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the journal of the professional helicopter pilot

Special Issue -

UNIONS!

page 12 - Fireside Chat about Autos with Pete Gillies COLUMNS

HELICOPTER PILOTS AND UNIONS

2 From the President 3 Editor’s “License” 20 Back to Basics: A Mighty Wind: Downwash & Disc Loading

6 UNIONS! 9 Profile—4 Helicopter Pilot Unions 11 Air Log Pilots Ratify New Agreement

& MORE 12 Fireside Chat —about Autos with Pete Gillies

18 Live & Learn —26,000 Hours and Counting

18 Pilot Profile —Darron Adams, Metropolitan D.C. Police Dept.

22 Test Pilot Volume 5

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Issue 2

A u t o r o t a t e i s t h e o f f i c i a l p u b l i c a t i o n o f t h e P r o f e s s i o n a l H e l i c o p t e r P i l o t s ’ A s s o c i a t i o n ( P H PA )

From the President EVERYTHING IN BLACK AND WHITE This issue of Autorotate is taking a look at the one topic every other magazine tries to avoid—Unions. We hope to give our readers some factual insight into what is going on across our profession as more and more helicopter pilots find themselves involved in this discussion. While I’m at it, I would like to congratulate the Air Logistics pilots for ratifying their new contract. I know it was a long, hard negotiation, but in the end, it all worked out well for them. What I would like to add to the union discussion are some of my personal feelings and experiences concerning unions. I was as anti-union as they come when I hired on here at Ft. Rucker. I had been through three different union jobs before I started flying for a living and all three of them left a very bad taste in my mouth for anything union. It was not until I had been on the job at Rucker for a few years that I even considered looking at the union we have had here since the early seventies. It did not take long for me to see that this union of helicopter pilots was entirely different from those other unions I had experienced. These guys were my peers and they were working on their own time, for no pay, to get us the best contract they could. I was three kinds of impressed as I began to understand how the process worked and what it actually meant to me in my day to day life. I had never really understood the term Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) until I watched and listened as the months of contract negotiations went by. What I learned was the CBA was nothing more than a binding contract between me and my employer and I liked that idea. I liked the fact that everything was in black and white. I liked the fact that BOTH myself and my employer had to abide by the contract. I liked the idea 2

EDITOR’S “LICENSE” In this issue of Autorotate, we are doing something unprecedented. We’ve devoted the bulk of the magazine to a topic that is both timely and controversial—helicopter pilot unions.

that there were written punishments for written offenses leaving no uncertainty, with either side, about how bad behavior was to be handled. I liked knowing when my next pay raise was coming and how much it would be. I liked a grievance procedure that started with “Talk to your immediate supervisor first and if that does not resolve the issue then put it in writing and send it to his supervisor.” In twenty-five years on the job I have never filed a grievance. But, it is nice knowing there is a process if I ever need it. In twenty-five years on the job I have never been punished or counseled for any misdeed, but I am glad there is a black and white process in place to do so. Needless to say, I have grown to appreciate working under a contract. It simply takes everything in the work place that is usually gray and fuzzy around the edges and makes it black and white. In other words it removes all the uncertainty from your day to day life on the job and that is something I have come to expect and appreciate. If you have any questions concerning this subject, please drop me a note at [email protected] and I will be more than happy to answer them as best I can.

Butch Grafton President [email protected] END

Prior to researching this article, I found that I knew precious little about unions. And, I suspect, I’m not alone in this regard. A dozen books and a bunch of conversations later and I feel like I have a grasp on the subject. I hope you feel the same way when you finally put down this issue. OK, now pretend for a moment that you are me. You’re armed with some interesting information about unions, but now you have to decide what “tone” to take in the magazine—pro-union, antiunion, neutral? It is a given that I’m going to offend about 2/3 of my audience no matter which way I go. In the last issue of Autorotate, I reviewed briefly the relationship between myself, PHPA and OPEIU (Office & Professional Employees International Union). PHPA actively represents both union pilots and non-union pilots. OPEIU is the umbrella organization supporting the helicopter pilot “Locals” mentioned in this issue (Page 9). They also made it possible for PHPA to acquire Autorotate and they graciously pay for my services as editor of the magazine. Yet, as I previously mentioned, they have never exerted the slightest pressure on me or Autorotate with regards to either content or “spin”. The reason I’m doing an issue on unions is because I thought it was the right thing to do and this was the right time to do it. So, in writing my story and editing the other materials for this issue, I’ve chosen to do so in a way that makes me feel most comfortable. Most of the pilots I know are smart people, fully capable of

