Mi-8 landing help thread

[willatc]

Actually it should be the other way around. You can't judge your air speed visually so watch your ASI carefully.

 

Thanks Squirrel. Yeah I agree that ASI should be monitored carefully but I just find that I hardly look at it when on a short final.

After I learned how to land the Mi-8, most of my LZ's were in small clearings or in a car park/built up areas (due to the SAR type multiplayer missions I've been playing) so I found myself concentrating like mad on the tight surroundings (buildings etc) and the VSI.

 

Whats on the attached track by the way?

[Flamin_Squirrel]

It's just a track showing a simple approach and landing.

[FongFic]

Hi, should i use pedal Trimmer during landing? I feel it will be more stable when using trim, but some time when i try to hover before touch down, it some time out of control

[FongFic]

Is My landing ok or it must be inside the center of the circle

[Tiger-II]

On 10/14/2024 at 11:02 PM, FongFic said:

Hi, should i use pedal Trimmer during landing? I feel it will be more stable when using trim, but some time when i try to hover before touch down, it some time out of control

I don't use trim for takeoff/landing. Make sure it is set to zero before you takeoff/land.

Why do I say this?

The way real helicopters are flown is by memorizing stick offsets, and stick positions for various phases of flight.

The rotor system is highly dynamic, and as such the stick moves around as conditions across the rotor change (differences in lift across the disc).

In a stable hover, the stick position (cyclic) is right and aft of center, with right pedal, with the aircraft rolled to the right slightly to counter-act the thrust produced by the tail rotor.

As you decelerate through and below translational lift speed (about 50 kph), you will need to increase collective ("pull pitch"), simultaneously add right pedal due to the power and pitch change of the main rotor, and roll to the right to counter-act the tail rotor thrust that becomes significant at low speed, especially below ETL speed.

By knowing where the cyclic should be in this regime, it makes it much easier to translate from foward flight to a hover (and vice-versa).

Try practicing picking up and setting down the helicopter to a hover at 5 m, then transition to forward flight, and back to a hover. You will soon understand what control inputs need to be made and when in order to bring the aircraft to forward flight and back to a hover without losing or increasing altitude. It will also help you to better understand the changes in rotor behavior across different speeds and regimes.

Try this exercise with an empty config and light fuel load, and a max gross weight. The difference in handling is quite pronounced.

On 11/12/2024 at 4:47 AM, FongFic said:

Is My landing ok or it must be inside the center of the circle

It should really be centered, but you seemed to do a great job lining up with the line!

Edited January 4 by Tiger-II