AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2021 - 20

LETTERS
I applaud AOPA's efforts to stay creative,
innovative, and flexible. Best wishes for
continued success and growth.
P.S: If you really want to ruffle some
feathers, tell our members that it's time to look
at refreshing the AOPA logo.
Tucker Axum / AOPA 4076685
Palm Springs, California
Rotorhead
Loved Ian J. Twombly's article in the August
AOPA Pilot ( " Rotorhead " ). I fell in love with
flying helos after many years of professional
and general aviation fixed-wing flying.
Everything Twombly said is spot on, and
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Rotorhead
An argument for learning to fl y helicopters
BY IAN J. TWOMBLY
GET A SEAPL ANE RATING, add a multiengine
rating, try a glide r. There are dozens
of ways to experience aviation anew, but
one stands above as the ultimate combination
of fun and utility. This is an argument
for learning to fl y helicopters.
Aviation is a series of intermeshing layers,
each diff erent. Being in one community
gives you access to one layer, and each time
you learn something new, a diff erent layer
is peeled away and another community
revealed. Sometimes these communities
come together, like at an airport on a busy
weekend, or at a fl y-in, but often they exist
independently of each other. Often members
of one community know nothing of the
others. Take instrument fl ying as an example.
When you fi rst learned to fl y there was
an entire system of routes, airspace, and
procedures you probably didn't even know
existed. After getting the rating you could
fl y new places in diff erent types of weather,
speak the lingo, understand the other radio
calls, and read the charts. Learning to fl y
a helicopter unwraps another layer. Yes,
you understand a new type of fl ying and
uncover a world of new aircraft. But you'll
also learn things that make you a better
fi xed-wing pilot.
Some are small, like how far away to
park your airplane from that Bell 505 on
the ramp, and some are more signifi cant,
like where to look for them when entering
the pattern. Perhaps more important
than a transfer of skills to airplane fl ying
are the ways learning to fl y a helicopter can
expand your view of aviation:
It opens a new community.
It's no secret that many airplane pilots
think helicopter pilots are nuts, and many
helicopter pilots think airplane pilots are
prima donnas. Harsh, yes, but also a prevailing
attitude. The two groups often
don't mix, something we should all work
to change. We should want our blue and
red communities to turn purple. Learning
to fl y helicopters will enlighten you to an
entirely new community of pilots who
think diff erently, operate diff erently, and
experience aviation diff erently.
It will make you rethink risk
management.
In our aviation education we first sit in
a classroom and are told what is risky,
then learn to avoid risk in the airplane,
and fi nally begin to incorporate our own
values as we gain experience. Helicopter
pilots take the same courses, hear the
same stories, and read the same accident
reports, but draw wildly different conclusions.
For many students, their first
autorotation-a highly complex maneuver
that takes intense concentration and
leaves little margin for error-is initiated
lower than 500 feet above the ground.
The power rolls off and the student must
respond immediately, all while the ground
is rushing up in a way they would never
30,532
The number of pilots who held a
rotorcraft certifi cate in 2020.
experience in an airplane. It's a community
of pilots who choose to fl y low under a
cloud deck, rather than get an instrument
clearance (in many cases it's not legal to
do so), who are generally more comfortable
fl ying at 500 feet than 5,000 feet, and
who count fuel reserves in minutes, rather
than hours. That's not to say it's all wrong.
But it will make you aware of a diff erent
operating philosophy, and it will cause you
to question your own decisions and risk
management practices.
It will slow down your airplane.
You remember the fi rst time you landed an
airplane and how everything was a blur?
How you slowly mastered landings while
the whole process became clearer, details
presented themselves, and time almost
seemed to slow down? Flying a helicopter,
especially a hypersensitive Robinson, will
reset your internal clock and slow down
your airplane even more. Ask helicopter
pilots their impression of transitioning
to fi xed wing and most will tell you that
everything is really slow. Practicing engine
failures, stalls, and other maneuvers that
may seem hurried, frantic, or stressful will
transform into controlled, methodical
AOPA PILOT / August 2021
81
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Hangar Talk /
No one rises to a challenge quite like AOPA videographer Paul Harrop.
" We received an email from the owner of the property where we would
be photographing and filming our story on metal-detecting, " said
Senior Features Editor Julie Summers Walker. " He said it was black fly
season so to be prepared. " Harrop fashioned himself a fly-catcher hat
from materials purchased at a hobby store, hoping the flies would aim
high for his artificial flowers. " We all laughed, but Paul was unabashed, "
Walker said. Did the black flies leave him alone? Yes, for the most part,
but more judicious application of sunscreen would have prevented
the red neck this Oklahoma boy ended up with. Read our AOPA Media
staff's adventures in " The Thrill of the Find, " which begins on p. 64.
helicopter flying is more fun than most any
other flying I have ever done. I have noticed
that in the GA community, helos don't get a lot
of attention.
In his " What It Takes " sidebar, I wish he
had mentioned using a Part 141 school as an
alternative to the private pilot add-on. This is
the route I took. The hours required are less
than Part 61, and I found the required phase
checks to be invaluable for learning.
The big downside of course is the cost of
flying helos, which is why I built my own-a
Mosquito.
Dick Campbell / AOPA 10281174
Hewitt, Texas
Pilots
I enjoyed reading Ian J. Twombly's profile of
remarkable Daniel Sazhin ( " Pilots, " August
2021 AOPA Pilot). I have gotten to know him
over the past few years and the profile is an
accurate characterization. I have a hunch he'll
appear again in a future AOPA Pilot.
Edward Hindman / AOPA 2125502
Wurtsboro, New York
20
AOPA PILOT / October 2021
Errata
" For the Record: Digging Up the Past "
(September 2021 AOPA Pilot) incorrectly
identified the form used to request a copy of a
medical certification file. It is 8065-2.
" Savvy Maintenance: Misfueled! " (July
2021 AOPA Pilot) stated that Jet A and the
100LL will separate like oil and water if the
contaminated fuel is allowed to sit for hours.
Oil and water don't mix because of the polarity
of the bonds, not a difference in weight. Jet fuel
and avgas will mix.
AOPA Pilot regrets the errors.
We welcome your comments! Send letters
to Editor, AOPA Pilot, 421 Aviation Way,
Frederick, Maryland 21701 or pilot@aopa.org.
Letters may be edited for length and style.
Nice job on the
helicopter article
in the August issue.
Just right.
Ken Pyatt / AOPA 638262
Dallas, Texas
CHRIS ROSE

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2021

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