Ive only been flying for about solid 15 weeks (typically anywhere between 5-20 packs over the weekend) so my experiences amount to an infinitely small quantity when compared to the collective experiences of heli pilots on this forum and indeed some of the grand masters (in my eyes). You all know who you are.
However thought id share some thoughts and opinions on the subject of loss of orientation recovery in general.
We all try very hard to avoid a loss of orientation during flight (as much as we can) and im sure we all know im not not talking about forgetting which way is north or where the mens (or ladies) is at. For the more experienced this rarely occurs and there is no doubt this comes with experience and practice. For those of us who are still developing and honing our skills, or just learning new moves it is inevitable that we come across fleeting moments where at the end of a move or for distraction reasons, just due to bad visibility (heli is too far / or very cloudy and heli is in shadow) or purely a crashheligod factor we find ourself questioning the orientation of our helicopter / position (tail position / attitude).
Most times its when we have ample time to think it through, and others its during high speed manouvres where quick recovery is required but sometimes very difficult.
I come across this scenario personally every now and again (mostly when im trying something new) and during that split second, i subconsciously start going through the subconscious thought process of determining how my heli is oriented and together with a rapid quick soft small stick movements / visual feedback frenzy try to figure out which way im up or where my tail is at.
Most times its instantaneous recognition and correction, but other times it takes quite a few iterations of small stick movements to figure out whats going on and the remedial actions (which happens quite quickly actually) but what probably feels like a lot longer.
Even when we finally regain awareness of orientation. There is still the risk that we sometimes make the wrong correction (Dumb thumb) even though our mind is telling us otherwise.. ie
mind telling me to push cyclic stick forward / pitch down .. (Where im in a inverted tail out and heading nosewards down slightly), but instead i do the opposite (cyclic stick backwards - ie as if im not inverted). and then its back to the feedback loop where hopefully it eventually clicks and we correct out.
So apart from the obvious methods 1-2 below)
1) Ongoing repetition of moves and doing all these in all orientations / positions (out to left / right etc) as recommended by smackmeharder in many of his tutorials helps make loss of orientation a none issue and effectively is a preventative method approach and is probably the best method overall
2) doing all new moves really slowly so i know what my heli is doing at all times.
What i do is an adaption of what happens during real pilot plane training (where the instructor takes control of the plane, and you are blindfolded / eyes closed) whilst the instructor throws the plane around, eventually returning control to you to, relying on you to bring the plane back to a safe and level altitude. Bingo.
More recently at the end of my sim training sessions ill close my eyes (with heli up high) and for a good 2-3 seconds just let my thumbs go crazy. And then challenge myself to bring the heli back to level safe altitude with the emphasis of this being done as quickly as possible. Ill repeat this about 20-30 times working my way closer and closer to the ground (forcing me to react to recovery quicker).
My preference is that despite new gadgets coming out that have autobail out / self leveling taking the thinking out of recovery. id still prefer to have a mental autobail out built into my abilities as the flow on effects can only improve overall skill / orientation / control and reliability in my flying capabilities.
Now it looks like it might good enough to fly outside, gunna go charge my batteries.
Loss Of Orientation Recovery
Discussion in 'General Subjects' started by gonehelimad, Jul 4, 2015.
Comments
Discussion in 'General Subjects' started by gonehelimad, Jul 4, 2015.
