Helicopter from Fixed Wing

[MrAnderson]

I am an instrument rated private pilot and have an opportunity to get some time in a helicopter. My question is hypothetical because I don't desire a rotorcraft rating but here it is anyways...

Would it be possible to do (3 hours Total of instruction, at night, cross country, in preparation of the practical) and have that satisfy 61.109 (c) for dual instruction required? I know you would still need the solo time, but curious nonetheless.

I would imagine this is laughable from a practical standpoint, as I understand the transition is not as easy as you would think.

 

[Tarheelpilot]

No. Doesn’t work that way...

 

[retpd2001]

No

 

[RingLaserGyroSandwich]

Folks need to explain why. I think the answer is, the 20 hours of dual reference helicopter topics so they need to all be in a helicopter. You can probably double up on most of the other requirements, but the minimum hours is still 30 I believe.

edit: 20 hours total if Part 141

 

[MrAnderson]

Folks need to explain why. I think the answer is, the 20 hours of dual reference helicopter topics so they need to all be in a helicopter. You can probably double up on most of the other requirements, but the minimum hours is still 30 I believe.

edit: 20 hours total if Part 141

Thank you,

It looks like adding an additional category 61.63 (b) (1) complete the training and have the applicable aeronautical experience
would require you to complete the 20 hours of dual instruction & 10 solo although you would not be required to take an additional knowledge test. I had assumed since you didn't need to meet the aeronautical experience req for multi-engine that it would be implied the same way with a new category.

Has anybody here transitioned from rotor-airplane or vice versa? Seems that with the exception of the actual "controlling the aircraft part" there is a lot of redundancy

 

[skier]

I didn’t do the full transition, but did do about 10 hours in then after flying airplanes. Flying helicopters is fun, but it’s a challenge. Your hands and feet are constantly working to keep the thing upright.

Think of hovering like this: you get hit by a gust of wind from the right, so you input right cyclic. Now your thrust vector is angled so you start to descend, so you increase collective. Now you need to increase the power to prevent the blades from slowing down but since you’ve increased torque you also need to apply some pedal to prevent the helicopter from spinning.

It’s complicated, but the feeling when you can actually hover the darn thing yourself is awesome.

If you’re interested, I highly recommend trying it out.

 

[Tarheelpilot]

Thank you,

It looks like adding an additional category 61.63 (b) (1) complete the training and have the applicable aeronautical experience
would require you to complete the 20 hours of dual instruction & 10 solo although you would not be required to take an additional knowledge test. I had assumed since you didn't need to meet the aeronautical experience req for multi-engine that it would be implied the same way with a new category.

Has anybody here transitioned from rotor-airplane or vice versa? Seems that with the exception of the actual "controlling the aircraft part" there is a lot of redundancy

Yes. ATP airplane to commercial helicopter.

you’ll need all those hours and will not feel like you are wasting your money.

 

[smv]

It’s complicated, but the feeling when you can actually hover the darn thing yourself is awesome.

Absolutley... The most memorable and amazing four hours in my logbook were spent soloing a helicopter through the mountains around Helena, MT.

 

[Velocity173]

Thank you,

It looks like adding an additional category 61.63 (b) (1) complete the training and have the applicable aeronautical experience
would require you to complete the 20 hours of dual instruction & 10 solo although you would not be required to take an additional knowledge test. I had assumed since you didn't need to meet the aeronautical experience req for multi-engine that it would be implied the same way with a new category.

Has anybody here transitioned from rotor-airplane or vice versa? Seems that with the exception of the actual "controlling the aircraft part" there is a lot of redundancy

Well I can’t tell you the FAA hour requirements because mine was military equivalency. That’s basically taking a crash course on FARs then taking a COM written, show the DPE my grad cert and my COM rotorcraft showed up in the mail.

But, I did go from fixed wing private to rotor. Yes, there is some redundancy but there are differences in the FARs for operating practices and the aerodynamics portion is much more complicated. Really, all that depends on how in-depth your school goes into it though. I’m not sure of the academic criteria at a typical flight school but you should get a thorough indoctrination to the differences.

The biggest difference is really the handling between the two. An airplane is designed to be dynamically and statically stabile. A helicopter exhibits varying degrees of instability based on type aircraft and mode of flight. That means both hands and both feet are working most of the time. The analogy I always use is like comparing a motorcycle to a car. You’ll be busier in a helicopter vs an airplane but the type of flying you’ll do is generally more fun.