Normal Takeoff & Landing

Normal takeoff sequence

1. Hover check — establish a stable hover at 3-5 ft skid height. Verify power required is normal for weight and DA. Check engine instruments. Confirm "ready for departure."
2. Clear the area — visual scan, radio call if at a tower or self-announce at non-towered.
3. Forward acceleration — smooth forward cyclic, holding altitude with collective as needed. The helicopter accelerates while still in ground effect.
4. Through ETL — around 16-24 kt, you'll feel the vibration, pitch-up tendency, and lift increase of effective translational lift. Anticipate with slight forward cyclic and small collective adjustment.
5. Climb at Vy — accelerate to best-rate-of-climb airspeed (typically 50-60 kt for training helicopters), establish a positive rate of climb, and depart the airport area.

Throughout: keep the helicopter coordinated. Pedal trim doesn't fix itself.

The hover check is non-negotiable

The hover check is not just "are we hovering OK." It's the last opportunity to detect a problem before you commit to translational flight. Things you're checking, even if you don't articulate each one:

• Power required vs power available — am I anywhere near the limit?
• Rotor RPM stable in the green
• Engine instruments normal
• Pedal margin (especially left, on a CCW rotor)
• No vibration that wasn't there on startup
• Aircraft balance — does the cyclic feel centered?

If any of those is off, you abort the takeoff while you're still on the ground. The hover check exists because the cost of catching a problem here is "land and figure it out"; the cost of catching it 200 ft AGL is much higher.

Normal landing sequence

1. Traffic pattern entry — most helicopters fly a left-hand pattern at 500 ft AGL or per local procedures. Heliports often skip the pattern entirely.
2. Downwind — slow to approach speed (~50-60 kt). Begin descent abeam touchdown point.
3. Base — turning final, continue slowing.
4. Final approach — establish a stabilized 8-10° glidepath. Continuously decelerate; do not hold cruise speed and try to bleed it off at the bottom.
5. Approach to a hover — over the touchdown point, slow to a hover at 3-5 ft skid height. This is the critical phase: you transition from forward flight back through ETL, lose translational lift, and must add collective to hold altitude.
6. Touchdown — once stabilized in the hover over the spot, smoothly lower collective to set the helicopter down on flat skids.

The 8-10° glidepath isn't arbitrary

The standard 8-10° approach angle exists for a specific reason: it's steep enough to clear typical obstacles on short final, but shallow enough to maintain forward airspeed and avoid vortex ring state. A steeper approach (12-15°) is sometimes used over obstacles but increases VRS risk; a shallower one (5-6°) is sometimes used at high gross weight but eats more runway.

The approach should be continuously decelerating — not a steady airspeed broken by a sudden flare at the bottom. A constant deceleration means the helicopter is always at the right airspeed for its current altitude, and you arrive at the hover position with all parameters where they should be.

The biggest VRS trap is the steep approach

The classic accident sequence: pilot flies a steep approach, gets behind the deceleration, descent rate builds past 300 fpm with airspeed already below ETL. The aircraft is now in or near VRS. Pilot pulls collective; descent rate increases. Confused, pilot pulls more.

The whole sequence happens in about 5-8 seconds. The recovery (forward cyclic to gain airspeed) is uncomfortable when the LZ is right below you, but it's the only thing that works. Steep approaches are not safer than normal approaches — they're more demanding, with a smaller margin for error.

Discipline: stick to 8-10° unless terrain or obstacles require a steeper profile, and if you're forced steep, watch the descent rate like a hawk.

Common errors

• Skipping or rushing the hover check — the most consequential bad habit a student picks up.
• Not anticipating ETL on takeoff — the helicopter wants to climb suddenly; without forward cyclic and collective compensation, you balloon.
• Cruising into final too fast — then a sharp deceleration at low altitude. Keep deceleration smooth and continuous from base turn onward.
• Stopping high on final — hovering at 30 ft over the touchdown point because the deceleration overshot. Forces an uncomfortable vertical descent that risks VRS.
• Forgetting pedal trim — you stopped flying coordinated when you got task-loaded. Fix the heading first.