 I'd like to talk to you for the next few minutes about helicopter capabilities and limitations. Things the helicopter can and cannot do. These are very important for you to know as a passenger. Subjects will cover will be the flight controls, will touch on aerodynamics, hovering in and out of ground effect, emergency procedures, weight and balance, and of course density altitude. Come on aboard. There are four primary flight controls. The first is the cyclic, flown with the right hand. The second is the collective on the left side of the pilot. This one includes the throttle on this particular model. And down below we have the anti-torque pedals. Through manipulating of these controls, the pilot is able to fly the helicopter. When the pilot moves the cyclic forward, this tilts the rotor disk the same direction. This redirects lift and thrust, moving the helicopter forward. As the cyclic is moved backward, the rotor disk tilts to the rear, and the helicopter moves backward. The same is true for movement to the left and to the right. The collective at the pilot's left side controls the up and down movement of the helicopter. As the collective is raised, the pitch of the main rotor blades is increased collectively. More lift is generated, and the helicopter goes out. When the pilot lowers the collective, lift is reduced, so the helicopter descends. The throttle is also located on the collective. In turbine helicopters, the pilot uses this during startup and shutdown of the engine. A governor controls proper engine RPM during flight. At the pilot's feet are the anti-torque pedals. These control the thrust of the tail rotor. The tail rotor counteracts torque created by the main rotor and keeps the helicopter from spinning. The anti-torque pedals also provide directional control left and right when the helicopter is in a stable hover. When the pilot pushes the left pedal, the helicopter rotates to the left. The right pedal causes a turn to the right. Now let's talk about helicopter performance. A condition called ground effect generally improves the capabilities of helicopters. Simply put, when a helicopter is within one half rotor diameter from the ground, it is called hovering in ground effect. Higgy. A cushion of air has been created between the ground and the helicopter, increasing lift and reducing power requirements, providing the surface is relatively smooth and level. Rough terrain, ridge tops or pinnacles may reduce or even eliminate the advantages of ground effect. Once the helicopter exceeds the one half rotor diameter distance above the ground, the cushion of air dissipates and you are now hovering out of ground effect. Higgy. To maintain a hover, the helicopter must now use considerably more power, reducing its effective payload. As you can see, the helicopter is much more efficient when you can use in-ground effect sites for your takeoffs and landings. And if you must use an out-of-ground effect site, the number of people or pounds of cargo you want to carry may have to be reduced drastically. A normal takeoff consists of bringing the helicopter up to an in-ground effect hover and translating the helicopter into forward flight. Additional lift is created as the helicopter moves from the turbulent air created from hovering to undisturbed or clean air in forward flight. This is called translational lift. Translational lift occurs at about 15 to 18 miles per hour. Translational lift will also be produced when hovering with a 15 or more mile per hour steady headwind. The wind blows the turbulent air away and provides clean air and more lift for the helicopter. This is why pirates prefer to take off and land into the wind. When the helicopter must hover out of ground effect, it is recommended to enter or leave a confined area or to clear a tall obstacle without the benefit of translational lift. This is called a maximum performance takeoff or landing. During this maneuver, the helicopter is totally power dependent and margins of safety are reduced. So whenever possible, try and avoid these types of landing areas. What are the helicopter's capabilities in the event of an emergency? An engine failure, for instance? Engine failures in turbine helicopters are very rare. However, should one occur, a helicopter is capable of auto-rotation to a safe landing. A good thing to know if you're a passenger. During powered flight, air flows through the rotor system from the top and out the bottom. Helicopters have a free wheeling unit which automatically allows the main rotor to rotate freely if the engine fails or there is some other mechanical emergency. The rotor system then maintains flight RPM by reversed air flow. The pilot has full control of the helicopter during this maneuver as they will now demonstrate for you in this practice auto-rotation. Here I have completely lowered the collective and removed all power to the rotor system. The helicopter descends rapidly at this point. As I approach the landing site, I ease back on the cyclic, raise