Lost video re-discovered from my first solo flight.
My instructor had just walked away going over everything and giving me one last bit of advice, "Don't become a youtube video." as he pointed over to my father filming the event.All needles were in the green and I started to pickup to a hover when as soon as I got light on the skids I slid over about a foot which triggered the ground resonance. I had never before experienced ground resonance, but immediately remembered the famous "MacGyver" video shown to me in ground school where the Gazelle helicopter quickly picked up to eliminate ground resonance.
I acted swiftly and accordingly to prevent a potential unfavorable situation, then looked over to my instructor and chief instructor who were both wide-eyed and each giving me two thumbs up.Rather than set her back down, I gathered my nerves in a steady hover, checked my surroundings, and then pressed-on to complete my first solo flight experience without further incident.
Ground resonance:
Steve
ReplyDeleteAs a soldier I've flown in many helicopter types, the old Westland Wessex was my first VTOL experience - an air show at AAC Middle Wallop where we abseiled down and went into a mock fire fight around an old airframe. Good fun and the civvies loved it. I also jumped (static line) from one hovering at about 1000ft: you actually dispatch from a sitting position in the doorway. Others too numerous to mention but one I must is the Vietnam era UH-I ("Huey") I got to know in the States. Amazing two-bladed machine which - neat trick - can take off, hover and land with the engines turned off. That's inertia for you. BTW back home in the UK I saw its replacement flying over Salisbury Plain (I have photos) several years before its official name came out: Black Hawk. The MOD eventually bought the Merlin. Happy days.