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making up their own minds. But, many of them are uninformed as well. I think we can help change that. Union is a powerful word. It raises alarms and many are uncomfortable with it. Admittedly, I am one of them. How could I not be? I’ve spent most of my adult life in various management positions where “union” was something that was perceived as making your already hard job, harder. On the other side of the coin, some pilots fear unionization because they feel that they may be giving up a perceived element of control over their own careers. And, there is concern over a deteriorated relationship between pilots and management that can strain day to day working conditions. Nobody wants that. Yet, when I speak with union members and leaders, they are adamant about the improvements in their pay and benefits, status within the company and working conditions since either the threat of unionization has appeared or an actual contract has been negotiated under the rules of a collective bargaining agree-

ment. Many of these men and women have been with their companies for nearly 30 years. They’ve seen it both ways and are speaking from experience. I’ve met the pro-union leaders of the Locals profiled in this issue. Whatever your opinion on unions, the men and women who decide to lead union efforts within their companies are uniformly people of courage and conviction. As I send this issue off to the printer I hear a small alarm or two going off in my own head. Is the company that employs me as a line pilot going to feel threatened by seeing my “byline” next to the word “UNION!” in big block letters? Are the people who write my check each month for producing the magazine going to be disappointed because I didn’t take a stronger stand? In the end, I have to do what feels right to me. And, when you think about it, I guess that’s the way it is with unions too. Tony Fonze, editor [email protected]

Publisher: The Professional Helicopter Pilots’ Association Managing Editor: Anthony Fonze Design: Studio 33 Editorial Assistance: Michael Sklar Autorotate is owned by the Professional Helicopter Pilots’ Association (PHPA). Autorotate (ISSN 1531166X) is published every other month for $30.00 per year by PHPA, 1809 Clearview Parkway, New Orleans, LA 70001. Copyright © 2005, Professional Helicopter Pilots’ Association. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited. It is illegal to make copies of this publication. Printed in the U.S.A. by union employees. Subscriptions: Subscriptions are provided to current members of PHPA. PHPA membership is offered at $60.00 per year. Promotional discounts may be offered. For a complete list of membership benefits go to www.autorotate.org. Single issue reprints offered, when available, for $5.00 each. To become a member of PHPA or to notify PHPA of a change of address, contact PHPA at 1809 Clearview Parkway, New Orleans, LA 70001. Phone 866-367-7472. Fax 504-779-5209. E-mail [email protected]. PHPA members may submit address changes at www.autorotate.com. Local members may submit address changes through their locals. Local members with e-mail addresses, who are not registered at the website, should contact their locals.

END

Article Contributions and Editorial Comments: Article contributions, including ideas, freelance stories, an interest in assignment articles, Live and Learn experiences, photographs, and comments are welcome and should be sent to autorotate, 3160 N. San Remo, Tucson, AZ 85715. Phone 520-906-2485. Fax 520-298-7439. E-mail [email protected]. Autorotate and PHPA are not responsible for materials submitted for review. Notice: The information contained herein has been researched and reviewed. However, Autorotate and PHPA do not assume responsibility for actions taken by any pilot or aircraft operator based upon information contained herein. Every pilot and aircraft operator is responsible for complying with all applicable regulations. Cover: Hemerra Images, Corel, Autorotate Staff; composite Studio 33

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Cover Story

UNIONS!

You’re not going to read a lot about unions in the well-known helicopter industry publications—for good reason. Helicopter publications survive on the revenues generated by their advertising. Advertising is purchased by helicopter operators, manufacturers and suppliers who are usually less than enthused when the word “Union” appears in print. Leafing through the pages of Autorotate, one can quickly see that we are not plagued by the same problem—we are pretty much free to say what we want without fear of major economic calamity (this is both a good thing and a bad thing). So here goes. Helicopter pilot unions are here and they are slowly increasing in number. This raises some important questions that ought to be brought to the surface and discussed. There’s no good reason for anyone, manager or line pilot, to be ignorant. So, with that in mind, our mission here isn’t to persuade, it is to inform and educate. You can draw your own conclusions. First and foremost, what is a labor union, exactly? What can they do, and 4

Photography: Liquid Library; Hemerra Images

not do, and by what right do they do it? Short questions. Long answers. It’s the law! Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary defines a labor union as “an organization of workers formed for the purpose of advancing its members’ interests in respect to wages and working conditions.” OK, so we’re all sitting around the break room and we collectively decide that the temperature of the sodas in the soda machine is too warm and we want something done about it or we’re all going to quit tomorrow. We proceed to march into the boss’s office together, mad as hornets, to demand colder sodas or else. Does that make us a union? According to Webster’s it might. But, not according to U.S. Labor Law.

By Tony Fonze

Law is derived from two sources. We all learn in school that the legislatures make the laws or statutes. Statutory law serves as the latticework upon which Case Law is built. Case Law, also known as Common Law, builds upon the framework of legislative laws as individual cases are brought before the courts and the courts serve to interpret the statutes against real-life situations. Precedence is established and Common Law is born. Combined, Statutory Law and Common Law are the framework upon which labor, management and everything else is ultimately governed. Let’s start at the beginning. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives us freedom of association. Consequently, the generic right to form a union is, in effect, protected by the Constitution of the United States. When can unions be formed? What can they do? What can’t they do? For these answers we have to look elsewhere. The congress “giveth” and the congress “taketh away” For more than a hundred years congress has been passing laws that both

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Special Section - Helicopter Pilots and Unions “giveth” and “taketh away” legal standing for the formation of and governance of organized labor unions. The tide of labor has ebbed and flowed depending upon the political climate of the times. Sometimes, a law that was written originally as a pro-labor policy was later used (after a political climate shift) to suppress the growth of the labor movement. Early laws that played a role in the evolution of organized labor include the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890), the Clayton Act (1914) and the NorrisLaGuardia Act of 1932, which is still in force today. The Norris-LaGuardia Act restricts the power of federal courts to issue injunctions in cases growing out of labor disputes. Created during the Great Depression, with unemployment above 25%, organized labor was one of the few forces speaking out on behalf of American workers at the time. The Norris-LaGuardia Act was a step toward recognizing unions as the legitimate representatives of workers. But, it applied only to the federal courts and employers were still free to discharge workers who led, joined or even sympathized with unions. Employers had no duty to bargain with unions, even if they represented a majority of workers. Stronger legal medicine was needed.

referred to at the time as the “TaftHartley Act.” Section 7 was amended to provide that workers had the right to refrain from union activities as well as to engage in them, and Section 8 was amended to prohibit unions from engaging in unfair labor practices. In 1959 Congress enacted another significant amendment to the Act with the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act. This amendment, called the “Landrum-Griffin Act,” prohibited unions from engaging in certain forms of picketing and established a code of conduct for unions for the protection of their members.

What about pilots?

Finally, in 1935, Congress recognized unions as legitimate representatives of workers with the creation of the National Labor Relations Act. Also called the “Wagner Act,” it created the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Section 7 of the Act spelled out the rights of workers to join and participate in union activities and Section 8 prohibited employers from engaging in unfair labor practices that interfered with the workers’ Section 7 rights.

Enough legal stuff already, you’re thinking. Well, almost. While the previously cited labor laws have helped to form a foundation for labor-management relations across the board, it turns out that pilots’ rights are more directly defined by a law that was originally written to protect the operation of the nation’s railroads. The Railway Labor Act of 1926 (RLA), creates a framework to protect the rights of railroad workers and operators and, even more importantly, to help insure the continuous operation of the nation’s railroads. In 1935, it was amended to include air carriers.

The National Labor Relations Act has undergone at least two major amendments. In 1947, it was amended by the Labor Management Relations Act,

The Railway Labor Act has a strongly stated public policy of avoiding disruption in the airline and railroad industries. Consequently, it introduces a greater

Photography: Jack Bowers

degree of governmental involvement in the collective bargaining process than is found in the National Labor Relations Act. Under the NLRA, the collective bargaining process is a more direct affair between the employer and union. Still, the NLRA contains some limitations on the right to strike and on lockouts. It imposes a ban on strikes and lockouts for a 60-day period immediately after either party serves notice to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and it also provides for the rarely used authority of the President to temporarily enjoin a strike or lockout that “will imperil the national health and safety.”

