Kenny Keller coaches the hover-auto maneuver, a controlled descent from 3-4 feet where you roll off throttle while applying right pedal to track torque, then use collective to cushion the landing. He compares how R22 and 44 helicopters handle the move differently.
As always, we're going to do our two step pickup process. We're going to start feeling our skids lighter and lighter and lighter. And we're going to start correcting for our moves. There we go. And we want to be at about a two, well, three to four foot hover really is what my preference is at this very moment. We want to make sure that we're there for safety purposes, to make sure that we have a reference and we're going to look at the horizon just like a normal hover. And the idea is that we have a string attached to our right pedal and we want to roll off the throttle as we introduce right pedal so we can track the effects of the torque going away. As we settle, we want to pull our collective up so we can cushion the landing. And if anything, we want to move just a tiny bit forward if we need to, but never towards the side or backwards. We need to anticipate that we. We don't have tail rudder. Frost, our helicopter is going to want to go towards the left where the tail thrust was. And we need to keep going. Be aware of that. We're going to start it and I'm going to count down from 3, 2, 1. And then we're going to roll off. We're going to do it now. Practice over auto. 3, 2, 1. And we're going to roll off. And then as we settle, we pull. Oh, I didn't like that. Could have been better.
Not bad though. And I cheat him down to about a foot or two.
Okay.
You can certainly do it where you're at if you want. I, I taught, I was taught that in the very beginning. Like we say three to five, but we cheat him down about a foot or two.
Okay.
And I've never had an examiner.
Whiskey departing Runway. Would you mind if we do another one? Will be northwest down.
Go ahead.
And Warsaw.
So you can go up to where you did if you want.
Or I can cheat him a little bit.
You can try what I do a little lower. Like a foot or two.
Perfect. Back to 100. Piece of decent degree. No warning lights. Clear. Right. Perfect. Always. Nice smooth pickup.
You kept the nose straight. I mean, I think we were a little aggressive on the up pull a little bit. I mean we landed pretty good, but then we almost came back up, I.
Think a little bit. Yeah, I'm not used to. How much lift does the 44 have? Are you on frequency?
That's the difference, Right. As you're used to flying the R22.
Oh yeah.
You got more inertia here.
Far more. More surface, too. It helps. So perfect. We're gonna start our hover auto with the same conditions. About three. One. We're gonna roll down and then pull.
You like pulling to the armpit, don't you?
What is that? I want to cushion it.
You like pulling to the armpit?
I like to cushion it.
That's fine.
There we go.
When you feel the pressure to fly, but know the right decision is to stay on the ground, Hit the hogs. No. Go and live to fly. Helicopterground. Com.
