given by flashing landing lights.Hovertaxi higher and slower than byday, making no sideways orbackwards movements. Great careshould be exercised in pointing theSchermuly flares to a safe place at alltimes (which is admittedly a bitdifficult when they're fitted and thefuelling truck pulls up right alongsidethem). The flares should not bearmed at this stage, but at theholding point immediately beforetake-off and disarmed at the sameplace after final approach. Theyshould also be disarmed afterreaching cruising altitude.The maximum useful height fordischarging a flare is around 1800feet. Its burn time is 80 seconds,during which time it will fall about1500 feet. Therefore, havingestablished autorotation after anengine failure at night, the first flareshould be discharged immediately, oron passing through 1800 feet,whichever is later. Don't botherdoing it before this, as they will beuseless. Due to the way the switcheswork, and depending on the heightat which your engine stops, you maynot be able to set off more than oneflare before landing, but, if possible,the second should be dischargedbetween 800-1000 feet agl.In autorotations at night, use aconstant attitude, at whatever speedis comfortable, to keep the beamfrom the landing light in the sameposition on the ground, becauseSpecial Use Of Aircraft 233otherwise it will shine up into the airwhen you flare, from which positionit's no good to you at all.Winter OperationsAlthough colder air means there'sless danger of exceeding temperaturelimits, there are hazards, too,including freezing precipitation, lowceilings and cold temperatures.Rapid changes in these are typical,and it’s possible to get weathered infor days at a time, so don’t forgetyour chocolate bars.The WeatherWhen it gets to below -20 or so,contact gloves will prevent your skinfreezing when it comes in contactwith cold metal, which is a moreefficient conductor of heat than airis. You may also need sunglasses.Always dress properly—in a forcedlanding it could be that the clothesyou wear will be the only protectionyou have. Also, being cold when youare actually flying is a Flight Safetyhazard – metal foot pedals willconduct heat away from your bootsvery quickly. Extra time for planningshould always be allowed and thepre-flight inspection should includeyou—being improperly dressed andmaking a series of short exposureswill fatigue you more quickly,especially when the clothes you arewearing are bulky and awkward tomove in. Maintain blood sugar levelsas more calories are consumed in thecold (you need 3000 calories a day inNorway). If the air is very dry (like inthe Arctic), you will lose fluids morequickly through the usual ways, butespecially breathing. Losing 10%
causes cause delirium, and a 20%loss is fatal. You could try and eatsnow, but the conversion to watertakes more energy, so melt it first.Preserve your machine’s heat asmuch as possible on the ground, bycovering vital areas as soon aspossible after landing, not openingand closing doors too much, etc. It’svery important that it does not get socold that it won’t start again, so youmight consider starting up everycouple of hours or so, which willboth use fuel and battery capacity –certainly, in the average car, it takesabout half an hour’s driving toreplace the energy taken by one start,and I’m sure it’s worse with ahelicopter – a depleted battery willsooner or later result in an expensivehot start. At the very least, removethe battery and keep it warm. If yousee fan heaters around the helipad,they are for putting under the coversto keep the engine and gearboxwarm (all night). Light bulbs aregood, too, around the FCU.Special attention should also be paidto the following:·
That correct oil and grease isused and special equipment isfitted to keep engines warm.For Bell 206s, at least, below –40°C, your oil must meet MILL7808 specifications, and youwill need fuel additives in allother than JP4 below –18 °C.·
Use deicing fluid if possible—scrapers do not leave prettyresults. Fluid, if it's thickenough, helps prevent furtherice forming (see Icing). Don'tforget to fit engine blanks, etc.before using them. Deicingfluids are also good degreasers.234 Operational Flying·
