A short instructional YouTube video by Kenny Keller emphasizing the importance of performing a hover pre-takeoff check in helicopter training. Keller explains a simple top-to-bottom panel scan in an R44, gives numeric guidance (3–5 ft hover, ~10–20 seconds) for the pre-takeoff hover to detect engine/avionics issues, criticizes pilots who skip this step (notably social-media 'hot dog' pilots), and promotes his book Private Pilot 101 (free PDF and paperback).
Questions this video answers
R44
3–5 ft
About 10–20 seconds ("10, 15, 20 seconds")
Book: Private Pilot 101 (free PDF available and paperback for sale)
Chapters
There are a lot of instructors out there not teaching hover pre takeoff checks and my examiner says that's a bad thing. He sees it. And from our book, Private Pilot 101, hover pre takeoff check, a non negotiable safety measure. This is Private Pilot 101. You can get a free PDF down below and order the paper back down below as well. I'm going to show you how we do it in the R44. Very simple to do, very quick to do. Going to have Lindsey bring the camera over. So depending on where you fly, people have their own terminology in the way they say, you know their pre hover, pre take off check. But I just always think no matter what you're flying, I start at the top and just work down. So in this aircraft to be warning and caution lights are out, take a quick glance over your instruments. Carburetor temp, make sure it's out of the yellow. Check your, make sure your battery's charging, everything's in the green. Got your fuel going or fuel timer started. Check to make sure you have avionics, strobes, navigation, whatever else you need. Boom. You're done. So a hover pre takeoff check is done because you want to lift up off the ground. Give that engine just a few seconds to put a load on it because things can change between sitting on the ground and just lifting up to a three to five foot hover before you take off. It only takes 10, 15, 20 seconds. You're giving that engine a chance to puke, sputter act funny. It gives you a chance to notice something that might be going wrong with the aircraft before you do that takeoff. These should be done and verbalized every single takeoff. And I want to bash social media and the hot dog pilots that you see on social media all the time. Aggressive takeoffs from the ground, no hover pre talk pre takeoff check. And it's like you're showing the world that you're a hot dog. You're showing the world that you're just so confident that you know everything on that aircraft is running perfectly and that you've done the perfect startup and didn't forget something. That hover pre takeoff check is to make sure the aircraft is performing properly, it's not going to fail on you on takeoff. And it's to make sure that you didn't forget something as you went through your startup checklist. People have different methodology and I don't care what you use as long as you're using a thorough pre takeoff check. Use the terminology your instructor uses or make something up of your own. But it's really not that difficult. Just think about just look at that panel. Start at the top and just work your way down a very simple flow. You'll get good at it, you'll get fast and you should verbalize that every single takeoff. So again, just one of the many things that we talk about in Private Pilot 101 helicopter training blueprint. Amazon number one best seller. We're really proud of it. Spent a lot of time just all kinds of stuff about flight training, ground training. We talk about our Ask Hogs.com, our new clone among many, many other things. So again, free PDF down below paper book down below. Come back tomorrow for something else cool and exciting. Peace out.
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. Helicop ground combination.
