Currently flying for the UK Police Air Service Jim Vince has a background with instruction on both multi- and single engine helicopters
Learn about multiengine helicopter operations in this episode. A great primer for those that have only flown single engine machines and hopefully a useful refresher others.
Putting this together has been a great refresher for me personally as it is just over 10 years since I last flew anything with a second engine. Thankfully though we’ve got someone with a lot more experience than me to help us cover the topic.
Jim Vince is currently a pilot for the UK National Police Air Service flying an Airbus EC135 over London and the surrounding areas. Jim has 25 years experience in the helicopter world. Before that he spent 10 years as an engineer in the New Zealand Army.
RAF Chinooks on exercise Northern England ANZAC Day 2013
His first helicopter role was as a reconnaissance pilot flying Kiowa (Bell 206) in the Australian Army then transferring onto CH-47 Chinooks where he was a troop commander, chief instructor and then Sqn commander and lead an Australian Chinook deployment to Iraq.
Jim then moved to the UK and served with the RAF first as an instructor on AS350 Squirrel on the UK Defence Squirrel Basic Course then on the Bell 412 for the Advanced course. He ended back up on Chinooks then got out of the services and did some consulting work before instructing on the UK Army Advanced course in AS350 Squirrels once again covering everything from formation to NVG to Instrument flying.
Hours wise Jim is sitting around 4200 hours helicopters at the time of recording and another 1100 fixed wing. He holds ATPL Helicopter and Aeroplane, CIR Multi Heli + Aeroplane, Flight Instructor and is endorsed on types – R22, R44, B206, AS350, AS355, EC135, Bell412, Chinook and Augusta 109.
That’s just the highlights and with Jim’s mixed background flying and instructing in both singles and multi engine types he made a good candidate to tackle the intro to multi engine operations which is the topic today.
UK Police Air Service H135 over London – Jim Vince flying.
Some of the things covered in this podcast episode:
Multi-engine power application to transmissions
How power from engines mixed/transferred to single transmission
How engine ECU/FCUs talk to each other
Engine start process
APUs/starters
Dual starts
Throttle control of two engines
Locations – Overhead panels, collective levers
General manipulation
Emergencies: primarily achieving a safe flight configuration
Single Engine: enter autorotation… assess when you can…
Multi-Engine: achieve OEI flight then assess
Departure & Arrivals:
Single Engine: Avoid curve.
Multi-Engine: Single engine profile ensuring safe landing with no injury to crew/pax or damage to aircraft/property.
Risk balance – exposure time vs flight manoeuvre
Flyaway – F1, F2, F3 External loads/external full tanks jettison
Terms – Vtoss, Vy, CAT A, Performance Class PC1 vs PC2, PC2 limited exposure
En route planning and considerations.
SE: safe point of landing.
ME: drift down altitude & alternate landing. PNR, Critical Pt planning
CRM:
Single / Multi Engine: Single Crew
Multi Engine: Multi Crew
Identify, Confirm, Select
Video showing gearbox arrangement for how power from two engines is mixed into the main transmission.
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Australian Army Chinook helicopter night landing in Iraq 2003 – Jim Vince was the detachment commander for the Australian Chinooks deployed.Overnighting with a Squirrel helicopter after a tailrotor chip light during a UK Army training flight.RAF Advanced Course Bell 412 after landing with a TXMN Oil Hot light. Jim on right. There are still single points of failure in a twin engined helicopter.Pratt & Whitney PT6T Twin Pack used in Bell 412 models. Photo: pwc.ca
Be part of the conversation by leaving a comment below.
Glen White from Eurosafety talks about continuation training and emergency handling
Glen White has been providing recurrency and initial training to helicopter pilots around the world through his company Eurosafety since 2004. He is a strong proponent of the benefit of full touchdown autorotations in training.
Glen first learnt to fly in France in a Bell 47 before picking up roles in flight training, tours based in the Virgin Islands, ship operations, emergency services and as a factory pilot.
One of the things that struck him throughout his career was the lack of high quality post graduation check and training avaliable to many of the small to medium operators in the industry. Hence the idea for Eurosafety was born.
“I get to fly with the best pilots in the industry. It’s a privilege.” – Glen gets to conduct recurrency and initial training with pilots from law enforcement, EMS, utility and charter companies in a number of companies.
In this interview we chat about Glen’s early career, the case for full touchdown autorotations, tips for handling a range of emergencies and what you can do to improve your skills as a helicopter pilot.
