Rotor Tips for Helicopter Enthusiasts: Full Presentation from Heli Expo

Is the course that's titled DPE Pet Peeves. So if this is not the course that you thought you're going to be in, this would be a good time to leave. And for those of you that I paid to come here, see me later. Good morning. More about me in just a minute. I'd like to first see the makeup of the experience in the room. So let's begin with. First, raise your hand if you have at least a student pilot certificate. Raise your hand and keep them up. This is like that. This is like that anniversary dance at weddings, you know, where everybody keeps dancing and they say they've been married 35 years. So this works on the same way. Keep your hands up. How about those that have at least a private pilot's license? Just a couple hands went down. Commercial pilot's license. Nice. Commercial flight instructor. CFIs still impressive. All right, here we go. ATP airline transport rating. That's fine. ATP. ATP.

It sought accounts.

The last one. Designated pilot examiners. One. Okay, Jerry's here. Two.

Okay.

Two. Okay, great. Welcome. This is kind of cool. Hai reached out to me probably about six months ago, and they saw a video that Kenny had produced. And I want to take this time to introd at least one, and that's Kenny Keller, the guy behind the scenes. He helped me produce this presentation. He is the creator of Helicopter Online Ground School. And again, Hai saw this video series that he had done and they said, hey, can you bring that to Hai? And I said, I'd love to. So as we got closer to the show, I reached out to Kenny. I said, you know, remember that series we did? And I said, can we redefine that? Can we tune that up? And he said, sure. Y. I wrote the script and Kenny brought out his staff who are all with us here today, including his daughter Gloria. And we redefined it. So we're not calling it the DPE Pet Peeves anymore. We're going to call it Rotor Tips. But that's really not important about myself. Here's the 30 second bio. I started flying back in 1981, with most of my time earlier in corporate jets. I eventually started to learn to fly helicopter in 2000 and literally fell in love with rotorcraft. Until recently, I was the director of operations for a company called Sweet Helicopters. They are a part 135 VIP program. We've got three 109s and SPs, three H130s and a H125. And just recently, we added Air Medical HAA to our program. And now we do manage The Parkview Hospital Samaritan, they have two Dauphines and if you saw, if you've been on the show floor and have been to the Leonardo booth, there was an Agusta 169. That's the Parkview helicopter and that is one that we will be managing very soon. When I'm not flying helicopters, I'm the airport manager at the Goshen and Municipal Airport. Goshen, Indiana is located up near South Bend and I helped start the FBO there back in 1992. I'm one of the founders of Goshen Air Center. So last year Kenny did this video series and we did redefine it. I did help write the script and one of the actors in there is a friend of ours, Chris Hauser. And Chris Works had worked for us full time. He's now one of our part time VIPs and he too was a med pilot over at the South Bend Memorial Med flight program. So when you see Chris, and if you knew Chris, you would understand his personality and I think you're going to enjoy it. What else do I need? The runtime on this is about 30 minutes. So what I did is rather than just list the top 10 things that bothered me as a DPE and for the two DPEs here, I'm anxious to have you watch this and give rest of us your input if there's one that I might have missed or two that I might have missed here. So rather than just name them and bore you guys to death, we decided to make a video. So Kenny and his colleagues and I spent about three days, I think it was 4 of video and everything from some classroom shots. The last hour we took the 109s up. And so if you don't care, if you could care less about the top 10 rotor tips, I think you might enjoy the flight in the 109s. So the aircraft is a 109s, it's 45 Sierra Hotel. I think you'll enjoy it and without further ado, I'll let Kenny come up here and do his magic and rotortips. Brought to you by helicopter Online Ground.

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Foreign.

Welcome, I'm Randy Sharkey and we are inside the sweet helicopter hangar located in Goshen, Indiana. In just a few minutes we will push the aircraft outside and get started on our journey to successfully passing your Next practical test. Sweet Helicopters is owned and operated by Chuck Surak, who also happens to be a commercial helicopter pilot himself. Sweet Helicopters corporate headquarters and maintenance facility are located in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Today we are going to produce a video called Rotor Tips. In this video, you review 10 tips on helping students pass their rotorcraft practical test. Last year, Kenny Keller, creator of Helicopter Online Ground school, did a 10 part series on the top 10 pet peeves as a DPE. Now we've taken that and redefined it into the latest rotor tips. We hope that you find them helpful. If nothing else, I hope you enjoyed the ride. In our Agusta 109s. Kenny has cameras positioned in different places throughout the aircraft to give you some great angles. Now, I do have to mention this disclaimer. Today's rotor tips are not mandated by the FAA and they are only to serve as an educational guideline as you prepare to take your practical Rokokraft test.

