FOCUS ON SAFETY
BY MATT JOHNSON-CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
It was another morning of “ground
school” with the “perfect” student. Not to worry! This isn’t a riveting account of a nightmare! As planned, I met my eager stu- dent at a local restaurant for breakfast dur- ing our discussions. “John” as we will call him to protect the
“innocent,” was nearing his checkride, which I must add he completed in the minimum number of hours, and was the “perfect” stu- dent in many regards. John gave new mean- ing to
the old CFI (Certified Flight
Instructor) cliché of “meet me half way” and we will get you through this! After finishing up some discussion on
airspace and other amusing topics like LTE (loss of tail-rotor effectiveness) and Dynamic Rollover, John presented me with a question that I must say made me reposition myself in my chair and take another gulp of my coffee. “So, tell me, on this helicopter stuff, what is the bottom line? You know – what is it that keeps you up at night?” John inquired. Having spent 15 years in a law enforce-
ment career, I had become good at thinking quickly both on my feet and my ass! “Well in no particular order: the IRS, good Scotch whiskey and wild women,” I promptly responded. Fortunately, John had a sense of humor. With the laughter aside his question
really did make me search deep down to answer his question. As the moments of silence passed by, I realized his question was probably the best that had ever been present- ed to me by a student. In reality, I realized that three things relating to helicopters are, in my opinion, not to be taken lightly. In other words, things that could weigh heavily on the mind, and “keep one up at night.” So what are these middle of the night
cold-sweat items that can affect the helicop- ter psyche? From my perspective, there are three: Wires, low-rotor RPM (revolutions
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