the helicopter's nose and slow the forward airspeed and rate of descent. Now I level the helicopter and using the stored up inertia in the rotor blades I cushion it to the ground completing the auto-rotation. Each helicopter model has a chart called the height velocity diagram. This chart shows the combination of airspeed and altitude from which a safe auto-rotation can be made. As you can see, the safest flying is done above 500 feet and at cruise airspeed. This is not to say, do not go low and slow. Just limit your flying in this area to only that that is necessary to get your job done. Remember to assume the emergency position during any auto-rotation from any height. Remember about density altitude and its effect on aircraft performance. Density altitude, by definition, is pressure altitude or elevation corrected for temperature and humidity. Air is said to be thin at higher elevations. That is, there are fewer air molecules per cubic foot at 10,000 feet than there are at sea level. Also, as air is heated, it expands and you can get fewer molecules of warm air in one cubic foot than you can cool air. In effect, warm air is also thin. So, as you go up in altitude and temperature, density altitude also goes up. At lower density altitudes, such as sea level on a cool day, the rotor blades are moving through dense air, creating maximum lift at lower power settings. When the density altitude goes up, the air thins out. The rotor blades have less air to grab and the pilot must increase power. Helicopter performance and capabilities decrease. So, during the warm summer months, plan your helicopter projects for early morning when the air is cool to maximize the performance of your helicopter. And when you add hover out-of-ground effect landings, or hoagie, to your project, just remember the saying, when it's high, hoagie, and hot, you may not carry a heck of a lot. Finally, we need to discuss weight and balance. At any given altitude and temperature by manufacturer specifications, a helicopter can only carry a certain amount of weight. The pilot must determine this weight based on the current conditions by doing load calculation from his aircraft flight manual prior to the flight. This weight, or payload, must not be exceeded. Accurate weights of passengers and cargo are an absolute necessity for the pilot to properly load the helicopter. Once this allowable payload has been determined, the pilot must then balance it aboard the helicopter. If you draw an imaginary line through the helicopter, at the middle of the rotor system, this is what is known as a center of gravity, or CG. To maintain the best and safest flying characteristics, the pilot has to balance the load on the helicopter. If the CG is too far to the rear, or aft, the helicopter flies with a nose-up attitude. If the CG is too far forward, then the nose tilts down. In either case, control movements are difficult and maneuverability is decreased, not desirable if an emergency should occur. The same is true for lateral CG, or side-to-side loading. Try to keep all weight evenly distributed. If, in doubt, ask the pilot where to sit, or place, and secure all cargo. I hope this program has helped you understand the helicopter's capabilities and limitations, and that you can use this knowledge in your future use of helicopters. Stay alert and enjoy your flight. Personal protective equipment, PPE, what is it? Now it's things we can wear to protect ourselves when we fly. Things like flight helmets, fire-resistant clothing, gloves, boots, hearing protection, and eye protection. Well, what's required when we fly special use? You've got to have the helmet, fire-resistant clothing, gloves, and the boots. Let's talk about fire-resistant clothing. You've got a choice here. You can either go with the full one-piece Nomex flight suit like this, or if you prefer, the Nomex fire shirt and fire pants. They both are equally as effective. It's your choice. Now, what you wear underneath is really important. Something like this 100% cotton t-shirt works great. It provides an extra layer of protection, and it doesn't burn or melt like a synthetic fabric does. So always stick with natural fibers underneath your flight suit or fire clothes. If you're going to wear the protective clothing, you need to know how to wear it right. What's right? Well, let's start with the sleeves. Sleeves should be down over your flight gloves and securely fast. Next thing you want to make sure is that your flight suit or your fire shirt is zipped or button clear to the top and that your collar is turned up. The name of the game here is protection. You're trying to protect yourself against the possibility of a post-crash flash fire. So you protect yourself as much as you can. Also, if you've got zippers in your pants legs, zip them down to where they're snug at the bottom. What about gloves? What I've got on here is probably about the best you can do, and that's the Nomex and Leather Combination Flight Glove. 