Kenny Keller admonishes rushed helicopter pickups and training culture, arguing that slowing down yields smoother, neater pickups. He criticizes flight schools for pushing students for speed—contrasting that with helicopter EMS practices which emphasize slow, smooth, methodical procedures.
So while you're doing that nice two step pickup, let's reiterate what we talked about earlier with our CFI applicant. People in general rush their pickups and it's happening all the time. If you slow this whole thing down, the pickups will be much smoother, much neater. Take your time and slow it down. People are rushing way too much. Flight schools push, push, push when they shouldn't be push, push pushing. In helicopter EMS, we did everything slow, smooth, methodical. Then why is some 50 hour pilot being pushed in a training environment? Makes absolutely no sense. So flight schools really need to quit pushing their students for speed. It should be go slow, do things right.
