Flew a Robinson R44 today

Man, what a blast! Hovering definitely takes practice, but I did pretty well for my first time, if I may say so. The controls are incredibly sensitive...but it's a lot of challenging fun.

So now I want to fly choppers, too. This aviation thing is getting to be one deeeeeep rabbit hole.

 

I have some hours logged in the R22. Definitely fun to learn.

 

If I go ahead with this, I'll be in the R22. Far more practical from a training standpoint, but that R44 is sweet! Smells like an exotic car inside, and the air condition really cranks!

 

A Buddy of mine sold off his planes after doing his helicopter training etc.

And bought himself a R44. The original owner was a road builder based in Kentucky that used the machine to check his jobsites. For Jim, its mere fun.

My son will be 3 in July. Hes done more in 3 years than most have done in a lifetime!!

This helicopter is now based in Ontario, Canada.

Chris
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When Frank designed the R22, he thought of it more as "flying Porsche" (his words), something that was very responsive and fun to fly. He never envisioned it in the role it took on, to be a primary helicopter trainer. He said, that if he had planned on it being used as a trainer he wouldn't have made it fly like it did, he would have slowed down the response and made it more forgiving and a lot easier for fly for a novice.

 

While those characteristics haven't helped the accident rate, they do actually make it an excellent trainer, as it makes every other helicopter seem easy!

The R44 is a nice machine. I'd love to have one, except the only things I would end up doing with it are flying from airport to airport, which seems sort of silly for a helicopter.

 

Rotorcraft are much more sensative than fixed wing. A hover is done with 1/8" of movement and take off in a Bell 206 B-3 by moving about 3/4 of inch from there.

Glad you had fun and enjoyed it. I love rotorcraft... so much more fun/demanding than fixed wing.

 

Helicopters look like a lot of fun but I think I'll stick with my Cessna.

BTW, what is the V[size=-2]BG[/size] (best power-off glide speed) for a R44 helicopter? (j/k )

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I never did autorotations in the R44, but the R22 could glide (autorotate) okay. I don't remember what the speeds were, however.

 

An internet search says the R44 best glide speed is 90 mph and it has a 4.7-to-1 glide ratio.
The glide ratio is better than I would have thought, since a Cessna 172 is 9-to-1.

Plus, at the end of the power-off descent, the short-field landing roll is a lot shorter in a R44 than in the 172.

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Wow...my life is so much different from when I started this thread! In a very good way. Amazing what nearly 2 years can do.

Haven't been able to get any more chopper time in, though. Stupid priorities

 

The R44 actually does a very nice auto. I trained in a Schewizer 300 and that thing fall like a rock during an auto compared to the R44.

 

I got my PPL 4 years ago and just got my CPL. I did my training on the R22 but have 50+ hours on 44s as well and I can say that the 44 is a dream to fly compared to a 22. Not as nimble, but faster, more capable and a breeze to autorotate.