Training Update...

[Skidz]

Congrats Ryan !!!

 

Welcome to the club...of low-time pilots looking for work

 

The easy part's over with. Now the REAL work begins. Best of luck man !

[Rosco]

Good on y'a Ryan!

 

Keep up the good attitude and you'll go a long way.

 

Congrats.

 

Cheers

 

R

[Ryan]

So, did you really enter the 180 auto in the wrong place, OR did you follow that entry with a "perfect" looking 180 and subsequently miss the spot ??

To be honest I'm not too sure if I'd misjudged the entry and flown past that point of no return before starting the turn, or if I'd screwed up the turn itself making it too steep/not steep enough. Bob figured it was that my judgement was off on when I could make the spot. Going over it in my mind I'd have to agree. I think I also under-estimated the wind strength and I failed to compensate for it. Not blaming the wind here at all, that'd be too easy a way out. Not good. Next good day for autos we have I'll get Bob to take me out and drill better judgement into my head.

Thanks for the kind words and advice guys/gals. :up:

[Kryptonife]

Reading all these posts makes me want to fly even more, to bad I only have about half the money right now, saving all I can. your instructor sounds prety cool Ryan, what school do you go to?

[Ryan]

The school is Coast Helicopter College in Victoria. Phone # is 250-655-0416. Keep on saving my friend, it's well worth it! :up:

[Kyle]

Great pictures btw, Ryan!

[Kryptonife]

Just took a look at those shots too, awesome Ryan. I'll keep that school in mind for sure once I'm a little bit closer to my goal. I read other posts on that, probably the best I've heard of so far, that and its not to far from me (Calgary) and I've got half my family in Victoria so some free / cheap living costs if I need it.

 

I remember you said around $50k for training with the bucket and Turbine experience. Any idea how much it is for IFR and night rating at the same school? Also in another post you mentioned long lines for that school; about how long were they for you and were there any requirments other then the $50k? Any Details you can give someone looking to start training would be great.

 

Sorry for all the questions Ryan, just really looking into schools right now and this one sounds awesome.

 

Good luck with the training, looking forward to more updates.

[tDawe]

Kryptonife,

 

An IFR rating is usually beyond the reaches of most student pilots, CAR 421.46 has all the juicy details, but the short and sweet of it is probably 50 hours PIC cross country, 5 hours of instrument training from a qualified flight instructor and 15 hours training from someone who is "qualified" (has an IFR rating in the proper catagorie {ie helicopters, Single engine airplanes etc.} ) again, 421.46 has all the details.

 

If you really want one, the most cost efficent way is probably to do as much as you can in an airplane (crazy, but it just might work, a new Cessna 172S decked out for IFR will normally fly an IFR approach at about 75-80 knots, which is probably on par with an IFR equipped R22 or Schwiezer 300C.), since a C172 dual rents for probably about 170 an hour, thats still better then the 400-450 for an IFR equiped piston heli.

 

Second to that IFR helicopter sims are becoming increasing popular, and can count towards a portion of your flight training. Make sure you find one with an corrisponding TC number, so you can log it and count it towards your training.

 

As always, just my 1.5 cents.

 

tDawe

[Kryptonife]

Cool thanks for the info tDawe, I'll give 421.46 a look.

[Ryan]

Well, yesterday I said goodbye to the best little R-22 anywhere, FHSC. With my hours at 90.0 I won't be flying the tiny ship anymore. From now on it's 206B III all the way. Here's a highlight of the week's last flights with my buddy the R-22.

Tuesday was my last solo cross country trip and was a blast. I flew out to Nanaimo, then down to Duncan's strip and back to Victoria. The flight out to Nanaimo was nice and relaxing as usual. And as usual when I arrived I had the whole place to myself. I like how that always seems to be my luck there. I lifted off the ramp and headed for Duncan. Once clear of the noise sensitive areas south of the Nanaimo airport I hugged the mountains and enjoyed the scenery along the way.

Finding the Duncan strip in always easy, it's about the only thing with any elevation in the Cowichan Valley. Made my way into the circuit while chatting lots on the radio as there is an untralight plane that flies out of that airport regularly and is very hard to see. But again luck was with me and the strip was all mine. This strip even has a nice big white H just off the center field, so I though "Don't mind if I do." Apon getting there though I saw this H was raised about 2" off the ground and could easily snag a skid so I opted to land beside vs on it. Not sure if these are common, maybe it was meant to be covered with gravel or something?

After lifting off I headed west up the valley for a few confined areas to practice with. Then it was back to Victoria.

On Wednesday Bob and I loaded up as much fuel as we could take and zipped out to Vancouver. This is the trip I've been waiting for! I'd been wanting to experience the heavy traffic of Vancouver's airspace, but as luck would have it the time we were there was a slow period. It was great though as we got to fly right over the middle of the airport. Had the pleasure of seeing an Antinov (spelling?), you know those massive Russian cargo planes. Looked like a 747 could almost fit on one wing. Once we cleared their zone we headed for downtown Vancouver to buzz the Helijet pad. Didn't feel like landing there, or spending the $40 for the privilage, so we just flew an approach and then zipped on by. Followed the channel up to Pit Medows where we did a quick touch and go, then pointed the nose towards Boundary Bay. Landed there and shut down for a pit stop. Nice facilities there, lots of private planes of all descriptions, and Pro IFR's gear too. That has to be the busiest little airport I've ever seen. After a break we fired up and headed home. Great trip!

And yesterday I got a chance to do some 180 autos with Bob. Far better this time. Think the problem on the flight test was the entry for sure, plus I was crowding my spot to begin with causing a very steep turn and a massive rate of sink. Again, far better this time. Then Bob hopped out and I finished off my last R-22 training flight with some off-levels, circuits, quick stops, and a few pirouettes for fun.

From here on out it's all Jet Ranger time for me. The type exam is done so now I can focus on drilling new procedures into my head. Hmm, after writting that last sentance I realized the 206 type exam was my last test before getting my license. Wow! Just need those last 10 hours and I'm there.

Where did the last 3 1/2 months go?

Ryan.