In short, in the text of the Railway Labor Act, congress proposed to institute a system and methodology that encourages the peaceful resolution of labor disputes, both major and minor, and avoids interruptions to commerce in the airline and railroad industries. The Act created the National Mediation Board to both conduct elections to determine whether or not workers want union representation and to mediate disputes that arise during subsequent union-management contract negotiations. There are principle distinctions between the Railway Labor Act and the National Labor Relations Act. The National Labor Relations Act serves to define the rules by which organized labor and management can coexist and interrelate while maintaining the “free low of 5

Special Section - Helicopter Pilots and Unions commerce.” The Railway Labor Act similarly recognizes the right of employees to organize and to establish bargaining equality between employers and employees while at the same time stating that its first purpose is “to avoid any interruption to commerce or to the operation of any carrier engaged therein.” In order to prevent disruptions, the rules are a little different. The Railway Labor Act addresses three principle threats to labor peace: representation disputes, collective bargaining disputes, and grievance disputes. The RLA establishes procedures designed to

resolve these disputes and to minimize the likelihood that they will result in the interruption of rail or air service. Representation Disputes The designation of a collective bargaining representative is a principle concern of the RLA. Its procedures reduce the risk of work stoppages relating to representation issues by (1) acknowledging the employees’ absolute right to be represented and (2) forbidding employer interference in the process. And, when all else fails, the RLA grants the National Mediation Board nearly absolute power

to resolve representation disputes should they arise. Unlike the NLRA, picketing associated with representational issues is not permitted by the RLA and is subject to court injunction. The Railway Labor Act’s procedures for the resolution of representation disputes and the conduct of collective bargaining are applied on a carrierwide basis. Representation and bargaining procedures include all employees in a particular craft or class (e.g. pilots, mechanics, dispatchers, flight nurses, etc.) of the air carrier.

the shopkeeper-artisan now became the shopkeeper-employer in order to keep up with demand. Skilled laborers, journeymen, were hired to produce the goods once produced by the shopkeeper and the management-employee relationship was born.

The Origins of Organized Labor

by Tony Fonze

Willing to do almost anything to provide a good story I did the unthinkable in pursuit of this article. I read nearly a dozen books on labor history. OK, there’s some interesting stuff in there, but there’s a lot of incredible minutiae too. To be honest, this has very little to do with helicopter pilot unions. But, I found it very interesting and decided to share the highlights so you wouldn’t have to go out and read those books yourselves. Agriculture was the focus of life in the early colonies. We’re talking 1600s. 6

Nearly everyone was a farmer and the hard goods that they had were, for the most part, brought with them from England. Over time, small villages began to form and individuals with a skill (blacksmith, tinker, miller, shoemaker, baker, etc.) opened shops where the skilled artisan was also the shopkeeper. Still more and more emigrants arrived and, as folks are wont to do, more and more babies were born. Populations burgeoned and gathered into cities. All these people needed more and more stuff so

Still, everyone got along. The employer was still a skilled master, intimately acquainted with the skills of the job and the journeymen’s mindset. And, since competition between shopkeepers was almost entirely local, owners and journeymen cooperated to maintain and grow their businesses, easily recognizing the need to work together for the common good. Editor’s Note: This is not unlike the situation the helicopter industry has found itself in. At one time, most of the operators were, themselves, pilots. Then they became owners and managers and hired pilots as employees. These new owners knew the “job” and “knew” what was best for pilots, too. Didn’t they?

There were two classes of laborer: indentured servants, who worked for their masters under long-term contracts in exchange for payment of their passage to the colonies, and free labor, which included both skilled and unskilled employees.

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Special Section - Helicopter Pilots and Unions Collective Bargaining The collective bargaining process, established by the Railway Labor Act, is the centerpiece of a statutory scheme designed to preserve labor relations harmony. Its two facets have been characterized by the Supreme Court as an “almost interminable” collective bargaining process and a corollary requirement that the parties refrain from self-help (strikes on the part of the union and lockouts on the part of the employer) during the course of collective bargaining. The employer is required to maintain the “status quo” before, during and for some ORIGINS OF ORGANIZED LABOR CONTINUED

Quick Aside: The indentured servant story is a fascinating one. At one point, over 50% of the total white population came to the colonies as servants. An indentured servant was bound to his master for an average period of four years though some contracts were for periods of seven years or greater. In exchange for their labor, servants received food, clothing and shelter. Servants were considered private property. They could be bought and sold and passed along in a will. The law gave masters the authority to administer corporal punishment as necessary. “Whipping, branding, and laboring in irons were imposed upon the comparatively mild conspiracy of refusing to work; imprisonment and hanging were common punishments for the greater crime of desertion.”(1) Sign me up!

