Something new

Back in April one of the birthday gifts Cathy gave me was a gift certificate
for an introductory helicopter lessen. Until recently I'd been too busy to
collect on it, but finally this week, I went and gave it a whirl. It was
very fun!

The lesson entailed half an hour in a flight simulator and half an hour in
the real thing - a Robinson R-22. I found that the controls for a
helicopter are not intuitive. It takes time to get the hang of it and even
longer for it to become second nature. That doesn't happen in an hour.

When time came to get into the real thing I realized how tiny the machine
was - just enough room for the two of us. Obese people need not apply. The
instructor performed a quick pre-flight, then started the little
horizontally opposed flat four cylinder engine and warmed it up. He lifted
us just a few feet off the ground, flew slowly along the taxi way, then
turned, accelerated and climbed out and up over the runway. The view was
spectacular. He flew us out over Clearwater and north along the Gulf shore.
It was a view of boats in the Intracoastal Waterway, marinas and people on
the beach like I've never seen before.

Returning to the airstrip, before setting down, the instructor had me try
the controls. I found them to be even more sensitive than was the
simulator. In my inexperienced hands the machine would soon develop a
rotation or bank in a way that I struggled to control. If left to me, we
surely would have crashed. I asked how many hours of flight training it
took to become certified. Fifty. Fifty hours at $280 per hour. By
comparison, racing my R6 motorcycle is a huge bargain. I enjoyed the
helicopter experience, but I'll stick with flying on my race bike.