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Longlining Tips For A Someone New To This Art!


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As there are many experianced longline guys out there, i was wondering if there are any tips and tricks you guys have found to make learning this art any easier.

 

Im starting out on a 50ft with no load on the Jetbox and have had a little bit of instruction, but now its a case of go out and play.

 

What would be the best things to start doing and in what order should things be tried and practised?

 

Any help would be great,

 

206 :up:

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As there are many experianced longline guys out there, i was wondering if there are any tips and tricks you guys have found to make learning this art any easier.

 

Im starting out on a 50ft with no load on the Jetbox and have had a little bit of instruction, but now its a case of go out and play.

 

What would be the best things to start doing and in what order should things be tried and practised?

 

Any help would be great,

 

206 :up:

 

 

Be the hook.

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It's good that you are asking but shouldn't your chief pilot be instructing you. And if he hasn't, have you any business doing it. I'm thinking of the young 206 pilot who tried long line bucketing, of all things, 2 years ago and killed himself because he didn't know what he was doing. Also, nowadays insurance companies and the DOT and company managers too, frown on pilots doing work they haven't been properly checked out on. Give it a thought, please.

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Here are a few tips, I more than less always do this when I take over a machine that I havent flown in a few months to get back in the groove of the type as they all have their quirks.

 

1. find your sight picture. so practice picking the hook off the ground about 5-10 ft and trying to put it back in the same spot half a dozen times or more. Dont accept any swing of the line on pick up, if it wants to swing out put it back down and correct your positioning.

 

2. Hover around and reposition your hook to various spots, this rock, that rock etc.

 

3. set up a circuit and fly the hook back to the same spot. I agree with vortex above that you should definetily focus more on your target than the hook. having said that always take quick glances back at your hook to make sure it is clear of obstacles, it also gives you the chance to see if the hook is flying right to your spot or veering off course.

 

4. be your biggest critic. You are only going to get better if you challenge yourself and dont accept sloppiness, or the "close enough" thinking.

 

5. dont rush, take your time and the speed will come

 

6. Keep your disc loaded. make your final approach slow, you dont want to find yourself having to pull in a ton of collective at the end of an approach, you will get yourself into trouble.

 

7. Have fun

 

Hope it helps. Fly Safe, Despite what Zazu says I dont think praying will not help your slinging.. haha

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Im starting out on a 50ft with no load on the Jetbox and have had a little bit of instruction

 

Sounds like he was given some instruction but is just looking for those little tips and tricks from the more experienced longline pilots for solo practice.

 

If you can, get out while theres lots of sun light, shadows for reference really help you to get a grasp of what everything looks like.

 

Slow, smoothe movements and patience seem to be the key. Fly the helicopter and not the load. I started off with a hay bail in a cargo net, it's very easy to place.

 

~Keep in mind I'm a low time pilot and only have about 30 hours at the top of a longline, and of that only about 10 in the jetranger, but these are things that really helped to improve technique.

~Higher time guys, feel free to correct anything if I'm wrong.

 

Phil Croucher has a great book on operational flying that has some excellent tips in it.

 

Cheers.

Cole

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No-one has a sense of Ha Ha anymore. Agree with everything stated above. I just finished my first drill job and found that the two most important aspects for myself were Patience and I didn't accept "good enough" When it was all said and done all the knowledge in the world can't make up for practice and time doing it..PERIOD Have fun

 

Zazu

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1. This is not a joke.

Get something the size and weight of a lemon and tie it onto a 6 foot piece of string.

Stand on a chair and move the lemon around as if your hand is the helicopter above it.

You will learn what makes the load swing, how to stop a swing, etc etc.

Descend when the line swings and learn how that kills the momentum of a swing.

Learn the timing of how to fly 'over' a swinging load to kill its swinging motion.

 

I'm serious !! This is simple physics, just on a smaller scale.

It works, and it's a real cheap simulator.

 

2. Take the line off. That's right....off.

Too many guys try to run before they can walk.

Fly around hanging out the door etc. as if there was a line on there, look-in and peek at the guages etc.

Get used to how little you need to move the cyclic etc.

Fly approaches to a 50 ft hover....hold a perfect hover, transition into flight again, etc.

 

When you are comfortable with that, put the line on.

If you are moving the cyclic more than before, then you have a problem.

Keep the belly hook smooth, and the line will be smooth.

 

3. As someone said above, get used to your sight pictures.

Remember that the helicopter will 'hang' differently in a hover with an empty hook than with a max gross load pulling on the belly hook.

Get comfortable with how the ship will sit before the rigger hooks you up, then how it will sit in a steady hover before you fly away at max gross.

On that note, get a steady hover before departing. Pulling tension and wobbling away into the sky as you get control will get you punted very quickly.

 

4. Get a reputation as a smooth long-line pilot before you try to get a reputation as a fast long-line pilot.

 

5. If your flying is really bad one particular day......try leaning out further.

 

6. Remember to smile.

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