Welcome aboard Aragusta 109s. It is one of three twin engine helicopters here in our Swede helicopter VIP fleet. Joining me up front on this flight is no stranger to twin engine helicopters, Kenny Keller. Kenny will be flying along with us and here, eventually he is going to take the controls and I am going to listen Our newest top 10 rotor tips for passing your next practical test. Our first rotor tip. It doesn't require any studying at all and it should be a given, but unfortunately for many people it is not. So let's bring it to the forefront and that is first impressions. It seems like there are acronyms for everything in aviation, right? Let's pick one for first impressions because it includes three separate subjects that I want to talk about. Let's use oat. Now, for many of you pilots, oat, it stands for outside air temperature. But for the purpose of this conversation, let's make OAT O stand for this. O is organized A appearance and T timeliness. Check out this video on how not to participate in oat.

Oh, sorry, sorry.

Oh, we're down to the checklist now where I need to identify you. So I need a photo id, your FAA medical and your current pilot's license. If you could get those to me, I will run out make a copy.

All right, let me look for all that stuff.

Okay.

Again, I apologize for being late. I was. There's my license. I was out with the friends last night and I forgot to set my alarm and it was a late night and where.

Oh, what's wrong?

I thought my medical was in here. Hang on, let me see if I Can find my medical.

Okay. So so far I have your driver's license for Indiana, so I.

Let me.

I still need an FAA medical. Oh, there's my. There's my ship pilot's license. Okay.

All right.

Man, I don't know what I do with my medical. Maybe I should have stayed home last night and got all this stuff ready. Hang on, hang on. Is there a way to get it if I don't have it?

No, I have to have your medical. Are you sure you packed it?

Yeah, I think you look. I don't know why, it's.

You look a little unorganized.

Well, I. Yeah, like I said, it was spirit of moment going out last night.

Oh, there it is.

Let's make sure it's valid.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There you go.

Okay.

Yeah, I'm sorry. I apologize.

I apologize.

Okay, I will go make copies and I will be right back.

Okay. Oh, man. This is not going well so far. Hope it gets better. What else could go wrong?

Organized in the video. Esau, our applicant is clearly not organized. His papers are scattered throughout the video. He has difficulty locating the documents needed to identify himself. And that includes the FAA medical and the pilot's license. A His appearance now wearing a T shirt, shorts and flip flops is probably just slightly too relaxed. But I'm also not advocating that you need to show up in a three piece suit or a dress. So how about somewhere in the middle? I think they call it business casual Might be appropriate. You know, maybe khakis and a polo shirt would be ideal. So appearance, that's important. And lastly, on oat, it's timeliness. Timeliness. It falls under first impressions. My recommendation is to maybe 30 to 60 minutes before the scheduled appointment with the examiner. That way you can take your time and you can relax. You'll get there plenty early and you can get things set up. Maybe look around the building that you're meeting. And if this is your first time there, you'll want to find out where the coffee pot is and maybe where the restrooms are at. And that will just help you be relaxed as well. So again, we're talking about oat organized appearance and timeliness. And if you follow those three suggestions, I can almost assure you it will help reduce the stress. More on stress. Coming up, our next rotor tip is no the PTS book. Inside and out. There are no secrets with this one. The FAA publishes exactly what the applicant should be studying for and what to expect on the checkride. One of my personal pet peeves is when a flight instructor calls me, maybe the day before the checkride and will say something like, hey, my student wants to know what areas of operation that he or she should be studying for for tomorrow's checkride.

Yeah, I'm just sitting here, I'm all anxious about the checkride tomorrow. Hey, I was thinking, what am I supposed to study exactly? I don't, I don't. There's so much stuff that we covered, I just didn't know what to look at. Pts?

What are you?

Post traumatic something or other. Oh, the practical test standards. Yeah, I think I got that book. It's a small little book that you. That's the test. Oh, yeah, Okay, I think I got it. I'll open it up and see. Does it talk about like, it covers like systems for aircraft and weather and. All right, what should I wear? I mean, should I. Because I just want to be comfortable. I'm gonna be all nervous anyway. I heard that examiner is a real stickler. Yeah, he only passes like one out of a hundred or something. Alright, so cover the practical test standards and just review like systems of the aircraft and weight and balance and all that.

Right? All right, all right.

Practical test standards.