time after the period of formal negotiations. The union and employees have a corresponding obligation to refrain from economic action during the same period. Interestingly, the courts have ruled that the “status quo” requirement is not enforceable in cases where a collectively bargained agreement is not already in place. The formal collective bargaining process is highly structured by the RLA and, in general, the formula applies equally to both railroads and airlines. The parties are required to serve written notices (Section 6) of proposed changes After the period of the revolution (1775-1783), however, the biggest division came between skilled and unskilled labor. Skilled laborers commanded higher salaries due to their higher skill and training levels and they sought to preserve this edge through affiliations that came to be known as trade unions. Only the highly skilled need apply. Trade unions collected dues and provided benefits to members: widows and orphans benefits, education, and loans. They also served to influence employment opportunities and wages. You can see where this is going. Trade unions ultimately gave way to unskilled labor unions and the whole thing ebbed and flowed between pro and anti-labor sentiments with public opinion, economic prosperity and depression and politics all serving as tidal influences. Key laws were passed to define, redefine and refine the labor-management relationship. As I read through these books and slowly began to create a “picture” of the labor movement from the 1600s up through today, two facts emerged very clearly. Labor movements thrive during good economic times and deteriorate during economic down turns. And, once born, labor organizations have a tendency to self perpetuate.

in rates of pay, rules and working conditions. Collective bargaining is required to commence according to a particular time schedule. If, during the course of direct negotiations between the parties, an agreement cannot be reached, either party or the National Mediation Board can initiate mediation. The NMB has great flexibility in applying its mediation efforts in a way that will encourage an agreement. The duration, location and format of mediation are left to the informed judgement of the NMB to decide. Mediation under the Act can be a lengthy process, encompassing more than

When times are good, labor is usually in short supply. Companies want to “make hay while the sun shines,” so to speak, and the potential of a strike impacting cash flow can serve as a powerful incentive to work with the union. At these times, money is more available and labor organizations have a better chance of snagging a bigger chunk of it for their members. Compare this to times of economic depression. Job cuts are common, jobs are scarce and everyone’s happy just to be working. Money is in short supply and it is generally a good time to keep your head down and not rock the boat. I would go so far as to say that in nearly all cases, unions were formed out of some profound need; some significant disparity between management and labor. But, once that disparity is resolved unions do not simply go away. Once created, unions, like any other life form, tend to perpetuate. I’m not saying whether this is good or bad. But, history shows that it is so. 1 “A History of American Labor,” Joseph G. Rayback, 1966, The FREE PRESS, New York, N.Y. END

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Special Section - Helicopter Pilots and Unions a year, although the NMB has been making an effort to shorten the duration of mediation. The character of collective bargaining under the RLA for air carriers is similar in form to collective bargaining under the NLRA. Labor and management periodically engage in negotiations to reach a comprehensive collective bargaining agreement that will remain in effect for a specified period of time, usually three years. The Railway Labor Act requires that both parties make and maintain previously collectively bargained rates of pay, rules and working conditions while they negotiate a successor agreement. This requirement has the effect of extending the status quo for months after an existing agreement becomes amendable. If mediation proves unsuccessful, the NMB is required to proffer binding interest arbitration to the parties as a means to resolve their dispute. Either party may reject the proffer, thereby triggering an additional thirty-day delay (30-day cooling-off period) which is ordinarily accompanied by a final NMB-initiated attempt to mediate an agreement. There can be no lawful self-help by either side during this period. Even after the end of a thirty-day cooling-off period, the selfhelp option is not guaranteed. If a dispute threatens to substantially interrupt interstate commerce to a degree likely to deprive any section of the country of “essential transportation services,” the President, upon notification by the National Mediation Board, is empowered to create an Emergency Board to investigate the dispute and to issue a report that is followed by an additional thirty-day period for final negotiations. Since 1997, the President has exercised this privilege a number of times associated with major airline negotiations. Prior to that, the Presidential intervention option had been unused since the mid 60s. 8

