While teaching on a Cessna 172, I met a young helicopter pilot in training. We made a general commitment that, if we could, we would teach others and try to obtain commercial certificates for each of us. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) allows new categories and classes to be added to pilot certificates without having to start at the lowest level. If you have a commercial aircraft certificate, you can do your first helicopter check to obtain a commercial helicopter certificate.
Fixed-wing pilots will recognize the ground effect, which occurs in helicopters located at a distance of half or the length of the rotor from the ground, and its intensity increases as the helicopter flies or overflies. Most helicopters have one that lifts off the ground between the pilot's legs in the front right seat, and usually a cyclical second for the copilot. As to whether I prefer to be in a helicopter or an airplane with a broken engine, it depends largely on the circumstances. If you watch police or news helicopters, they will most often circle the scene to maximize their options and the chances of performing a safe automatic rotation when they might be flying overhead.
I've heard it many times from professional fixed-wing pilots; if a helicopter's engine fails, it falls like a rock and you'll probably die. Depending on a number of factors, you can kill yourself in a helicopter if you exit a low-altitude OGE that floats (pushes) downwind. The competence that helicopter pilots must have when it comes to manipulating anti-torque pedals translates well to rear-wheel-drive aircraft, which require much more landing and takeoff work than planes with tricycle gears. Pilots flying over a helicopter perform a delicate balancing act that requires an almost constant cyclical input.
My first helicopter flight was in a Schweizer S300, with which I was able to maintain a very stable stationary flight after half an hour of basic classes. This eliminates the possibility of a skid landing with the lateral movement of the helicopter, which can cause a rollover. When I started, I realized that there are a million ways to get into trouble on a helicopter. Power control is not a substitute for pre-flight planning, but rather it is a last line of defense that measures the pressure or torque used in the manifold to keep the flight stationary in ambient conditions.
Most pilots agree that a successful emergency landing is one in which no one on board the helicopter or on the ground is injured. The perfect result is to automatically rotate to the ground without scratching the helicopter, but you need a bit of luck. A short rope, which is a literal and real string of thread placed at the front and in view of the pilot, is a visual reference used by helicopter pilots to keep the helicopter fuselage aligned with the relative wind.
