This is, after all, an experiment to explore how the relationship between air crews and their helicopters-big, complex, dynamic machines-might change in the future. And while the inceptors are far easier to use than the real controls, they still demand that you learn how your input causes actual changes to the bird’s direction. The system as a whole isn’t perfect-the tablet interface could be more intuitive, and I got a “whoa” feeling at least once in response to the chopper’s motion through the air as the autonomy system was flying. All told, I’m in the helicopter for about an hour. We land, then Ward engages the mechanical controls to get us in the air one last time and lets me try briefly hovering for real. Spin it like a helicopter on the way to L. Once there, I use the joystick to fly us in circles high above a small pond, before reverting to the tablet again to tell it to take us home. Next, I load up a program on the tablet, and we fly over the winding Housatonic, cruising north some eight to ten miles. Hovering, Ward tells me, is similar to balancing atop a beach ball: Any moves you make-such as sliding to the left or right-need to be carefully compensated with using the other controls, like adjusting your altitude or the direction of the nose. Just learning how to hover takes about 12 hours in the sky, as opposed to my five-minute crash course in this S-76B aircraft. The lesson gave me a tiny taste of what flying a helicopter is actually like, and it’s challenging. When it wraps up, he uses the controls on his side of the cockpit to land us, and we fist bump. Ward tells me what to do over the comms system throughout the course as we drift over the flight field. Eventually, I’m using all three controls at the same time. the next 10 minutes and swing like a pendulum there, I would endanger the ight movement of the helicopter and invite enemy automatic re from the ground. Finally, the cyclic permits me to push the helicopter sideways to the left or right, or move forward or backwards. Then, I try out the collective, which changes the angle of attack that the spinning rotors over our heads have, letting the bird climb up or drop down. As Reed explains in this handy Golfing World segment: He usually likes to draw the. Pushing down on the left or right pedal makes the machine’s nose swing left or right as my inputs tweak what the tail rotor is doing. It’s not a style-choice that’s an added bonus but instead, it’s more of an over-exaggerated swing feeling. The lesson lasts only about five minutes.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |