01 Nov 2025, 20:00 [ UTC - 5; DST ]
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Post subject: Re: My Bell-47/First Helicopter Solo  Posted: 11 Jul 2013, 13:24 |
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Joined: 06/02/10
Posts: 7694
Post Likes: +5094
Company: Inscrutable Fasteners, LLC
Location: West Palm Beach - F45
Aircraft: Planeless
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Username Protected wrote: After several hundred hours of R-22 time, I did 5 or so hours in a Bell 47.
Totally different ride. Totally...
Best,
Rich Rich, I am not in agreement philosophically with the Robinson Helicopter Company, they keep putting out AD's at huge cost to the owners. Also, I would never be able to fly even remotely enough hours before the calendar limits on a R22 or R44 came up. I understand that auto-rotations in an R-22 leave very little margin for error. Although I would not yet feel comfortable doing them on my own, by time I soloed today I had done 10-15 full down autorotations. Which Bell-47 did you fly? The school I am at uses -G2's. My G4 has metal blade and even more rotor inertia than the G2's. How specifically did it compare to the R22? Glenn
Hi Glenn,
It was so long ago that I'd have to dig out my helicopter logbook to know what model 47 for sure.
Auto rotations in R22s needed a management. You had to lead the collective based on what you thought was going to happen, otherwise it was fairly easy to get out of limits. Even a properly flown auto into a 10kt headwind would result in some forward motion upon touchdown. Hovering autos were rather abrupt.
That said, it was safe, BUT, you had to pay attention and it was a learned skill.
OTOH, the 47, much like the JetRanger, was very easy to manage in comparison. Hovering autos were just a matter of letting the ship settle to the ground, and full touchdown autos were non events.
On the other hand, R22s are delightful to fly, very fast for their power and make decent enough instrument trainers. Maintenence seemed very simple in comparason to other types of ships. Their tail rotors are VERY effective, and I never experienced any loss of tail rotor effectiveness in all kinds of wind.
Flown within their limits, they do what they do very well and very safely. I attended the CFI Safety Course back when Frank himself taught it, and gave almost 1,000 hours dual without incident. This was before the SFARS.
I don't have any experience in R44s. I was out of the game before they came on the scene.
Best,
Rich
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