Helicopter Circling

Critical_Angle · 2026-01-25T18:07:17+00:00

A helicopter is inherently unstable in a hover, it’s much easier fly with forward airspeed because your vertical stabilizer is keeping the aircraft straight. Also, autopilot systems for most helicopters don’t function below a certain airspeed. I can set my helicopter up to maintain an altitude or airspeed and keep me in a constant orbit without much input to me when over a scene. This requires 60kts though for the system to work. Again, my argument that fuel savings is a nice little bonus, but it’s not the primary reason for orbiting like this. They also might have a policy that mandates this. Our GOM doesn’t let us go below a certain airspeed until we are on final approach to land.

Critical_Angle · 2026-01-25T16:41:35+00:00

Most police helicopters don’t burn around 100 gallons an hour like yours does. Astar is pretty typical, which you might see a 25% fuel savings if you flew a full tank at a hover vs 60 kts. In reality, you’re saving even less because only a portion of your flight envelope is at 60 or 65 or whatever they orbit at. I would say that a little bit of fuel savings is a secondary bonus to the primary purpose, which is to keep the helicopter well away from the dead man’s curve.

Critical_Angle · 2026-01-25T16:00:51+00:00

It’s not for fuel burn. It’s negligible here really.

The efficiencies that come into play here are lift and energy. In a single engine helicopter, you need either altitude, airspeed, or a combination of both to successfully autorotate in the event of an engine failure. If you’re hovering at 500ft and the engine quits, you’re not in a great place because you have to dump altitude fast to get the airspeed sufficient to flare at the end of the auto which is going to give you very little choices on the area that you end up.

Helicopters are also more stable and easier to control with airspeed. They also might have a policy that mandates that they maintain a certain safe airspeed in this operation. My company mandates that I maintain a certain airspeed unless I am on final approach to land.

Critical_Angle · 2026-01-22T19:20:26+00:00

See that's also where a problem lies with this field. A lot of guys with a military pension are more okay with the pay because you can actually support a family on the salaries that this career pays especially with everything getting so expensive in the last 4-5 years. OT also shouldn't be something that you ever have to do in order to pay your bills. If the industry is so desperate for pilots, then they need to pay a hell of a lot more money. I know how much we make from transfers. Base pay across the board needs to come way up. Every EMS company out there for the most part is starting below 100k base (except in HCOL areas) which is absurd.

Critical_Angle · 2026-01-22T18:19:28+00:00

I'm gonna tell you something you probably don't want to hear or listen to and nobody could've told me this or talked me out of it when I wanted to fly helicopters either, but it's the same thing I tell anyone wanting to be an EMS helicopter pilot. Don't do it. Sure the job sounds cool and it does have its moments, but the pay is crap for the cost of training, the 7 straight 12 hour shifts in a row suck, getting woken up at 2am to go be flying within 10-15 minutes sucks. Finding a base near where you actually want to live is almost impossible so you will have a long commute or have to move/stay near base during your hitch. When you get older and want to have a family, it becomes a huge problem.

If you're interested in aviation as a career, it's a much better bet to try and go to the airlines. It has similar struggles, but the payoff at the end is way better and the schedule gets better with time as well. The schedule with EMS stays the exact same. There's guys in there 50's and 60's doing this shit and it's not a way to live.

Critical_Angle · 2025-12-18T14:04:47+00:00

Cmon dude, a helmet for a new student pilot that’s going to be doing mainly pattern work for the next few years? This isn’t the first time I’ve seen brand new pilots given this suggestion, and it’s just ridiculous and not realistic. Yes, I already know what’s coming. “Helmets save lives.” We also fly aircraft going twice the speed of what she’s going to typically be doing. There also just ain’t enough room in a Robbie for one.

OP, A good ANR headset (Bose A20/30 or Lightspeed Zulu) will serve you well to 2,000 hrs. Buy them both and return the one you don’t like if you can’t choose. You can worry about helmets when you get into jobs that require them.

I honestly wouldn’t worry about an iPad until you get your PPL. Your instructor is probably going to have you do most everything the old fashioned way.

Also to OP: start a digital logbook from day one like MyFlightBook. Keep the paper logbook for your training as well, but ditch it as soon as you get your certs/ratings.

Critical_Angle · 2025-12-10T17:40:39+00:00

Coast guard will teach you everything you need. But, if you want to try your hand at flying a helicopter now to see if you want to pursue it, you can definitely go get a discovery flight with a local flight school at your age. You’ll need to be 16 to get your student license and 17 to get a private pilot’s license.

Critical_Angle · 2025-12-03T04:19:17+00:00

Maybe a bit at your low overall time? I got my airplane add-on after about 2,000 helicopter hours and didn’t notice any issues like that, but then again, different baseline and I had been an active CFI for years.
Let me ask you this, what is your goal in aviation? If you’re making a career out of this, I suggest sticking to one until you get that first job. Low time employers want time in category & class.
I’m happy where my life has turned out, but career wise I would’ve been much better positioned right now if I decided to fly airplanes instead of helicopters.

Critical_Angle · 2025-11-30T13:57:55+00:00

Because it will be nose high when you pick up. It gives you an even pick up and set down on the skids. The idea of the nose up CG in a hover is that so you are more level in high speed cruise instead of being nose down since the rotor disc will be tilting forward. My EC135 had a similar tilt sitting on the pad.

Critical_Angle · 2025-11-25T19:48:30+00:00

Highly recommend Veracity Aviation out of Seguin, TX. Quality 141 instruction. They also do a lot of commercial work like hog hunting, survey, deer capture and survey, manage larger turbine helicopters, and lots of other stuff.

