Flight and Flying; Period 5, Thursday 5/15

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

There were five helicopters waiting in the Danger Shop. As well as the class instructor. A tall, skinny fellow sporting a brown leather jacket, blue ball cap and khakis, leaning casually against the side of a chopper. He wore a large smile and waved as the students who'd been handwavily informed of the class location drifted in.

“Hey, everyone! My name is HM Murdock,” he spoke with a slight drawling accent, “Welcome to Flight and Flyin’. I’m teachin’ this class ‘cause the usual instructor ain’t available. Y’all can just call me Murdock.”

“Hopefully we’re all here ‘cause we like to fly. Or want to learn how. If not, let me know and we’ll see if we can get it sorted out. I’d like to know who everyone is and the kind of flight experience you may already have. Any kind of flying counts. Even kites.”

He waited until the last student was done, then continued. “Now that’s all taken care of, we can get right down to it. Or up, in this case. I think the best way to start off is to handle something fairly common, namely the UH-1 Iroquois. Otherwise known as a Huey. Still in service the world over today. It’s a bit bigger than your run-of-the-mill radio and TV choppers that you’ve probably seen, but the process of flying them is still the same.”

"But first, it’d probably be a good idea to know where the controls are."

Murdock strolled over to one of the simulated helicopters and swung the door open so all the students could see inside. “Choppers use a cyclic stick, often referred to as just a cyclic. It’s a joystick, not all that different from the kind you’d find in a jet fighter. Pushing the cyclic in a particular direction will cause the chopper to move that way. The real difference between choppers and planes is in the altitude control.”

“The collective, or collective pitch, is found on the left of the pilot’s seat.” He made sure to point it out. “This is what you use to descend or ascend. Pretty simple; push it down, the chopper goes down. Pull it up, the chopper goes up.” As he spoke, he moved his hand up and down through the air to illustrate this point. “Easy as pie!”

“However, the anti-torque pedals are probably what’s new to you. Unless you happen to have prior experience with helicopters.” He waggled his eyebrows at a few of his students. “The pedals are located at the front of the cockpit, directly in front of the pilot’s seat on the floor. Much in the same location as you’d find the pedals in a car. These control which way your nose is facing and also how you turn the aircraft.”

“It should be obvious as to which pedal to use. Pedal on the left takes you left, pedal on the right takes you right. These babies right here” he pointed emphatically with both fingers into the cockpit, “are really what makes those tight turns possible.” He closed the door to the chopper and whirled back around to his students, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“I kept the number of birds to a standard squadron of five. You’ll pair off, two each in a chopper and take turns controlling your aircraft. And someone will get the dubious honor of being my co-pilot.” He smiled in a way that suggested it may not necessarily be a good thing *or* an honor.

“We’ll start off simple; clear open skies, flying in standard formation. If you can manage that, we’ll bump up to something trickier. River bed running.” Murdock smiled. “It’ll be a blast.”

“I’ve already laid out the course and did a test run myself. I scaled it down from what I’m used to for y’all, since I know these birds like the back of my hand. And while the course has some tricky turns, rest assured your bird can make it. If not,” he shrugged, “well, I guess you crash and die.” He smiled sweetly, “Are we ready?”

(please wait for the OCD is up! have at! ***edit***I'll be up for a few hours yet. Then sp from 9-5 est for the whole work thing. back at it after 7pm. whee!)

Comments

Sign in!

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

make it do that squish thing!

Re: Sign in!

[sonofmogh.livejournal.com]

Worf

Re: Sign in!

[raspberryturk]

Reno

Intros!

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

State any flight experience you may have.

Re: Intros!

[sonofmogh.livejournal.com]

"I am Worf," he declared. "And I have some experience flying... more advanced vehicles than this."

Re: Intros!

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

"Such as?"

Re: Intros!

