I left “beautiful” downtown Honolulu and arrived at the RHC Factory for the Pilot Safety Course. The RHC purchase agreement states I’m not to fly passengers until I complete the Safety Course and have 100 hours PIC in a R44. In two weeks, my first scheduled passenger flight is with Mary (assuming I complete the requirements)!!!

It’s been a long road. It’s not easy to learn to fly but, the steep learning curve starts to become the normal and the rewards get closer.

Was given permission to take pictures in the flight test hangar during a short break. These ships will be delivered soon after rigorous testing. To whom? I have no idea.







There is a new electric tow cart being delivered at my hangar to move the bird. Similar to one of these...

R44 is a tough bird. I snapped this photo of a line of tailbooms at our school, and that night looking at it noticed the close stinger didn’t match his brothers. First anyone had noticed. Don’t flare too low

Karmutzen wrote:R44 is a tough bird. I snapped this photo of a line of tailbooms at our school, and that night looking at it noticed the close stinger didn’t match his brothers. First anyone had noticed. Don’t flare too low

17C3918E-CC7C-40B5-8306-43A649A975DF.jpeg

Good you saw it! I learned also, it’s a good habit to feel with your fingers the underside of the stinger. At my old school, there was a noticeable “Roughness” and after looking under it, paint was scrapped off! Definitely, required an inspection before further flight. The A&P checked to see if the tailcone was misaligned or the tail rotor blades took a hit. Luckily, the stringer (and everything) was still pretty straight.

The same R44’s mast urethane teeter pads had noticeable indentations i.e. a shallow “mast bump”. I think it happened on practicing slope operations with another student. The contact was very light. It’s still flying.

Keep the helicopter pictures coming, very good learning tools!

Tomorrow is day (4), the final day at Robinson and will include an hour of flight in an R44 (or an R22/R66 if you prefer). I must say the people at the factory and in class are really nice to talk with and gain knowledge from. Some arrive on foot, bicycle, car, airplane or a Bell Jet Ranger. I’m at the Ramda Inn and don’t have a car. So I walk to and from class. I ordered Domino’s for dinner and it’s pretty good.

There are several added perks, not only does the RHC Pilot Safety Course make you a much more informed person and safer pilot, it also, is a FIRC and SFAR 73 signoff too! Side note: RHC Maintenance Course is good for FAR 65.93 IA renewals.

The Epoch....After, successfully completing, its back to the ship to fly another 20 more hours PIC. Then I can fly with a passenger!! After that, I start training for a commercial license.

Over 22,000 students have graduated from the RHC PSC. BUT, they treat everyone as if you are a real VIP.

The lunches are catered and are really tasty with plenty of food!


Plenty of factory instructors and aircraft are available to help expedite. It is beautiful to see the skies over Torrance filled with helicopters today!


Interesting enough, I was allowed just two photographs inside the classroom today. Normally pictures and audio are not allowed unless it’s specifically granted.


Making new friends!

“All Pau Brah” (Completed)! The RHC PSC Certificate is in hand! Can’t believe I made it this far. And my friends are wondering the same thing? No regrets or concerns, I can fly the R44 pretty naturally. It’s a wonderful little helicopter. But, I only have license to learn and I will not forget that, especially not do it the “hard way”.

There is fresh snow on the mountains, blue sky and vis is about 75 miles. Mick (my instructor) and I took an R44 and practiced some basic ACS maneuvers. I know Mick pretty well, we delivered my ship to Oregon.

Vortex Ring State: today was the first time I used the Vuichard Method. There is no doubt in my mind what so ever the Vuichard recovery is better. Much less altitude loss.

Straight in autorotations at Long Beach Airport: flew pretty much all right. But, need to focus a little bit more on airspeed, I was a little fast.

180 degree auto: worked well. But, I underestimated the LZ and passed it by 100’ which is acceptable at my level.

Some random pictures today:

I left sunny Southern California for Oregon this last weekend. Arriving and til now, weather is the roughest I have ever seen through out the state of Oregon. Interesting, to see, if I can fly my last (14) hours PIC before Mary gets here on Saturday. Highly doubtful. The ship has “collective” Hobbs which makes building hours even longer (warm up and shutdown aren’t recorded).

Snow KONP:



During the inclement weather I drove (F150) across the Cascade Mountains via the Santiam Pass to Bend, OR.