That windscreens are defrosted(keep moving a mechanicalheater around, or it might meltthe perspex). Don't forget tohave a cloth handy for wipingthe windscreen from the insidewhen it mists up.·
You have proper tie-downs andpitot/engine covers, static ventplugs, etc.·
That heating systems areworking properly and don'tallow exhaust into the cabin (ifyou get regular headaches,check for carbon monoxidepoisoning).·
De- and anti-icing equipment isworking properly and that allbreather pipes, etc. are clear ofanything that could freeze.·
That the aircraft has not beencold soaked below minimumoperating temperatures. If so,there are particular (and tedious)ways of starting the machineagain, which essentially involvepreserving the heat fromrepeated attempted starts so theengine compartment can warmup, with a ten-minute gapbetween each, removing andreplacing engine blankets everytime. In case you werewondering, cold soaking occurs
when the aircraft and fuelbecome colder than the ambienttemperature, which can happenover a cold night or at highaltitudes, and it becomes aproblem because heat isconducted more quickly awayfrom precipitation, making iceformation easier. A 737 took offfrom Toronto, which was cold,and arrived in Nassau, whichwas warm, with heavy frost onthe upper wings (it was meltedby refuelling with warmer fuel).·
That frost, ice and snow hasbeen removed, particularly onlift-producing surfaces. If youleave hoar frost on the fuselage(only if it can be seen through),beware of flying into cloudwhere more will stick. It must beremoved from where itsdislodgement could causeingestion, e.g. engine cowlings.·
Check particle separators aswater seepage may have frozeninside the engine, resulting inabnormally high N1 and JPTreadings.·
The skids of a helicopter are notfrozen to the ground. On a solidsurface, you might be able torock it using the tail. Otherwise,use the pedals with a littlecollective just before takeoff.·
Unstick windscreen wipers andmoving parts (including rotorsand propellers) by hand, or youwill strain the motors.·
That control linkages andmovement are checked.·
That pitot heat is checked byhand—don't accept a flicker onthe ammeter.·
Water drains are not frozen.·
That carb heat is checked.Static becomes problem when it’scold, as snow and air can be very dryand therefore good electricalinsulators – a helicopter can retainits normal static charge quiteSpecial Use Of Aircraft 235efficiently when landing on snow(before refuelling, remove yoursurvival kit, so if it blows up you’vegot something to wear after you’vewarmed your hands in the fire).When possible, the first start of theday should be an external one. Witha turbine in cold weather you canexpect a lower achieved N1 beforelight up with abnormally high JPTpeaks, eventually settling down lowerthan normal. Oil pressure will beslow to rise, but high after starting –do not go above ground idle untilpressures are in the green and willstay there as you increase thethrottle. Temperature, on the otherhand, will be very slow to rise at all,and you want the transmission to beat least indicating something, whichwill mean the engine oil is OK aswell, as it gets hot quicker. Allow theelectrics to warm up as well – eventhe knobs can get brittle.Don't wind up too quickly in caseyou spin or yaw on the pad (thecyclic should be central), especially ifthere’s an engineer on a ladder doing
a leak check (be careful with rotorbrake, too). If the machine has beenfrozen to the ground, one skid maycome free first and cause dynamicrollover. If it has not already beenfreed, pull collective until ready tolift and crack it free with a little pedalmovement, though on a big machineyou might want to use engine torquefor the same effect, otherwise youmight bend the tail boom. You couldalso try gently circulating the cyclic,or pulling down on the tail boombefore starting if the machine is lightenough. Taxi slowly with caution ifthe taxiways are clear of snow. Ifnot, taxi higher and slightly fasterthen normal to keep out of theresulting snow cloud. If you havewheels, act as if you have no brakes.Marshallers should be well clear andmove slowly themselves. If theheater is required to be off in thehover, ensure the blower is on, tohelp clear the windscreen.WhiteoutSee under Visibility.Taking