飞行员操作飞行手册Pilot Operational Flying Manual

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given by flashing landing lights.

Hovertaxi higher and slower than by

day, making no sideways or

backwards movements. Great care

should be exercised in pointing the

Schermuly flares to a safe place at all

times (which is admittedly a bit

difficult when they're fitted and the

fuelling truck pulls up right alongside

them). The flares should not be

armed at this stage, but at the

holding point immediately before

take-off and disarmed at the same

place after final approach. They

should also be disarmed after

reaching cruising altitude.

The maximum useful height for

discharging a flare is around 1800

feet. Its burn time is 80 seconds,

during which time it will fall about

1500 feet. Therefore, having

established autorotation after an

engine failure at night, the first flare

should be discharged immediately, or

on passing through 1800 feet,

whichever is later. Don't bother

doing it before this, as they will be

useless. Due to the way the switches

work, and depending on the height

at which your engine stops, you may

not be able to set off more than one

flare before landing, but, if possible,

the second should be discharged

between 800-1000 feet agl.

In autorotations at night, use a

constant attitude, at whatever speed

is comfortable, to keep the beam

from the landing light in the same

position on the ground, because

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otherwise it will shine up into the air

when you flare, from which position

it's no good to you at all.

Winter Operations

Although colder air means there's

less danger of exceeding temperature

limits, there are hazards, too,

including freezing precipitation, low

ceilings and cold temperatures.

Rapid changes in these are typical,

and it’s possible to get weathered in

for days at a time, so don’t forget

your chocolate bars.

The Weather

When it gets to below -20 or so,

contact gloves will prevent your skin

freezing when it comes in contact

with cold metal, which is a more

efficient conductor of heat than air

is. You may also need sunglasses.

Always dress properly—in a forced

landing it could be that the clothes

you wear will be the only protection

you have. Also, being cold when you

are actually flying is a Flight Safety

hazard – metal foot pedals will

conduct heat away from your boots

very quickly. Extra time for planning

should always be allowed and the

pre-flight inspection should include

you—being improperly dressed and

making a series of short exposures

will fatigue you more quickly,

especially when the clothes you are

wearing are bulky and awkward to

move in. Maintain blood sugar levels

as more calories are consumed in the

cold (you need 3000 calories a day in

Norway). If the air is very dry (like in

the Arctic), you will lose fluids more

quickly through the usual ways, but

especially breathing. Losing 10%

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causes cause delirium, and a 20%

loss is fatal. You could try and eat

snow, but the conversion to water

takes more energy, so melt it first.

Preserve your machine’s heat as

much as possible on the ground, by

covering vital areas as soon as

possible after landing, not opening

and closing doors too much, etc. It’s

very important that it does not get so

cold that it won’t start again, so you

might consider starting up every

couple of hours or so, which will

both use fuel and battery capacity –

certainly, in the average car, it takes

about half an hour’s driving to

replace the energy taken by one start,

and I’m sure it’s worse with a

helicopter – a depleted battery will

sooner or later result in an expensive

hot start. At the very least, remove

the battery and keep it warm. If you

see fan heaters around the helipad,

they are for putting under the covers

to keep the engine and gearbox

warm (all night). Light bulbs are

good, too, around the FCU.

Special attention should also be paid

to the following:

· That correct oil and grease is

used and special equipment is

fitted to keep engines warm.

For Bell 206s, at least, below –

40°C, your oil must meet MIL

L7808 specifications, and you

will need fuel additives in all

other than JP4 below –18 °C.

· Use deicing fluid if possible—

scrapers do not leave pretty

results. Fluid, if it's thick

enough, helps prevent further

ice forming (see Icing). Don't

forget to fit engine blanks, etc.

before using them. Deicing

fluids are also good degreasers.

234 Operational Flying

· That windscreens are defrosted

(keep moving a mechanical

heater around, or it might melt

the perspex). Don't forget to

have a cloth handy for wiping

the windscreen from the inside

when it mists up.

· You have proper tie-downs and

pitot/engine covers, static vent

plugs, etc.

