Below is the 2nd in what will hopefully be a series of write-ups on interesting helicopter-related experiences that I've had... the first can be found in the archives.----On 16 October 2002, I flew from Salinas, CA to Miramar Naval Air Station in San Diego - in a helicopter! I thought I'd give you a Pilot Report on the experience.A Salinas-based company, [link:www.verticare.com|Verticare], runs a helicopter "act" called [link:www.showcopters.com|Showcopters] that tours the airshow circuit. Their chief CFI, Chris Gularte, came up with the great idea of letting people like me tag along and log time in either the [link:www.robinsonheli.com/Raven.htm|Robinson R44] or R22 - for the low, low price of $100 per hour (believe me, that's a bargain for the R44). One such opportunity was travelling to the Miramar Air Show, and I decided to take advantage of this chance to log some '44 time for about 1/4 or less what it would normally cost - and also to hang out "behind the scenes" of one of the largest airshows in the world. Another fellow named Paul also tagged along, in one of the two R22s that make up the rest of the Showcopters act.With overnight bag and laptop in hand, I boarded the R44 with the Verticare owner/pilot [link:www.showcopter.com/jtc.htm|Jim Cheatham] on Wednesday at about noon. Within minutes I made my one serious error of the entire flight - forgetting to release the "cyclic friction" while attempting to lift off. When the aircraft is parked, the cyclic friction keeps the "joystick"/rotor system from moving around, but as you might expect it makes the controls verrrrry hard to move...which is a bad thing when you're hovering close to the ground. Don't ever do that. My excuse is that I hadn't flown a helo in about three months, but I shouldda caught it on the checklist... Fortunately I didn't bend anything except my ego.After I released the friction, we lifted off and headed for Camarillo, our one fuel stop of the trip, as a group of [link:www.showcopter.com/aircraft.htm]three helicopters] (the R44 and two R22s). The cloud ceiling was fairly low, so as we headed into the mountains we "threaded the needle" through some valleys and such to stay clear of the clouds. This made for a pretty awesome ride, but also one where I had to remain on an extremely diligent lookout for wires (power wires, phone wires, Farmer Bob's wires, whatever) that might be crossing from one side of a valley to the next. This part of Central California is pretty desolate, so the risk wasn't high, but... we kept a sharp eye out nonetheless.After crossing over/through the mountains, we descended and headed into Camarillo. After refueling, we continued south and eventually, just north of Los Angeles, started following the coast. As we neared LAX, we were cleared through the "Class B" (B stands for Busy 8^) ) airspace - at 150' or less, over the ocean! This was way lower than I'm used to flying at cruise speed, but it was a lot of fun, especially as a "flight of three." We flew quite a ways more down the coast; during this segment, I asked Jim about how the formation flying is done - a key part of the Showcopters performance. He gave me a demo, flying in relatively close formation with one of the R22s, and told me the things he was looking for and doing to stay in safe formation. For instance, he will use two physical features of the aircraft he's flying in formation with (the two landing skids, etc.), attempting to keep those featues visually aligned. After the demo, I spent some time trying to fly a (much looser) formation with the R22 - I found it to be very difficult to do, and I need... uh... a little work before they call on me to fly Showcopter #4.Soon, it was time to head inland, to Miramar NAS. This was another new experience for me- landing at a military airbase. At all other times of the year, landing a civilian aircraft here will get you an armed escort to a military debriefing and who knows what else. But, for the airshow, the place was abuzz with civilian aircraft of all types - stunt planes, biplanes, personal jet fighters (e.g. a British Hawker Hunter and the Red Bull MiG-17), Piper Cubs, etc. And now, three Robinson helicopters! We were directed to park right next to two Marine Harrier "jump jets," which were parked next to an F-16, which was parked... you get the idea. A wide variety of military aircraft were in the airshow, as well, but some of those pilots were just as much visitors to Miramar as we were (although their hairdos blended better than ours did).That afternoon marked the end of my flying for the duration of the show, with 4.3 hours logged. After landing, I burned up some digital film, taking photos of anything with wings, until I managed to get flagged down by a Security Guy Wearing A Beret for taking pictures of the Stealth Fighter... It was hangared in the same building as the Copters were parked, and I didn't think it was a problem. Ooops. (He didn't stomp my camera to bits as might've been expected, though, and even let me keep the photos I'd taken.)This was the beginning of my stay at Miramar. The word "surreal" kept coming to mind - being "on base" at an operational military facility was interesting but also a little uncomfortable for some reason. I think this was due to the fact that I was just "tagging along" with the team - almost everyone else was there for a reason. I either helped the team out where possible, or stayed out of the way - but always attempted to look like Essential Personnel.The team was provided quarters at The Miramar Inn, which is an on-base motel for visiting folks. I got to stay for free for the first two nights, as some of the team's staff didn't arrive until Friday. All in all, quite a nice place to stay, and with a complimentary Continental breakfast (sort of - it was really donuts and Nestle's Artificial Lattes - but better than nothing)..Thursday was Press Day, where the local TV/radio/newspaper folks as well as some of the show sponsors got to mingle with the performers and get joyrides in the civilian aircraft. The Showcopters trio was a very popular request, and I assisted in herding the pax into and out of the helicopters. This made it look like I was actually there to do more than just consume the provided orange juice and (yet more) donuts 8^) . I even helped herd in some lucky Marines! I can't recall seeing three more solemn and serious 20-year old guys - it seemed they were concerned about facial crackage if they let slip so much as a small smile or grin. But - they were Marines and I suppose that's serious business.Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were show days - the team flew once on Friday and Sunday, and were supposed to fly three times on Saturday - once in the morning and twice during the nighttime show. I spent part of Friday at the show, mostly looking at the static exhibits and "faire booths," and then the rest of the day in my company's San Diego office to catch up on some work stuff.There were a large number of civilian and military performers - both individual and teams. Some of the participants included: Sean Tucker, Patty Wagstaff, Eddie Andreini, the Red Baron Pizza Team, several military fighters (F/A-18, F-16, F-14, AV-8, F-117 Stealth) and helicopters (AH-1, CH-53), and as the show finale, the Blue Angels.One of the performer perks, which I was able to take advantage of, was having access to a "chalet," which is normally one of the more expensive seats for the show. Complimentary food was served, and you could sit literally just off of a taxiway (behind a low fence) and really have a great seat for the performances. "Best Seat in the House," as they say... The BBQ chicken wasn't bad either.Saturday, I once again hung out at the show, but this time on the performer flight line side of things. The Showcopter folks were busy flying their performance during the morning and early evening, as well as configuring what they call their "fire horse" rig - this is a contraption built up to look like an airplane, and loaded to the gills with all kinds of fireworks. The plan was to carry this thing under one of the helicopters on a 100' line, after dark, and remotely activate the pyro bits as the "flight of two" flew slowly past the crowd. However, one of the local FAA guys apparently had a 2x4 stuck in some personal and private place of his anatomy, and he denied the team the ability to do an "external load" operation, which was of course key to the after-dark fireworks event - for a purely administrative reason. So, the team saw probably 24 person-hours of work go unrewarded.Sunday was a short day for the show - most of the performers elected to leave after their aerial routines, since the Powers That Be wouldn't let them depart the next day until after noon. So the team checked out of the Miramar Inn and waited for the Showcopters' final performance to finish. We were assigned a 12:15pm departure, and so, with a pretty full and heavy ship (Jim, his daughter, me, full fuel, and some baggage), we lifted off into a low hover and departed from a taxiway, in trail behind some of the other performers.On the return trip, we pretty much flew a reversal of our earlier flight down to Sandy Eggo, with the coastal portion and then the mountains again. However, this trip included an overflight of one of a "clothing optional" beach, and thus was saw (thankfully from a distance) a jogger working on his bun tan. (Not sure why - it was overcast all day 8^) .)The flying that day was the most enjoyable part of the whole experience for me - the weather was a bit better (still no Mr. Sun to be seen, but with significantly higher ceilings once we headed inland for the mountains), and of course I had over four recent hours piloting the R44 now, so I was a little more comfortable flying it. We dropped Jim's daughter off in her backyard just south of Salinas - landing on a lima bean field - and then headed for SNS. The trip clocked in at 4.6 hours, for a total of 8.9 hours in the Showcopters "Sky Eye" R44 recorded for history in my logbook.At the end, I was glad to be able to go home to my family, but at the same time I was sorry it was over. Who knows when I'll get another chance like this - hopefully next year, to another air show! ------------Appendix: Pilot Notes on the R44SpecsHere are some approximate numbers on the R44, to give you an idea of its capabilities:- seats four (Robinson calls it a "2 2", and the rear seats are indeed tight for a tall person)- carry capacity, including fuel: slightly under 1000lbs- max cruise speed: 113kts (130mph)- carries about 48 gallons of fuel (main and aux tanks)- estimated fuel burn : 13 gal/hr- no-reserve range: 400 miles- approximate cost (Raven with standard equipment): $307,000- *my* estimated, loaded, per-hour operating cost: $225/hour or less (Robinson says $124.96, but aircraft manufacturers always lie on this!)Hydraulics vs. Trim[/iPrior to this trip, I had about three hours total in the R44, but those were in the "Raven" version - the Showcopter ship is an older "Astro" model. One of the most significant differences is that the Raven has the luxury of hydraulically boosted cyclic and collective controls, and I have to admit that I was a little disappointed when I found out that I would be doing this trip in one without hydraulics. However, I was pleasantly surprised at the Astro's control characteristics.One of the reasons why Robinson went to the hydraulic system was to eliminate "stick shake", where the cyclic transmits some main rotor system vibration to the pilot's hand. The Astro actually has a (lead?) weight on the cyclic t-bar to minimize the shake, and when I read that in a magazine flight review I thought, "what a kludgey way to solve a problem". However, the weight is smaller than I'd envisioned (about the size of a fist), and the shake is not as bad as I'd feared. I think I gripped the cyclic a little too firmly on the trip down, and my hand did get fatigued after over four hours of flying, but on the return trip I was more relaxed and it wasn't a problem at all. (The older ships can be upgraded to hydraulics, but at $50K I don't see it as a worthwhile investment.)I would also call the Astro a little easier to fly than the Raven, at least at first. The Raven's hydraulics are great, and result in "zero force" cyclic and low force collective pressures, but on the other hand they provide no "feedback" to the pilot as a result. My first attempts at hovering the Raven were "interesting", until I got the cyclic input/response loop figured out. The Astro seemd a little easier to hover at my first attempt.Note that the Astro has electric trim for both the lateral and longitudinal axes, while the Raven doesn't have any trim at all (and it doesn't need it).---

Thanks for sharing..... that was pretty cool reading.And I never even knew there were any copters that flew formation for shows and stuff. Very informative.-Lindy :-wave

Nice report!Lindy, over here in the UK, the Army has a display team (the name escapes me at the moment) consisting of 4 Gazelles and 1 Lynx. Very impressive acrobatics, and you ain't seen nothing 'till you've seen the Lynx do a back-flip!