offIn snow, the accepted takeoffmethod is the towering type, becausea normal one may produce a largesnow cloud to blind air and groundcrews, and a failed engine (you maybe able to blow a lot of loose snowaway with a little application ofcollective before the take-offproper). If a white-out does happen,apply maximum collective for animmediate climb and forward cyclic(i.e. no hover), keeping the ballcentred and using the A/H ifnecessary, but the real key is keepinga visual reference. If you have it,exercise the gear once or twice todislodge any slush, etc. that mayhave stuck to the legs, to stop itfreezing. With any piston engine, usecarb heat regularly and check instrument readings frequently for carbicing. Have carb heat fully on or off,but not on for prolonged periods—itincreases fuel consumption (see alsoEngine Handling).The CruiseMountain wave clouds can be loadedwith heavy ice at remarkably lowtemperatures (remember that lowpressures and low temperatures willcause your altimeter to read high).When using anti-icing, take intoaccount the inaccuracy of the236 Operational Flyingtemperature gauges, so if you mustturn it on at 4°, and the temperaturegauge is only accurate to within 2,start thinking about it at 6°.Wet and sticky snow has morechance of icing, and is associatedwith low visibility, which wouldindicate that you shouldn’t be flyinganyway. Luckily, light powdery snowtends not to accumulate, but will stillgive you the leans. Whatever typeyou fly in, use snow baffles.Visibility, by the way, includes theinside! When it’s very cold, watervapour (from clothes, breath, etc.)will freeze on the windscreen, sowarming up the machine beforepassengers get in will help a lot.LandingAeroplanesSee also Performance, above.HelicoptersLanding Sites should be selectedwith a view to pulling out of aresulting snow cloud if necessary.That is, you may need to escapesomewhere.As with landing on mountains, thereare various schools of thought aboutlanding on snow. One is thezero/zero method (zero speed, zeroheight), for which you carry out anormal approach, using a constantattitude with minimum changes,losing translational lift at the lastminute. Aim to keep going forwardand downward until a few inchesabove the snow, so the downwash isalways behind you, using the aircraftshadow, a smoke grenade or thelanding light to provide texture tothe surface. Even a fuel drum makesa good visual reference. Anothergood trick is to use a dark-paintedstake with a flag on it – the flagmakes the stake behave like a dart,so the point goes into the snow, andacts as a wind indicator afterwards.Do not hover, don’t go beyond themarker, and try to land just as thesnow cloud develops.When you commit yourself,however, you will need to check thefirmness of the surface, which is notusually a problem at a camp orsomething, as the ground crew willhave done this for you. The dangerlies when you're going to anunchecked site for the first time.Touch down lightly without delay,treating it as a sloping groundlanding, as the vibration of the
helicopter itself can cause ice tocrack. Any form of load spreading isa good idea if you can takeadvantage of it, like landing on a logpad, although your landing gear willlargely determine what you can use.As an example, a fully loadedJetRanger on floats weighs 133 lbsper sq foot, whilst one on skids andbear paws is nearer 400. Whateveryou choose, it needs to be twice asthick if you intend staying overnight.Another method, possibly better forbeginners, is to come to a high hover(with escapes) to allow thedownwash to clear the snow, thenlower the machine slowly andsmoothly, being wary if you’re heavy.Still another is a really shallowapproach on the edge oftranslational lift, to slowly moveforward onto the site with your skidson the ground.Once landed, bounce the skids alittle to see if there's a crust,although you should be careful withthe Astar as too much downwardSpecial Use Of Aircraft 237force on the blades could cause thehead to crack, aside from pushingthe belly panel up into the controls(watch out for the swinging hook,too, which could cause loss of fuel).The belly landing light, if you haveone, is a great snow scoop whichcould affect the controls as well.Keep