Learning to Fly Helicopters

Here are my notes on becoming a Helicopter Pilot.

There are several levels of certification:

1. To fly solo,
   get a Recreational or Private Pilot Certificate.
2. To fly at night or in bad weather,
   get an Instrument Certificate.
3. To fly a passenger,
   get a Commercial Pilot license.
4. To train other pilots,
   become a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI).

Topics this page:

How Helicopters Work

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Sound: Helicopter flyby (Stereo effect)

Why?

Moms say:

• “You'll get yourself killed!”
• “It's too expensive!”
• “It's too difficult - like juggling while riding a unicycle!”
• “It's too noisy!” (OSHA's maximum exposure of a helicopter's 105 decible sound is 1 hour)

But I say:

• “It beats just playing video games.”
• “I would be one of very few people in the world.”
• “It impresses women (and men too).”
• “It impresses college admissions boards because it demonostrates skill and persistance.”
• “Pilots who are drafted go in as officers.”
• Propeller and jet aircraft are louder (120 dB and 140 dB - the Threashold for pain).

Uses for helicopters and its pilots

• Airline and corporate transportation
• Fire fighting
• Medical evac.
• Law enforcement
• Traffic reporting
• Aerial photography
• Scenic tours
• Flight instruction
• Pipeline patrol
• Crop dusting
• Combat!

Steps to an Initial Private Pilot License

Here are the activities and milestones to become a pilot:

1. Research websites, schools, costs to develop a Checklist of Questions.
2. Get a picture taken with me in the pilot's seat (at the Aerospace Museum)
3. Read $15 Intro Helicopter Flying Lesson for what a prospective student experiences on a first flying lesson in a helicopter (64 Pages)
4. Interview prospective school management, instructors, and students.
5. Take demo flight with selected instructor

6. Plan Ground School Schedules
7. Order Ground School books and supplies such as FAA A-141 syllabus.
8. Attend Ground School and take dual lessons. Learn maneuvers to safely takeoff and land. Identify airspace requiring communication with air traffic control. Learn the flight characteristics and operational limitations of the make and model aircraft to be flown. Take Robinson R22 Training CD-ROM ($US 72.95)
9. Study and pass pre-solo written test.
10. Get third-class medical certificate from an FAA approved physician
11. Get solo endorsement from instructor
12. First solo (on someone's 16th birthday?)

13. First solo cross-country flight!
14. 10 solo hours flown!
15. Get instructor to sign FAA Form 8060-7, Airman's Authorization for Written Test.

16. Study for and pass the Recreational & Private Pilot FAA Helicopter Knowledge Exams
17. Review the airman computer test report with instructor to get his/her endorsement.
18. Get a Certificate of Graduation from the school.
19. Take a practical test with an aircraft and it's papers. (on someone's 17th birthday?)
20. Fly with a temporary pilot certificate!
21. Frame the permanent pilot certificate!

• FAR Part 61.96, 61.97, 61.101 - a Recreational Pilot Certificate holder is restricted to to flying in daylight no more than 50 nautical miles from the airport where instruction was received and cannot operate in airspace requiring communications with air traffic control (ATC).

• FAR Part 61.105, 61.107 - a Private Pilot Certificate holder

• FAR Part 91 - VFR

• FAA Practical Test Standards S-8081-HC

• Phillip Greenspun's Helicopter Training notes

Instrument Rating

• Take Instrument FAA Helicopter Knowledge Exams Aviation Weather Book

  $15 Let's Go Fly a Helicopter (1995) VHS movie shows how a helicopter works in action.

Radio Controlled Helicopters

Chopper Patrol battery operated toy helicopter ($30) has dual throttle control and skyhook.

Helicopter game simulators

• KA-52 Team Alligator for Windows by Infogrames
• SimCopter
• Enemy Engaged: Comanche Vs. Hokum
• World of Combat 2000
• Jane's Attack Pack
• Gunship! for Windows by Infogrames
• LHX Attack Chopper for Sega Genesis from Electronic Arts

Types of flying:

Helicopter Movie Classic

Blue Thunder (1983) This film features a LAPD helicopter -- a 1972 French Gazelle modified with snooping gadgets and trick weapons -- in aerial chases between skyscrapers. Pilot Roy Scheider avenges comical copliot Daniel Sterns by going against army general Malcolm McDowell's evil but absurd plot.