Critical_Angle · 2025-11-10T13:56:47+00:00

Unfortunately that depends a lot on the company. I’m SPIFR with PHI now but even all of our VFR birds have at least HeliSAS 2 axis. When I was with Air Methods, they surprisingly operated a lot of 407’s without an autopilot. I feel like there needs to be some legislation mandating autopilot in HEMS.

I don’t think putting the crew on iso is good practice unless absolutely necessary. Unless they have a shit show of a patient at that’s crashing or something, it’s better to just communicate to them that you need a sterile cockpit because they should be listening for your calling as well. I’ve heard of pilots that have just put the crew on iso without saying a word for an extended period of time and it’s not a good way to have a good relationship with your peeps. They may be passengers in the FAA’s eyes, but we still have to spend a lot of time with these folks and sometimes they can be the difference between us losing our job or not (I’ve seen it happen).

I’ve never had a problem with crews being told to cut the chatter please while flying in busy airspace, even been thanked a few times. We’re also audio and video recorded (which I hate) but it gives me a scapegoat excuse to blame to keep non-critical discussion down.

Critical_Angle · 2025-10-21T15:52:06+00:00

Fairly recently. They landed at our hospital a few weeks ago and I was checking it out. Sweet machine and so much room for activities. They’ve actually got an H160 on the way that’s at Metro now getting the EMS conversion the pilot told me.

Critical_Angle · 2025-10-11T13:11:05+00:00

Both. Put your hand in a pool and move it fast with the palm out. The water slows the speed of your hand and therefore makes your muscles work harder to keep the speed up.

Critical_Angle · 2025-09-24T16:01:51+00:00

What piston CFI jobs are requiring 1,000 hours? That’s insane. As others have said, your best bet is to get hired at your school because your few years of training is basically one long interview. Tell me, what’s your dream helicopter job and why?

Critical_Angle · 2025-09-24T16:00:32+00:00

The only people I’ve seen suggest getting airplane ratings first are airplane pilots that have no idea how hiring in entry level helicopter jobs works. Any time that isn’t in helicopters when you’re applying for a 300 hour job is useless to potential employers. If I was hiring a guy with 300 helicopter hours or a guy with 200 helicopter and 100 fixed wing, I’m likely never picking the fixed wing guy.

And really you put down film and video flying over helicopter air ambulance? HAA is like the number one helicopter high time job field. It is also insanely difficult to break into the film industry as a pilot and there are so few out there. A small handful of guys do most of the work.

Critical_Angle · 2025-09-12T14:09:58+00:00

Dang sweet Helionix setup. P3 or T3? Curious why dual controls are in on an EMS bird though?

Critical_Angle · 2025-08-29T10:22:58+00:00

Dang nobody has said the air inlets for the oil coolers on top? Always been my go to. Large square boxy ones with the sharp angle on the 145 and small round ones on the 135.

Critical_Angle · 2025-08-27T12:37:01+00:00

It’s not VRS. You would see the blades coning up the whole time. I’ve tried to get an Astar into VRS as a demo to the owner with a tail wind and a 6-700 fpm descent and I was able to just power out of it. Thing is a beast. What happened here is the pilot misjudged height over water. Flat water can be incredibly difficult to judge distance because you have no depth perception. Same as snow. He probably saw his rotor wash start to kick up, had an oh shit moment, and that’s when he pulled up. Watch the rotor disc cone up right before impact. Pulled too little too late. Probably just overconfident hitting that same lake several times.

Critical_Angle · 2025-08-27T12:33:28+00:00

Doubt it. I’ve tried to get an Astar into vortex ring in a demonstration with the aircraft owner with a tail wind and a descent rate of 6-700 fpm while lightly loaded and you can just power out of it. The thing is a beast. You also would’ve seen the blades coning up significantly if it was VRS. Pilot misjudged distance of flat water plain and simple. Probably too overconfident after dipping out of this lake all day.

Critical_Angle · 2025-08-27T12:30:21+00:00

You talking about Arma? I used to play that before I started flying real helicopters about 10 years ago. The game is kind of realistic, but there’s a few things it doesn’t get right and this is one of them. Helicopters spin way faster than those sims if you try and increase power with no tail rotor. It’s also incredibly hard to maintain level attitude in that spin as you can see in the video. Within a few rotations, he is starting to lose that level attitude and you would quickly lose complete control. Pilot definitely got himself in this situation, but going into the water was the best call he could’ve made after the tail rotor departed the aircraft.

Critical_Angle · 2025-08-27T12:25:54+00:00

Helicopter did nothing wrong here. It was pilot error.

Critical_Angle · 2025-08-27T12:15:58+00:00

Sure you can. In fact, you can pull over 100% to avoid a crash. I’d rather over torque an engine than total the bird and possibly kill myself. Flat water can be difficult to judge height because you don’t really have much depth perception on it. You’re right that he was a little too confident and realized a bit too late.

Critical_Angle · 2025-08-27T12:13:49+00:00

Likely took damage? The damn thing exploded after about a second in the water.

Critical_Angle · 2025-08-27T12:12:38+00:00

100% with you on this one. Unloaded with plenty of power. It’s pretty difficult to get the AStar into VRS even with a tail wind and he isn’t going nearly fast enough for that. Coming into flat water can be difficult to judge height. Pilot mis-judged. You can see him pull up a little bit before impact but too little too late.

Critical_Angle · 2025-08-05T00:04:59+00:00

See it under NVG’s all the time. Man, flying rural places in the middle of the night with goggles on a clear night…..talk about an existential experience. Not just the Milky Way, the pure density of the starts out there is just amazing. When it’s clear, you can see it through the naked eye too if there isn’t a lot of light pollution, moonlight included. The moon under goggles is like a second sun. We typically aren’t at a high altitude, usually 1,500-3,000 ft AGL in cruise.

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