your RPM to flying levels untilyou're sure you're on firm ground.Always keep the helicopter light onthe skids until passengers are clear,regardless of the surface. Don’t letanyone out till you’re happy.The colour of ice can be a good clueas to its suitability. White or blue isthe thickest, and therefore safest,whereas black ice may have runningwater underneath and will be quitethin (for this reason, avoid inflowsor outflows of streams or rivers).Granular, dirty looking ice is melting.Large puddles or sheets of water arealso a dead giveaway. However, ice isnever really safe – it doesn’t matterhow many heavy water trucks thecustomer may have parked there thatweek, helicopters vibrate a lot morethan trucks do or, more particularly,in a different way, and the holepunched through for the hosepipehas already weakened the structure.Also, however thick they tell you theice is, you have no way of knowingwhether it is actually supported bywater underneath (the level mayhave dropped), or whether anyrunning water has eroded the undersurface. Neither do you knowwhether any snow on top hasshielded the ice from the cold, orwhether the Sun’s rays have reactedwith bare ice to act as a lens andcreate temperatures dangerouslyclose to a thaw, during which iceseveral feet thick can often becomecomposed of long vertical needles,known as candle ice (read those oldHudson Bay survival manuals). Tryand land somewhere else first.Shut down carefully on an icysurface, anticipating ground spin(especially in a Gazelle). Aftershutdown, fill any fuel tanks to
prevent condensation, always beingaware of the next payload. Removebatteries if temperatures are forecastto be below -10°C. Try to park themachine facing the sunrise, so theSun’s warmth can help with de-icingthe windscreen.Also see that the battery is fullycharged before departing from base,and consider taking a spare, togetherwith an external start cable— if theship’s battery runs down completely,the plates will become sulphated andwon’t actually hold a charge so, evenif you start from an external source,you won’t be able to start againwithout one if you shut down. Agood ploy is to use the externalbattery for operating electric fuelpumps, etc. Check that heaters,blowers, etc. work and that snowdeflectors are fitted. Also, notewhether tie downs and covers areserviceable. De-icing fluid cansshould always be carried, as should asmall amount of food. If all thisbecomes too much, consider asupport vehicle.Aerial Filming andPhotographyFlights should be planned so thatemergencies don’t put structures orpersons in the vicinity at risk—youmust observe the low flying rulesunless an exemption has beengranted; in practice, you can get238 Operational Flyingdown to 200 feet for photography,but you will need to keep a record ofwhen it was taken advantage of, asyou would with any other.If a door needs to be removed, loosearticles and surplus seat belts shouldnaturally be secured and manoeuvrescarried out where possible so theside of the aircraft without the dooris uppermost; people near the opendoor should wear a bit more thanthe seat belt supplied. This point iscontroversial—very often aphotographer will expect the door tobe off, not have a mount and justuse a normal seat belt. No way, José!In this case, I would insist on at leasta rope around their middle looselyattached to an anchor point as well,but a professional outfit—whichincludes your Company—will haveits own despatcher's harness. Thinkabout it—the photographer needs toshift to get a better position, so heundoes the seat belt to help him getit! Then falls out!A camera mount will normally befitted by the company supplying it,but you should oversee the work andannotate the loadsheet accordingly(it should not be fitted unless there isa Supplement to the Flight Manualcovering its installation).When the mount is in place, the C ofA changes to Aerial Work, thereforeno passengers should be carriedwithout an exemption, or unless theyare essential to the operation, whichincludes the photographer. The C ofG requirements will change as well.If you get a choice, sit thecameraman on your side—keepingthe target inside an area in the topfront part of your side window willgive him the field of view required.