· That heating systems are

working properly and don't

allow exhaust into the cabin (if

you get regular headaches,

check for carbon monoxide

poisoning).

· De- and anti-icing equipment is

working properly and that all

breather pipes, etc. are clear of

anything that could freeze.

· That the aircraft has not been

cold soaked below minimum

operating temperatures. If so,

there are particular (and tedious)

ways of starting the machine

again, which essentially involve

preserving the heat from

repeated attempted starts so the

engine compartment can warm

up, with a ten-minute gap

between each, removing and

replacing engine blankets every

time. In case you were

wondering, cold soaking occurs

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when the aircraft and fuel

become colder than the ambient

temperature, which can happen

over a cold night or at high

altitudes, and it becomes a

problem because heat is

conducted more quickly away

from precipitation, making ice

formation easier. A 737 took off

from Toronto, which was cold,

and arrived in Nassau, which

was warm, with heavy frost on

the upper wings (it was melted

by refuelling with warmer fuel).

· That frost, ice and snow has

been removed, particularly on

lift-producing surfaces. If you

leave hoar frost on the fuselage

(only if it can be seen through),

beware of flying into cloud

where more will stick. It must be

removed from where its

dislodgement could cause

ingestion, e.g. engine cowlings.

· Check particle separators as

water seepage may have frozen

inside the engine, resulting in

abnormally high N1 and JPT

readings.

· The skids of a helicopter are not

frozen to the ground. On a solid

surface, you might be able to

rock it using the tail. Otherwise,

use the pedals with a little

collective just before takeoff.

· Unstick windscreen wipers and

moving parts (including rotors

and propellers) by hand, or you

will strain the motors.

· That control linkages and

movement are checked.

· That pitot heat is checked by

hand—don't accept a flicker on

the ammeter.

· Water drains are not frozen.

· That carb heat is checked.

Static becomes problem when it’s

cold, as snow and air can be very dry

and therefore good electrical

insulators – a helicopter can retain

its normal static charge quite

Special Use Of Aircraft 235

efficiently when landing on snow

(before refuelling, remove your

survival kit, so if it blows up you’ve

got something to wear after you’ve

warmed your hands in the fire).

When possible, the first start of the

day should be an external one. With

a turbine in cold weather you can

expect a lower achieved N1 before

light up with abnormally high JPT

peaks, eventually settling down lower

than normal. Oil pressure will be

slow to rise, but high after starting –

do not go above ground idle until

pressures are in the green and will

stay there as you increase the

throttle. Temperature, on the other

hand, will be very slow to rise at all,

and you want the transmission to be

at least indicating something, which

will mean the engine oil is OK as

well, as it gets hot quicker. Allow the

electrics to warm up as well – even

the knobs can get brittle.

Don't wind up too quickly in case

you spin or yaw on the pad (the

cyclic should be central), especially if

there’s an engineer on a ladder doing

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a leak check (be careful with rotor

brake, too). If the machine has been

frozen to the ground, one skid may

come free first and cause dynamic

rollover. If it has not already been

freed, pull collective until ready to

lift and crack it free with a little pedal

movement, though on a big machine

you might want to use engine torque

for the same effect, otherwise you

might bend the tail boom. You could

also try gently circulating the cyclic,

or pulling down on the tail boom

before starting if the machine is light

enough. Taxi slowly with caution if

the taxiways are clear of snow. If

not, taxi higher and slightly faster

then normal to keep out of the

resulting snow cloud. If you have

wheels, act as if you have no brakes.

Marshallers should be well clear and

move slowly themselves. If the

heater is required to be off in the

hover, ensure the blower is on, to

help clear the windscreen.

Whiteout

See under Visibility.

Taking off

In snow, the accepted takeoff

method is the towering type, because

a normal one may produce a large

snow cloud to blind air and ground

crews, and a failed engine (you may

be able to blow a lot of loose snow

away with a little application of

collective before the take-off

proper). If a white-out does happen,

apply maximum collective for an

immediate climb and forward cyclic

(i.e. no hover), keeping the ball

centred and using the A/H if

necessary, but the real key is keeping

a visual reference. If you have it,

exercise the gear once or twice to

dislodge any slush, etc. that may

have stuck to the legs, to stop it

freezing. With any piston engine, use

carb heat regularly and check instrument readings frequently for carb

icing. Have carb heat fully on or off,

but not on for prolonged periods—it

increases fuel consumption (see also

Engine Handling).

