Posted: 1/12/2014 10:36:28 PM EDT
|
I'm considering learning to fly a helicopter. It's been on my bucket list for over a decade and I'm not getting any younger.
I've played plenty of flight sims in my younger days but it's been quite some time. I'm considering grabbing a good flight sim just to get the feel back (choppers are tough to fly) since it's going to be a bit before i come up with the finances ($16k or more) to go to flight school. The sim must have the Robinson R22 since that's the 'copter I'll be training on. Links for recommendations for HOTAS for PC (I'd even be happy to build a hardware cockpit control panel) as well as any of the ground school materials (FAA regs, etc) would also be appreciated if anyone has them. Any suggestions, and many thanks in advance? |
|
Quoted:
I'm considering learning to fly a helicopter. It's been on my bucket list for over a decade and I'm not getting any younger. I've played plenty of flight sims in my younger days but it's been quite some time. I'm considering grabbing a good flight sim just to get the feel back (choppers are tough to fly) since it's going to be a bit before i come up with the finances ($16k or more) to go to flight school. The sim must have the Robinson R22 since that's the 'copter I'll be training on. Links to go HOTAS for PC (I'd even be happy to build a hardware cockpit control panel) as well as any of the ground school materials (FAA regs, etc) would also be appreciated if anyone has them. Any suggestions, and many thanks in advance? it's expensive.. my friend is an unemployed instructor, students are few/far between as a result of the costs. I highly recommend taking an intro ride with your prospective school, shouldn't cost too much...just to see if you're compatible with the idea / school going forward. good luck.. it's on my list of things to do, but w/o winning the lottery, it probably won't happen. god speed ! |
|
Quoted:
it's expensive.. my friend is an unemployed instructor, students are few/far between as a result of the costs. I highly recommend taking an intro ride with your prospective school, shouldn't cost too much...just to see if you're compatible with the idea / school going forward. good luck.. it's on my list of things to do, but w/o winning the lottery, it probably won't happen. god speed ! Quoted:
Quoted:
I'm considering learning to fly a helicopter. It's been on my bucket list for over a decade and I'm not getting any younger. I've played plenty of flight sims in my younger days but it's been quite some time. I'm considering grabbing a good flight sim just to get the feel back (choppers are tough to fly) since it's going to be a bit before i come up with the finances ($16k or more) to go to flight school. The sim must have the Robinson R22 since that's the 'copter I'll be training on. Links to go HOTAS for PC (I'd even be happy to build a hardware cockpit control panel) as well as any of the ground school materials (FAA regs, etc) would also be appreciated if anyone has them. Any suggestions, and many thanks in advance? it's expensive.. my friend is an unemployed instructor, students are few/far between as a result of the costs. I highly recommend taking an intro ride with your prospective school, shouldn't cost too much...just to see if you're compatible with the idea / school going forward. good luck.. it's on my list of things to do, but w/o winning the lottery, it probably won't happen. god speed ! Thanks for the well wishes! It CAN be done, the question is "Do you really want to do it?". You aren't getting any younger either. |
|
I have flown twice. The true equalizer is hovering, which is first and foremost skill needed.