It's important to get what's wantedfirst time, not only for economy, butalso noise nuisance. Camera crewsare famous for wanting "just onemore shot" and going "a littlelower", but you shouldn't pushyourself or the machine.Bear in mind the helicopter'sheight/velocity curve—theJetRanger must have at least 450 feetto regain the 60 knots it needs for agood engine-off landing (having saidthat, I have seen a successful onefrom a 50-foot hover, which is notto suggest that you should try it).Operations should inform localemergency services of your activities.The MoviesFilm work tends to be done byexperienced pilots with whomdirectors, and particularlycameramen, are comfortable with. Itis not impossible for the "local guys"to do it if they are unavailable, butthere is a big difference between justcircling a target and chasing a carbackwards down a ravine—experienced pilots should also havethe maturity to keep out of dangerby not pushing the machine past itslimits, or not get too concernedwhen all the plans go awry.You will mostly come in contactwith the production department,who are responsible for the correctscheduling and availability ofequipment, including the helicopter,which gives you approximately thesame status as a typewriter, orsometimes less. You could be onstandby all day, and not fly at all, orbe told the evening before you willbe taking off very early. In short,there will be a lot of jerking around,which should not be takenpersonally. Ever since an episode inSpecial Use Of Aircraft 239The Twilight Zone, where somepeople got killed in an accidentinvolving a helicopter on the set,everyone is paranoid about makingmistakes and being blamed for them.Very often, the pilot is the only onewithout an alibi, so that is where theblame will end up. It's all part of thejob, and making movies is a veryhigh pressure business.Cameras are fitted in various ways,typically sidewards-facing, but theSpacecam is a gyro-stabilised affairthat lives in a large round casing onthe front of an AStar:The electronics are so good that youcan take a fair amount of turbulencewithout the camera even seeing it.The flying itself includes a littleformation work here and there,some precision hovering, or crosscontrolling when you have to makesharp, level turns. You need to besmooth on the controls, operatesafely and ensure there is plenty ofcommunication, but most importantis knowing the performance limits ofyour machine.Directions, when given, are inrelation to the camera, as in "CameraRight" or "Camera Left". Otherwise,if you don't have an aviation liaisonperson, you can expect all kinds.Aerial SurveyThis is the process of photographingareas of land from varying heights,
the results generally used for mapmaking. As a result, this takes placeat great heights, but it may getexciting and bring you down to 300feet, depending on the resultsrequired. Aerial survey can give goodjob satisfaction, especially when youcan see the results, and the targetappears in every frame as requestedby the surveyor.When doing low-level work, you willbe given a large-scale map with flightpatterns marked on it, and you doeverything by pure map reading. Thepattern can be star-shaped, with setsof two or three parallel runs at anglesto each other over the target. Theequipment used is something like theZeiss trilens, which will take one flatand two oblique photographs at thesame time. You can work at higherlevels with a 35mm, but you willneed a navigation aid, like DeccaNavigator, or GPS, as close mapreading is not so easy up there.With 35mm at least, as the focallength decreases, depth perceptionincreases, and required altitudedecreases. Your camera can either bealigned transversely (i.e. in landscapemode), or longitudinally; the formermakes for easier navigation, andshould be used for overlappingstrips, but the latter is more flexible.As to results, a 28-times enlargementis used for display purposes,otherwise a contact strip with a 7xstereoscope is good enough for mostwork except map revision, whichneeds to be blown up around 6.3times. A larger scale makes theresults easier to read, but you needto fly lower and take more photos.240 Operational FlyingYou need to know such things touse certain tables that give youaltitudes to fly to get propercoverage, from 500 to 11000 feet,that is, the lowest for low flying andthe highest without oxygen. Theyalso give you the speeds to be flownand the intervals between pictures,which will ultimately tell you howlong you will be flying and howmuch to charge the customer. Thebook with all these in is calledParameters and Intervals for 35mm AerialPhotography.Normally use a shutter speed of1/500th of a second, or 1/250th if thelight is bad. Make sure the camera isset to the ASA rating of the film.Use a 28 mm lens above 4000’ and35 mm for lower, and focus toinfinity. A yellow filter is needed forwinter B/W photography.Air TestingIf you're a junior pilot, you may findyourself doing quite a bit of this,anything from just engine running tofull C of A air tests, although manyengineers are cleared for engine runs.The reason why junior pilots tend dothem is because they're boring andregarded as a waste of time byanyone except engineers.Nevertheless, Air Testing demandsyour full concentration and everyonedue to fly in the aircraft laterdeserves it as well. One point to bearin mind is that the aircraft is onlytechnically serviceable for the airtest—if in doubt, insist that anengineer goes with you; if he won't