[Tweet “AS350B3E helicopter is a monster, nothing better for utility work”]
In this week’s episode:
3:50 Timothy and Tabitha
5:20 Getting a start in aviation in France in a Bell 47
6:50 Flying tours in the Virgin Islands
8:40 Landing on Navy ships in support of the Aegis radar program
9:50 FlightSafety and Eurocopter factory pilot
11:20 EMS S-76 Children’s Hospital Dallas and Tri-state Careflight AS350B3 and BK119
11:50 Mountain rescue incident
14:00 Gap in market for post-graduation check and training
16:00 Overseas training locations and culture
19:00 Types of training and helicopters covered
20:40 Trained reaction to engine failure
21:50 Switching between clockwise / anti-clockwise rotor systems
24:30 Autorotational training – touchdowns vs power recoveries
32:00 Training to runway rather than grass, carbide skid shoes
33:50 Damage to runway surface from run-ons – none
35:50 A typical recurrency day format
38:30 AS350, H130, AS355, EC120, BO105CBS, BO105LS, EC135 Augusta 109E,C,F Bell 260L/F, Bell 205 Types covered (2016)
42:40 Prevalence of engine failures in statistics vs focus spent on in training
46:50 1000s of autos in a year, a very mild event
49:00 Auto method in the AS350 – 100’ flare height
50:00 Common errors during autos
53:20 Hydraulic failure and impact into highrise
54:20 Stuck pedals
58:10 How to be a good pilot and constantly get better
1:01:30 iSafety app for emergency training
59:45 Episode Sponsors trainmorepilots.com
[Tweet “No better helicopter to teach an auto. My mum could do an auto in a Bell 47″]
Glen talks through an autorotation touchdown in a AS350
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HAI Video – Autorotations: Reality Exposed
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Class in session for a AS350 ground theory dayKnow your machines systems – graphics and training aids can greatly improve recallGlen teaching on an AS350B2 initial courseAustralian Defence Force Testing of Squirrel Autorotation Flare Height
What’s your take on full down autos in training? Be part of the conversation about this interview by leaving a comment below.
Pete Gillies is a legendary, 18,000-hour helicopter pilot who has previously been honored as the Helicopter Association International’s instructor of the year.
The difference between an expensive falling brick and a helicopter is rotor RPM. Pete Gillies talks about the importance of aft cyclic in autorotation entry to conserve rotor RPM in this episode.
Depending on where you did your training this might come across as ‘yeah, of course, doesn’t everyone do this’. If that’s you then fantastic and this interview will give you an in depth refresher on the ‘why’ behind it. If you’ve been out of regular autorotation practice for a while or didn’t have this emphasied then you’ll walk away with a new understanding to take on your next flight. There are a number of links further down the page that go on to show that this knowledge may not be as widely spread as it should be.
As with any flying advice you should discuss it with an instructor that you trust if unsure and apply some sense in how to use it – Pete is obviously not trying to say that aft cyclic must be used religiously for example in a hover engine failure.
[Tweet “A bad ending of an autorotation is usually survivable, but a bad beginning is usually not”]
“The Best Kept Secret in the helicopter industry is how critical it is to immediately apply aft cyclic the moment a loss of power to the rotor system is detected. I have been doing my best to spread this word since analyzing the cause of two law-enforcement helicopter accidents that occurred four months apart in 2002. I call it Cyclic Back.
Very few helicopter pilots realize that if, with a total engine failure, the rotor rpm is allowed to fall more than about 5% below low green, the flight is over. OVER. There is no recovery possible regardless of what actions the pilot may take or how high the helicopter is above ground. This fact is not mentioned in the sales literature for helicopters nor in the approved rotorcraft flight manuals. It is not mentioned in any of our FAA publications having to do with how helicopters fly and how to fly them. It is treated as a deep dark secret, unfortunately.
When power is lost to the rotor system, THE MOST IMPORTANT FLIGHT CONTROL IN THE COCKPIT IS THE CYCLIC! It must immediately be brought aft so that the flow of air is upwards through the rotor system. Bottoming the collective does only one thing: It reduces the rate that the rotor rpm is falling. That’s all! It NEVER stops the fall of rotor rpm.
Once the rotor rpm has dropped below the critical point, recovery is not possible. The helicopter continues to descend as the rotor rpm falls towards zero and may, in the case of free-turbine engines as used in the EC135, be seen to turn backwards. The rotor blades will show little if any damage when the wreckage is examined.
And as the rotor rpm slows towards zero during the descent, retreating blade stall enters the picture. The normal Vne chart does not mention rotor rpm; it is assumed it is normal for the standard mode of flight. But when rotor rpm falls, Vne falls with it, so Vne is very possible at airspeeds much below those computed via the chart.
This in turn means that as the rotor rpm is falling during the autorotation, the helicopter will roll in the direction of the retreating blades, or to the left in the case of the EC135. Any attempt by the pilot to correct this with opposite cyclic simply adds additional pitch to the blades that are already stalling, thereby increasing the amount of roll.
When a helicopter pilot is faced with a sudden unannounced engine or drive-line failure, here is what must be done:
1. Cyclic back and pitch down, simultaneously or in that order.
2. Pick a place to land.
3. MAKE THAT SPOT!
What about indicated airspeed. At the beginning of the autorotation, the ONLY speed that matters is that over the wings, meaning, of course, the rotor blades, and this is a function of rotor rpm. Pitot tube airspeed (indicated airspeed) is not important at that time, but yes, once the rotor rpm is solidly in the green, indicated airspeed can be helpful in extending the glide or reducing the rate of descent.
Finally, this: During a normal power-off autorotation, the helicopter will respond to all flight-control movements the same way it would if the helicopter is in a flat-pitch descent with the engine running. The only thing it won’t do is a sustained climb. But it will stop, back up, turn in any direction, etc. So when I say MAKE THAT SPOT, I’m saying use the maneuverability of the helicopter just as you would if the engine was running. There is more to life than straight-ins, 90s and 180s!” – extract from a post that Pete made on PPRuNe in 2013 (with a typically PPRuNe spirited debate that runs to 28 pages)
As for in Pete’s earlier interview back in Episode 39 we have Douglas Williams to thank for capturing this audio.
[Tweet “The pilots had not applied aft cyclic at the time the engine quit, they had gone for airspeed – Pete Gillies”]
In the episode:
02:04 Competition for a custom aviation drawing
03:00 Listener comment Andy, 28 SQN OCU
04:20 B206 engine start clip last episode
05:50 Old Bell Helicopters magazine article, 1975 – ‘Keep the rotor in the green’ – redundant?
09:20 Studying accident reports – LAPD Astar overrunning clutch failure
11:15 MD500D ran out of fuel then crash wreckage
15:40 1992 MD500E engine failure on takeoff with crash onto busy road
20:55 Sherif MD600 steep 180 turn following engine failure
25:10 Law enforcement recurrency training using crash photos – lightbulb moment!
28:40 “Immediately put the collective down and immediately nosed over to get airspeed”
30:20 The aircraft were turning left due to below green rotor RPM – retreating blade stall
33:00 Impact on Vne of low rotor RPM
35:00 Emphasis at the time on airspeed in RFM
36:30 Fixed wing comparison
38:45 Reaction time and immediate actions
41:00 Overrunning clutch – engine overspeed but rotor blades slowing
42:00 ‘Aft Cyclic’
44:10 Autorotation training changes
48:15 Completely consumed with the mission and not thinking about engine failure
50:10 The helicopter is happiest in autorotation
51:30 Multiengine helicopters and applicability of ‘Cyclic Back’
53:20 Engine off vs engine idling training autorotations
1:00:20 ‘Aft cyclic’ to be in print, training programs and RFM
1:02:30 Advice on a real world engine failure from Pete
1:08:50 Thanks to Doug Williams
Chapter 43 ‘Autorotation Concerns’ of Helicopter Aerodynamics Volume II by Ray Prouty also cites Pete Gillies when talking about the need to instigate airflow into the disc during autorotation entry in forward flight.
The following is an analogy penned by Randy Rowles, 2013 HAI Instructor of the Year, that provides another approach to discussing the application of aft cyclic in an autorotation entry. “First, I would like to add to Mr. Pete Gillie’s (Chief Pilot, Western Helicopters) comments regarding the importance of applying aft cyclic when entering an autorotation. As a longtime flight instructor, I couldn’t agree more with Pete as I’m sure most experienced instructors within the helicopter industry would as well. The key to getting the point across on such subjects is providing an example that is relevant to the topic.
I would suggest we provide an example taken from a baseball analogy. Applying aft cyclic when entering an autorotation is a key consideration because you want to present the rotor system to the changing relative wind. This is very similar to explaining HOW to catch a ball in a glove. In simple terms, you MUST present the open glove to the ball for the glove to function.
To properly catch a ball, the glove must be open and presented so that the ball will hit the glove in the pocket. If the glove is face down, the ball will hit the glove and be driven to the ground. If the glove is held upside down, the ball may roll up the glove and hit the person in the mouth, both non-desirable outcomes.
So you see…an analogy of catching a ball in a glove presents the reader with a basic fundamental principle of the interaction of the ball in flight, and how to properly engage the design of a glove to catch the ball. The rotor system works exactly the same way. No matter what the speed of the aircraft, the rotor system MUST immediately be presented to the airflow through the use of aft cyclic during all autorotative entries.”
Custom drawing competition – Final hours
Your chance to win a custom aviation drawing my Marc Veenendaal is almost gone. Leave a comment on Episode 39 about your first helicopter experience to go into the draw.
Do you have an opinion on ‘Cyclic Back’ or additional information to share? Perhaps you’ve had an engine failure and can share how it turned out. Join in the conversation below in the comments
Bernie Walker has been a helicopter flight paramedic in Canada for over 16 years.
Bernie Walker is a Flight paramedic working with STARS – which is the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service – an EMS organisation that covers most of Western Canada.