I don't believe any PC simulator can simulate that, since it is more touch and feel...you might be better served with a real RC helicopter? I remember hearing it described as riding a unicycle while balancing on a basketball, and it sure felt that way the several times (failed) I attempted it. Again, total time trying to hover added up to 5-7 minutes, but every limb is working in conjunction with your eyes and senses. It exemplifies the word multitasking. That said, I wish I had done it when I was much younger in the military. Good luck! |
|
Quoted:
I'm considering learning to fly a helicopter. It's been on my bucket list for over a decade and I'm not getting any younger. I've played plenty of flight sims in my younger days but it's been quite some time. I'm considering grabbing a good flight sim just to get the feel back (choppers are tough to fly) since it's going to be a bit before i come up with the finances ($16k or more) to go to flight school. The sim must have the Robinson R22 since that's the 'copter I'll be training on. Links for recommendations for HOTAS for PC (I'd even be happy to build a hardware cockpit control panel) as well as any of the ground school materials (FAA regs, etc) would also be appreciated if anyone has them. Any suggestions, and many thanks in advance? I suggest you stay away from the flight sims to learn how to fly anything for the first time. Even the multi million dollar simulators that the military, and commercial airliners use, cannot replicate the real world aerodynamics. They are however great tools for procedural, and instrument training for already established pilots. Without proper instruction, and an instructor, you'll end up picking up bad and/or wrong habits by yourself, and it will now take you twice as long in a real airplane/helicopter to get rid of the bad habits/procedures. It could also be very dangerous to say the least. If you're eager to start, and obviously to cut down on instruction time, the best thing to do is pick up a set of ground school DVDs, and start on your own. But leave the flying part with the instructor. GlockMonk |
|
A helicopter simulator is not going to do anything for you......there is nothing that will replicate the real view and feel in the helicopter. I have flown helicopter sims from MS Flight Sim, to the $100K "FlyIt" that runs on Xplane, a $1.5 Million Frasca, and a $30M full-motion one at FlightSafety. They are good for running emergency procedures, IFR approaches, etc--they are otherwise worthless when it comes to primary training and general flying. You only use them to teach procedures that would be an elevated risk, cost prohibitive, or impossible in a real helicopter (e.g. tail rotor failure, drive shaft failure, etc.) Otherwise, all the training should take place in the real thing.
Airplane is a different story--those sims are great training since an airplane is stable. |
|
No such thing as a helicopter sim suitable for teaching somebody to fly with. Don't waste your time and money.
How old are you? Nearly impossible to make money by starting out in helicopters as a civilian. Join the army if you want to fly a helicopter. If you're too old and/or only want to try it, start in a plane to learn flying basics then switch to a helicopter. You'll save thousands of dollars and have a wider experience base. If you invest the $16k now it would be a huge chunk of $ in a couple decades... Just sayin. Only you know if its worth the money. |
|
Quoted:
I've read the total cost including instruction, certifications, and requisite flight time will cost $65,000+. It's much easier/cheaper to start in the military. I was on the list for CWO school when I was on AD my name didn't move on that list for the time I was in. |
Save your flight simulator money to buy beer and cheese burgers for your instructor. Flight instructors get paid shit and can't stop talking about flying so your food and beer investment will pay off in free ground school 
Don't pay for your flight time up front. Always take off and land into the wind. Don't expect to finish your rating in the FAA 40 hour minimum. Always take off and land into the wind. Don't do all of your instruction with the same instructor. Always take off and land into the wind. If you can manage not to be a pest ask if you can watch any inspections being performed (buying lunch for the maintenance guys is a good idea). Actually study prior to showing up for your lesson. Get, read and re read This book and This book Pick an instructor with a good sense of humor, humor is a great panic barometer (once the funny stops the terror starts). Buy one of These This is the key to teaching any chimp to hover in 15 minutes. You are an animal and like any other animal once things get hectic you will draw your attention closer and closer to your feet. This is exactly where you do not want to be looking when you are learning to hover. Have your instructor put a horizontal mark across the windshield in that approximates the horizon while you are normally seated. Next put a vertical line through the previous line to form a cross hair. This will give you a reference mark on a large featureless window and will work miracles. It only took me four years and 1200 hours of dual given to figure that little trick out. Listen to the little voice in your head, it is smarter than you will ever be. Remember, if helicopters were so hard to fly the Army would not have them
