Actual Autos

Can't add much to this one, but I did once have a hovering auto. I had been
Ok'd for solo hover and I was warming up my Baby Belle and the idle mixture
was bit rich so I leaned the thing out a bit so it would run smoother.
Forgetting about the mixture, I encreased power and lifted off into a hover
and the engine quit. Non event except it taught me to check mixture full
rich prior to pulling pitch. With only 300+hours I'm glad that I haven't
had a real one yet.

--
Stuart Fields
Experimental Helo magazine
P. O. Box 1585
Inyokern, CA 93527
(760) 377-4478 ph
(760) 408-9747 publication cell
"Steve R" wrote in message
...
Well, I'm not a rated pilot so I've not done any emergency autorotations
myself but someone once told a story on this newsgroup that's always stuck
in my head because I got such a kick out of reading it at the time. This
comes from a LONG time ago but basically, this person was sitting in the
local airport office, chewing the fat with the receptionist. They were
listening to the unicom frequency in the backgroud. There was a
helicopter student flying around the local area on his first unsupervised
solo flight. He was heading back to the airport after about an hour and
keyed up the radio to anounce his approach to the local traffic pattern.
The transmission went something like this.

"Such & such airport, this is helicopter N1234C inbound from the south,
lan..... OH ****, rpm, rpm, rpm, rpm, rpm, flare, flare, flare, level,
level, cushion, cushion, cushion............OH MY GOD, I DID IT!!!

The guy never released the push to talk switch when the engine burped and
they got to listen to him talk himself through the ensuing autorotation.
He landed in a clearing just off the airport property and didn't put a
scratch in the bird. Airport personnel went out and picked him up, made
arrangements to have the aircraft transported and the student pilot bought
the first round of beers at the pub afterwards. I don't remember the
original poster commenting on why the engine quit but I always have to
grin when I remember that one.

FWIW!
Fly Safe,
Steve R.
"Ol Shy & Bashful" wrote in message
oups.com...
Besides the autorotations done in and for training pruposes, how many
of you have had to do an unplanned auto as in engine failure,
mechanical failure, or other in flight difficulties?
I've had at least five over the past 40 years just while doing aerial
application in Bell and Hiller helicopters.
Just a curious question for a Sunday morning.....
Rocky