GEICO - Helo. - check ride Saturday

silver-eagle

silver-eagle

En-Route
Joined
Mar 11, 2005
Messages
4,649
Location
Massachusetts
Display Name
Display name:
~John
After about 85 hours, I got my helo check ride scheduled for 5/9. We'll be doing this in a Schweizer S300CBi. Another 3 hours of practice, a little ground school, and I should be good.
 
Last edited:
Re: GEICO - Helo check ride Saturday

silver-eagle said:
After about 85 hours, I got my helo check ride scheduled for 5/9. We'll be doing this in a Schweizer S300CBi. Another 3 hours of practice, a little ground school, and I should be good.
Click to expand...
All this while flying my new Navion; working up to my HP/complex.
 
Good on you!

I'm right behind you. I'm doing my 75 mile CC in the am. Totally surprised me that this would be required. Geico knows CC.
 
When I gave an oral exam to a helicopter applicant I would have them explain all of the aerodynamics from pick up, hover, forward flight, go around the pattern, flying final and coming back into a hover and setting down.

I would also concentrate on items such as LTE, stuck pedal, vortex ring state, ground resonance, etc.

Also be ready to discuss the H-V chart, in detail.
 
Oral exam tip: don't assume that the questions will be limited to the heli type you trained in, or will be flying for the practical test. In my case I was flying an R-22, yet much of the oral discussion focused on ground resonance (which is irrelevant for that type).
Remember that in the US your heli certificate, even if obtained on an R-22, allows you to legally fly any heli under 12,500 lbs, including turbine!
 
Random question, is there a multi engine helicopter rating?
 
N2124v said:
Random question, is there a multi engine helicopter rating?
Click to expand...

See my post above yours: in the US you are allowed to fly any helicopter up to 12,500 lbs maximum gross weight with a PPL(H). This includes turbines, multi-engines or anything else, as long as it's below that weight limit. Of course the insurer and/or owner may impose other limits, but those are not regulatory.
As a note, per SFAR 73, the R22 and R44 require some extra hours training as "endorsement" (not "rating"), due to their somewhat quirky nature.
 
Last edited:
I did a commercial add-on (Subpart K) about a year and a half ago. This is the write up I did for my check ride. Hope it helps...

This checkride was about as low key as it could get, especially because my CFI had been prepping me for an ass kicker of an oral and practical. We met up at the airport bright and early in the morning and after the formalities of checking out paperwork, IDs and logs, we got down to business.

As normal, he explained all the nuances of a checkride, including the three possible outcomes. After that was done, we started right into systems. First up was the electrical system. Not much going on there, so I told him about the alternator and battery. After verifying that I knew we could still fly, albeit without any of the warning systems, if we lost all electric, we moved on to the rotor system. Again, not much going on there: semi-rigid, underslung, low weight, low inertia and two blades. That about did it for the systems.

We moved on to talking about emergencies and talked about low G (not a good thing), blade stall (just about the worst thing), retreating blade stall (not good, but still recoverable), and dynamic rollover (not as bad as blade stall, but will still ruin your day).

That was about it for the oral. The DPE then started explaining what we would do on the flight. His big thing was safety, positive transfer of controls and letting him know when I was going to be doing stuff (like autorotations). I went out to the plane and got it preflighted while he chatted with the school owner.

I was just finishing the preflight when he showed up to the plane. I gave him a quick passenger brief (don't enter or exit unless the blades are stopped, etc) and then hopped in. We got it started and then hovered out to the taxiway. First task was a high performance takeoff. I nailed that and once we cleared the "obstacle" transitioned to a normal climb. He asked for the first landing to be a steep approach, similar to what I would encounter with a confined area landing. Got a little low during the set up, but managed to barely keep it within PTS standards. The landing to a hover was nailed.

The next takeoff was a normal takeoff and that went without a hitch. The landing was a shallow approach to a run on landing. This was by far my absolute best run on landing. I was stoked. I picked it up and did another normal takeoff.

This time the plan was to do a straight in autorotation. Autos had been giving me fits and only were acceptable in the last couple of lessons, so I was a bit nervous on this. However, let me tell you, I nailed that as well. Rotor RPM and airspeed were dead nuts on and I got within 20 feet of the spot. The only ding was that I didn't level the ship quick enough during the recovery.

Vowing to do better with the next one, I took off and climbed for a 180 autorotation. Once we were abeam the spot, I went into the auto and once again I nailed the speed and rotor RPM, however I did get about 10 knots fast during the turn, but I held my attitude and the speed came right back when I leveled off. The recovery was much better this time.

