Helicopter Check Ride Part 6 Student Failures
Aug 11, 2017Helicopter Check Ride Part 6 Student Failures
Helicopter Check Ride Part 6 Student Failures
I want to share with you the three check-ride failures of students that I've had over the past 17 years. Out of the hundreds of people that I have sent for check-rides, I have only had three people fail on the first attempt. Here are three good tips to cover for Check-Ride prep on what I have seen trip these three people up.
The first example is my very first student that I sent for a Check-Ride anywhere, and it was in a Robinson helicopter. He was a Indiana State Trooper, an airplane CFI, and he was a really sharp individual and was really well-prepared. He got to the Check-Ride and he was busting through the oral stuff. He was doing great, and then the examiner asked him how to figure pressure altitude. He could not remember how to do it by hand, so he wanted to use a chart or use his fancy electronic flight computer. The examiner said, “No, you have to be able to figure out pressure altitude by hand.”
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For example, you are in an aircraft, or a helicopter, and you are going to divert and land at an airport where you had not planned on landing. Maybe it is a higher elevation and you need to know if you can hover when you get there. You need to be able to get the current pressure setting for that airport and figure out pressure altitude by hand in order to work the performance chart. He could not do it by hand, so the examiner failed him.
That is one that I have always made sure of over the years; 100% hands down, that my students know how to figure out pressure altitude by hand! It is very important to know!
The second example is a student of mine back in Cleveland when I was a new instructor with a few years under my belt. It was in a Schweizer helicopter and this one was on a steep approach. This female student was going for a CFI check-ride. She was a great teacher, and was doing really well with all the groundwork. The flying was, well, it could have been a little bit better, but it wasn't too bad. She, of course, aces the oral part, so they go out to do the flight portion of the Check-Ride.
Fifteen minutes later, I see them hovering back in and I thought, “Oh-oh, I know this can't be good.”
When they get in, we all sat down together and the examiner says, “Okay, on your steep approach, you started it and you told me it was too steep.”
As she continued the approach, she kept saying, “Oh, this is too steep, this is too steep.” But she continued the approach all the way down.
When she got to the end of her approach he said, “Well, what do you think?”
She said, “Well, that was too steep.”
“Yeah, that's right. And you had the opportunity to go around because it was too steep at the beginning.”
Helicopter Check Ride Part 6 Student Failures
At the beginning of the approach when she first started it and said, “This is too steep,” she had the option to go around. She could have gone around, took her time, and got set up again. She could just go around one, because that is a maneuver for the check-ride. Go around, take a big deep breath, set it up again, and try again. Instead, she started too steep, told the examiner it was too steep, and continued the approach.
We all know settling with power's a big deal and that is why the steep approach is a big deal. You have to use a good technique and if you think it's too steep, go around. You have to catch it early. You cannot wait until you are three quarters of the way through the approach and say, “Oh, I'm going to go around.”
If you start out a little bit sloppy and you think it's a little bit too steep at the beginning of the approach, when you're up several hundred feet, you could ultimately go around and save yourself busting the check-ride.
So remember, a steep approach is fifteen degrees. If you are coming in, you are getting steep, you are getting really slow, and you happen to have the wind off your tail, you are really in danger of settling with power. Again, it is fifteen degrees for a steep approach. There are people going out flying, trying to fly in at forty-five degrees, and that's just dangerous.
The third example student was in an Enstrom. It was during an autorotation. In this instance, this man entered his autorotation a little too early or a little too late, I cannot remember which one it was, but he missed the spot. The check-ride was going good, but he missed his intended spot. The examiner stated that where the student landed was not even close!
In autorotation, you have to be good at estimating when to enter. Depending on whether it is a windy day, or it is a calm day, you have to come out pretty close to your intended spot. If you are shooting your auto to the numbers two eight on the runway, you want to be starting your flare before two eight and leveling out right at the numbers, or pretty darn close. A little bit of run on speed is okay, but you should flare and level out over your intended touchdown spot.
If you missed it by ten or twenty feet, is that a big deal? Probably not, you are probably going to be okay. If you are going to miss it by a hundred feet, that most likely will not be acceptable.
With all three of these students, we had to do some additional training, and then all three of them passed their Check-Ride the second time around.
The General Safe Rule for your Approach
This is a general rule, it is not anything in any regulation, and it is somewhat conservative. However, that is okay. In order to keep yourself out of settling with power, always keep a minimum of 30 on your airspeed until your rate of descent is below 300 feet per minute. If you follow this, you will not get into settling with power. It just plain will not happen.
If you have all three of the following flight characteristics, this can cause you to get into settling with power. Take away any one of those three, and you are not in it.
Rate of descent is 300 feet per minute or greater - If you are at 300 feet per minute or greater on your VSI as you're flying your approach.
Power - Using 20% to 100% of available power.
Airspeed less than ETL, Effective Translational Lift - Remember the ETL occurs somewhere between 16 to 24 knots. If you are at 30 on your airspeed or above, you are not in that zone.
There is a little bit of fudge factor figured in there, but that's to keep you safe. Remember, if you always keep 30 on your airspeed until your rate of descent is below 300 feet per minute, you will not get into settling with power.
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Helicopter Check Ride Part 6 Student Failures
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