Mountain X-Country

Wednesday, November 18th was my second flight in a helicopter. In short, it was absolutely breathtaking. 

We began by practicing some hovering for the first time, which was very demanding but fun at the same time. He said I caught on fairly quickly, and expects me to be able to hover relatively soon. What a compliment! The winds were beginning to pick up, though, so we taxied and headed out to the East...towards the Cascade Mountains.

On the way there, he had me take the controls (all of them) quite often, teaching me how to keep the Manifold Pressure at a certain point, and how to move the cyclic aft when decreasing MP, and forward when increasing it. It was a neat experience trying to apply just the right amount of forward cyclic when increasing manifold pressure so as to keep airspeed steady, especially since the winds were getting fairly bad. 

Unfortunately, I only had my phone camera and was too "in awe" to take a lot of pictures, but I did snag a couple of when we got up into the mountains and landed on one of them. This was...unbelievable to say the least. At this altitude, the peaks were all covered with snow, and the lakes were completely frozen over. It was like we were in a movie. Anyway, we landed in the snow, and my CFI snagged a few pictures. When he climbed back in and reassumed the controls, I grabbed a couple myself:

My side of the cockpit:

His side:

Then we took off again and continued flying through the mountains, over Snoqualmie Pass, waved to some hikers, and circled one of the most beautiful peaks in the area while at an altitude of 5,000', then descended a bit and followed the I-90 back out into the valley and headed back to the airfield. I flew very often on our way back, and even quite a bit while we were still in the mountains. It was a great way to practice situational awareness while simultaneously flying. You've really got to pay attention when you are in the mountains, there are powerlines way below you, and you've got to watch your airspeed and manifold pressure. 

At this point, the winds were really picking up. He let me continue flying, and said later that he was gauging my reaction to what some deem is an unnerving situation, where the helicopter is really being tossed around a bit by the winds. Apparently he's had a student completely freak out on him and let go of the controls. What?! Anyway, he said that he was impressed with how I stayed calm and handled it, and I just looked at him and said "Really? I just think this is fun!" The ironic part is, I really don't like rollercoasters...yet this didn't bother me in the slightest. 

So far I have logged a grand total of 3.8 hours. This mountain flight was 2.5 of those hours, and man, I couldn't believe how exhausting a flight that long can make a person! It makes sense, especially with the cold temps, altitude, gusty winds, and just sheer mental concentration it takes to fly a helicopter, particularly when you are just beginning to learn. 

My CFI and I get along incredibly well, and it's very neat to talk to him because he used to be an Officer in the Marines and we talk about that a lot, and he is the one person in my life who supports me going WOFT, which is refreshing, to say the least. 

I hoped to keep this blog a little bit more up-to-date, but have really just been way too tired to do so, especially with classes.