My personal experience in AW169 recurrent training
Upon my arrival at the sprawling Leonardo Helicopters facility, my first stop was to check in with security and obtain a badge that would be used to enter the training facility. For pilots and mechanics in training, this will be a daily occurrence as access is tightly controlled at the facilities. After signing in, I was greeted and given a tour of the facility.
The ground training was performed in a modern classroom with several high- tech visual training aids. There’s also a lower tech, but equally important, training room that houses the various airframes and system components. This is where clients can see many of the helicopter systems broken down into parts. This allows clients (pilots and mechanics) to get their hands on many of the components in order to discuss them with the instructor and gain a better understanding of their operation. The recurrent ground training course for the AW169 is two full days in the classroom thoroughly covering every system, from electrical to powerplant to drivetrain to hydraulics and everything in between. Although there is a lot of content to cover in two days, it was very manageable. The two-day course culminates in a written test prior to moving on to the flight simulation phase of training.
The simulation training is basically broken into three distinct sorties, each two hours in length and spread out over a couple days. Each simulation session is accompanied by a 30-60 minute pre-flight and post-flight briefing and debriefing.
Sortie #1 is VFR operations. The first 20-30 minutes are used for start-up, running checklists, and flying a couple traffic patterns to get the feel of the simulator. The remaining 90 minutes are used to perform Category A and B takeoff and landing operations, followed by a series of escalating emergency procedures that range from a generator failure, to an engine fire and failure, to the dreaded tail-rotor failure. The emergency procedures training is probably the most challenging, but it’s
useful training as you are required to split your attention between flying the aircraft and working the emergency procedures checklist.
Sortie #2 switches gears and focuses primarily on IFR operations. Since I had not flown a helicopter in an IFR environment in a while, my instructor, Capt. Greg Falcinelli, did an excellent job in the preflight brief refreshing my memory on certain aspects of IFR ops in preparation for going into the simulator. Once in the sim, there’s no wasting time. The initial focus is on getting the flight plan set up in the flight management system and obtaining a clearance, then you takeoff and go straight into the soup!
Once in the clouds and on course, there’s a pause in the flight plan for practice time to evaluate and hone some IFR hand flying skills, which includes things like steep turns and unusual attitude recovery. Once back on course with the original flight plan, some changes in the flight plan are made, which allowed me and the instructor to go a little deeper into the nuances of the flight management
system. Along the way, you can also expect several emergencies related to the electrical and autopilot system. We were also able to fly several different IFR approaches, both by autopilot and by hand. Hint: don’t be surprised if by the end of the flight, you find yourself hand flying an ILS to minimums on one engine!
Sortie #3 is a proficiency check that splits the time between the VFR maneuvers, IFR procedures, and emergency procedures learned in sorties 1 and 2. In the end, the simulation training consisted of 6 hours of simulated flight. At the end of both the ground and simulation training, I felt completely confident and refreshed from a knowledge and skills standpoint, as any good recurrent training course should do.
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Sept/Oct 2021
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