Blog Archives

Helicopter Night Rating Course

(Updated on 30th August 2020) Night Rating After you obtain your Private Pilot’s License PPL(H), you may want to further your skills and train for a night rating. You will not be allowed to fly at night without having completed a night rating course. EASA Part-FCL tells us what we need to do. Before starting […]

Vortex Ring – Settling With Power

(Reviewed on 18th April 2021) What is Vortex Ring – Settling With Power? Vortex ring is commonly called settling with power in the USA. Settling with power is a better descriptive name but vortex ring is technically more correct. When the helicopter is descending into its own induced flow, there is a risk of vortex […]

Tail Rotor Failure

(Updated on 14th February 2021) Different Types of Tail Rotor Failure While training for an EASA PPL(H) licence, you will be told about tail rotor failures. There is no flight exercise for tail rotor failures under the EASA system however I like to demonstrate the different types of tail rotor failure that can occur during […]

How to Determine Wind Direction in-flight

(Reviewed on 3rd September 2020) Wind Direction Student pilots can sometimes become bewildered and confused about how to work out where the wind is coming from when approaching to land at an uncontrolled area. Quite often they can feel the helicopter drifting and buffeting due to the wind but the direction is not obvious. Knowing […]