User Guide

The size of the pattern, your entry height and speed should be determined by the size and

nature of the landing area, and the likelihood of enemy action. If the landing site is large

and unobstructed (and the enemy isn’t watching or shooting) then you can afford a large

circuit, entering high (say 500-1000 feet/150-300 meters) and at relatively high speed. If the

landing area is cramped and obstructed, or you wish to avoid enemy attention, you should

fly a much smaller, tighter circuit, entering at lower speed and altitude.

Final Approach

You should ideally make your final descent towards the touchdown point with the helicopter

as nearly level as possible. Avoid pushing the collective forward to dive at the ground, and

try to ensure that by the time you reach this stage you’re travelling slowly enough that a

very moderate flare – or ideally a constant slightly nose-up attitude – will be enough to bring

you to the hover a few feet above your touchdown point. Now all you have to do is gently

lower the collective and touch down.

If you find yourself too high and/or too fast on the final approach, you should abandon the

landing and go around again [diagram 6.11]. If you attempt to kill off speed using a radical

flare at low altitude then you risk striking your tail rotor on the ground. If you try to descend

at too steep an angle from an excessively high approach then you’ll suffer from all the

GROUND SCHOOL

Diagram 6.10: Circuit pattern for an obstructed landing area