Episode 416: "What is the Vuichard Method and is it Preferred?"
22 Nov 2025 · 6 min
Podcast episode (host Kenny Keller) addressing a listener question about the Vuichard (Richard) method for helicopter vortex-ring-state recovery and whether it is preferred versus the traditional technique. The host explains the conventional recovery (increase airspeed/partially lower collective to exit the vortex), describes scenarios where the Vuichard/Richard method is useful (low-altitude operations near obstacles, e.g., power-line work), and points listeners to a detailed instructional video and other HOGS training resources. The episode also promotes HOGS digital products (free PDF 'Private Pilot 101' blueprint, R22/R44 course updates), an affiliate program (hogspayme.com), and limited in-person training spots for spring 2025.
Chapters
And what was the next one, Lindsey, from Bill asking if you can explain the Vouchard method and is it preferred? Yeah, and we actually, we'll just cover that real quick. We have a good video that Hauser did and we'll put that down below here that you can watch after the fact. I'll have Lindsay look up the link for it and we'll put that in there. I still pretty much most of the time just do the standard old method where you just get airspeed and fly away. The traditional recovery is accomplished by increasing air sport airspeed and or partially lowering collective to exit the vortex, which is what we've done for years. In most helicopters, lateral cyclic thrust combined with an increase in power and lateral anti torque thrust will produce the quickest exit from the hazard. So that has become popular. And you know, the typical one that we do just that most of the time is selling with recovering is just you have airspeed and altitude or you have altitude, not air speed. You have altitude, you can fly any direction. You can go this way, you can go that way. But the whole key is to get moving forward and fly out of it. The Richard method is good for people who are flying in that environment. Let's say maybe power lines, right where they're working in an environment where they're obviously in the high velocity diagram. They're not real high above the ground and if they get a sling of power, they would need a quicker way to exit that. They may not have enough altitude to increase speed to fly out of it. And that's why the Richard method that they mentioned there was developed, is to help you get out of that by just making those inputs versus flying out of it, taking away that descent. So we'll put that link down below for that video because Hauser really loves teaching that we have a good video on that. So we'll throw that down below for you to take a look at. And our clone is located@askhogs.com you can go below and click on the link to go check it out. 24 hours a day, seven days a week, you can ask training related questions. Flight and ground. 14 years of my contents loaded in this thing. Blogs, podcasts, videos, paid content, free content. There's over 6 million words piped into my clone. It's amazing. Go down below askhogs.com the clone is free to everyone and and the clone is also inside of our HOG site on every video, every page. So you can be in viewing videos and you can always ask the clone a question while you're at it. So you can get an immediate answer first. Right here is free free PDF private pilot 101 helicopter training blueprint. That's why we created this. And let me cover what's in the first chapter. Since you ask and you're at the beginning. That's why we created this. The first chapter are questions that we've. We took like the top 10 questions that we get all the time. Like is learning how to fly a helicopter difficult? How long will it take to become a private pilot? How much will it cost to become a private pilot? What is the best approach to selecting a flight school? What are the key differences between helicopters and fixed wing aircraft? How many tests will I have to take? How many hours for solo on the license? Kenny's recommended training supplies so this is absolutely 100% free. You can go down below, there's a link down below. Or you can type in your browser privateblueprint.com and you can download immediately after you sign up. You'll sign up, enter your name and email and the next page will show you download your book here. That's where you should start because again it's free. Or subscribe to the YouTube channel. Subscribe the channel. You'll get notification when the new video comes out for either the live or the premiere, whichever way we do it. And then we want to also bring up. We are updating and starting to update our R22 specific course behind us. Course behind us Course using the helicopter behind us. Lindsay's in charge of getting in there and updating some images. In the R22 site section of Hogs. We have R22 specific section and an R44 specific section that come with any of our memberships. So you don't have to buy that. Specifically we use private pilot for example, monthly membership. It has both the R22 and R44 sections in there. And since we have an R22 available to us and an R44 available to us, we thought why not get the content updated in those courses with some fresh videos, brushed images and also want to mention hogspaysme.com this is passive income. You want to earn some money, particularly if you're a flight instructor. Anybody can use the Hogs affiliate link. You go to hogspayme.com that link is down below. You'll sign up for it. It'll give you access to a dashboard inside that you'll see your link and a link to share with others. So when they sign up, you receive 50% off our online memberships. Private Pilot, commercial pilot, instrument pilot, certified flight instructor and or private or professional pilot. That's 2,800 bucks. If you share your link with one of your students and they buy Propilot, it's lifetime membership for all courses. You will get $1,400 shipped to your PayPal account after the 30 days. So we have a few spots left for the spring of 2025. So you got to get in now if you want one of these. Because of course as we're moving into spring, people are talking, they're calling. So we've got like three spots left for the spring if you want to get in. We're going to put a link down below this video. We've got a short questionnaire to see if you qualify for the final approach course. Go through that, the link below. Answer the question. We'll get back to you if you look like you're a good fit or we're a good fit to get you finished up. We got three spots basically for the spring so we can make you number 20, number 21 and number 22 on the hogs Wall of Fame. 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 another day. Helicopterground. Com.
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