[raspberryturk]

"Name's Reno, yo." He grinned. A lot. Murdock was the best teacher in the history of the universe and he was going to have to gift him with copious amounts of booze for making choppers the first class ever and and and.

He wasn't at all giddy over the chance to get in the air again. Shut up.

"And I'm a helicopter pilot already. Been flyin' recon for the company I work for for years now. Lookin' forward to gettin' up in the air again, yo."

He wasn't bouncing on his toes. You were imagining things.

Re: Intros!

[the_merriest]

"I'm Rikku!" she said, bouncing and not bothering to hide it. "My Pops has an airship and we kinda live there now, and I was navigator while Brother flew most of the time. And I took a Flying class last summer and did pretty good at it, I think. And I totally got to fly Reno's chopper at MercCon and whoa, they handle awesome."

Re: Intros!

[morpherboy.livejournal.com]

"I once flew an alien space ship!" Marco said smugly. He didn't mention that he mostly screamed. "And I play video games."

Re: Intros!

[solo_sword]

Jaina's flight experience had changed some since the last time she'd taken this sort of workshop.

"I'm Jaina Solo, I'm a lieutenant in Rogue Squadron back home," she said, not adding in the part about her forced leave of absence. "Usually these days I fly X-wing starfighters, but I've got plenty of experience with both freighters and yachts, flying and copiloting, and I've clocked some time in TIE fighters." She could go on, but she kind of thought it might take a while and no one cared.

Re: Intros!

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"I'm John," he said, smiling easily as he was really looking forward to getting to fly the choppers. "My experience is mostly with smaller, private planes, but I racked up a few hours in the flight sim last summer."

Re: Intros!

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

"I'm Anemone, and I'm an LFO pilot with United Federation Force, former parter of the Nirvash typeTheEND" she said distractedly, eyes firmly on the chopper. She'd been going crazy(er) being grounded this long. "Think really really big flying robots, but mine was sentient. I'm also fully certified on all models of military shuttles, all current KLF designs, and I'm pretty good with all the stuff Master Skywalker let us fly last summer."

"Can I fly that now? Please?"

Re: Intros!

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"I'm Kaylee," she chirped, looking at the chopper in awe. "Don't got no flyin' experience, exactly, but I'm used to takin' ships apart an' fixin' 'em. I know how they work from the inside. Might be a good idea to make stuff fly in practice, y'know?"

Re: Intros!

[mrodneymckay.livejournal.com]

"I'm Rodney," he stated nervously when it was his turn. "Um, the closest I've ever gotten to flying was with remote controlled planes," he admitted sheepishly.

Team up and chit-chat while you do so

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

Who wants to call shotgun on flying with Murdock? Are you sure you want to? ;)

Re: Team up and chit-chat while you do so

[the_merriest]

Rikku stuck her tongue out at Reno. "Think you can handle pairing up with a novice again?"

She wasn't going to mention the last time they were in a chopper together. Much. Really. Yet.

Re: Team up and chit-chat while you do so

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

Anemone was practically bouncing with glee as she looked around for someone to pair off with.

Re: Team up and chit-chat while you do so

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

John was totally ready to fly. It had been far too long.

The squadron flight

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

Sooooo ridiculously easy.

Re: The squadron flight

[the_merriest]

"Okay," Rikku nodded to her way more experienced co-pilot. "Tell me how to ... start this thing?"

Re: The squadron flight

[mrodneymckay.livejournal.com]

After climbing into the helicopter, Rodney immediately began sorting out his seat belt.

River bed run

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

Follow your fearless and crazy instructor through the course. Good luck!

Talk to Murdock

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

You’ll probably soon realize that aircraft aren’t the only things flying through the clouds in this class. :D

Re: Talk to Murdock

[raspberryturk]

"CHOPPERS." Reno wasn't bouncing. Still. "You're the best teacher ever, yo. EVER."

Giddy? Reno? A little.

"I freakin' love this class!"

OOC

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

Cuz I don't have enough threads. Really. o_O