The introductory lesson, which counts towards the full 45 hour PPL(H) course, consists of either a 25 or 40 minute flight from Headcorn Aerodrome. We normally head north towards the Leeds Castle area; this provides a magnificent spectacle from the air.

Before the flight there is a 10-15 minute pre-flight brief, if the weather is nice enough this normally takes place by the helicopter before we start up. The brief explains, in simple terms, how the machine works, how the controls work, what they actually do and also how the engine supplies power to the rotor blades. Then when the instructor hands over the dual controls to the student he/she will have some idea as to what is going to happen when he/she moves them.

The flight starts with a climb away from the airfield and once the aircraft has reached a suitable altitude the instructor will hand over the cyclic (see below) to the student and he/she will see how they fare at holding it straight and level. This is not as easy as it sounds and is dependant on what is called attitude flying. Attitude flying is the ability to hold the aircraft at a certain attitude with respect to the horizon which will be seen to dissect a line through the aircraft's windscreen. The idea being that if the horizon line starts dropping down the screen it shows that the aircraft is climbing and if it were to start moving up the screen it would show that the aircraft was descending. This, and what appears below, is just a 'taster' to what is covered in the pre-flight brief but it may help if you read these notes before you make your First Introductory Lesson.

The main controls on the helicopter are explained rather more fully in the brief, however they are as follows:-

  1. The Collective Lever and twist grip Throttle
    The collective applies pitch onto the blades collectively i.e. together at the same time and by the same amount. It controls the HEIGHT of the helicopter. The twist grip throttle controls the RPM which the rotors revolve at. Once adjusted correctly by your instructor it should not need to be touched throughout the flight.
  2. The Cyclic Stick
    The Cylcic Stick controls the pitch which is set on the blades cyclicly. Consider a cycle as one complete revolution of the blades. The cyclic controls the pitch of the blades at different amounts depending upon where about the blade is in its cycle. If, for example, you wanted to take the helicopter out of a steady hover into forward flight you would move the cyclic very slightly and gently forward which would cause the rotor disc (the revolving blades look like a disc) to tilt forward and start forward flight etc. etc. (the way this actually works will be shown to you on your introductory lesson). The cyclic therefore controls ATTITUDE and hence also SPEED.
  3. The Pedals
    The pedals, or more correctly the anti-torque pedals, control the direction the helicopter faces whilst in a hover and in forward flight holds the machine in balance so that it does not go along in a crab like fashion! The power produced by the engine 'wants' to turn the fuselage in an opposite way to the rotor blades and the tail rotor is placed where it is to stop this. The pedals control the amount of pitch (collective) set on the tail rotor blades. Please don't worry if you find all this rather confusing; we cover it further on your pre-flight briefing. It also helps to have the helicopter to hand whilst this briefing takes place so that we can manipulate each control in turn and see what it does! At the end of the flight, for about the last 3 or 4 minutes we will introduce the student to the art of hovering. This, unless you are truly a natural, (very rare) you won't be able to do but I'm sure you'll enjoy trying it out.

R22 Introductory Lessons (prices from July 2008, the first rise since March)

  • 25-30 minute Introductory Lesson at £169.00
  • 45 minute Introductory Lesson at £224.00
  • 60 minute Lesson at £280.00

R44 Introductory Lessons

  • 25-30 minute Introductory Lesson at £265.00
  • 40-45 minute Introductory Lesson at £330.00
  • 60 minute Lesson at £424.00

(Please note that everyone flying on R44 flights must attend the briefing and the flight will be conducted as a lesson with the front seat passenger taking the controls for some of the phases of the flight. If you would prefer a simple pleasure flight without any tutition taking place please see our Chartering page)

            (All above prices include VAT)

We also have an excellent booklet that lets the recipient
of the voucher know what to expect and how a helicopter
works.
It is available as an add-on option to all the above
introductory lessons for an extra £5.99. Although we send
out quite extensive notes with our Introductory Lesson
Vouchers it does not compare with this booklet.
For the small amount of extra money it really does
round off the gift!

 
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