100% leather works very well, too. Offers good protection. What you do want to avoid is a synthetic base glove, something that in a post-crash fire may burn and melt. Even 100% wool is not going to offer the protection you need. Also, if you're going to wear the gloves, make sure they're serviceable. Check them for holes, torn seams. If they've got any kind of that, they've lost their integrity and they're not going to offer you the protection that you need. What if your protective clothing gets dirty? What do you do? Well, to maintain its integrity, it has to be clean. A dirty flight suit, dirty flight gloves can support flame, so you need to keep it clean. In the case of the gloves, it's as simple. Just put the gloves on, grab a bar of soap, and wash your hands. Rang the gloves out and let them dry in a cool place for a couple of days. That's all it takes. As far as the flight suit goes, throw it in the washer and wash it like you would anything that's dirty. Here's a good example. This is Corky's race car. As you can see, he's got a problem here. He's hit the wall, he's got a fireball going. The car is spun and come to a stop and it's on fire. If you look real close right here, you can see a dark shadow. That's Corky himself coming out of the burning car. Now that he's outside of the car, what do you see? He's perfectly protected. He has on everything he needs. He's got Nomex suit, he's got Nomex shoes, socks, Nomex gloves and a face protector and a helmet. Very well protected, but what do you see here? His hands are on fire. His hands are on fire because his gloves were dirty. He had Nomex gloves but he had been working on the car. He got dirt and grime in him and that's what's supporting the fire. He had disabling injuries to his hands and he never drove again. Just a reminder, if you're going to wear it, keep it clean. What's the requirement for boots? Well, first of all, they have to be all leather. Second, they need to be tall enough so when you're in a sitting position in the aircraft, there's no gap between the top of the boot and the bottom of your Nomex. The idea here is protection, protection from that post crash flash fire. Also remember, no synthetic boots, no nylon leather mix. That nylon or synthetic can melt in that fire situation. Talk about eye protection. That visor on your flight helmet, it's built to protect your eyes and your face. It should be down all the time, any time you're flying and at least during the takeoff and the landing phase. Take a look at this visor. You notice that it's got some damage to it. This visor was taken from the helmet of a fish and wildlife pilot who was in a mishap a few years back. The engine lost power and he had to do a forced landing. This was the outcome. As the aircraft impacted the ground, pieces and parts of the engine, the cowling, the propeller, came through the windshield and into the cockpit, actually glancing off the pilot's helmet. The visor saved his eyesight. They work. Use them. What about when you're working around the helicopter during the takeoff and landing in a remote situation where you've got dust and dirt coming up from the rotor wash? You need to protect your eyes in that situation too. Either stay back out of the way of the rotor wash. If you have to get in close, wear eye protection. Put the visor down on your helmet. Wear goggles, whatever it takes. These machines can throw a lot of things your way and it could injure your eyes. Again, the name of the game is protection. Noisy, right? Let me talk to you about hearing. Hearing is something that, over a period of time, you lose a little bit today, a little bit tomorrow, a little bit next week, and it doesn't come back. It's a cumulative thing. Over a number of years working around the noise of helicopters and airplanes and anything else loud or noisy like that, you can lose the hearing in your ears. So, when you're in that environment, wear your helmet. SPH, sound protection helmet. Or wear ear plugs or ear muffs. Anything you can do to save your hearing. Your instructor is going to demonstrate to you the proper wearing and fit of the flight helmet. But I'd like to share with you a couple of things that I consider to be very important. One thing you need to remember, when you put the helmet on, fasten the chin strap. Adjust it snug. It's useless without it. The helmet won't stay on your head in the event of a crash. So the helmet's on and it's fastened snug. Okay, another thing to remember, just as a pointer, is that this is called a lip mic. You adjust the microphone down right where it's just about touching your lip. That's about right. If you can reach out and touch it with your lip, it's in the proper position. Also, don't forget, visor down and locked. This is an expensive piece of equipment. It's got a delicate avionics in it. It belongs one of two places. Either on your head or in the bag. This is a game of chance. Accidents still happen. It could happen to you. Don't take chances. Make the right choice. Wear your PPE.