I picked up the tow cart from Leading Edge in Bend, Oregon. They are really cool people. Highly recommend them for anything from a light jet, turbine helicopter to a Cessna C150 or R22. Huge operation, that delivers.


Temps were below (0) Fahrenheit, -(1) in the early morning at about 5000’ MSL:


The Robinson tow cart is very nicely manufactured. No assembly required. Just lift out from the shipping container.


Since there is gale blowing outside, I tested the tow cart rolling fore and aft, very nice controls!


Interesting side note, Mary advised storm force winds are hitting the Islands. Even received a text from USARPAC saying watch out! A fallen tree blocked our apartment building entry!

Mary emailed a picture of our local surf spot totally blown out:


Aloha!

MVFR this morning. The wait is over...

“...back in the saddle again...” ha ha! Let’s ride...

Ambient temperature was pretty warm 43F. I over primed and it flooded the engine. Had to let it sit for ten minutes and then a perfect start. I have own/operated IO540s but, not a carburetor O540. So this was definitely a learning experience. Note: priming is done by twisting the throttle rapidly open, which squirts fuel into the venturi.

Preflighted the rotor head. Super clean and tight.


The “Life Flight Helicopter” air ambulance crew are very nice. They let me sit in their ship and check out the controls and instruments. These guys are the real heroes.



There are (3) choppers here at the airport: USCG (HH65), Life Flight (EC135) and me (R44).

Today I practiced: Peddle turns, x-wind set downs, quick stops, steep takeoffs/descents. Spent about (2.5) hours playing around.

She’s back awaited another flight...hopefully tomorrow.


Aloha!

Conditions at: KONP (NEWPORT , OR, US) observed 1635 UTC 14 February 2019
Temperature: 5.0°C (41°F)
Dewpoint: 5.0°C (41°F) [RH = 100%]
Pressure (altimeter): 29.09 inches Hg (985.2 mb)
Winds: from the E (80 degrees) at 12 MPH (10 knots; 5.1 m/s)
Visibility: 10 or more miles (16+ km)
Ceiling: 2900 feet AGL
Clouds: overcast cloud deck at 2900 feet AGL
Weather: -RA (light rain)

Short flight this morning. The precipitation was drizzle/light rain. RHC advises to avoid flying in rain to minimize blade erosion. Tip Speed at 102% RPM 705 FPS for main rotor blades and 614 FPS TRBs. However, it’s sometime unavoidable. If flying in rain:

1) During preflight, use a soft cloth to wipe the beads of water off the windshields. I left the water beads on during startup and it was hard to see. I shutdown the engine, stopped the blades and wiped off the windshields , much better visibility. Then, proceeded with another engine start.

2) During startup/warmup make sure to have plenty of warm air circulation. The cabin can fog up immediately with a single pilot. The heater is forced air and will heat up very nicely. In fact it gets a little hot, may need to throttle back heater knob after take off.

3) During airspeeds approximately over 50 KTS water clears the windshield pretty well. Returning to a hover, the water seemed to be dissipating nicely.

Note (1) Carburetor O540 started great this morning @ 43F (no pre heat). Three twists on the throttle.
Note (2): Tried my Yamaha GENSET and 24v Charger on the starting battery. Worked pretty well. I like having auxiliary power available. Coffee maker, heater, charging the ships battery. Luckily with the chopper I go places nobody can readily get to. The question: if a generator is running and nobody heard it, did it make a noise? Anyway, as usual, use discretion and do NOT disturb people!


Fits nicely in R44 and weighs 28 LBS:


Next size up is used on boat in Hawaii:


GILL 25v Charger:

What windshield cleaner does RHC recommend? Most any motorcycle products do well in dispersing water and bugs if they contain polysiloxane or silicone.

Gary

PA1195 wrote:What windshield cleaner does RHC recommend? Most any motorcycle products do well in dispersing water and bugs if they contain polysiloxane or silicone.