The Cruise

Mountain wave clouds can be loaded

with heavy ice at remarkably low

temperatures (remember that low

pressures and low temperatures will

cause your altimeter to read high).

When using anti-icing, take into

account the inaccuracy of the

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temperature gauges, so if you must

turn it on at 4°, and the temperature

gauge is only accurate to within 2,

start thinking about it at 6°.

Wet and sticky snow has more

chance of icing, and is associated

with low visibility, which would

indicate that you shouldn’t be flying

anyway. Luckily, light powdery snow

tends not to accumulate, but will still

give you the leans. Whatever type

you fly in, use snow baffles.

Visibility, by the way, includes the

inside! When it’s very cold, water

vapour (from clothes, breath, etc.)

will freeze on the windscreen, so

warming up the machine before

passengers get in will help a lot.

Landing

Aeroplanes

See also Performance, above.

Helicopters

Landing Sites should be selected

with a view to pulling out of a

resulting snow cloud if necessary.

That is, you may need to escape

somewhere.

As with landing on mountains, there

are various schools of thought about

landing on snow. One is the

zero/zero method (zero speed, zero

height), for which you carry out a

normal approach, using a constant

attitude with minimum changes,

losing translational lift at the last

minute. Aim to keep going forward

and downward until a few inches

above the snow, so the downwash is

always behind you, using the aircraft

shadow, a smoke grenade or the

landing light to provide texture to

the surface. Even a fuel drum makes

a good visual reference. Another

good trick is to use a dark-painted

stake with a flag on it – the flag

makes the stake behave like a dart,

so the point goes into the snow, and

acts as a wind indicator afterwards.

Do not hover, don’t go beyond the

marker, and try to land just as the

snow cloud develops.

When you commit yourself,

however, you will need to check the

firmness of the surface, which is not

usually a problem at a camp or

something, as the ground crew will

have done this for you. The danger

lies when you're going to an

unchecked site for the first time.

Touch down lightly without delay,

treating it as a sloping ground

landing, as the vibration of the

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helicopter itself can cause ice to

crack. Any form of load spreading is

a good idea if you can take

advantage of it, like landing on a log

pad, although your landing gear will

largely determine what you can use.

As an example, a fully loaded

JetRanger on floats weighs 133 lbs

per sq foot, whilst one on skids and

bear paws is nearer 400. Whatever

you choose, it needs to be twice as

thick if you intend staying overnight.

Another method, possibly better for

beginners, is to come to a high hover

(with escapes) to allow the

downwash to clear the snow, then

lower the machine slowly and

smoothly, being wary if you’re heavy.

Still another is a really shallow

approach on the edge of

translational lift, to slowly move

forward onto the site with your skids

on the ground.

Once landed, bounce the skids a

little to see if there's a crust,

although you should be careful with

the Astar as too much downward

Special Use Of Aircraft 237

force on the blades could cause the

head to crack, aside from pushing

the 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 have

one, is a great snow scoop which

could affect the controls as well.

Keep your RPM to flying levels until

you're sure you're on firm ground.

Always keep the helicopter light on

the skids until passengers are clear,

regardless of the surface. Don’t let

anyone out till you’re happy.

The colour of ice can be a good clue

as to its suitability. White or blue is

the thickest, and therefore safest,

whereas black ice may have running

water underneath and will be quite

thin (for this reason, avoid inflows

or outflows of streams or rivers).

Granular, dirty looking ice is melting.

Large puddles or sheets of water are

also a dead giveaway. However, ice is

never really safe – it doesn’t matter

how many heavy water trucks the

customer may have parked there that

week, helicopters vibrate a lot more

than trucks do or, more particularly,

in a different way, and the hole

punched through for the hosepipe

has already weakened the structure.