fly, then don't you bother either.The least taxing are straight engineruns. When a sliver of metal isdetected in oil, there can follow anengine run for anything up to twohours or so (I have known one forfive) to see if it happens again. Thenthere are compass swings where youplace the aircraft on a series ofheadings on an isolated spot wellaway from large hangars and othermachines, while someone with alanding compass stands outside inthe cold and rain taking readings.Comparison of your readings withhis, adjusted with certain formulae,give the corrections (fixed WingATPL holders in UK can docompass swings).The shorter air tests tend to concernthemselves with the proper riggingof flying controls. The longer onescreep into the full-blown C of A airtests which are Extremely Officialand done under strict procedures.For these, you must be on theMaintenance Contractor's approvedlist of test pilots , which meanshaving some experience on type andflying accurately.The basic idea is to perform a seriesof prescribed manoeuvres (timedclimbs, for instance) while anengineer takes notes of temperaturesand pressures, etc. The results areplotted on performance graphs (byyou) so they can be comparedagainst the standard figures in theFlight Manual, which is where yousee how accurate your flying really is,when the plotted points end up allover the place instead of being in astraight line. Before you start,though, be sure that the rotors are asclean as you can get them, becausetheir state will make a surprisingdifference on the climb figures.Seismic SupportAn oil or seismic company operatingout in the field needs a helicopter forSpecial Use Of Aircraft 241various reasons. First of all, there arenot likely to be any roads, or, at least,no more than forest access roads tothe staging area, and people (such asslasher teams and drillers) will needto be moved, as well as their supplieswhich will be anything from fuel forthe drills to explosives. This willmean a lot of slinging into tiny areasat the end of a very long line – in thelatter stages, you might have acarousel at the end holding six bagswhich you must drop carefully inprecise locations, as they hold about$6000 worth of equipment each. Theexpected rate for “productionlonglining”, as it’s called, is between35-45 bags per hour. Sometimes, youwill have a Dynanav or Kodiakmachine to help, which produces aseries of squares on a screen, andwhen they all line up, you will be ontarget (there is a danger here of notlooking where you’re going whenconcentrating on the machine). Withthis taking the strain, the slashersonly have to clear a couple of treeshere and there.In the early stages of the operation,the slashers (big guys withchainsaws) will create the helipads so
you can position them in everymorning for the rest of the weekwhile they cut lines a metre wide forthe surveyors to mark out fordrillers, who make holes forexplosive charges (when the wholelot is blown up, the vibrations arerecorded and analysed in the hope offinding oil or gas – alternatives areelectric vibrators or falling weights).You will need to know how to worka GPS, as there is some precisioninvolved, although, outside ofwinter, decent map reading skills aregood enough once you know wherethe pads are. However, when flyingthe lines so the surveyors can checkon how the slashers are doing, youwant one that can pictorially showyou the lines to be flown.There will be a truck acting as aflight watch station and you will beexpected to report in every time youland and take off at any helipad.Here is a typical one:The person in the truck (usually themedic) will be keeping a log of allmovements and radio calls and willtherefore have the most informationto hand if an incident occurs. Expectalso to be given an EmergencyResponse Plan, which is a bit ofpaper telling you what action to takein emergencies, together with thefollowing information:·
Your location (Lat/Long)·
Who's in charge·
Any Radio frequencies·
Police, Fire, Ambulance,Hospital·
Other helicopter companies·
Medic·
Safety etcAll this concerns your second job ofaerial ambulance. You should always242 Operational Flyinghave enough fuel for the nearesthospital, but not so much that youcan’t lift the patients, which,typically, will be the heaviest guyscoming out of the tightest clearingwith the tallest trees. This is one:A couple of tips – try to get fuel inthe staging area, to save both deadflying time and unnecessary startingof the engine. This is not alwayspractical, but as it saves them a lot ofmoney, you should find them morethan interested. More importantly, itstops you being away getting fuelwhen an accident happens. Ahandheld radio is also useful, forkeeping in touch with the groundcrews when the helicopter is shutdown, and for you to call for helpwith when you see a bear tying alarge bib round its neck.The key to getting out of a confinedarea is to get as much climb aspossible going before you start tolose ground effect at approximately1 rotor diameter. Hover low to startwith, so you have more poweravailable to initiate a good climb (useall the power you have). Onceestablished in the (vertical) climb,the same power is used to maintainit, since it takes more to accelerate inthe first place.Finally, bear in mind that all your
