Helicopter Flying Instructor Experiences: Collected Articles From Flight Training News 2006-2011, #4

By Helen Krasner

This is the fourth collection of articles from flying instructor Helen Krasner's popular column in the publication "Flight Training News". Written at various times over the period 2006 - 2011, this book is aimed at anyone who is interested in helicopter flying, but should be particularly useful for helicopter flight instructors or those thinking of following this career path at some point. However, Helen's informal and readable style means her articles are accessible to others, including flight students, people who have a helicopter pilot's licence and fly as a leisure activity, or just simply aviation enthusiasts.

This book consists of 13 articles, has well over 20,000 words, and includes a useful glossary. Topics covered include getting your first instructing job, conducting trial lessons, teaching emergencies, and how to deal with panicky students. it is based on Helen's personal experiences, and includes many interesting anecdotes. A good read!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Helen Krasner
• Release date: Jan 25, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301726905

Helen Krasner

Helen Krasner worked as a helicopter instructor for several years, instructing for various flying schools on Robinson R22s and R44s. She has also flown a large number of other helicopter types, held a private pilot's licence for aeroplanes, and has had a go at flying microlights, gliders, and balloons. Helen has been writing professionally for many years and contributes regularly to a number of aviation publications. She was nominated for an Aerospace Journalist of the Year award in 2004, for an article about flying helicopters in Russia. She has also had several books published, both print and ebooks, mainly – though not exclusively – on aviation related topics. She is also a former Newsletter Editor for the BWPA (British Women Pilots' Association). You can find out more about Helen, including details of all of her books, on her website, helenkrasner.com.com.

Book preview

Helicopter Flying Instructor Experiences

(Collected Articles From Flight Training News, 2006-2011, Vol IV)

By Helen Krasner

Published by Helen Krasner at Smashwords

Copyright Helen Krasner 2011

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

Preface

In 2006 Helen Krasner started writing a regular column in the monthly publication Flight Training News. She contributed informative but lighthearted articles on all aspects of flying, for the most part drawing on her own experience, and almost invariably peppered with useful anecdotes from her own extensive flying. To date she has written over 50 of these articles, and various people have commented on how useful they have been, and also remarked that they would make an excellent book. Hence the idea of putting them together in book form.

This book is the fourth and probably the final volume of Helen’s proposed series on flying different aircraft types. The first looked at learning to fly aeroplanes and helicopters, and was published in April 2011. The second was concerned with flying light aircraft after obtaining the PPL, and came out in September 2011. The third was specifically about flying helicopters. All of them, including this final volume, are taken primarily from Helen’s column in Flight Training News, and were originally published between 2006 and 2011.

This fourth book tells about Helen’s experiences as a helicopter flight instructor. The first article, Becoming a Helicopter Instructor, is also to be found in Book 3, but it obviously belongs here as well. It is followed by articles on deciding what type of aircraft you would like to instruct on, and some hints on how to get that elusive first instructing job. Later articles give hints and tips on different aspects of an instructor’s career – Helicopter Trial Lessons, Student Briefings, Students’ Specific Problems, and Students Who Try to Kill You. Then there are some articles on teaching specific topics – Teaching Helicopter Emergencies, and Teaching Airmanship. Helen finishes with a plea for more honesty in one’s dealings with others – I’m Not God, Just a Flying Instructor.

This book will obviously be of interest to instructors and those planning to follow this career path. However, there is much in here of more general interest too. Above all, it is entertaining and instructive to anyone who flies, particularly (though not exclusively) if they fly helicopters. In fact, Helen’s honest and readable style tends to be popular even with non-flyers.

Helen has been flying for many years, and holds a Commercial Helicopter Pilot's Licence and Instructor's Rating.  She also has a Private Pilot’s Licence for Aeroplanes, and well over 1000 hours flying time in total.  Until recently she worked as a freelance helicopter instructor, flying mainly R22s and R44s.

Helen writes about helicopters and other aviation-related subjects for a number of publications and websites, and she is also the Newsletter Editor for the BWPA (British Women Pilots’ Association). She nominated for one of the Aerospace Journalist of the Year Awards in 2004, for an article about Flying Helicopters in Russia. She has published two books about helicopter flying apart from her Kindle ebooks – The Helicopter Pilot’s Companion (Crowood Press 2008), and Flying Helicopters: A Companion to the PPL(H) (Crowood Press 2011). Helen has also written and published a book about a five thousand mile walk around Britain which she undertook some years ago (Midges, Maps, and Muesli). Details of all of these can be found on Helen’s website www.must-fly.com.

If you enjoy this book, look out for the others, and feel free to contact Helen at [e-mail].

Contents

Chapter One: Becoming a Helicopter Instructor

Chapter Two: Fixed-Wing, Helicopter, or Microlight Instructor?

Chapter Three: Leave No Stone Unturned (Getting Your First Instructing Job)

Chapter Four: Helicopter Trial Lessons

Chapter Five: Student Briefings

Chapter Six: Different Instructing Styles

Chapter Seven: Students’ Specific Problems

Chapter Eight: Dealing With Panicky Students

Chapter Nine: Students Who Try to Kill You

Chapter Ten: Teaching Helicopter Emergencies

Chapter Eleven: Teaching Airmanship

Chapter Twelve: Instructors and the Recession

Chapter Thirteen: I’m Not God, Just a Flying Instructor

Glossary

Chapter One: Becoming a Helicopter Instructor

Click to Return to Table of Contents

Wow, you must have the best job in the world, said one of my neighbours recently, when I told him what I do for a living. Yes, I have to agree that it’s pretty good. I get paid to fly helicopters, these wonderful little machines that other people only dream about. Or they may spend large amounts of money in order to have the same experience that instructors appear to get for free. I was one of the latter for quite a while. Then it occurred to me that maybe, instead of spending lots of dosh on flying for fun, I could spend the same amount, pass a few exams, and make a career out of it. Although I undertook all this relatively late in life, there is no age limit for instructing, unlike many commercial helicopter roles, which cannot be carried on after the age of 60 (though there are indications that this may change in due course). If you can pass a Class 1 medical examination, then you can carry on instructing – into your seventies and eighties if you really want to. I wasn’t the first person to think this way, and I’m sure I won’t be the last.

Talking of Class 1 medicals, if you decide to follow this path, then it would be sensible to make sure that you can pass this examination before you make any further plans. The initial medical has to be done by a CAA Aviation Medical Examiner (AME) at Gatwick, although renewals can be done by an AME closer to your home if you prefer. It doesn’t require that you be super-fit, and imperfect eyesight, controlled high blood pressure, or other common conditions are unlikely to prevent you passing it. But it would be a shame to make detailed plans and spend a lot of money and then find out that you can’t ever be a helicopter instructor for some obscure medical reason

Right, so you’ve got the medical sorted. Now you need to get a Commercial Pilot’s Licence or CPL(H), before you can become an instructor. There are basically two ways of doing this. You can follow the ‘integrated’ route, which means you attend a full-time course, starting from scratch. However, not many people can spare the amount of money and time needed for