This Weeks Quiz(page 3 is crap, don't bother))

[asra]

Only two questions this week1/ Your flying in the circuit (for Birdy that's when you sort of fly in a rectangular pattern around your strip) and you glance down and find your ASI (air speed indicator) has stopped working. What will you do?How will you make sure you approach the landing with enough airspeed?2/Your strip is located just to the east of some large hills, so when the westerly winds come up rotor is a real issue during landing.On a day with strong westerly winds what landing strategy would you use to land? Have funRoss B

[asra]

Sounds like another normal day to me.......givis somin challengingRuss....A1014 NT....gods country

[asra]

OK RussIf it's so easy share your experiences with us. How do you determine airspeed without an ASI. What are the important things to considerand what situations do you need to avoid? What differences are there between an open framed machine and enclosed machines in determining airspeed. What would you do if you were test flying an unfamiliar machine and it happened? You have a new machine don't you? How would you handle ASI failure in it? The challenge is to consider the answer from your perspective and also from a new pilots perspective. Then explain the differences in landing methods.Ozy1/ get a pod, your getting too old for that stuff.Ross B

[asra]

Answer 1. If you are at all familiar with the machine you need to fall back on the 'pitch picture' -- the angular relationship between the airframe and the horizon. This is another reason why quality instruction is so important. Inexperienced pilots tend to use the instruments too much, even more so when they nervous, and a good instructor will encourage them to keep their eyes outside the aircraft and use the instruments to confirm what their eyes are already telling them.A totally unfamiliar aircraft provides some real challenges for a less experienced pilot. Hopefully the pilot will have done some intial airwork to familiarize himself with the pitch picture, the trimed airspeed, etc. If he really lacks all feel for the aircraft, it might be a good idea to do some practice approaches at altitude, for example starting a 'final' at 750' AGL and then reducing power and flairing for a landing at 500' AGL to try and get a feel for the machine. When finally attempting the landing, it is better to have a little too much airspeed and perform a landing with more rollout than usual than to to have too little airspeed and drop it in, as long as the runway is lon enough. The pilot should always be ready and willing to go around.

[asra]

Ross....Ina nutshell.........feelin wots goin on, not hard matefly as required, I actually later in pilot training, cover the ASI, and we do takeoffs with circuit and landings.....from each direction of the runway, that way they get a possible tailwindHave you been skilled to land with 15...20 kts up your ****, wat abowt the same wind on takeoffs, up yar bum.Sometimes due to condition of strip at a particular area of the strip, or for any other reason, these skills are a must to master.learnin to fly, and getting in the comfort zone of depending on them instruments to stay in the air, may one day bite you. Teach yourself, try in flite by not looking at the asi, and fly the gyro by feel, listen to the engine revs, machine attitude........feelMust admit tho,the straight and level is the harder to do, you tend to go a bit quick, till you get the knack, but you willRuss....A1014 NT....gods country

[birdy]

Ross, if ya fly'n the cirut you should know wot the wind conditions are on the ground, coz you just left it, so go by[ wait for it] ................ground speed.If youv been up for a bit and reckon things av changed since you were on the ground, then you should have a 'feel' for AS by now, but if you arn't sure, just fly it in shallow at normal cruise att and ease off on the power.The safest way on a strip like that[ with the hills] is to do a 180 just befor touchdown at loww altitude, this'll load up yuor blades and give you plenty o inertia to play with.If your not sure bout that tactic, youd better find an easer strip to land on.Ignorance is bliss............but only till you realise you were.You can always get the answer you want, if you ask enough experts.

[asra]

Ross i too agree with Russ(god i hope i dont regrete this either)but you should be able to take off with out the asi, think of this it wasnt long ago i posted that i DONE a preflight 3 times because it was after some modificiations to my gyro and i still missed the cover on the asi, and because my srip is (real)short, was just watchin the rotors and stuff and got off the ground before i looked at the gauges, it was then i realised it wasnt working, no problem just feel the wind on your face, took off/landed three times that day like that.Remember -- A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...BUT a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn...that was fun!"Mark

[asra]

Ross, I getting the feeling I shouldn't have read this thread but...Pitch angle would work until you find yourself at an unfamiliar airport. Uneven terrain, hills etc may be off putting. Engine RPM's would work once you knew what you normally run at on descent, then add or subtract some rev's,depending on the QNH at the time if it was not your normal range.Fly a familiar circuit in distances away from and height could be another.However as a newbie, I can see the nerves telling me every thing at once and none of it seeming logical. The experienced guys should be able to float down on the seat of their pants, or in Russ's case his seven jocks.Ted

