Flying Helicopters...sorta

So finally, almost 5 years after entering the Army to learn to fly, 2.5 years after commissioning, and 7.5 months after reporting to Fort Rucker, AL...I started flying this past week.

I started on Wednesday in a simulator, and then Thursday we were in the air. My instructor pilot, Mr. Probert, is a great guy, and I am so thankful for that (many have a reputation for not being so nice). The first two days of being in the air (Thursday and Friday) were what he called "Gee-Whiz" days, in that we just flew around and didn't concentrate on anything in particular and just got a feel for the controls.

We fly a TH-67, which is a basic helicopter...this is not me...just a picture off the internet.

Now, for those who have never flown a helicopter, it is the easiest thing in the world. For those who have (I will loosely put myself in that group, only for this point), it is near-impossible. For well over 2 hours, I tried killing myself and everyone on board. Thanks to Mr. Probert, I am able to talk about the experience. In fact, he told me and my "stick buddy" (guy who flies with me) that his job is to "keep us from killing ourselves and him until we learn how to fly."

The first day was so frustrating that I started to wonder if I had made the wrong decision by coming here, and feared that I would never be able to do it. Hovering requires the coordinated movement of both arms and feet (each doing something different in relation to what the helicopter does) to very sensitive controls, connected to a helicopter that wants to go totally out of control and to the ground. You would not believe how much I struggled with staying stationary, and how crazy and drastic my movements were. It will be a wonderful day when I figure it out. Friday was much better...I relaxed, and focused on having fun with it and felt much better during and after the flight. That isn't to say that I did much better, though.

We practiced on basic things: takeoffs, approaches, landing, turning, taxiing, and as I mentioned, hovering. We practiced numerous engine failures at altitude (900 feet), where the instructor simulates the failure by closing the throttle to idle (where the helicopter can't fly and falls like a rock). There are certain adjustments to the flight controls that are made that allows it to descend in a controllable manner, which is called autorotation. We did 3 autorotation landings, where the helicopter lands like an airplane and slides down the runway on its skids. So imagine, the engine is not working at almost 1,000 feet in the air, and taking it all the way to the ground...scary stuff, but REALLY cool.

Days are long. This past week, I had to catch a bus at 4:30 am to go to the flightline. We left there at 11:30 and got back to my car at noon, then had class in the afternoon for several hours (from 1:00-4:00 OR 2:30-5:30). I studied at the library for 2-3 hours at night, and then got in bed about 9:00 at night to do it again the next day. The schedule alternates every week between morning and afternoon flightline, so next week I will have class in the morning (7:30-11:00), catch a bus at 11:30 and leave the flightline at 5:30. My hours of studying at night will only increase as time goes on. We have to know certain things for the flightline daily, and we have a test every Friday in academics (classroom). It is challenging, and will get harder and harder over the next year, but it is a great opportunity and I consider myself so very blessed to have it.