Gyroplane Training 
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Web by: Rebel Systems Training Days April 7 - 22 2001 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 May 26 - June 2 2001 April 1 - 11 2002 |
Day 32 Airport for 0900 and things were looking good. Light wind straight down the main runway. "Booted and Spurred", off we set. Chris in Miss Yellow Tail, and me on India Oscar. Same brief as before: Low levels building height and control. Chris flying as if laser guided, and me still a little over pitching. 45 minutes and called it. So, what am I doing wrong? Lighter grip now which has helped but still not right. Early afternoon and out again. This time cross wind practice. A brief before hand as to what to expect and the control inputs required. Too much up wind cyclic and I found myself drifting up wind! Sorted that. Feet ok so line is right. Still getting carried up on lift, proving difficult to maintain accurate height. Part way through the cross wind is not sheltered so more rudder to stop wind cocking into wind, and a little into wind roll: Sorted!!! Into the shelter of the trees, and cyclic off and rudder to normal as descending to land. A little to high on flair... 6 inches too high and a little bump, but ok. Chris wasn't happy with the cross wind distractions so called it. Another run for me which followed the same format as previous, and then we moved around to the disused runway to be more into wind. A little bumpy so rotors up to speed and lift off as soon as possible. A little over pitch on take off but handled. Brief was to prove to Roger I could hold a height or I would not be able to move onto the next stage. Well, held accurate height until distracted by a fire engine at the end of the runway I was on, but text book landing - so Roger said. Mind you he wasn't fully happy with them, as I would descend to land then into too high a flair, so lower nose a little and flair again to nice landing onto the mains. It was this second nose lower so close to the ground that worried Roger so next run to sort that out. I was also trying to control every bump and area of lift. Use more throttle control said Roger. Next couple of runs ok so Roger pleased, (ish!), again. Having now done a lot of takeoffs on the bumpy disused runway I found that by getting to a stable wheel balance before feeding in full power resulted in a much better takeoff, without the over controlled pitching that would take a little while to settle down. That was an extremely useful lesson. I found that crosswinds were a hand/foot full and required a good deal of coordination. Waiting for a stable wheel balance for about a second before feeding in full power resulted in a nice stable take off. Being pro-active on the throttle to take out the lifts worked very well. All starting to come together... Hour 10 that session. It's not over yet! Late afternoon and off again. Brief this time is a little higher and gentle S turns within the runway edges. New wheel balance hold for takeoff working well, full power and up to begin gentle turns. Roger tells me to use more roll. Me thinks this will do for now!!! Chris progressing well, and extending his turns well out of the runway edges. Brilliant. Building the turns up and getting more confident with the handling. Still felt a little wrong in the turns. My senses told me it was not quite right, but Roger felt it was all ok. Chris looking good with his wider sweeping turns. Hour that session and starting to feel good. Still not all over. Stonking day this one! Late afternoon, refuelled again, and off we go. More of the same. I was getting more confident with the turns now, and going beyond the runway edges. Chris now going almost 90 degrees on his turns and looking very good. Leave plenty of room to land was Rogers call to both of us. Anyway we both managed well, and it felt really good being that high, (well above the runway anyway!), and turning across it, and finally back onto the centre line to land. Well, I know what I have to do next as Chris is doing a very good demo of the next stage. It's been a most excellent day, three and a half hours flying, with a lot learnt, and a great deal of progress. Love this lark!!! PS. Sorry no pictures: Enjoying myself too much and no one to take them. To be honest I thought that I wouldn't get so far. I had already got pictures of the long hops, which is all I thought I would be doing today. I'm glad to say I far exceeded those expectations. |