Hi Kevin,

Nice to hear from you again. Was starting to wonder although I understand
the weather in "the land of perpetual sunshine" hasn't been all that great
lately! ;-)

If it's been as long as it seems from our point of view since you flew last
(or at least since you posted about it), I'd say you did pretty good.
There's a question and a comment I'd like to make.

1. Is 500 AGL a standard pattern altitude for you folks? If so, why do you
practice your autorotations from 800 AGL? I can understand the difference
if they're allowing for your "student pilot" status but I'd think that at
some point, they'd start making you fly the autos from the "usual" altitudes
you fly the pattern at. Just wondering?

2. I completely agree with Q on your written test. There's no excuse for
not having it done by now. ;-) In fact, my instructor wouldn't let me solo
until I had that test out of the way, a point he made abundantly clear when
we met for our first "interview" and he explained his curriculum and what he
expected of me as a student so I made sure I took care of that test ASAP
after passing the ground school while the info was still relatively fresh in
my mind. It was also "wonderful" not having to worry about the darned test
for the duration of the flight training.

I'd bet you've got the info down better than you're giving yourself credit
for. I don't know how you are with tests but my greatest weakness is not
completely reading the question and all the answers "before" answering the
question. Sounds like you might be doing something similar based on your
comments about the practice tests. Take your time and "read" the questions.
Works for me!

Now go get that test out of the way!!!! :-D

Best of luck & Fly Safe,
Steve R.



"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net wrote in
message ...
Day after my night X-country I had an opportunity to do some more dual
in preparation for my check ride. Still having some problems with
autos so Q and I planned to fly nothing but autos after a couple
normal approaches to get me warmed up.

Did the usual PITA stuff like W&B, preflight etc and got the ship
fired up. While I was waiting for the CHT needle to get up into the
green arc, Q asked how I was doing with my studying. I shook my head
and asked 'What studying?" I've been so busy with work and family, I
haven't had time to sleep, much less study. My "promise" to myself to
take a couple days off work and hit the book was broken weeks ago and
the "list 'o things to do" keeps getting longer..

I've taken a few practice tests on ipilot.com (Which is well worth the
$30 for a year's access to them) and scored from a (what I consider to
be poor) 87% to a high of 98%. The usual areas -airspace and weather
- are all I'm really worried about at this point. I've told my "boss"
(I'm doing contract work for a flight simulator company) I'll be
taking this Friday off and I'm headed to the airport and am going to
spend the day in the classroom hittin' the books. (And sneaking a
flight or two in if other students cancel ehhe)

Anyways, Q gives me the usual minor tongue lashing about getting the
written done so he can schedule my check ride and I get on with the
flight. Cleared to take off and enter closed traffic, I begin the
litany of verbalizing everything I'm doing. "3 in the green, RPMs are
good, no warning lights, carb air temp out of the yellow arc, fuel
looks ok, 21 inches for hover." I'm beginning to hate the sound of my
own voice over the intercom..

"ok, here we go.. Cyclic forward, here comes ETL.. A smidge more
collective to get back to 21inches.. OK, 60 knots, cyclic coming back
to start the climb.. Still at 21 inches and 500 feet per minute
climb.. Ok, 300 feet AGL... Clear left.....center... and right...
turning crosswind..." You get the picture...

I hit my numbers all the way around and get my normal approach done
from 500' AGL then it's back around to 800' AGL for some autos.. Q
wants to keep the pattern tight to avoid overflying some homes at the
approach end of the runway so he tells me we're going to be doing
turning autos. Ok, it's been a while since I've done those, but I'm
going to have to do them sooner or later..

The 1st one Q demonstrates and then it's my turn. Back around the
pattern I go and Q tells me "aim for the thousand foot markers and
enter when you're ready." I count down from 3 and them dump the
collective, stomp on the right pedal, apply a smidge of aft cyclic to
keep the nose up and roll off the throttle in a matter of about 2
seconds

Got my 65 knots so I add collective to get the RPMs down into the
green arc and voila! I'm dialed in, but headed South when I should be
headed West. I start the turn and bleed off airspeed too much 'cuz I
let the nose rise on me and then play the chase the needles game down
to the recovery.. Pretty ugly..

Next time around is better, but not much. I get the entry good and
set the angle where I want it but then end up chasing the friggin'
needles, even though I KNOW I should keep my eyes outside and just
ride it down.. I finally ended up doing two decent ones, but
considering we did about 10 of 'em, that's a pretty ****-poor average.
I think I did 'em better weeks ago when we 1st started doing them.

My block is a little over half over so it's time for some hover auto
practice. I'm decent on those, even with the unexpected throttle chop
once in a while - just gotta work on correcting the sideways drift a
bit more, but since I keep the nose within PTS standards, this part of
the check ride I'm not worried about.

I do about 6 or 7 of 'em and actually get a "nice" and "good" mumbled
from the left seat on a few of 'em. Hey, maybe I'll get these licked
someday too. Q takes the controls and moves us a little further from
the compass rose and then says "You've got the controls."

I get my hands and feet in place and say "I've got the controls" and
he repeats it back.. "you've got the controls.." Not 2 seconds
later, it gets real quiet, real fast. The rat ******* has chopped the
throttle on me..

Without really even thinking about it, my right foot shoots forward, I
inch the cyclic to the right and forward a tick, count to 2 in my head
and haul up on the cyclic. The ship touches down lightly, gives a
little hop and comes to a stop. The nose has barely moved.
"Niiiiiccee" I hear from the left. Wow, I actually did one thing
right today..

Time to head back and airport procedure is to air taxi from the
compass rose to the intersection of taxiways alpha and delta to keep
the noise and dust down near the hangar homes at the West end of the
field. Q tells me to head back and throw in a quick stop to alpha..
50 knots, 30 feet up collective and right pedal down as the cyclic
comes back.. Bang.. right where I wanted it to stop and I end up in
a 3' hover. Clear my tail to the left and do a right pedal turn then
hover taxi back to the ramp.

There are a couple other ships just setting down on their pads so the
rotor wash is all over the place and just as I hit the 12" hover, I
get a couple little wobbles and the descent stops. Q asks "What? Are
ya makin' love to it? Just set it down!." I get stable and inch the
collective down with my thumb and don't even feel the touchdown..

I configure the ship for cool down and call the base to report my
ending hobbs while I wait. I get the "get your written done" bit
again from Q as he's climbing out. I get the ship secured and head
back to the hangar to update the dispatch board and make my log
entries. Q has disappeared so I head to the office to find him. He
signs my log book and we walk back to the hangar together.

I ask him if he thinks I'm getting close to my check ride. He looks
at me and says "Your autos suck ass, but the rest is really good."
(and then harps on me to get my written done. hehehe)

I drove back to work doing practice autos to each stop light in my
mind.. If I could only do 'em that good in the helicopter... (and if
I could only find a solid block of 4-6 hours to hit the books every
couple days...)