I definitely think that the focus needs to be on acquiring the necesary
skills no matter what or where the hours are obtained. Trying to get by with
the minimum of training can be fatal. The helicopter is much more demanding
than a fixed wing. There are several fixed wing responses that need to be
changed in a helicopter. Yes in forward flight, they fly like a sloppy
fixed wing. However, the hover and yes the approaches take a bunch more
time to learn than the fixed wing. In fact more than one instructor has
told me that the hardest thing to learn is not the hover but a Normal
approach. My experience agrees with this. A good Normal approach is like
an Outstanding spot landing in a fixed wing. My helipad is 40'x40' and the
target is the center 5'x5' to avoid kicking up too much dirt from outside
the 40x40. Also I don't have much overshoot room.
Stu Fields Safari pilot
wrote in message
...
For reference, I've copied the relavent portion of 61.98 below.
The interesting thing is that items 61.98(b)(2)(i) and (ii) are
listed, but are not generally considered flight time. They are ground
school.
My point to all of this is that there seems to be some commanality
with fixed wings that can be taken advantage of. Things like radio
communication, navigation, traffic patterns, etc. I have been told
that in straght and level flight, a helicopter is not all that
different in operation from a fixed wing (from the pilots point of
view). Is this correct?
Also, I think that helicopter time in an ultralight counts towards
ones experience even though the FAA doesn't allow it to count toward
the license. This is why I believe that one can get a solo REC
license in 15 hours - by getting as much as possible common training
in a fixed wing and ultralight helicopter. That way, the real
helicopter instructor doesn't have to keep going over the same thing
over and over until you master it.
Nevertheless, harder than learning to fly the helicopter will be
finding an instructor that will sign off on a REC license. None of
the ones around here will do it regardless of the number of hours that
you have.
Dennis.
PS- The part about not allowing Ultralight Helis to count toward the
license is a bone of contention with me. They DO allow time in a
simulator to count. They should also allow UL time to count as well.
===========================================
Section 61.98: Flight proficiency.
(a) General. A person who applies for a recreational pilot certificate
must receive and log ground and flight training from an authorized
instructor on the areas of operation of this section that apply to the
aircraft category and class rating sought.
(b) Areas of operation.
-----
(2) For a helicopter rating:
(i) Preflight preparation;
(ii) Preflight procedures;
(iii) Airport and heliport operations;
(iv) Hovering maneuvers;
(v) Takeoffs, landings, and go-arounds;
(vi) Performance maneuvers;
(vii) Ground reference maneuvers;
(viii) Navigation;
(ix) Emergency operations; and
(x) Postflight procedures.
Larry Fransson wrote:
On 2003-12-06 06:53:00 -0800, said:
Notice that it never really says anything about helicopters.
61.98(b)(2) does say something about helicopters, though. That's what
the
15 hours from 61.99(a) are referring to. The rest - three hours here,
three
hours there - are only a part of the 15 hours of required training.
This may
mean that you could add a helicopter rating in as little as 15 hours.
The
likelihood of that happening, though, seems vanishingly small.
--
Larry Fransson
Seattle, WA
Dennis Hawkins
n4mwd AT amsat DOT org (humans know what to do)
"A RECESSION is when you know somebody who is out of work.
A DEPRESSION is when YOU are out of work.
A RECOVERY is when all the H-1B's are out of work."
To find out what an H-1B is and how Congress is using
them to put Americans out of work, visit the following
web site and click on the "Exporting America" CNN news
video: http://zazona.com/ShameH1B/MediaClips.htm