Gary

I’m new to this aircraft..here’s what I have in the POH, Section 8. Seems pretty standard as far as aircraft maintenance is concerned. Thank you for the tip applying “polysiloxane or silicone” products.

https://robinsonheli.com/r44-cadet-poh/

https://robinsonheli.com/r44-cadet-poh/ wrote:CLEANING WINDSHIELD AND WINDOWS
1. Remove dirt, mud, and other loose particles from exterior surfaces with clean water.
2. Wash with mild soap and warm water or with aircraft plastic cleaner. Use a soft cloth or sponge in a straight back and forth motion. Do not rub harshly.
3. Remove oil and grease with a cloth moistened with isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) or aliphatic naphtha.
CAUTION
Do not use gasoline, other alco- hols, benzene, carbon tetrachlo- ride, thinner, acetone, or window (glass) cleaning sprays.
4. After cleaning plastic surfaces, apply a thin coat of hard polishing wax. Rub lightly with a soft cloth. Do not use a circular motion.
5. Scratches can be removed by rubbing with jeweler’s rouge followed by hand polishing with commercial plastic polish. Use a figure eight motion when polishing.

??? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iacyvux7oiA https://washwax.com

I'd want something that would repel water well and not leave any coating that would attract dirt. PLEXUS used to be popular as well: http://www.plexusplasticcleaner.com/about.html

Gary

I use this with no residue on my plane. I use it for all the surfaces, including the windows.

I have no experience as a pilot in a helicopter. But given all of them there are flying what issues and fixes are there for dealing with precipitation? If they can't operate routinely in weather without suffering blade erosion or lack of visibility then what? Maybe it's just a CYA recommendation from RHC? There must be a reality check here somewhere.

Gary

PA1195 wrote:I have no experience as a pilot in a helicopter. But given all of them there are flying what issues and fixes are there for dealing with precipitation? If they can't operate routinely in weather without suffering blade erosion or lack of visibility then what? Maybe it's just a CYA recommendation from RHC? There must be a reality check here somewhere.

Gary

You have valid concerns. Simply stated the blades will not last as long being operated in precipitation. If the windshield is kept clean then, visibility is fine too. If the heli is flown in heavy precipitation the return on investment will be less. It’s a “Cost of Ownership” issue, more or less. Also, it’s somewhat more dangerous than CAVU. And yes, categorized as CYA.

Example: Doors off operations. RHC recommends to only remove the right door(s) for flight. This is to preclude passenger induced debris damaging the tail rotor. Which has caused accidents. However, it’s not illegal to fly with both sides removed. We do it in Hawaii everyday. But, carefully making sure items are secured. At the factory pilots are not allowed to fly with the left doors off. Just because you can do something doesn’t always mean it’s a good idea.

Section (10) of the R44 Cadet POH has a plethora of recommendations which inform operators of different scenarios of risk versus reward in many cases. And getting the most value from the helicopter.

https://robinsonheli.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/r44_cadet_poh_10.pdf

I was always really impressed by how well a couple of shots of rattlecan black paint lasted on the nickel strips of our blades in the truly high erosion environment of the desert. Worked good in the rain, too.

Start seeing the blade edge again? Just touch up with some more rattlecan.

CamTom12 wrote:I was always really impressed by how well a couple of shots of rattlecan black paint lasted on the nickel strips of our blades in the truly high erosion environment of the desert. Worked good in the rain, too.

Start seeing the blade edge again? Just touch up with some more rattlecan.

Good recommendation. I agree.

I need to stay proactive and not let the bond line protrude on my blades.

CamTom12 wrote:I use this with no residue on my plane. I use it for all the surfaces, including the windows.

Cam, I Googled the product. But, can’t find ingredients or MSDS? I’m interest in buying some. What does it say on the can?

All mine are at the hangar. I’ll shoot you a pic when I get out there this weekend.

Honda Pro MSDS: https://www.msdsdigital.com/pro-honda-s ... olish-msds

I've used this product and it's good. Harley Davidson's spray cleaner and polish also performs well. Both contain silicone/siloxane. The Honda product contains carnauba wax the HD does not. Honda's are faster so they need that. I've owned 63 motorcycles and these are handy especially in bug country and when it rains on the windshield. Work on planes too but my Goldwing and F6B were faster than my Taylorcraft. My Harley's not so much.

Gary

PA1195 wrote:Honda Pro MSDS: https://www.msdsdigital.com/pro-honda-s ... olish-msds

I've used this product and it's good. Harley Davidson's spray cleaner and polish also performs well. Both contain silicone/siloxane. The Honda product contains carnauba wax the HD does not. Honda's are faster so they need that. I've owned 63 motorcycles and these are handy especially in bug country and when it rains on the windshield. Work on planes too but my Goldwing and F6B were faster than my Taylorcraft. My Harley's not so much.

Gary

I’d love an F6B. Have a Valkyrie now. Can’t afford a Harley and keep my other toys