Go on Ian....

[petermcleland]

BTW...Here is a short streaming video of that chopper...It buffers for about a minute in Windows Media Player and then plays for less than a minute:-

http://www.petermcleland.com/video/HoverDust720.wmv

[forthbridge]

:flying:
Nice bit of hover taxiing there Peter.... are you saving on the gardener's bill for the lawnmowing? ;-)

[Nigel H-J]

Lovely bit of hovering Peter, actually managed to play that one whilst one duty!!

Regards
Nigel.

[petermcleland]

Lovely bit of hovering Peter, actually managed to play that one whilst one duty!!

Well I find hovering very difficult but I'm getting better at it...However, what I'm finding very VERY difficult is to do a smooth and tidy looking transition from normal forward flight at say 500 feet, back to a low level hover prior to landing :think:

[Nigel H-J]

what I'm finding very VERY difficult is to do a smooth and tidy looking transition from normal forward flight at say 500 feet, back to a low level hover prior to landing

I think that is one of the reasons I am enjoying flying helicopters at the moment Peter, very much challenging when hovering or landing as apposed to fixed wing aircraft where you can just point it towards the runway and arrive!!

Firstly, appologies to Jim for having somehow gone right off track on his initial subject re: 'Go on Ian', all my fault as I just somehow got carried away, thought about starting a new thread but wanted to follow on with Peters' posts with the following so hope Jim and Ian do not mind this bit of hi-jacking.

Knowing Ian has lost some of his aircraft thought I would take up a contract with the Coast Guard and do a bit of search and rescue


Engines running and ready to go.


Just got airborne and diverted to a cruise ship that just left port to winch up a sick passenger (ate too much salmon whilst in ashore)!!


Positioning for the lift, actually quite hard to do as the ship is moving at around 20 knots so had to keep that speed and gently manoevre into position.


Regards
Nigel.

[petermcleland]

Yes indeed Nigel...Very challenging. I think I will have to give that one a try with my yellow rescue thingy...Have to be on one of the days when "Freedom of the Seas" leaves anchor and goes out along Russell Fjord

[speedbird591]

Firstly, appologies to Jim for having somehow gone right off track on his initial subject re: 'Go on Ian', all my fault as I just somehow got carried away, thought about starting a new thread but wanted to follow on with Peters' posts with the following so hope Jim and Ian do not mind this bit of hi-jacking.

Personally, I can't see the reason for having all these different forums and categories and stuff! Why not just have one thread and dozens of conversations going on at the same time. Then all we have to do is read it chronologically every time we visit! I've been campaigning for this for years.

Hey! The reason I recently chose and published my Top Ten aircraft was so that I didn't spend any time in the summer fiddling about on the computer except for actual flying. Thanks to this thread, I've downloaded several aircraft, swathes of scenery, a number of airports and spent hours and hours setting up some AI. And now you've shown me a lovely helicopter WHICH I DO NOT NEED but will have to download later on. It's a bloody good job I'm off work with kidney stones or I don't know what I'd do

Ian

[Nigel H-J]

Peter, for your info and if interested that helicopter I was using as a Coast Guard is also free-ware from Hovercontrol though a bit harder to hover than the other one.

And now you've shown me a lovely helicopter WHICH I DO NOT NEED but will have to download later on. It's a bloody good job I'm off work with kidney stones or I don't know what I'd do

Oh c'mon Ian......you know you want it.......it's sat there at the factory waiting for you....you cannot resist it....there are others that just carry pax - med - evacuation etc. etc. as well....go on.....treat yourself.....will take your mind off those Kidney Stones you have!!

BTW...hope you get better soon.

Regards
Nigel.

[forthbridge]

Lovely bit of hovering Peter, actually managed to play that one whilst one duty!!

Well I find hovering very difficult but I'm getting better at it...However, what I'm finding very VERY difficult is to do a smooth and tidy looking transition from normal forward flight at say 500 feet, back to a low level hover prior to landing :think:

I've just spent half an hour at Era Heliport in Juneau. I eventually hopped the helo onto a maintenace trolley. I've discovered that using a building (tower, lighthouse) etc as a reference, it seems to be much easier to pick a point and control the chopper. Peter's lighthouse island is a case in point - I can now arrive at say 200 feet and 90kts, and by picking say the door, I 'know' where I'm going, and can get down pretty tidily even with a circling approach.

Runway appoaches I find to be relatively straightforward - but once I'm below about 50 feet I'm commited - and as for helipads - well unless they are large, I totally lose reference and end up way off.

I suppose helo pilots are born with some sort of gyro stabilisation in their brains?

[hobby]

To all aspiring helo pilots in FS9:

Please fit Rob B's helo gauge, you will find hovering, t/o and landing on a pad much easier.

When trying for a pad landing go down to about 5ft AGL into wind and move at 2-4kts fwd until you see the 'H' below your feet through the lowest windscreen panel then move fwd slowly and overshoot the 'ring' marking the pad boundary in front of you a little, land. Check position of gear/skids by an outside view in relation to pad markings for future reference. After a few goes in one type of helo you will be able to judge exactly when to lower the helo onto the pad so that the gear/skids are correctly placed inside the pad.

The gauge and manual are: rcbhhc22.zip