Airplanes

[GJM]

We did emergency procedures training in the Jet Ranger Friday. After not flying the Jet Ranger since November, and flying the 500 so much, the Jet Ranger felt terrible initially hovering in a gusty wind. Terrible as in wallowing around and me feeling like a student pilot. It came back quickly but let's just say the 500 is more fun to hover. Compared to auto rotations in the 500, which are like kicking a heavy rock off a ledge, the Jet Ranger seems to gently float down to the ground. For two similar weight helicopters using the same engine, the Jet Ranger and 500 are so different in personality.

[Dog Guy]

We had some posts about this landing back when it first came out. Here are some more details that are pretty interesting in terms of air flow around the building, and wind behavior at the sea/desert interface.

[GJM]

We had a full day yesterday. Up early and drove four hours in to Mesa, AZ. First, we stopped at MD Helicopters, and my wife and I each did a half hour of autorotations. It was warm enough we had the doors off, which makes for great visibility. At Falcon Field there isn't a dedicated practice area, so you are auto'ing to a ramp area dodging planes and vehicles, which makes it "realistic!"

Here is Charlie doing an auto.

https://youtube.com/shorts/pI1ngwRO6...pvCKY8hMPb4DWy

Then we had to preflight a Jet Ranger coming out of maintenance, and make two flights to check track and balance on the main rotor and recheck the mast nut. Unfortunately, the mast nut slipped a bit, so rather than fly another hour and check it again, we elected to depart since you can fly 1-5 hours before torquing it again.

The flight west was slow, with a 20 something knot headwind, and pretty rough. We tried everywhere from just above the ground to 6,500 feet trying to get out of the wind, but it wasn't happening. At least down low, you see more.



It was gusting 30 something at our airport, but it laid down some just as we landed.

[GJM]

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/e3d...ibextid=QwDbR1

Honda Jet runway excursion -- 20 knot Xwind limit. Huh.

[Basher]

We had a full day yesterday. Up early and drove four hours in to Mesa, AZ. First, we stopped at MD Helicopters, and my wife and I each did a half hour of autorotations. It was warm enough we had the doors off, which makes for great visibility. At Falcon Field there isn't a dedicated practice area, so you are auto'ing to a ramp area dodging planes and vehicles, which makes it "realistic!"

Here is Charlie doing an auto.

https://youtube.com/shorts/pI1ngwRO6...pvCKY8hMPb4DWy

Then we had to preflight a Jet Ranger coming out of maintenance, and make two flights to check track and balance on the main rotor and recheck the mast nut. Unfortunately, the mast nut slipped a bit, so rather than fly another hour and check it again, we elected to depart since you can fly 1-5 hours before torquing it again.

The flight west was slow, with a 20 something knot headwind, and pretty rough. We tried everywhere from just above the ground to 6,500 feet trying to get out of the wind, but it wasn't happening. At least down low, you see more.



It was gusting 30 something at our airport, but it laid down some just as we landed.

I was able to log about 0.4 in a Jet Ranger a few weeks back and check it off my bucket list. I haven't flown hardly at all in the last 15 months since the FAA revoked my medical (much as I hate those bastards, that likely saved my life) so I'm rusty AF, but let me tell you, that was a fun ship to fly! Sure, it handles a lot like a slightly bigger R44, but the power was amazing (first time flying a turbine for me, too)! The owner was an Ag guy, so he took us a little south of my airport and showed us how they fly when applying product, then let me make a few passes. One of my line techs in the back wasn't expecting to get the "full monty" lol, but we had a blast. Ag turns are so much fun!

I used to fly out of FFZ before we moved out east. I always thought flying for MD would be fun, but I really don't miss the heat. Was fun to relive those days momentarily while reading your post, so thanks for sharing. If you ever find yourself flying out in west-central IN, drop me a line and I'll cut you a deal on gas in exchange for a few tenths of stick time!

[GJM]

Beautiful morning and we were out flying Cubs this morning. On the way back, I was announcing my position from the airport, when a guy came on the radio in a twin Cessna. After I asked how many minutes he was from the field he said ten miles which didn't tell me much since in my experience 9.3 miles means something and 10 or 20 miles may be that or a wag. He couldn't figure out how many minutes, so we could coordinate who was landing first, when I noticed him on the ADS B traffic bearing down on me from my 7 o clock. I finally said "hey, don't run into me" to get his attention, and we got it sorted out. When I shut down, a charter pilot who was pre flighting a jet with the radio on, said I was a lot nicer than he would have been. It is a lousy feeling watching someone run you down from behind.

[LockedBreech]

Beautiful morning and we were out flying Cubs this morning. On the way back, I was announcing my position from the airport, when a guy came on the radio in a twin Cessna. After I asked how many minutes he was from the field he said ten miles which didn't tell me much since in my experience 9.3 miles means something and 10 or 20 miles may be that or a wag. He couldn't figure out how many minutes, so we could coordinate who was landing first, when I noticed him on the ADS B traffic bearing down on me from my 7 o clock. I finally said "hey, don't run into me" to get his attention, and we got it sorted out. When I shut down, a charter pilot who was pre flighting a jet with the radio on, said I was a lot nicer than he would have been. It is a lousy feeling watching someone run you down from behind.

Man, it's stuff like that that has stopped me from getting a pilot's license, even though I love to fly and I have family members who are licensed. I have pretty pronounced ADHD and my attention tends to wander, which can be great in Court (because I can snap to different topics/people easily) but is a real struggle for longer focus-based tasks like flying and writing long documents. The timescale for inattention/zoning out is just not there in the air and nobody else is gonna do it for you. Good on ya for being dialed in.

[Suvorov]

I’ve been flying 121 into uncontrolled airports and had GA pilots give position reports 180 degrees off on several occasions. Luckily my TCAS was able to alert me to their errors before they realized their mistakes. I really am glad they at least had their transponders on.

[ccmdfd]

https://www.youtube.com/live/_SYtR47...hK0Nl4fqm2cNfC

I'm only 15 minutes into this right now and don't know if I can last for the whole hour and a half.

But the second person in his opening statement is alleging that the 737 Max crashes were not due to MCAS, but due to Manufacturing defects.

Anyone else heard this theory? First I've heard of it.

[entropy]

https://www.youtube.com/live/_SYtR47...hK0Nl4fqm2cNfC

I'm only 15 minutes into this right now and don't know if I can last for the whole hour and a half.

But the second person in his opening statement is alleging that the 737 Max crashes were not due to MCAS, but due to Manufacturing defects.

Anyone else heard this theory? First I've heard of it.

There was discussion in the beginning on the vanes, but honestly didn’t pay much attention. The fact that the system wasn’t fully redundant in the first place made me scratch my head.