Have fun! |
|
Quoted:
If you're too old and/or only want to try it, start in a plane to learn flying basics then switch to a helicopter. You'll save thousands of dollars and have a wider experience base. While you would widen your experience, you definitely not save money. A helicopter private "add-on" is 30 hrs rather than 40 hrs......and in all my years of instructing, we only had two airplane guys do it in under 40. Most were around the national average of 60 hrs--same as the other guys. Except for the radios, instruments, etc, nothing else is the same. So even if you did do it in 30, you still went and spent all the money getting 40 hrs of airplane time. If you're trying to get a commercial, that airplane time will count toward total number of hours required; but here again, you should be using that time in the helicopter to get your instrument, commercial, and CFI shortly thereafter. Point being, if you're trying to become a commercial helicopter pilot, do not waste a bunch of money learning to fly an airplane thinking it's going to save you money in the long run--it's not. Helicopter operators and their insurance companies do NOT take airplane time into account. It's all about total heli and heli PIC hours. If you want to be a helicopter pilot, spend your money on helicopter time. You can always go back and get your airplane rating--where helicopter time will count toward total time with insurance companies. |
|
Im at ~40 hours, all R22 hours so far PPL will be done in a month or so. Then im doing instrument, commercial, and mountain training in an R44 and a 300C
I strongly suggest you buy the following books (if your flight school hasnt required you buy them yet): -NEWEST version of the FAA Helicopter flying handbook. It's a great book, but it is missing ALOT of very good info you NEED to know. It's still a great foundation of knowledge though. -FAA Pilot's handbook of Aeronautical knowledge. Fantastic explanations on engines, airfoils and instruments. Yes, its an airplane book but more than half of it a bit of it also applies to helicopters.. This book is what partially makes up for the missing info the the helicopter handbook. -Aviation Weather Services handbook - NEED this thing trust me. -Aviation Weather (old book, but it's all required info you need to know) -Lastest version of the R22 POH or print it out on the web. You will have to memorize atleast half of it, and i doubt your flight school will let you take the POH in their helicopter home with you since it has to stay in the A/C at all times. -Latest version of the FAR/AIM book. You will be highlighting all kinds of shit in here and will have to memorize alot of it once you get more ratings. -Buy yourself a kneeboard. You dont have to go fancy, but you do need something that can clip a checklist and a section chart (map). I used it primarily for radio calls/memorizing my airport. Now i primarily use it to glance at my chart and write down current callsign for weather etc. -Before you go out and buy a super expensive headset, i suggest you figure out if this is what you really really want to do. It's silly to buy a $900 headset to then give up at 15 hours after figuring out you can;t afford it or dont have what it takes etc. I went with a Lightspeed Zulu 2. -It's silly to buy a flight suit when youre just working on a PPL. I'd get one once you have your commercial. My instructor never wears his though. -Once you get more into this, i suggest you buy the Dauntless "ride ready" testing software and do the pretest a shit load of times till you get high scores. Very similar questions and format to the actual FAA test which is expensive to fail. From my experience, the SIM is fucking god awful as far as responsiveness and realism is concerned. The SIM is great for learning concepts, safely - but definitely not good for learning to fly the actual helicopter. It's much much more different. I find it significantly more frustrating to fly the sim than the 22. Being honest, not trying to brag. Edit: additional stuff you may already know -I strongly agree with one of the above posters, do try to fly with different instructors when you get a chance. They all have their own teaching methods, you will always learn something new or learn how to do something "better" especially if something isnt clicking right with your main instructor. -Learning to hover is hard to initially pick up on, but once you get it it becomes second nature. Some will call me crazy, but I find hovering the easiest part of flying overall. -You are delusional if you think you can earn your PPL at 40 hours with zero prior flight experience. The average is 60 hours. -Money is what makes helicopters fly, not a combination of lift/thrust 
-Your head will explode once you start to get into aerodynamics, then after a few mor lessons everything will "click". -I know it may sound weird, but once you get like halfway, start testing yourself in your head or outloud. Explain to yourself outloud different aerodynamic hazards and how to fix them. Go through all the systems, sub systems, weak links etc. There's no other way to memorize every thing other than experiencing it or constantly reviewing it every once in a while. -This is a long dark road if this isn't something you love. |