User Guide

4: FLIGHT TRAINING

4.13

Advanced Combat Landing

Sometimes, your airbase may be under attack or the designated LZ may lie per-

ilously close to enemy forces. In this case, you may not have time to follow

usual landing procedures and may have to switch to an advanced landing tactic.

W, Z,

Make a low-flying approach. Try flying as close to the ground as possible

A, S

during your approach. Then, fly over the LZ at nearly full speed (ideally, 50-70 knots).

`, Z

Fly over LZ and lose speed. After you pass directly over the zone, zero out collective

and pull back sharply on the cyclic. This yanks the helicopter’s nose up and causes the

craft to snap backward.

Reverse and settle. At this point, you’ll have passed forward over the landing area. The

cyclic adjustment, however, reverses your direction and re-centers you over the pad.

Once this happens, reduce your collective and settle onto the LZ as gently (but quickly)

as possible.

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Maintain heading. You should be correctly aligned at this point. However, wind or other

adverse conditions may require you to make slight heading adjustments. Steer using the ped-

als, not the cyclic. (Remember, the directional control pedals are used to turn at low speeds.)

Descend and touch down. When your heading is correct and steady, reduce the collec-

tive enough to descend to a few feet above the ground, then

gently

ease up to drop the

final few feet. You want to make as soft a landing as possible to avoid damaging the

landing gear.

Apply wheel brakes. Your helicopter may drift after you touch down. Applying the wheel

brakes ensures that you stay in one place.

Engage rotor brake. After you touch down, engage the rotor brake to stop rotor spin.