Also, however thick they tell you the

ice is, you have no way of knowing

whether it is actually supported by

water underneath (the level may

have dropped), or whether any

running water has eroded the under

surface. Neither do you know

whether any snow on top has

shielded the ice from the cold, or

whether the Sun’s rays have reacted

with bare ice to act as a lens and

create temperatures dangerously

close to a thaw, during which ice

several feet thick can often become

composed of long vertical needles,

known as candle ice (read those old

Hudson Bay survival manuals). Try

and land somewhere else first.

Shut down carefully on an icy

surface, anticipating ground spin

(especially in a Gazelle). After

shutdown, fill any fuel tanks to

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prevent condensation, always being

aware of the next payload. Remove

batteries if temperatures are forecast

to be below -10°C. Try to park the

machine facing the sunrise, so the

Sun’s warmth can help with de-icing

the windscreen.

Also see that the battery is fully

charged before departing from base,

and consider taking a spare, together

with an external start cable— if the

ship’s battery runs down completely,

the plates will become sulphated and

won’t actually hold a charge so, even

if you start from an external source,

you won’t be able to start again

without one if you shut down. A

good ploy is to use the external

battery for operating electric fuel

pumps, etc. Check that heaters,

blowers, etc. work and that snow

deflectors are fitted. Also, note

whether tie downs and covers are

serviceable. De-icing fluid cans

should always be carried, as should a

small amount of food. If all this

becomes too much, consider a

support vehicle.

Aerial Filming and

Photography

Flights should be planned so that

emergencies don’t put structures or

persons in the vicinity at risk—you

must observe the low flying rules

unless an exemption has been

granted; in practice, you can get

238 Operational Flying

down to 200 feet for photography,

but you will need to keep a record of

when it was taken advantage of, as

you would with any other.

If a door needs to be removed, loose

articles and surplus seat belts should

naturally be secured and manoeuvres

carried out where possible so the

side of the aircraft without the door

is uppermost; people near the open

door should wear a bit more than

the seat belt supplied. This point is

controversial—very often a

photographer will expect the door to

be off, not have a mount and just

use a normal seat belt. No way, José!

In this case, I would insist on at least

a rope around their middle loosely

attached to an anchor point as well,

but a professional outfit—which

includes your Company—will have

its own despatcher's harness. Think

about it—the photographer needs to

shift to get a better position, so he

undoes the seat belt to help him get

it! Then falls out!

A camera mount will normally be

fitted by the company supplying it,

but you should oversee the work and

annotate the loadsheet accordingly

(it should not be fitted unless there is

a Supplement to the Flight Manual

covering its installation).

When the mount is in place, the C of

A changes to Aerial Work, therefore

no passengers should be carried

without an exemption, or unless they

are essential to the operation, which

includes the photographer. The C of

G requirements will change as well.

If you get a choice, sit the

cameraman on your side—keeping

the target inside an area in the top

front part of your side window will

give him the field of view required.

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It's important to get what's wanted

first time, not only for economy, but

also noise nuisance. Camera crews

are famous for wanting "just one

more shot" and going "a little

lower", but you shouldn't push

yourself or the machine.

Bear in mind the helicopter's

height/velocity curve—the

JetRanger must have at least 450 feet

to regain the 60 knots it needs for a

good engine-off landing (having said

that, I have seen a successful one

from a 50-foot hover, which is not

to suggest that you should try it).

Operations should inform local

emergency services of your activities.

The Movies

Film work tends to be done by

experienced pilots with whom

directors, and particularly

cameramen, are comfortable with. It

is not impossible for the "local guys"

to do it if they are unavailable, but

there is a big difference between just

circling a target and chasing a car

backwards down a ravine—

experienced pilots should also have

the maturity to keep out of danger

by not pushing the machine past its

limits, or not get too concerned

when all the plans go awry.

