Robinson R22: Lesson 27 "Low Level: Part 1" (Full Lesson)

After a long break in flying I'm back at it! Today is Part 1 of my "Low Level" rating, which is training for flight below 500ft AGL. It starts simple; maintain accuracy in flying.
This equates to 50ft AGL and 50kts. This is important as even slight deviations can result in undesirable flight conditions. In normal cruise flight at thousands of feet, +/- 50ft would be considered acceptable even in controlled airspace. At low level, this could result in contact with obstacles or terrain. It is also important that speed is no lower than 50kts as there is no margin for error when it comes to engine failures, VRS, etc.
Equally important is knowledge of wind direction. As with normal flight, knowing wind direction is critical for safe operations. Airspeed and ground speed can vary by a large margin and the difference is apparent due to the proximity to the ground.
The control inputs required for an into-wind or out-of-wind turn are different if airspeed is to be maintained. When turning out of wind, the wind will 'get under the disk' and rapidly increase your ground speed. Maintain a steep bank and apply forward cyclic to maintain airspeed. Additional collective will be required to maintain height. When turning into wind, the bank doesn't need to be so steep and collective input is only the amount required to not sink as per a normal steep turn. Your apparent speed will rapidly drop as you turn into wind, but as long as the airspeed remains above 50kts then this is OK.
A quickstop is used to rapidly halt the aircraft, say to avoid an obstacle. VRS conditions are present (power applied, upwards airflow/high descent rate, low or no airspeed) and the high nose attitude introduces the risk of a tail strike. A quickstop must always terminate into wind, however the initiation of the quickstop can begin either downwind before a turn into wind, or after a turn into wind. Again, the nuances of the control inputs differ slightly depending on which method is used.
A turn then flare is a simple steep turn, level disk then the flare (lead with lowering collective, aft cyclic to maintain height, right pedal to maintain heading). As you drop below translational lift, level the disk with forwards cyclic, bring collective in to maintain height and apply left pedal. Keep some forward movement to avoid VRS and descend to the ground for a landing.
A flare then turn is a sharper turn and begins with a quickstop as you head downwind. The control inputs are as above, however once you have decelerated you must level the disk, turn, level the disk again and apply power to maintain height. Due the the lower airspeed of this turn, the radius is much smaller and the maneuver looks more like a hook. The collective may need to be applied during the turn to maintain height (which I don't do so well this first time!).
Enjoy!
0:18 Racetrack Pattern Low Level
3:36 Figure-8 Pattern Low Level
6:53 Contour Flying
11:33 Straight Quickstop
15:44 90-Degree Quickstop (Turn & Flare)
16:22 180-Degree Quickstop (Turn & Flare)
18:55 180-Degree Quickstop (Flare & Turn)

[@Pork-Chopper]

Going upwind n turning will slow you down versus going downwind, which will speed you up. I don't see anything wrong with slowing down a bit, or speeding up, it helps with your situational awareness. You can continue to make continual adjustments to maintain speed, however, as long as the chopper remains in trim you're doing ok controlling the chopper. I mean, it's not as if you're gonna get a speeding ticket or a ticket for impeding traffic. Main thing is to fly the chopper, IMO

[@user-du9gs1ik6v]

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