PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES

AND
CRITICAL CONDITIONS
• Because of its unique characteristics, a helicopter is capable
of many missions no other aircraft can perform. A helicopter
pilot must, however, realize the hazards involved and know
what precautions to take that may save his helicopter or even
his life.
• General precautionary rules
1. Do not perform acrobatic maneuvers.
2. Do not check magnetos in flight.
3. Use caution when adjusting mixture in flight.
4. Always taxi slowly.
5. Always check ballast prior to flying.
 6. Use caution when hovering on the leeward side of building
or obstructions.
7. Do not hover at an altitude that will place you in the shaded
area of the height-velocity chart.
8. Always hover for a moment before beginning a new flight.
9. When flying in rough, gusty air, use special care to maintain
proper RPM.
10. When practicing hovering turns, sideward flight, and
similar low airspeed maneuvers, be especially careful to maintain
proper RPM.
 11. Always clear the area overhead, ahead, to each side,
and below before entering practice autorotations.
12. Make sure any object placed in the cockpit of a
helicopter is secured to prevent fouling of the controls.
13. Except in sideward or rearward flight, always fly the
helicopter from references ahead.
Rotor RPM operating limits
limits of rotor RPM vary with each type of helicopter. In
general, the lower limit is determined primarily by the control
characteristics of the helicopter during autorotation. Since the
tail rotor is driven by the main rotor, minimum main rotor RPM
exists at which tail rotor thrust is sufficient for proper heading
control. Below this minimum main rotor RPM, full pedal
pressure will not maintain heading control under certain
conditions of flight.
• The upper limit for rotor RPM is based on both autorotative
characteristics and structural strength of the rotor system.
Structural tests plus an adequate margin for safety are
required by FAA safety standards for the certification of the
aircraft.
Extreme attitudes and overcontrolling
Design characteristics of a helicopter preclude the
possibility of safe inverted flight. Avoid all maneuvers which
would place a helicopter in danger of such an extreme
attitude.
• Avoid loading a helicopter so as to cause an extreme tail-
low attitude when taking off to a hover. Aft center of
gravity is dangerous while hovering and even more
dangerous while in flight because of limited forward
cyclic stick travel.
 • Avoid heavy loading forward of the center of gravity.
The result is a limited aft cyclic stick travel endangering
controllability.
• Avoid an extreme nose-low attitude when executing a
normal takeoff. Such an attitude may require more power
that the engine can deliver and will allow the helicopter to
settle to the ground in an unsafe landing attitude. In the
event of a forced landing, only a comparatively level
attitude can assure a safe touchdown.
• Avoid abrupt application of rearward cyclic control.
The violent backward-pitching action of the rotor disc
may cause the main rotor blades to flex downward into the
tail boom.
• Avoid large or unnecessary movements of the cyclic
control while at hover.
Such movements of the cyclic control can, under certain
conditions, cause sufficient loss of lift to make the
helicopter settle to the ground.
Flight techniques in hot weather
1. Make full use of wind and translational lift.
2. Hover as low as possible and no longer than necessary.
3. Maintain maximum allowable engine RPM.
4. Accelerate very slowly into forward flight.
5. Employ running takeoffs and landings when necessary.
6. Use caution in maximum performance takeoffs and steep approaches.
7. Avoid high rates of descent in all approaches.
Effect in altitude on instrument readings
The thinner air of higher altitudes causes the airspeed
indicator to read “too low”. True airspeed may be roughly computed
by adding to the indicated airspeed, 2 percent of the indicated
airspeed for each 1,000 feet of altitude above sea level. For example,
an indicated airspeed of 80 MPH at 5,000 feet will be a true airspeed
of approximately 88 MPH. This computation may be made more
accurately by using a computer.
Manifold pressure is reduced approximately 1 inch for each
1,000 feet of increase in altitude. If a maximum manifold pressure of
28 inches can be obtained at an elevation of 1,000 feet, only 22 inches
of manifold pressure will be available at 7,000 feet. This loss of
manifold pressure must be considered when planning flights from low
altitudes to high altitudes.