#91 COLLECTIVE controls the angle | CYCLIC controls the speed | Day 91 CWK

Foreign. Welcome to day 91. It's a Saturday. Another beautiful day. Collective controls the angle, cyclic controls the speed. Steam's coming off. Coffee, Coffee. Number three for our helicopter. Add on week. Our pilot that's been coming in this week, same struggle as a lot of people. You got to remember that he's used to flying an airplane where you got to have speed all the way in. Of course, this is different when you're going from airplane to helicopter. Airplane approaches fast, helicopter approaches slow. So again, you gotta change hats. So I remember in town, no different than anybody else, we had to review a little bit because I told him, let's freshen up the normal approach first, because everything starts with a normal approach. And then we can build on the steep and the shallow from the normal. Just like everything begins and ends with a hover. So the thing I've had to do is slow him down, okay? And this is totally normal. He's not doing anything abnormal. Everybody does this. I know I did fixed wing after helicopter. So when I'm doing these approaches in the airplane, I keep trying to slow down and my instructor's beating me, you know, going, you're gonna kill us. Opposite in the helicopter. There are a couple different schools of thought on approaches in helicopters. What this gentleman did, starting at 300 AGL, kept the speed all the way in there and then flared it at the end, okay? Some people teach it that way, and their argument is the height velocity diagram. Well, I was taught early on by the guy I like to mention often, who a guru in the industry. Wonderful man, Vietnam era pilot, still doing check rides all these years later. Glad he's still out there doing it. And he taught me, he said, kenny, the height velocity diagram is built for takeoff. It's not built for approaches. And on my private or commercial, I did both checkrides with the same guy. I was taught by somebody doing a faster approach, and of course he knew that, right? So my checkride, what do I do? I keep a lot of speed coming in, and we get to the end of the approach and he goes, what'd you think of that? And I said, oh, I thought it was pretty good. And he's like, I thought it was hot. This guy's gonna kill somebody someday. So what he taught me was the height velocity diagram doesn't apply to approaches. It's built for takeoff. So he taught me, you know, you want to slow the aircraft all the way from the beginning. Let's say you're starting your approach at 60. You might be depending on your aircraft, maybe something different. But 60 is standard for every aircraft that I fly. So at 300 AGL, you're starting at 60, and then you're gradually slowing that thing down the whole time. You're coming in a little bit by little bit. So by the end that you don't have any speed, and you're keeping it nice and level as you come in, not putting a big flare on it. If you do that, it takes bigger control inputs and it's messier, and it's harder to work with the pedals and the collective and the rpm, and it just makes things kind of messy. If you can keep it nice, keep that angle nice, and you come in nice and slow, and you come in real nice and level. The inputs are very small, and it just makes it so much cleaner. And so the memory aid is collective controls the angle, cyclic controls the speed. So if you put an imaginary line from the beginning of your approach at 300 AGL, you want to follow that imaginary line all the way down to your spot. And you're using the collective to control that angle, and you're using the cyclic to control that speed. So if you use that as your memory aid, collective controls the angle, cyclic controls the speed. Start in your approach at 300 AGL. Example 60, if everything's set up real nice at 300 AGL, you're following that line all the way down. You're using the collective to control that line. I had one guy that taught me and another guru. I just taught me so many, so much good stuff. He said, kenny, imagine you got a string right in the end of the nose of that aircraft. And picture that string all the way down to your spot. And just keep the nose on that string all the way in. Once you have your 300ing agl and you have your approach angle, follow that string, follow that line with the collective up or down, all the way down to your spot the whole time, using that cyclic to just gently slow down. We start at 60, then we're going to go to 50, then we're going to go To 40, then we're going to go TO 30, then we're going to go T 20, and we're going to go to 10, clear down to when we're level at the end. Nice and smooth. It just makes such a beautiful approach. What's kind of funny is the first couple days, he couldn't feel it, but I could feel it in the collective. I feel that collective, you know, that's like he's working on a hydraulic jack for lifting up a Car I feel the collector going up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down. And that's okay. I'm not picking on him because everybody does it right. And I'm going, you're just over controlling just smaller, tinier, smaller movements up and down with that collective to control that angle and just keep using that cyclic to control the speed. So if you do that and you use it as your memory aid, it's a lot easier to fly that approach. And remember, we're keeping it in trim above 50ft. We're keeping it in trim. That's all you got to remember. And as you're coming in on that approach, somewhere around 50ft AGL is where you're going to use your pedals to just line up with the Runway. Collective controls the angle, cyclic controls the speed in trim above 50ft, parallel with the Runway below 50ft. I am Kenny Keller, creator of Helicopter Airline Ground School. I'd like to hear your comments down below about approaches because I know I've heard the arguments on this one over the years. I'm going to say this is how I teach it, this is how I do it, and it's how I've been doing it for 20 years. And that's what people expect or the examiners expect. When I send somebody to a checkride. I'm not going to argue the point. I'm going to say this is my method. It's what I was taught early on and it's what I've been using all these years is the slower approach slowing it down the whole time you're coming in. And the last thing I want to say about the whole approach is let's say you're using the numbers 2.8 as your spot. Whatever your spot is great. But I'm going to use the numbers 2, 8, just for example, right? So when you're up here 300 AGL, you're looking at that spot and the whole time you're coming in the way I got this gentleman, this member, to slow down was I said quit looking at the airspeed and quit looking at the spending so much time inside because he was focusing inside like a lot of people do, right? You want to look at the numbers 2, 8, it should always look like you're approaching those numbers at the same speed. And that makes a lot of sense. When you're using the collective controls the angle, cyclic controls the speed. If you're gradually slowing down the whole time you're coming in, it will always look like you're approaching those numbers at the same speed. If you keep a lot of speed coming in and you're going fast, as you get closer and closer to 2.8, those numbers are going to look like they're coming at you faster. So another good memory aid is it should always look like you're approaching those numbers at the same speed. Love to hear your comments down below about approaches, your struggles, what's worked for you, what doesn't work for you, what do you think about the height, velocity diagram not applying to approaches? Another beautiful morning. Man, just love this. Day 91 all started 91 days ago, right out here drinking a cup of coffee. 91 days later, here we are. So go below to take our 24 hour test flight for helicopter online ground school. You can take the monthly memberships 24 hour test flight. If you want to keep the training, great. If you decide it's not right for you, just in that first 24 hours, remove your credit card from within the site or end your subscription and PayPal and it's keep as long as you like, cancel anytime. You want it for one month, great. You want it for three months, great. You want to cancel, take a break and come back months later, that's great too. So many people are doing that now not only for taking a break, say during the private, but they're doing that private. 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