Costs

Item	FAA Min. Hrs.	Realistic Hrs.	$ Rate Per Hour	USD$	Total
Dual lessons	25	45	$185	8,325	11,400
Solo flights	10	10	$150	1,500
Ground school	35	45	$35	1,575
IFR Dual	35	40	$222	8,880	10,280
Ground	30	40	$35	1,400

FAA Part 141 Approved Schools

Schools granted an Air Agency Certificate by the FAA are listed on the AC 140-2 List of Certificated Pilot Schools maintained by FSDO.

Among the list at Flight.com

• ROTC Flight Training
• Pacific Coast Helicoptors (formerly Benbow) in Torrance Airport
• Helicopter Adventures at Space Coast Regional Airport, Titusville, FL and Buchanan Field, Concord, CA
• US Helicopters in Long Beach
• Los Angeles Helicopters in Long Beach
• Compton
• Hillsboro Aviation and Portland Community College's (PCC) Aviation Science program
• US Navy Helicopter Control Officer (HCO) School in Norfolk, VA trains with Night Vision Goggles!
• Vortex Helicopters, on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, offers apartments to students.
• Verticare Helicopters at the Salinas, CA Heliport offers high-altitude mountain flying instruction.

Questions for each School

English Language Books

$14 Rotorcraft Flying Handbook 8083-21 by the FAA, May 2000. Paperback.

$15 Private Pilot Test Prep 2002 - Federal Aviation Association (Editor); 344 Pages.

$27 The Art & Science of Flying Helicopters by Shawn Corwyn Coyle. Iowa State Univ Press, 1996. 225 Pages

$25 Principles of Helicopter Flight by W. J. Wagtendonk. Aviation Supplies & Academics. 288 Pages

$95 Principles of Helicopter Aerodynamics by J. Gordon Leishman. Cambridge University Press, June 2000

FAR/AIM 2002 includes Federal Aviation Regulations Parts 1, 43, 61, 71, 73, 91, 97, 103, 105, 119, 135, 141, 142, Ntsb 830 and the Complete aeronaut - Federal Aviation Association (Editor); Paperback

$19 Pilot's Handbook Of Aeronautical Knowledge

$17 Aeronautical Decision Making explains the risks associated with helicopter flying, the Underlying causes of accidents, and the effects of stress etc on helicopter pilot decision making.

$17 The Helicopter Pilots Handbook gives pointers on a career as a pilot.

$35 Robinson Helicopter Awareness Training by Frank Robinson

How To Fly Helicopters, 2nd Edition 1986 (1st Edition 1940) by Larry Collier, Revised By Kas Thomas. Tab Books. Hard Cover.

$18 Learning to Fly Helicopters by R. Randall Padfield. Tab Books, January 1992. 354 pages

Supplies

• Aeronautical Chart of your area
• E6 B Flight Computer
• Navigation Plotter

• Helicopter Student Flight Record
  to record student stage checks passed, lesson content, lesson performance, flight hours, instructor notes and endorsements, solo endorsements, aircraft checkout records, etc. Required for Part 61 and Part 141 program requirements.

• SP 30 or SP 57 Deluxe Helicopter Log Book
• Robinson R22 Pilots Information Manual and
• Rotocraft Check List
  Before Starting Engine, Starting Engine, Shut Down. Operating Limitations

• $45 Robinson R22 Pilots Guide (Operating Handbook)

• Learning to Fly Helicopters

• MA-1 military Flight jacket from Alpha Industries

Resources - Websites

• Helicopters Only.com offers an extensive FAQ, Pilot Reports, and a store with Training Kits.
• Helicopters.com offers news.
• American Helicopter Museum in West Chester, PA
• American Helicopter Society
• ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization)
• Lawyer David Willis in Houston, Texas specializes in helicopter crashes

Rotocraft Manufacturers

• Robinson Helicopters have 131 horsepower. A $170,000+ R-22 seats 2. A $310,000+ R-44 seats 4.
• Bell Textron makes Jet Rangers.
• MD Helicopters in Arizona feature the NOTAR®) anti-torque system for operator benefits that include increased quiet, safety, reduced insurance rates and the ability to fly in areas that are off limits to other rotorcraft.
• Schweizer
• Sikorsky (HQ in Stratford) makes Black Hawks for the Army and National Guard, Seahawks for the Navy, Pave Hawks for the Air Force. It's working on the U.S. Army RAH-66 Comanche stealth copter.
• Aerospatiale France
• Westland Helicopters UK

  Helicopters Magazine.com is issued quarterly.