WaterH
Well-known member
So I’m giving my student a break while I’m flying back to the airport. I’m explaining what I want him to do when we get back there. We our going to do a “governor on, autorotation”. Instead of turning the governor off and rolling the throttle off and lowering collective, we are simply going to lower collective till the rotor starts to over speed. He looks at me with a blank stare.
So I lower the collective til the rotor starts over speeding. I say “you see the engine rpms are at 100% and the rotor is at 105%?” I continue “we are in autorotation right now”. He still looks dumbfounded. So I force the throttle to idle over riding the governor and I say “you see the engine is at idle and nothing has changed”? He says “I guess so”
Of course, while I’m explaining this we are losing altitude at 1500 feet per minute. I started at about 700 and we are at about 300 when I release my grip on the throttle so the governor can catch the engine back up. I start to pull collective to climb again and the rotor starts slowing down. WTF!
I lower the collective again at twist the throttle on to help the governor. The F*cking engine is not coming up. There’s something wrong with the linkage and I’m trying to free it up. I have the realization that I’m going to be on the ground in a few seconds. Of course, I’m not facing into the wind like a F*cking idiot. I lean the sucker hard right flare just as we touch down on a plowed up field.
After sitting there for a few seconds taking it all in, I realize the linkage is fine. The engine is not running. We walk around the helicopter and it appears to be fine. I start it up and it idles a little rough. I rev it to flight speed and chop the throttle. The engine dies. I start it and hover it back to the airport that involves crossing a highway.
It turned out the idle mixture was too rich and now it runs way better. On one hand, I saved him a lot of money that day. On the other hand, I was the principal reason it was such a close call. I have a rule I pound into students heads. “Don’t practice an auto where you can’t finish one if things don’t go right.” I was over an open field, so technically I followed my rule, but I had no plan to finish that auto into the wind. (A big no no)
I’ll remember that ride for a long time.
So I lower the collective til the rotor starts over speeding. I say “you see the engine rpms are at 100% and the rotor is at 105%?” I continue “we are in autorotation right now”. He still looks dumbfounded. So I force the throttle to idle over riding the governor and I say “you see the engine is at idle and nothing has changed”? He says “I guess so”
Of course, while I’m explaining this we are losing altitude at 1500 feet per minute. I started at about 700 and we are at about 300 when I release my grip on the throttle so the governor can catch the engine back up. I start to pull collective to climb again and the rotor starts slowing down. WTF!
I lower the collective again at twist the throttle on to help the governor. The F*cking engine is not coming up. There’s something wrong with the linkage and I’m trying to free it up. I have the realization that I’m going to be on the ground in a few seconds. Of course, I’m not facing into the wind like a F*cking idiot. I lean the sucker hard right flare just as we touch down on a plowed up field.
After sitting there for a few seconds taking it all in, I realize the linkage is fine. The engine is not running. We walk around the helicopter and it appears to be fine. I start it up and it idles a little rough. I rev it to flight speed and chop the throttle. The engine dies. I start it and hover it back to the airport that involves crossing a highway.
It turned out the idle mixture was too rich and now it runs way better. On one hand, I saved him a lot of money that day. On the other hand, I was the principal reason it was such a close call. I have a rule I pound into students heads. “Don’t practice an auto where you can’t finish one if things don’t go right.” I was over an open field, so technically I followed my rule, but I had no plan to finish that auto into the wind. (A big no no)
I’ll remember that ride for a long time.
