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[OT] This afternoon I have mostly
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...been taking a trial helicopter lesson.
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Helicopters only fly because the Earth thinks they are so ugly it repels
them. R22s only fly because of divine intervention on the part of the
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Which comes to the nub of the issue - do you want your aircraft to
take you across the landscape i.e a glorified motorcar, or do you want
it to take you *up* the landscape. Horses for courses, innit.
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The flying I most enjoy doesn't involve either. Climbing to a few
thousand feet over your home airfield and spending time with a few
lazy aeros is the best. Puttering along to another airfield in a
glorified motorcar is OK, but nothing like the exhileration of
watching the earth "above your head" spinning round!
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I really like helis, but mainly cos they do something I really value,
namely take me from a valley to the top of a snowy ridge, repeatedly.
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heh. You've obviously never been in the warm up area for a classic
parade at the TT.
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pilot.
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Well, OK, for half-an-hour values of mostly.
Boy but those things are sensitive.
'and if I just move the stick a little this way...'
'you actually /moved/ it then?'
I was lucky in that I arrived just at the tail end of a rain storm, so
we had clear weather and less wind at about the time I was booked to
fly.
My first attempt at hovering (with the cyclic only) went, though I say
so myself, rather well.
The second and third attempts resulted in divergent oscillation. Ho
hum. In retrospect, I think my corrections were about 180deg out of
phase with what they should have been.
And then my time was up.
Wow. Quite a buzz.
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Was this a little R22?
They made me slightly queezy and put me off.
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