Adventures in becoming a Helicopter Pilot Continued.

Once I'd dealt with the Medical Clearance issue, my next obstacle was overcoming my fear of flying itself. The morning of my first training flight in a TH-55A (Osage) training helicopter is a day forever burned into my brain. Your first flight in flight school with your instructor is called "The Nickel Ride". It is tradition, that on your first training flight, you give your instructor a nickel minted in the year of your birth. This first flight is also the only "freebie" you get while in flight school. There is no grade, no expectation, no criticism, just a fun time getting familiar with the helicopter, your instructor & the landscape of southern Alabama.

My "Nickel Ride" started out with high expectations, as I'd been waiting to fly for 9 months while on "Medical Hold" status working as a clerk in the company supply room. I met my instructor, Mr. Hugh Rhodes, at our desk in the flight briefing room. He introduced himself, & we went downstairs to operations, checked the weather forecast, & got our aircraft assignment & keys. The weather was good, partly cloudy, minimum ceiling of 10000 ft, 39 Degrees F & a light wind from the southwest. We walked out on the tarmac & for the first time I got to see up close 300+ Orange Bubble canopied helicopters.

We located our bird, & began our pre-flight inspection. I could hardly control my excitement & concentrate on my following Mr. Rhodes around the helicopter paying close attention to how he performed the inspection. The pre-flight completed, we strapped into the helicopter. We'd had one discussion about the helicopter configuration, fly with the doors on, or with the doors off. Since we were both wearing jackets, we opted for doors off. Mr. Rhodes read off the checklist while I performed the startup steps & soon we had the engine started, the rotors turning & I turned the controls over to Mr. Rhodes. Transfer of the controls is done verbally with 3 steps, then followed by a visual check. (ME) "You have the controls." (Hugh) "I have the controls." (ME) "You have the controls." Then I look & confirm he has hold of the controls while I let go of them. My mission at this point was tuning the radio frequencies for Ground Control & Tower & to enjoy the show.

My excitement was building, Mr. Rhodes radioed for taxi clearance & we were cleared to the nearest takeoff helipad on the west side of the airfield. It took about 5 minutes as there were numerous other TH-55a's all trying to leave at the same time. Finally, we're hovering just short of the helipad & we frequency change to Tower. Tower clears us unto the pad, gives us the current wind & altimeter information & clears us for takeoff & a departure from the airfield to the Northwest. We're hovering at about 3 feet, & Hugh starts us moving forward & at about 15 miles an hours, the helicopter starts to climb. The takeoff path is over pastures & we fly over fences & cattle as we continue the climb-out. As we pass through about 50 feet, I have a revelation. I'm scared of heights. This isn't just being nervous, I'd been nervous all morning. This is irrational, overwhelming, total panic. This helicopter is SO SMALL, there is SO LITTLE to it, it seems SO FRAGILE, I have no confidence in the aircraft at all. The design of the helicopter is very basic, a bubble canopy, on top of a 6 cylinder air cooled engine (Similar to a Volkswagen engine) 2 skids & the tailboom. The entire craft, passengers, fuel & all weigh a MAXIMUM of 1570 lbs.

We climb up to our cruising altitude of 600ft AGL (Above Ground Level) & are flying generally north bound & I'm trying hard to suppress my fear. I haven't said anything to Mr. Rhodes & he seems unaware of any problems I'm having. The flight itself is simplistic, straight & level flight, simple standard rate turns, nothing aerobatic or unexpected. In short, nothing to fear, just a walk in the park. Hugh is pointing out landmarks I'll need to learn for navigation, & for a moment I'm not too scared, as I'm astonished about how FLAT southern Alabama is when seen from above. Then I looked down, (bad idea), as I could look between my feet & see the ground. Cattle look like ants. Railroad tracks look like thread. Fear rears it's ugly head again.

While I'm dealing with renewed panic, Mr. Rhodes decides it's time for me to take the controls. I'd been warned that on the 1st flight, the instructor might have you steer using the cyclic control, or use the pedals to maintain the aircraft trim, or the collective control to maintain altitude. Hugh says: "You have the controls." I reply: "Which one?" Hugh says: "All of them." then repeats "You have the controls." Slowly, with great trepidation, I ease my feet onto the pedals, grasp the Collective/throttle with my left hand, grasp the Cyclic with my right, & squeeze the intercom trigger & say: "I have the controls." Hugh says: "You have the controls." At this point he lets go & I am flying the aircraft. Hugh, sits back & Crosses his arms! Ahhhh!

I'm amazed that we haven't died yet. I've maintaining straight & level for the most part & even manage a couple slow turns left & right. We fly on for 8 maybe 10 minutes (It seems like forever) without major mishaps. We do encounter on effect that is to say the least, unnerving. The TH-55a has a horizontal stabilizer opposite the tail rotor. It is about 2 feet long, & angled upwards 30 degrees. This has the disconcerting effect, when you have a tailwind from the Left-Rear, of causing the aircraft to porpoise up and down if you aren't pro-active in preventing it from occurring. We got into this effect twice, each time Hugh would put his hands on the controls just long enough to stop the oscillations, then sit back again.

While all this is occurring, Hugh is complementing me on my calm demeanor, & how measured my actions are while flying. Finally, I can't take it anymore, & tell Mr. Rhodes that what he is perceiving as calm, cool, & collected, is actually a controlled panic! I'm too scared to move. He takes pity on me, takes the controls & has me try & site back & relax for the balance of the flight. The flight is soon over, we complete our post-flight inspection, & return to the briefing room for the debrief. All my classmates are yelling & screaming & excited, while I'm quite & depressed. I'm wondering "What did I get myself in to this time?" After a long day of reflection, long into the early morning hour the next day, I decided to give it 2 weeks to see if I could deal with the fears that had overwhelmed me. After 2 weeks, it wasn't so bad, the fear was still there, but the panic was gone. Fear I could & did learn to deal with as a pilot, though I'm still afraid of heights to this day.