You will mostly come in contact

with the production department,

who are responsible for the correct

scheduling and availability of

equipment, including the helicopter,

which gives you approximately the

same status as a typewriter, or

sometimes less. You could be on

standby all day, and not fly at all, or

be told the evening before you will

be taking off very early. In short,

there will be a lot of jerking around,

which should not be taken

personally. Ever since an episode in

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The Twilight Zone, where some

people got killed in an accident

involving a helicopter on the set,

everyone is paranoid about making

mistakes and being blamed for them.

Very often, the pilot is the only one

without an alibi, so that is where the

blame will end up. It's all part of the

job, and making movies is a very

high pressure business.

Cameras are fitted in various ways,

typically sidewards-facing, but the

Spacecam is a gyro-stabilised affair

that lives in a large round casing on

the front of an AStar:

The electronics are so good that you

can take a fair amount of turbulence

without the camera even seeing it.

The flying itself includes a little

formation work here and there,

some precision hovering, or crosscontrolling when you have to make

sharp, level turns. You need to be

smooth on the controls, operate

safely and ensure there is plenty of

communication, but most important

is knowing the performance limits of

your machine.

Directions, when given, are in

relation to the camera, as in "Camera

Right" or "Camera Left". Otherwise,

if you don't have an aviation liaison

person, you can expect all kinds.

Aerial Survey

This is the process of photographing

areas of land from varying heights,

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the results generally used for mapmaking. As a result, this takes place

at great heights, but it may get

exciting and bring you down to 300

feet, depending on the results

required. Aerial survey can give good

job satisfaction, especially when you

can see the results, and the target

appears in every frame as requested

by the surveyor.

When doing low-level work, you will

be given a large-scale map with flight

patterns marked on it, and you do

everything by pure map reading. The

pattern can be star-shaped, with sets

of two or three parallel runs at angles

to each other over the target. The

equipment used is something like the

Zeiss trilens, which will take one flat

and two oblique photographs at the

same time. You can work at higher

levels with a 35mm, but you will

need a navigation aid, like Decca

Navigator, or GPS, as close mapreading is not so easy up there.

With 35mm at least, as the focal

length decreases, depth perception

increases, and required altitude

decreases. Your camera can either be

aligned transversely (i.e. in landscape

mode), or longitudinally; the former

makes for easier navigation, and

should be used for overlapping

strips, but the latter is more flexible.

As to results, a 28-times enlargement

is used for display purposes,

otherwise a contact strip with a 7x

stereoscope is good enough for most

work except map revision, which

needs to be blown up around 6.3

times. A larger scale makes the

results easier to read, but you need

to fly lower and take more photos.

240 Operational Flying

You need to know such things to

use certain tables that give you

altitudes to fly to get proper

coverage, from 500 to 11000 feet,

that is, the lowest for low flying and

the highest without oxygen. They

also give you the speeds to be flown

and the intervals between pictures,

which will ultimately tell you how

long you will be flying and how

much to charge the customer. The

book with all these in is called

Parameters and Intervals for 35mm Aerial

Photography.

Normally use a shutter speed of

1/500th of a second, or 1/250th if the

light is bad. Make sure the camera is

set to the ASA rating of the film.

Use a 28 mm lens above 4000’ and

35 mm for lower, and focus to

infinity. A yellow filter is needed for

winter B/W photography.

Air Testing

If you're a junior pilot, you may find

yourself doing quite a bit of this,

anything from just engine running to

full C of A air tests, although many

engineers are cleared for engine runs.

The reason why junior pilots tend do

them is because they're boring and

regarded as a waste of time by

anyone except engineers.

Nevertheless, Air Testing demands

your full concentration and everyone

due to fly in the aircraft later

deserves it as well. One point to bear

in mind is that the aircraft is only

technically serviceable for the air

test—if in doubt, insist that an

engineer goes with you; if he won't

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fly, then don't you bother either.

The least taxing are straight engine

runs. When a sliver of metal is

detected in oil, there can follow an

engine run for anything up to two

hours or so (I have known one for

five) to see if it happens again. Then

there are compass swings where you

place the aircraft on a series of

headings on an isolated spot well

away from large hangars and other

machines, while someone with a

landing compass stands outside in

the cold and rain taking readings.

