jrwoodchuck

i feel that i'm a good buggy driver so i should kick a$$ this weekend. i remember about 10 years ago, me and a buddy would enter auto contests at helicopter fun flys. the two of us always won them. so to even out the playing field, they made us do "rolling autos" wile the engine was shut off, (no throttle hold here). for thoes who don't know what an auto is. it is a simulated flame out in flight, something every heli pilot must learn because a flame out will happin and you better know how to handle it. well we would start at about 200ft and shut the engine off, go into negitive pitch so as the heli falls the air goes up threw the blades and accually speeds them up. but you are falling a little slower than a rock. then when you get close to the ground you start to "flair" by pulling back on the stick and adding positive pitch (collective) and using the "energy" stored in the blades to slow the heli down and land it at a spacific point. well a rolling auto is the same wile doing a complete roll wile your engine is off. the trick is not to stall the blades and loose all hope of recovery. if the engine is off and you stall the blades, youre just watching it hit the ground. i guess none of this applys, but i spent 5 minutes typing so i'm leaving it in...