I got it.

Got it. That's the exam. Alright, got it.

All right.

I appreciate it. Thanks.

My response is the same every time. It's very simple. Whatever is in the PTS works well for everyone. Additionally, whatever questions that the applicant has missed on the knowledge test will be incorporated into the oral questioning. Now say, for example, that the applicant maybe missed three questions regarding airspace. There really is a high probability that during the oral questioning portion of the test that we are going to talk about airspace. So what do they need to study for? You don't need to call me and ask. Just make sure that they are aware of the practical test guide. It's all fair game. Whatever in there is fair game. Now again, we can't ask everything that's in that book because it would take a couple of days to go through it. But there are no surprises. Whatever in the PTS will likely or areas of it will show up on the practical test. Our next rotor tip is talking about the IACRA login and password, or at least the struggles with the IACRA login and password. I have spent literally countless hours with applicants not knowing how to login to this government website and it really shouldn't be that difficult. However, you'll be shocked how painful that this step can be for the applicant. And what I have found for those that struggle with that login procedure is that the stress level goes up and Anytime the stress level goes up is when we start to lose some of the focus. So this note to the instructors, make sure that they know how to login to iacra. And the purpose of that is that the applicant needs to sign electronically the 8710 form. It's just part of the pre test protocols that the applicant has to do on this government website. And sadly, after three attempts, the website will lock the applicant out. And I've had this happen a few times. I'm sure other DPEs will attest to this, too. And it could delay the test an hour, maybe a couple hours.

All right, Mr. Houser, we are all the way down now to where you need to log into the 8710 and sign it for me. So looks like you don't have an iPad or anything, so I'll just let you use my laptop. So I am logged out and I will now just turn this around and I'll let you log in and then you can sign it electronically.

Okay.

Most guys have their password written down someplace. Remember my password. You got it.

Okay.

Because a lot of people struggle here.

Yeah.

So, yeah, I'm glad you came prepared and have it ready to go. All right, go ahead.

No problem.

Yep, go ahead.

Oh, that. That didn't work.

Keep in mind you're only allowed three chances and it will lock you out.

Okay, let me try again then. Hang on.

Okay.

All right.

I'm pretty sure this is it.

Okay, Good deal. All right, here we go.

Here we go.

Here we go.

Excellent. Okay. What? No. Are you locked out?

It's telling me that I've got to do a password recovery and call.

I think.

I apologize. I guess I probably should have wrote that down or had it somewhere.

All right.

Hi. I need help.

So, again, this is just a. It's just a recommendation to make sure that as an instructor, you have. You have prepped your student well enough. And this one's pretty easy. Just write it down someplace. Write down the login and the password, and this will go just so much easier for him. Our next rotor tip is talking about nerves. Everybody's nervous when they come to checkrides. And as examiners, we understand that undoubtedly the biggest obstacle is to overcome those nerves on checkride day. Here are just a couple of ideas that have really been successful for me. Arrive early, get everything organized on the table in front of you. If this is an unfamiliar place, take time to walk around and know your surroundings. And then go back to the meeting room, sit down and relax. This is not the time for last minute studying, this is the time that you need to do whatever helps you relax. Now, some people have earbuds with soft music playing before the examiner arrives. Okay, so the examiner is there now. Maybe do some small talk with him before the test begins. You can talk about your families, you can talk about aviation. Everybody likes to talk about aviation, right? So maybe do that. This is also big that I have found that works is don't tell the world of the day of your check rides. In fact, maybe keep it a secret. That way if things don't work out exactly like you had hoped it would, you don't have to go back and tell anybody about it.

I saw the instrument sitting out there and man, what a great looking helicopter. So, yeah, let's just figure out what you know. In reference to the aircraft itself. You brought the 280Fx. Can you tell me what the maximum gross weight of the aircraft is?

That includes like fuel, right? And luggage and all that together?

Normally, yes.

I want to say it's like, man, I want to say it's like £27,000. No, not 27,000. Like 2700. Maybe somewhere in there, give or take the density, altitude, maybe somewhere in there.

What do you. Let's.

What do you think? I mean, what would you suggest?

What do I think?

Yeah.

Well, I'll tell you what I think. But I guess right now, I'll tell you what.

Mr. Truck, I'm just so nervous.

You look, you look. I'm nervous. So what's.

I told my friends and my family, I told everybody about this checkride today. And so I just really have to do well and pass. And I told my girlfriend, like, after I pass, we'll fly down and we'll go get dinner somewhere. So I'm just really. I feel like I, you know, I just got all this pressure and I just, you know, maybe I'm just not.

Part, Part of passing a checkride is being able to control your own nerves. And you got off to a rough start just because you were about 20 minutes late.

So keep it a secret. Also, part of the briefing is to let the applicant know that perfection is not the standard. It's what we will tell the applicant. And what does that mean? It means that you aren't expected to know every answer that is asked of you. I had an applicant. Oh, I think it was this past month that said to me, oh, man, I can't, I'm drawing a total blank. Can I call a friend? Well, I can't exactly let you call a friend. But what I can do is have you take time and look at your notes or, or go to your book and look it up. And that's okay. You know, we, we expect that there are times that it's perfectly fine to, to go to your notes or go to the book. What I would encourage you to do is don't try to bluff the examiner because he's going to figure that out pretty quick. So be honest. Just let him know that you forgot that one. You've talked about it, but you just can't think of it. And I'm pretty confident, as long as you're not doing it every couple of minutes, that he'll let you do that. I have found that those applicants that have gotten off to a good, solid start are those applicants that have showed up on time, that are organized and confident in their knowledge of their aircraft. Those ones that have prepped hard the day before the checkride. That has always worked out well by following those rules, I believe also will help calm those nerves. Our next rotor tip is. Where are all of your endorsements? This one is the responsibility of your flight instructor. It's his or her responsibility to make sure you have all the proper endorsements that have been signed with the corresponding FAR. A good source is the Advisory Circular 6165 Air, dated August of 2018. Or just simply search FAA Piloted Endorsements. It's also not a bad idea to tab out the requirements in Part 61. This will help the examiner verify that you meet the requirements of 61 109. And our next rotor tip is talking about a lack of knowledge on the maintenance records. I believe that more time needs to be spent from flight instructors on this topic because logbooks are so valuable that we are finding more flight schools and owners of helicopters are reluctant, maybe hesitant, to let those maintenance logbooks leave the building or come out of the safe. But as a result, I'm also seeing that applicants are really weak in that area.

So would the sheet, would it say like annual on the sticker?

Have you, have you seen these before?

Sir, I gotta be honest with you, I've never seen this book before.

You've never seen a maintenance logbook before?

No. Every time I'd show up for training the instructor, we would do a little bit of ground, then we would go fly for an hour and a half and I would ask every once in a while, and he would just say, oh, we'll do it next time. And of course, I'm flying at a flight school and they keep them locked up in their maintenance bay.

Or whatever.

And it just seems like every time I'd say something it was always, oh, how about we do it next time? Or you know, and then. So I gotta be honest with you, this is first time I've seen this book.

All right, so let's take a break. I will get a hold of your instructor and we will see where to go from here. Okay, thanks.

So what I would like to see are instructors to go get the maintenance logbooks, get them out of the safe again, take good care of them and sit down with your students and go through it and make sure they know the difference between what an annual is and what a 100 hour inspection might be. Point out the pedal static inspections. I have found that some flight schools will send along a status sheet. It's typically just a one page document. And on that sheet it will show me when the annual was done, that 100 hours was done, maybe the component times. It summarizes everything. But again, it is not a substitute for the maintenance logbooks themselves. So my recommendation on this one to you instructors are to spend more time with your students in the maintenance lookbooks. Our next rotor tip is to know your aircraft. Some of the best applicants that what I've seen over the years are those that are really, really familiar with the rotorcraft flight manual, the RFM or the PoH, whatever you want to call it. Those applicants that show up in their own aircraft, well, they probably have a slight advantage over someone who is renting from the local flight school. This happens to be one of my least favorite statements from the applicant. That is, well, this is probably the last time I'll be flying this make and model because I'm buying my own helicopter when I get home. So what they really are trying to imply is that they really don't need to be that familiar with the helicopter that they showed up for in the checkride. And I want to let the applicants know that this is really incorrect thinking. You should treat that this make and model honestly is the one that's going to get you safely home by yourself if you happen to have flown to the checkride that day. I hear the excuse a lot when they say, well, you know, I'm just here long enough to get transition into the aircraft. I'm going to use this helicopter to take a checkride in. I really want them to understand and to know the aircraft. I feel that the emergency procedures in the RFM are very important. I will ask applicants if this specific light illuminates, what does it mean and what is the pilot's corrective action. Because in the event of an actual emergency, you will not have time to refer to the RFM for guidance.

All right, let's just talk about the emergency section of the 280Fx. Okay? What happens if this red light comes on when you're flying? It's going to be up here on the annunciator panel, so it's this specific red light. Tell me what the pilot's corrective action is when you see that light.

Oh, I'm going to just start praying. I'm just probably not. I'm probably going to tell my passengers that we're probably going down.

I mean, red means bad, so typically. But this red light itself, what does that indicate? What is that?

Is that the low rotor rpm? Oh, that means that the rotor is spinning way too fast.

Oh, low.

God. See, I can't even think straight. Low rotor, duh. Low rotor means that the rotor is not spinning fast enough.

Yeah, let's just stop here for a second and let's talk about how this is going to be.

Do you mind if I take a break? Can I go to the bathroom or something?

Yeah, get going.

You know, we're only 500ft above the ground. We're 1,000ft above the ground. In the event of an engine failure, you won't have time to go grab the RFM and reference it. So there are certain portions of the emergency section that I feel that you need. You do need to memorize and not only to pass the oral portion of the test, but even more importantly, it could save your life. So please know your aircraft. Our next rotor tip is, the winds are so much stronger than I'm used to. If I had a dime for every time that an applicant blamed the winds as a reason for their poor performance, I would encourage the applicants to fly with their instructors on the windy days and the gusty days. I know it's easy to cancel on those days, but if check ride day happens to be a little windier day, they really can't be using the winds as an excuse for their poor performance. I've seen that from time to time. And as helicopter pilots, we can use the winds to our favor for some of the tasks that are going to be conducted that day. I'll talk to instructors right here. If you feel the winds are really gusty and, you know, maybe severe too strong, yeah, it's okay to cancel that. What I'm talking about is don't be afraid to fly on those days where the winds are gusting up over 20 knots because there probably will be a day that your student is going to have to fly in conditions like that. So it's important to fly in all types of weather conditions. The winds are much stronger than I'm used to. Keep that in mind, instructors, and let's try to fly with the students even on some of the windier days. Our next rotor tip is can I use my iPad in place of paper? And my answer is, you bet. However, don't let an electronic device become your worst enemy. An airplane DPE colleague told me that his applicant iPads froze during a simulated ILS approach and the applicant did not have a backup. And when the examiner asked him to execute the missed approach procedure, well, guess what? The applicant also froze. And that checkride ended soon thereafter. I also had an applicant that was using his electronic device for a weight and balance calculation only discover that it was using the incorrect starting numbers for the empty weight and moment. Sadly, he was using the sample numbers that were printed in the RFM and not the actual weight and balance that was printed on the separate weight balance page. So, again, electronic devices are permissible for the practical test. I encourage them, in fact, because I do feel that they're more accurate when properly utilized. Just make sure that you have a backup plan and most certainly have a clear understanding of how to do a weight balance by longhand in the event that you're asked to do it. So can I bring the iPad? Absolutely. Cushion traffic. Helicopter five zero toe. We're on the right downwind for Runway nine. And we'll be number two for the airport. All right, you're below 100 knots. Here comes the gear. Three green ICM. You see them? Yep. And we go to one hundred and two percent on the RPM. Landing gears down. Three green RPM. Switch 102. Radar is off. Never used it. Brakes are off. Those wheel steering off. You're good to land. You got the diamond out there? Yep, I got it. You're good. Checks. Everything's down. Looking good. All right, go up. All the way down. Beautiful. And our last rotor tip is talking about. You just passed the arl. Congratulations. Now it is time to fly. Tell the examiner that you would like to take a small break before flying. Use this time to catch your breath, grab a snack and make sure to stay hydrated. Use your iPad to check the current metar. Know the surface twins and go over in your mind how you're going to hover taxi for the takeoff. Know the notams for the airport and the airspace around you. As you pre flight the aircraft, make sure to take your time. Have that checklist in your hands at all times and reference it. And do one final walk around before entering the aircraft to confirm that all of the doors are now closed and latched. Use the checklist for your engine start again. You'll want to listen to the AWAS or ASOS to verify the winds. Speak clearly on the UNICOM or the tower frequency and remember, you can't do anything too slow. Did I mention to use the checklist before placing the checklist down prior to takeoff, do one last final print check. I had an applicant try to take off with me with the boost pump off and the red light staring right at him. Yes, he had to come back later, but I felt bad for him because he was so nervous and he was carelessly rushing through the checklist that he had overlooked that he had left the pump in the offed position. So anyhow, that is the rotor tip that we want to talk about after you've got through your oral portion of the test. So let's recap the rotor tips. First impressions Remember the acronym oat. Oat Organized Appearance Timeliness. Know your maintenance records. Maybe grab a status sheet to take with you. Know your IACURA login and password. Write it down. Whatever it takes to have it with you thoroughly. Know the pts. Anything in there is fair game for the examiner. Know your aircraft. Memorize the emergency procedures when necessary. Know the limitation section like the back of your hand. Know the different sections in the POH or RFM and what each section represents. Fly on the windy days and don't be intimidated with stronger wets. Use the wins in your favor. Make sure that your iPad is charged and ready to go. Do you have the correct weighted balance in your iPad? What is your backup paper or another electronic device? Have something to fall back on? Have your instructor confirm and reconfirm the proper endorsements. Too many checkrides never get started due to incorrect endorsements. This does add to the stress level if the instructor has to get involved at the last minute to make those corrections. Calm the nerves. What is relaxing to you? Everyone has a different way of relaxing. Figure it out before checkride day. And for heaven's sake, don't tell everybody the day of your checkride. Be organized. Be early. Be smart. Be confident. Be a safe pilot. One word checklist period. Use your checklist and remember, you can't do anything too slow in the helicopter. I truly hope in some small way that this video has helped you. Here's to much success. And stay Fly it. Live to fly another day. Helicopterground.com.

What I've done is take the collection of subjects and topics that I found over the last 10 years and basically have presented them to you today. So there are probably other ones, there are other tips, there are probably other pet peeves that come to mind. I know Jerry's still here. Jerry.

What?

Anything that I missed? I mean, Jerry's been a DPE now for man since the 70s. 78. So you've seen a lot more checkrides than I have. What else comes to mind for you, Jerry? Did you write anything down that well.

I think you pretty much covered it. But there's business with the PTS or the acs, and there's a lot more to flying than what's in the PTS or the acs. And if you use it as a syllabus, you're going to be missing things. Use the flight training handbooks, use your rotorcraft flying handbook and teach about flying. But yes, they should should be familiar with the pts. It's kind of funny. I work with someone, she has a degree in meteorology. So she's been through grade school, high school and college. And I was at work, I work as a part time weather observer and I was going through the private pilot acs and I just thought I'd ask her. I said, you know what this is? It's a final exam. Man's taking his private pilot airplane ride in a few days and I'm preparing his test and believe it or not, he gets a copy of this. She said, what? This is the final exam? I said, yes. And she was amazed. I said, not only does he see it before the test, it's one of the first books he buys when he enrolls in the course. Think about it. You've never been to a trace school, a vocational school, a high school, a grade school, a college, where somebody says, here's the final exam, and yet they come in and you ask a question out of the book. Maybe airspace weather. I don't expect you to be a meteorologist, but I expect you to be able to read what the FAA supplies you before a flight. And I get the deer in the headlights look and I'm asking a question that's right in the book and I'm just dumbfounded by that. The other thing you mentioned, iPads. If I ran the faa, private pilot applicants would not be permitted to use anything but a paper chart, a plotter, and E6B, not a sporty's electric a slide rule. By the way, your E6 E6B is the same as a 10 and a half inch linear slide roll that used to be taught in high school. I don't know if you guys even seen one, but you can use your E6B to divide up the cost of dinner. When you go out with the gang, you just use the 10 like you'd use the gallon marker or the hour marker. And it works the same way. But anyway, the iPad. Here's where I found the problem. They use the iPad primarily and they have it on such a nice big scale that they could practically pinpoint trees. But we're going along and they're keeping track and they're doing their root log and everything's going perfectly until I say, okay, I could give you an emergency and say, oh, you just lost your oil pressure. Now he looks out the window and says, I better land right there. So I'll give a different kind of emergency. I'll say, we have a passenger that has chest pains, so we can't land right there. Let's get him to the nearest airport where we can call an ambulance. Well, the nearest airport's not shown because of the scale he has the iPad on where if he had the sectional out, he just a flash of an eye. Oh, let's take him over there. Well, now he blows up the iPad and his entire time distance. What he's used to looking at saying, this is 10 miles, that's out the window. And I say, in flight, the majority of the disapprovals are because of this. They all know the maneuvers. It's fun to shoot autos. Let's go out and practice autos. But the academics and things like this don't get practiced enough. So if I go on a cross country, I still use a real chart. What I use the iPad for, I'm getting old and I can't see that well. So I use the iPad to blow up the numbers. Well, what's the ATIS at midway? I can't read it on the section. All the. It's dimly lit. Maybe it's sunset. So I just expanded on the iPad. So the iPad is my backup, not my primary.

Interesting.

Yeah, but I also. The point I'm going to stress, that was all in the back of my mind, but it should be in the front of my mind is don't tell the world about the check.

Right? Yeah, you're right.

You're putting so much pressure on yourself. And I remember a guy, his wife showed up with cookies and brownies for the flight school and everything like that, and we still had the cookies and the brownies. He wasn't A happy dancer. He enjoyed his as much as we did.

Well, thank you, Jerry. Yeah, no, thanks for your comments. And those are very, very, very valid. He's been doing this a lot longer than I have, I can tell you that.

All right.

What? Oh, I saw chocolates. Jerry had chocolates. So Jackie from Instrum was kind enough to bring us chocolates from the booth and we ran out. But there are more. Where? At Booth C28. Twenty chocolates. That's the Instrom booth. Brand new booth. Yeah, a couple of great helicopters there from Instrom as well. So if you want chocolates, please, please stop by there. We have this room like 12 more minutes. I don't expect us to stay here 12 more minutes.

Can you get this online?

Can we get this online is the question. Kenny, can we get this video online?

We'll get it published once we get back home.

Okay? Okay, so just tell them where they need to go.

Our first idea is to get it.

We'd like to cut it up.

Randy's intro, the full video and the questions afterwards. So we're heading home tomorrow. Take me a couple days to get edited up and it'll be on our YouTube, the helicopter Allen ground school for anybody to see.

Okay.

Okay, good. Kenny and his crew played a big role in helping me get this developed and produced. One last thing that I have I want to let you know of and then we can go to questions real quick. So I don't forget it. Rotors Enrich Ribs is happening this year at the Goshen, Indiana airport. GSH Golf Seer, Hotel Hai again when they called to ask about presenting this, they said, hey, can we participate more in Rotors and ribs in 23? And I said sure. So they have gone as far as co sponsoring the event. It's going to be a two day event. It's going to be on Friday and Saturday, July 7th and 8th of this year. And it'll begin Friday afternoon with helicopter fly ins. We'll have a social hour later that night. We'll have opening remarks. I think Bruce Webb is going to be one of the speakers Friday night. The educational program is on aeronautical decision making. At about 8 o' clock we will go out to the Runway, under a tent or obviously near the Runway. We'll have helicopter demonstrations where whether the sky soldiers are going to do some performing, might have some new helicopters there. But at 10 o' clock at night we're going to have what will be the very, very first time in this area is a night drone show. I know the Olympics did it and it's really kind of cool. It's 150 drones going up and instead of traditional fireworks, these drones have all these fancy lights on them and they create figures and everything. We'll do that for 12 minutes and then we'll follow up with the 12 minute traditional fireworks show. So that's Friday. On Saturday we'll have a breakfast in the morning, four different seminars throughout the morning. We'll break for ribs at noon and at one o'. Clock. We're working with the Guinness Book of World Records and we've been in communication with them already and they're looking to send a representative out. The more helicopters I get there, the better chance we have of developing this new category called the most helicopters in a hover flight at one time. And I would love to see 45, 50 helicopters there. We'll all go out to a specific space that's designed for you based on the size of the helicopter. And everybody's going to lift at the same time and then all the cameras go. And if it's impressive enough, Guinness has promised me they'd create a new category. So that's part of rotors and ribs of 2023, July 7th and 8th, Goshen, Indiana. Reutersandribs.com There'll be more information there. Again, it's co sponsored by hai. All right, any questions on, on what we talked about today or anything for that matter. We've got, we got 10 minutes. Again, I. We can use it, we don't have to use it. It's your call, hopefully. And then we have a lot of licensed pilots here. So you guys, you guys know what you're doing if you're already licensed, but hopefully if you're going to take some other ratings or for your instructors. How many instructors? Again, a lot. Hopefully some of those tips instructors you will find, you will find helpful. Okay, that's all I have on behalf. Yes, yes.

What do you feel like the most applicants miss as far as on the.

Pre flight of the actual aircraft? Say that one more time, somebody else can hear you.

What do you feel like for your miss on the pre flight of the.

Aircraft the most before they get in and start flying?

Yeah, that's a great question. Yeah, now that's a great question. What I've seen the most missed are the latches and that's why I brought it up as one of the examples. They've got the checklist, they're looking right at it. But again they're so nervous and the next thing you know, they left the oil door open or they left one of the side engine compartment doors unlatch. So before I jump in, I'm usually the last one and I do one last walk around and there have been a few times where I have found where I've had to go latch it for them. I didn't do a disapproval but I sure made it clear to them, you know, next time you better catch it. Yes, sir.

Yeah, I've been doing checkrides since 78 and the FAA did something I consider terribly wrong. 3rd August 1997. They cut the solo time for private pilot from 20 hours to 10. They cut the cross country training time. Those of us that were examining prior to 97 have seen a drop in performance on the private pilot check ride. There are some flight schools that say 10 hours isn't enough. What do students put pressure? They say, I got my 10 hours, let's start working on the sign off. You're just trying to milk more time out of me. No, if they get to 20 hours solo, they'll need less duel. What's cheaper? Here's the problem. His landing's a little rough. He needs more training. No, he needs more practice. He's safe, but he's not as smooth.

As he should be.

Why? Because he doesn't do it enough. He needs to go out on his own. And maybe it's not an official cross country, but get him to another airport. Maybe it's 20 miles away, maybe it's 10 miles away, but get him used to going to other airports. There are a couple flight schools, both fixed and rotor, that I know. The students get 18 to 22 hours of solo and it shows on the checkride. Yes, I've seen 10, 11 hours solo do a fine job. So I keep an open mind, but for the most part this is where nervousness comes in. The guy with 20 hours, the gala 20 hours is not nearly as nervous on the checkride. They need the practice, they need the confidence of working things out for themselves. Example, it was at Lakeshore. Student said, I got my 10 hours, let's work on the sign off. And the chief instructor said, well, I was talking with your instructor and he thinks you don't have a pilot in command attitude. What do you mean? Last cross country I was 10 miles from Janesville and I said, I'm 10 miles from Janesville, should I call him now? And he said yes. And I said, Janesville Tower, Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 of Information Alpha landing at the terminal. And he said, yes, that was correct. Hey, I got it right. He said, no, you didn't get it right. If you squeezed the mic and did it without looking at him, then you got it right. Then you're showing the pilot in command attitude. Even if the instructor just sits there, there's a crutch, there's an aide in the cockpit. In the back of your mind, you know that if you do something wrong, he's going to save you. You need to depend on you.

It's a good comment, Jerry. Thank you. Thank you very much for that. Yeah, Kenny, I just want to say.

That I did my private commercial with Jerry Ventrello that just got done speaking over 20 years ago, and I was thrilled to see him walk in the expo yesterday. Comes in in the afternoon. He took off from Chicago like 11:30, drove through all night to get here. And I've been teaching for over 20 years in helicopter line ground school, I've been doing for 11 years. And a lot of the key stuff that I push and I teach, I learned from that man right there. In two checkrides, I failed my private. I took it with the faa, didn't go back for six months. Studied like a madman because I didn't want to fail again. And halfway through, his aura, which people say they're kind of long and there are because he's thorough, and halfway through, he stopped me, he goes, you came in with the pink stuff today. I'm like, yep. And he's like, well, what happened? I just said I was super nervous. The data check, right? And he goes, well, you're batting 100% and I'm going to call that FAA examiner because we're a tight knit group and tell him that you came back and now you're just like, I knew my stuff and that's where it all started and changed what I do today. But my point is, some of the key things that I teach is basics. And a lot of the stories are coming from that guy right there. Good stuff. So pay attention to what he had to say.

I'm just doing the arithmetic in my head. And if he was doing checkrides in 78 -20, 23, either you're doing checkrides when you were 12 or. Yeah, this is amazing. I'm not going to ask how old you are because my wife tells me that that's rude to do. So I'm not going to ask that. But thank you. Thank you for all the years you've been serving.

It's the basics that we learned from a guy like that, and that's what I think is important. To this day. Fancy stuff, gadgets, technology. It's the basics that we learn as private pilots and that's what's important. And people forget those basic things and they say the stuff like Jerry preached, you know the simple stuff, two step pickup, hover pre takeoff checks. People aren't doing these and we hear about all the time and there's instructors sending people to check rides. Their knowledge isn't there and they're not doing hover pre takeoff checks. They're not doing good two step slow pickup. So it's the basics. Yeah that I think is what's important.

Good stuff.

Yeah.

We could talk for another, another hour on that topic but we, we are out of time. There are 57 of you here today. What that shows me there are 57 individuals here that care about safety and promoting safety and teaching safety and I appreciate that. I hope you have a great day. We'll see you.