At this point I got a bit nervous because the examiner asked for the controls. However, it wasn't a bad thing. I think he just wanted some stick time because he took me over to the infield and then let me have the controls back so I could do a slope landing. It was one of my better slope landings. Same with the lift off. Then he took controls again, took us back to the pads and set it down. He said "Shut her down Captain," and went to fill out the paperwork.

As he ran off, I sucked in a BIG breath of relief. I don't think I took a breath the whole flight.

So, now I'm qualified to beat the air into submission with the best of them!!
 
Good luck! I have my checkride in a week for fixed wing.
 
Anymouse said:
I did a commercial add-on (Subpart K) about a year and a half ago. This is the write up I did for my check ride. Hope it helps...

This checkride was about as low key as it could get, especially because my CFI had been prepping me for an ass kicker of an oral and practical. We met up at the airport bright and early in the morning and after the formalities of checking out paperwork, IDs and logs, we got down to business.

As normal, he explained all the nuances of a checkride, including the three possible outcomes. After that was done, we started right into systems. First up was the electrical system. Not much going on there, so I told him about the alternator and battery. After verifying that I knew we could still fly, albeit without any of the warning systems, if we lost all electric, we moved on to the rotor system. Again, not much going on there: semi-rigid, underslung, low weight, low inertia and two blades. That about did it for the systems.

We moved on to talking about emergencies and talked about low G (not a good thing), blade stall (just about the worst thing), retreating blade stall (not good, but still recoverable), and dynamic rollover (not as bad as blade stall, but will still ruin your day).

That was about it for the oral. The DPE then started explaining what we would do on the flight. His big thing was safety, positive transfer of controls and letting him know when I was going to be doing stuff (like autorotations). I went out to the plane and got it preflighted while he chatted with the school owner.

I was just finishing the preflight when he showed up to the plane. I gave him a quick passenger brief (don't enter or exit unless the blades are stopped, etc) and then hopped in. We got it started and then hovered out to the taxiway. First task was a high performance takeoff. I nailed that and once we cleared the "obstacle" transitioned to a normal climb. He asked for the first landing to be a steep approach, similar to what I would encounter with a confined area landing. Got a little low during the set up, but managed to barely keep it within PTS standards. The landing to a hover was nailed.

The next takeoff was a normal takeoff and that went without a hitch. The landing was a shallow approach to a run on landing. This was by far my absolute best run on landing. I was stoked. I picked it up and did another normal takeoff.

This time the plan was to do a straight in autorotation. Autos had been giving me fits and only were acceptable in the last couple of lessons, so I was a bit nervous on this. However, let me tell you, I nailed that as well. Rotor RPM and airspeed were dead nuts on and I got within 20 feet of the spot. The only ding was that I didn't level the ship quick enough during the recovery.

Vowing to do better with the next one, I took off and climbed for a 180 autorotation. Once we were abeam the spot, I went into the auto and once again I nailed the speed and rotor RPM, however I did get about 10 knots fast during the turn, but I held my attitude and the speed came right back when I leveled off. The recovery was much better this time.

At this point I got a bit nervous because the examiner asked for the controls. However, it wasn't a bad thing. I think he just wanted some stick time because he took me over to the infield and then let me have the controls back so I could do a slope landing. It was one of my better slope landings. Same with the lift off. Then he took controls again, took us back to the pads and set it down. He said "Shut her down Captain," and went to fill out the paperwork.

As he ran off, I sucked in a BIG breath of relief. I don't think I took a breath the whole flight.

So, now I'm qualified to beat the air into submission with the best of them!!
Click to expand...

Nice write up. I'm looking forward to completing mine in the next few months. I have been told the DPE I will use likes to turn it into a "flight lesson" and I'm looking forward to that also. Helos are fun to learn.

I completed my cross country Sunday. It was a beautiful day to fly with a 15 knot wind. Worked on quick stops, landings, pattern work and hovers at my destinations.

What I don't get is the 3 hour dual night flight. Its summer! I'm in bed by 9 pm. :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
Geico266 said:
What I don't get is the 3 hour dual night flight. Its summer! I'm in bed by 9 pm. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Do it at 0'dark thirty in the morning. Make your CFI get up early. :D

But, yeah. I feel your pain. I was dead tired when I finished my night cross country.
 
congrats on all learning the heli rating. just got home from flying my helicycle. nothing is as much fun. keep us posted.

_NIK6224.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top