and it's just absolutely incredible. So thanks everybody. See you in day 58.
