R44 helicopter cockpit in bad weather

**Learn to fly with Tim at http://www.timgilbert.com** Video shows: Flying at a cautious pace above 500ft agl in bad weather caused by a recent nearby cyclone in the Bay of Bengal. Forecast at departure airfield was too optimistic, but suggested better weather ahead.

Careful to remain clear of cloud and in sight of the surface, as this aircraft was not equipped for IFR flight. This meant flying slowly enough to ensure we could always maintain sufficient forward visual references by reducing height with collective lever as required.

Flying in the slot between the ragged bottom of the cloud and the top of the man-made ground obstacles such as pylons.

Ahead are hills, hence the careful detailed navigation. Decided to head north of track to follow a wide river valley through the hills, as the high pass was not visible in the low cloud. Hard to follow the map, as the flooding changed the landscape.

The slow airspeed, and recent flight through heavy pollution near Delhi, reduced the visibility through the screen, despite pre-flight polishing.

Pilot workload quite heavy, hence occasional, and careful, hand-over of control. Regular T&P and carb ice checks.

Pilot: Tim Gilbert (sitting on the right).

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[vassdel]

@ commenters: Guys, the camera isn't showing the actual visibility: It's way more clear than it looks.

@ pilots: Apart from that, you guys are risking getting into the actual cloud and that would most probably lead to a vertigo. Avoiding the obstacles is one thing but flying safely is another. I wouldn't have tried that in any case. I would prefer to land this bird on roller skates and drive to my destination....

P.S. What kind of torture is that, that you actually have to wear uniforms?

[whalebarn]

@vassdel You are absolutely right there, the camera is blinded by the brightness outside, so makes the visibility look worse than it is.

Not entering cloud is top priority, I totally agree, hence you see me lowering collective to be sure to maintain visual references. If it had got much worse, I would have landed and sat it out.

Uniforms: once you step off the south eastern corner of Europe, you need uniforms and even gold bars just to get through the admin BS at all the airports. :)

[helobelow]

This is a great example of how NOT to fly VFR! This will bite you in the ass one day guys. This is not at all risk management this is taking risks.

[whalebarn]

@helobelow Thanks for commenting. We had clear space between the bottom of the clouds and the top of the terrain, and reasonable viz in between (though the camera whites this out a bit as it's set to show the in-cockpit detail). It wasn't beginners weather, for sure, but we were assessing it constantly, and would have been prepared to land if the cloudbase had got much closer to the top of the terrain/obstacles. I think it's pressing when things worsen that kills, not flying in marginal viz.

[colin5016]

@TimKGrimes Unfortunately Martin Rutty (Pilot on the left) was sadly killed with another college while in a R22 in France (November 2010, I believe), not sure who was flying or what caused it, such a shame.

[TimKGrimes]

@TimKGrimes @ Scudrunners... all due respect, of course. Just don't kill yourselves. There is a fine line between having fun and being dead. There's still a lot of enjoyment in flying in a boring fashion.

[TimKGrimes]

Gents, this level of risk-taking with eventually bite you in the ass. Ridiculous level of taking unnecessary risk in an aircraft that is poorly equipped for IMC. You're lucky you didn't snag a wire, hit an antenna or both, or collide with another risk-taker who has foolishly chosen to fly in equally poor conditions.

And for what?

[bythedog]

'Skud runnin'!

[williambrodie]

What could go wrong with 2 sets of four stripes and accents like that

[AR15RNZAF]

I know here in NZ you can fly with Viz down too no less than 500M and still maintain VFR if the helicopter maintains a safe operating speed for the conditions. Im not sure the Minimum Viz for VFR Helicopter op's in the UK but im assuming its not too far off the NZ standard. Looked ok to me, i dont think they had less then 500m viz the whole time.

[shapipple12]

this is considered bad weather?... next question why is there two guys flying this 44??? this a BHP contract? and I thought I looked like a jack ass when wearing a flight suit these two are unbelievable

[tanyasean]

They are both 4 stripers... what is the worry??