Question for you Doozer. From your experience instructing, would you say people switching from fixed have a harder or easier time that someone who has not previous flight experience.
CrewDawg:
I've never instructed anyone other than a Navy/Marine Corps/Coast Guard/Allied Country primary helo student, so I can't answer your question definitively.
All U.S. Naval Aviators of my generation learned to fly either a North American T-28 Trojan or a Beechcraft T-34 TurboMentor before they transitioned to helicopters.
Even so, based on my observations of both rotary- and fixed-wing flight students, it's my opinion that someone who has never been at the controls of an airplane would pick up the nuances of hovering faster than someone who learned to fly in an airplane first.
In flight above airplane stall speeds, the only difference between helicopter flying and airplane flying is that one has to add left antitorque pedal -- rather than right rudder -- in a helicopter (U.S. built) to keep the ball centered when applying power. Naturally, the reverse is true when reducing power.
My reasoning is this: Airplane pilots know that as they get slower the control inputs required to effect an attitude change are both greater and more sluggish; however, insofar as helicopters have the same control authority from hovering to airspeeds at & above all airplane stall speeds, airplane pilots have to "unlearn" the control input techniques they've learned. It's my opinion that the overwhelming majority of helicopter students who have never learned to fly an airplane wouldn't be hampered by this paradigm and would learn to hover a helicopter sooner.
Initially, an airplane pilot will grossly overcontrol a helicopter in a hover. It really only takes thinking about a control input and incredibly small muscle movements in the wrists and ankles to hover a helicopter; however, airplane pilots are used to working the yoke/stick (and, in some cases, even the throttle) throughout their limits during the landing & takeoff phases.
In my opinion, once you've flown both for a while, there's absolutely no difficulty getting out of one and into the other and flying either competently.
I have taken 3,000-hour helicopter-only pilots and literally talked them through landing an airplane (PA-28) without any help whatsoever on their first time at the controls; however, I don't believe I could do the reverse with a 3,000+ hour airplane-only pilot.
At any rate, you experienced a different aeronautical perspective today. I hope you'll continue to share it with your bretheren. If so, and in time, maybe us "helo pukes" won't be so maligned in the future.