[asra]

Ross.....the 180 bit is not hard, couple of sugestions.....Using your strip......fly downwind,rite out on RH side of the cleared area, JUST above tree top height,blades sortof over the top of tree tops,pull a reeeeel hard LH turn, with backstick to, as you have completed bowt 80% of the turn, ease off the throttle a bit, now you are faceing back up the runway, still at treetop height, zero airspeed, mate if you get it rite, hover there while you eat your lunch. I use the tree tops as a make believe ground leval, that way if you get it a bit wrong, you got height to recover and fly away. Now after you get this tecknique rite every time.......get down lower and lower.Another way is find a tree or trees out in an open space, then use that reference as your position to trial as aboveAlways be ready to pedal, as you must be absolutely straight on touchdown when you go for broke.Now the landing bit with unsettled winds.....fly in at cruise approx, aim short then if you are going to land SHORT, then you just apply power to extend the actual touchdown point. So you touchdown with a fair amount of forward speed. If you on the other hand, find yourself too high, too long, then you have to wash off airspeed to get down, then those winds will start taken you over and makin things awkward, so airspeed is the better option for you,Remember.....start using your sences.......feel the machine, the air, the winds etc, the ground speed too. You will get it, practiceRuss....A1014 NT....gods country

[Brian]

For the guys who arent flying by 'feel' you probably need to keep the power on and airspeed up a tad when coming into land in unsettled winds. I would advise to keep a bit extra height till over the threshold in case of bad windshear.Practice practice practise, thats the way to go !! and if a landing doesnt feel or look right on approach, go around and have another go, nothing wrong with that.Go around a few times till you feel comfortable.Brian

[asra]

Thanks guys for the fantastic feedback. Good to see how just a few questions can get some agreement. Maybe because we all love to fly. The question on how to fly without an ASI came from last weekends experience, where I was test flying a gyro and found the ASI had two two speeds 30 or 0. As soon as I got any airspeed ,30, then as the wheels touched the ground again ,0.I fly by any speed input I can get, the wind pressure on my chest sort of indicates flying speed, when I start to feel the pressure on my arms, I know I'm going pretty quick. Also the sound of the air around my ear muffs, and the sensation of air on any exposed skin (flying naked could lead to sensory overload).For sorting out the attitude in my own machine, my usual attitude indicators are the radio antenna and position of the instrument pod with respect to the horizon.When flying un unfamiliar machine without the ASI, at first all I could go on was the estimated airspeed, and keep the rpm high. Flying in this mode for a few minutes gave me a chance to work out a suitable attitude reference for the machine. By that time I felt Ok with getting it back on the ground. Landing strategy, we have a long up hill strip, and the thing to avoid is low and slow, so I came in faster than I know I needed(feel wind pressure on my arms) , and then a gentle round out , and just wash off all excess speed while just holding it off the ground as long as possible.Ok for this hard 180 degree turn at low level with some back stick. Havn't tried it at low level yet, but I have given it a go at a 200 feet. Initially found that nose wanted to dive during the turn, so to help this I applied some opposite rudder( ie right rudder during left hand turn) and this was a great help. And wow you do get that hovering effect, this is confirmed by a quick glance at the rotortach (60rpm above cruise)Thanks again for the great inputRoss B

[asra]

After only about 2 hrs solo and not even 1 of them in a new machine I took of to do a circuit at a not too familiar strip (not to familiar anything!). After taking off I looked down to set up my climb speed and yep no AIS ... F#$%k I thought to myself. Lower the nose a little and climb out a little slower and do my circuit! So with a slight x wind and knowing that it was a little gusty I flew the circuit 2 times to judge the wind conditions before flying down a little faster than normal on the 3rd circuit and landing. Good experience.Safe Flying ... ding Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment

[asra]

Well done mate.....Do more and more of the FEEL bit.....you won;t regret itRuss....A1014 NT....gods country

[Brian]

If you are in an open framed or Rosco pod gyro, flip up your visor and feel the wind in your face.No breeze, you need more airspeed, stinging eyes, back off the power or raise the nose a tad ! Also, keep an eye on the most usefull and cheapest instrument that every gyro should have and thats the yaw indicator string. With an ASI indicating 0, the yaw indicator should be looking right at you !!!Brian

[Scott Hogan]

Hey Woz,I thought you had a volvo donk on your gyro last time I saw it!Hoges