Nickel Ride

I had my first UH-60 Blackhawk flight today. Picture is of my IP (instructor pilot) and my stick buddy (yes, that's what you actually call the person who you share an instructor with) walking out to the aircraft. If you're familiar with Army helicopters, you may note the Apache, which is the aircraft immediately to the right of the guys. I could almost hear her calling my name as I walked to my aircraft, which was literally 20 yards in front of her, and as I climbed in I could feel her two big sexy eyes staring at me with judgment for having left her for another, more catfish-shaped woman.

Last night I couldn't sleep. Too much anticipation. This morning through academics I felt like a giddy little school-girl. I know we learned something about hydraulics, but I couldn't tell you for sure what it was. Outside, the day was absolutely horrible from a weather standpoint. It was probably in the low forties, but the wind was howling and there was a spitting rain in the air. If we had been scheduled to do anything but the bare minimum maneuvers we would not have been able to go. Fortunately, this nickel ride consists mostly of ground taxiing and a few hovering maneuvers, and a couple of traffic patterns if you're lucky (the "nickel ride" is the name given to your first flight in any aircraft - not sure the genesis of that term but for your very first nickel ride in flight school, tradition dictates you find a nickel from your birth year and give it to your instructor prior to the flight).

I was admittedly a little shaky for the first couple minutes of ground taxiing, and the first time I pulled up to a hover, there was a noticeable wobble. All of the controls are the same from the Apache as far as what they do (a GROSS oversimplification would be to say that there's an "up and down stick" and a "which way do I want to go stick"), but how they do it is noticeably different, with different amounts of input required and different feedback in the controls when you put inputs in. All of the points of reference are different as well, as aside from being in a completely different cockpit, I'm sitting about 5 feet lower, and 3-8 feet closer to the front of the aircraft. The fact that I can look over and see the other pilot is weird as well. In the Apache the 2 pilots sit front and back rather than side-to-side (a fact which the Apache community interprets as a sign that Blackhawk guys like to hold hands). A few seconds into hovering flight, though, I was pretty well locked in.

Next was a couple of flight system demonstrations at a hover with my instructor on the controls, one of which to be honest made me wonder whether or not I would actually make it through to be able to write this blentry. Apparently I wasn't the only one who thought that particular maneuver was...we'll say "interesting", because the tower came on over the radio after we did it and said, "Just want to verify that you're 'ops normal'." In other words, "Is everybody ok over there." Apparently we were. Flight continues.

At one point, I look over to the side of the airfield and notice that a minivan has pulled over on the side of the road to watch us. Nothing strokes the ego quite like a reminder that you have a job that's so cool, people stop what they're doing just to watch you.

Then my first traffic pattern came. Takeoff was solid. A little forward ground run before lift-off due to the hawk's increased forward-tilting rotor system, but no biggie. Will compensate next time. In the traffic pattern, I was solid. Plus or minus 50 feet for the most part on altitude, airspeed within 10 knots or so. Within standard on the first iteration, which is very good. Coming around for my first approach, I was starting to feel in the zone. Everything makes sense. I think this must be what musicians feel like when they're playing jazz by ear. My IP is quiet, except for the occasional, "You're doing good." At the bottom, landing is almost unnoticeable. We're exactly at our intended touchdown point about 2 feet to the left of the center line of the runway, but I'll chalk that up to the fact that in the Apache I sit in the very middle of the aircraft and in the 60, I'm oh, about 2 feet to the right. No biggie. My IP looks at me and says, "Well, that was basically a perfect approach. If I told you anything right now I would just be making something up for the sake of not admitting that it was perfect." I make a joke about how he clearly has gone to a different instructor school than all my IP's in the past and we laugh, but my brain is still processing the perfect approach, and trying to convince myself that I'm not as awesome as I think I am right now. One traffic pattern later and I was done. My stick buddy had a good flight, I think. I'll be sitting in the back throughout the course while he flies, which again is different, since the Apache only has two seats.

I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities over the next few weeks for my awesomeness to be called into question. I am admittedly a really good pilot, especially when it comes to flying, and I don't mind telling you that every IP I've flown with has told me so. The funny thing about flying helicopters, though, is that just like those jazz players, no matter how good you are you can always improve, and every flight I have multiple opportunities to wish I had done something better. What I won't have is any more nickel rides and as nickel rides go, this one was everything I could have hoped for.

After we shut down, we tied the aircraft down and headed in to the hangar to fill out the logbook, turn in the keys, etc. My former flame was still sitting on the ramp, now watching me walk away. I felt like her disdain had been replaced by maybe a little sadness, but tempered with underpinnings of pride. We wouldn't be spending time together like we used to. I've moved on, but not necessarily to bigger and better things, just different things. In this case it's true: it's not her, it's me.

Still, we both know she'll always be my first.





Getting ready for our first flights (first picture is a fellow student, middle is my IP, third is another IP with his 2 students: