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.