Comparison of your readings with

his, adjusted with certain formulae,

give the corrections (fixed Wing

ATPL holders in UK can do

compass swings).

The shorter air tests tend to concern

themselves with the proper rigging

of flying controls. The longer ones

creep into the full-blown C of A air

tests which are Extremely Official

and done under strict procedures.

For these, you must be on the

Maintenance Contractor's approved

list of test pilots , which means

having some experience on type and

flying accurately.

The basic idea is to perform a series

of prescribed manoeuvres (timed

climbs, for instance) while an

engineer takes notes of temperatures

and pressures, etc. The results are

plotted on performance graphs (by

you) so they can be compared

against the standard figures in the

Flight Manual, which is where you

see how accurate your flying really is,

when the plotted points end up all

over the place instead of being in a

straight line. Before you start,

though, be sure that the rotors are as

clean as you can get them, because

their state will make a surprising

difference on the climb figures.

Seismic Support

An oil or seismic company operating

out in the field needs a helicopter for

Special Use Of Aircraft 241

various reasons. First of all, there are

not likely to be any roads, or, at least,

no more than forest access roads to

the staging area, and people (such as

slasher teams and drillers) will need

to be moved, as well as their supplies

which will be anything from fuel for

the drills to explosives. This will

mean a lot of slinging into tiny areas

at the end of a very long line – in the

latter stages, you might have a

carousel at the end holding six bags

which you must drop carefully in

precise locations, as they hold about

$6000 worth of equipment each. The

expected rate for “production

longlining”, as it’s called, is between

35-45 bags per hour. Sometimes, you

will have a Dynanav or Kodiak

machine to help, which produces a

series of squares on a screen, and

when they all line up, you will be on

target (there is a danger here of not

looking where you’re going when

concentrating on the machine). With

this taking the strain, the slashers

only have to clear a couple of trees

here and there.

In the early stages of the operation,

the slashers (big guys with

chainsaws) will create the helipads so

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you can position them in every

morning for the rest of the week

while they cut lines a metre wide for

the surveyors to mark out for

drillers, who make holes for

explosive charges (when the whole

lot is blown up, the vibrations are

recorded and analysed in the hope of

finding oil or gas – alternatives are

electric vibrators or falling weights).

You will need to know how to work

a GPS, as there is some precision

involved, although, outside of

winter, decent map reading skills are

good enough once you know where

the pads are. However, when flying

the lines so the surveyors can check

on how the slashers are doing, you

want one that can pictorially show

you the lines to be flown.

There will be a truck acting as a

flight watch station and you will be

expected to report in every time you

land and take off at any helipad.

Here is a typical one:

The person in the truck (usually the

medic) will be keeping a log of all

movements and radio calls and will

therefore have the most information

to hand if an incident occurs. Expect

also to be given an Emergency

Response Plan, which is a bit of

paper telling you what action to take

in emergencies, together with the

following information:

· Your location (Lat/Long)

· Who's in charge

· Any Radio frequencies

· Police, Fire, Ambulance,

Hospital

· Other helicopter companies

· Medic

· Safety etc

All this concerns your second job of

aerial ambulance. You should always

242 Operational Flying

have enough fuel for the nearest

hospital, but not so much that you

can’t lift the patients, which,

typically, will be the heaviest guys

coming out of the tightest clearing

with the tallest trees. This is one:

A couple of tips – try to get fuel in

the staging area, to save both dead

flying time and unnecessary starting

of the engine. This is not always

practical, but as it saves them a lot of

money, you should find them more

than interested. More importantly, it

stops you being away getting fuel

when an accident happens. A

handheld radio is also useful, for

keeping in touch with the ground

crews when the helicopter is shut

down, and for you to call for help

with when you see a bear tying a

large bib round its neck.

The key to getting out of a confined

area is to get as much climb as

possible going before you start to

lose ground effect at approximately

1 rotor diameter. Hover low to start

with, so you have more power

available to initiate a good climb (use

all the power you have). Once

established in the (vertical) climb,

the same power is used to maintain

it, since it takes more to accelerate in

the first place.

Finally, bear in mind that all your