Bernie has been with STARS as a flight paramedic for over 16 years now and these days plays a big part in their educational programs. So he is someone again with heaps of experience in a helicopter role but this time from the back of the cabin.
I am guilty of making the interviews for the podcast very pilot centric which is just a factor of my own background and experience but I would love to represent a range of helicopter aircrew roles.
It just seems to be that loadmasters and aircrewmen keep ducking for cover when I try to corner them. 🙂
A STARS AW139 helicopter on the ramp. Photo: Calgary Sun
So I really enjoyed chatting to Bernie about the flight paramedic role as it stretches my knowledge of the industry. I’m not expecting to be in an EMS position any time soon but for those of you that might be then Bernie gives a really good insight into many of the considerations that the team in the back have to deal with.
If you listen between the lines so to speak I think you’ll also get value from the current best practice approach to critical patient care when its applied to how we tackle emergency or non-standard airborne situations.
We head into the interview with Bernie explaining the EMS coverage in Western Canada and the typical career progression into the helicopter flight paramedic role.
Video produced by STARS showing the different careers in the organisation
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A STARS BK117 decked out with medical equipment
Got a question for Bernie about the flight paramedic role or STARS? Be part of the conversation below. If you’ve listened to the episode then don’t forget to leave links to your favourite crew resource management / human factors resources below.
The Hoverpower blog is updated by a team of helicopter pilots with a vast array of backgrounds. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) is the largest general aviation body in the United States. Hover Power is the association’s helicopter themed blog covering a mix of news, stories and advice.
In today’s episode we cover a heap of ground as we talk about the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association in the US, loss of licence insurance, helicopter blogs, recommended ipad apps, inflight emergency handling and tuna boat flying.
[Tweet “Helicopters are the ultimate offroad vehicle, can do things no other machine can do.”]
Ian Twombly is editor of the AOPA monthly magazines AOPA Pilot and Flight Training. Ian has been a fixed wing instructor for some time and has recently also joined the helicopter fraternity.
Ian Twombly converted across to helicopters in 2014 and this is a photo after completing his checkride.
One of his other duties with AOPA is to head up the Hover Power blog. Ian has been busy building up the site and has managed to herd a team of experienced helicopter pilots together to contribute articles about all aspects of helicopter operations.
One of the blog contributors is Markus Lavenson. Markus is a AW139 captain in the Gulf of Mexico and is about to head off soon to convert across to the AW189. He has been flying since way back in 1984 and had a go at instructing, tuna boats, tourism, powerlines, EMS, offshore, check and training roles and a stint in Alaska.
Markus in an AW139 preparing for offshore flight in the Gulf of Mexico. Photo Credit: Alex Geacintov
AOPA is a not for profit group founded in 1939 to ensure that the early US general aviation community was able to be represented in the formation of new laws and to provide subject matter experts. Its role today is similar with effort put towards advocacy, safety education, training,
representation at federal, state, local levels, social activities and legal advice.
Australia, England, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Greece and probably a bunch more countries also have their own AOPA groups. The Australian AOPA maintains a National Airfield Directory publication that we always bought for the Squadron Ops room as it listed many of the remote and out of the way country strips and contact details that would not be found in other normal AIP.
02:15 Episode Sponsors trainmorepilots.com
06:50 Number of pilots in the US
08:40 Working with governments at all levels to put forward aviation industry case
09:30 New York / New Hamptons helicopter noise restrictions
10:10 What does AOPA membership get you?
12:50 Loss of licence coverage and insurance coverage
16:35 Hoverpower blog articles and writing team
21:50 Markus’ flying background and experience
26:35 AOPA Live video blogging and news articles ‘Enstrom’ example
28:10 Reviewing aviation products that get sent in
29:10 Top flying iPad app recommendations
35:00 Visting helicopter industry events
36:20 New wave of helicopter designs hitting the market
39:30 Engine failure at night to hospital pad
45:10 Handling aircraft emergencies
46:50 Soloing in a Bell 47 with wooden blades
50:30 Tuna boat flying
53:10 Going out to dinner at restaurant in R22
57:30 EMS off airfield landings
This video gives you an idea of the video content that AOPA is producing. In it Ian Twombly talks about the training helicopter market during HeliExpo 2015.
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[Tweet “I was able to pick up the phone and call AOPA and talk to an aviation legal professional immediately.”]
[Tweet “As a pilot in an emergency, your first priority is preservation of life.”]
Photos of Markus during his time flying off tuna boats in the Pacific.
[Tweet “You have 2 hours searching for fish to think about how the heck am I going to get this thing back on the boat.”]
[Tweet “In the event of an emergency we sink to the level of our training. We are only as good as our training.”]
What topics would you love to see the Hoverpower writing team cover on their blog. Leave a comment below and have a chance to get an AOPA cap sent out by Ian.
