Well after a year on the ground, which started out to be just a condition
inspection, a 1800 sq ft building expansion got in the way, my bird took
flight yesterday. After extensive re-rigging and checking to insure
sufficient negative pitch to allow autoroatation, I carefully lifted the
bird and WHOEE.!!! I hadn't flown in a year so was expecting to be rusty
but!!! The collective seemed sensitive as hell. Up and down and around and
round I went wondering what had happened to my relatively stable helicopter.
I could tell that the tracking was out because as I lifted off the skids did
a little chatter on the ground. With quite a bit more grip on the seat
than I'm used to, I gained a better control of the little bird and we slowly
came to an understanding.
I totally have respect for test pilots. I know that they develop some
muscles to an extreme. I would expect that enemas are impossible.