Once this process is completed, the parties are left to self-help and further negotiation to reach an agreement. The only other alternative is a Congressional action which has never occurred in the airline industry. The RLA’s collective bargaining processes use economic selfhelp measures as a last resort for the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement and the resolution of a “major dispute.” In contrast to the NLRA, the collective bargaining procedures of the RLA are structured to make strikes and lockouts the least favored method for resolving disputes. Consistent with the RLA’s policies of avoiding disruptions to commerce, the courts have the authority to enforce the RLA’s collective bargaining requirements

or work disruptions. In the airline industry, the RLA mandates the establishment of boards of adjustment to make final and binding determinations of minor disputes. This grievance arbitration procedure, whether called an adjustment board, special adjustment board, a public law board or a system board of adjustment, has broad “subject matter” jurisdiction. Disputes arising out of grievances, or out of the interpretation or application of collective bargaining agreements, are subject to resolution by this procedure. There’s something else I want to get in here somewhere and this is as good a place as any. Many states have a great deal to say about employees’ rights as well. Each state has its own labor laws, frequently monitored by state labor boards and authorities, that enforce a State’s laws about discrimination, harassment, wages and overtime. See Autorotate Volume 3 Issue 7 SeptemberOctober 2003, “CJ Pilots Win Judgement” (Pg 18), to read more about California’s Labor Commissioner’s involvement in helicopter pilot overtime related issues. Forming a union?

and to require the parties to “keep the peace” during the negotiating process. The Supreme Court accommodated the Railway Labor Act and the NorrisLaGuardia Act’s limitations of federal court injunction jurisdiction. This means that the obligations of the RLA may be enforced by the federal courts. Grievance Disputes The third threat to labor peace specifically addressed by the Railway Labor Act involves disputes triggered by grievances emanating from the interpretation or application of agreements covering rates of pay, rules and working conditions. These areas of controversy are commonly called “minor disputes.” Minor disputes cannot provide a lawful basis for strikes

Photography: Crew change at Allen Stagefield during IERW training; Autorotate Staff.

Unions are formed when a National Mediation Board recognized election takes place and more than 50% of the voting body (let’s just say pilots) agree to form a collective bargaining unit. This process is frequently a rancorous one since both management and pro-union pilots feel strongly about making their case. While the NLRA defines the highlevel rules under which these elections may take place, there’s still lots of room for tactical maneuvering. Management will frequently agree to meet a number of the pilots’ outstanding demands and will frequently go so far as to issue memos to company employees and families predicting the ultimate demise of the company should the company be forced to negotiate with a union. CONTINUED PAGE 10

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Special Section - Helicopter Pilots and Unions

A Profile of Four Helicopter Pilot “Unions” though that was a factor, and included the desire to change a pilot’s employment status from “at will” to contractual. The union now represents the approximate 540 Gulf of Mexico and EMS pilots of PHI and the EMS helicopter pilots employed by North Texas Services, Inc. (dba CareFlite).

OPEIU Local 102—Ft. Rucker, Alabama OPEIU Local 102 is the longest lived helicopter pilot union in the United States. It was originally formed in 1973 to address the issues faced by the civilian instructor pilots training new U.S. Army pilots at Ft. Rucker, Alabama. According to pilots around at the time, the union was formed to address “the usual issues…the company would give a small raise then take it back a year or so later saying the contract was in jeopardy, benefits were inadequate or non-existent, pilots were afraid to point out problem areas because of fear for their jobs.”

According to union president Steve Ragin, the pilots have experienced a range of important improvements since the union movement was first initiated: • Wage improvements in excess of 65% • Company matching on 401K has doubled • Written, fair procedures for determining open job assignments • Improvements in accommodations for crews

Local 102 has approximately 385 members and recently built a new facility right outside one of the main entrances to Ft. Rucker. Their most recent round of contract renegotiations (2002) have resulted in significant pay increases according to the president of the local.

President Local 108—Steve Ragin; [email protected]

OPEIU Local 109—Air Methods

President Local 102—Steve Rush; [email protected]

OPEIU Local 107—Air Logistics The pilots of Air Logistics (Air Log) voted to become organized in October of 1997 and their first contract with the company was ratified in May of 1999. Air Logistics’ primary business involves servicing oil company rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Approximately 285 pilots are represented by the union. The Air Log pilots formed the first union representing Part 135 helicopter pilots and view themselves as “groundbreakers.” The union movement began to take solid shape over a number of issues including a feeling on the part of the pilots that they were not participating in the company’s significant growth and increased profits during the 90s. In fact,

they had not received a pay increase for years. Air Log pilots just recently completed extremely difficult new contract negotiations with the company. See the related piece in this issue. President Local 107—Ken Bruner;[email protected]

OPEIU Local 108—PHI A majority of PHI’s pilots voted to become organized in March of 2000. Two prior elections were close but failed to capture a majority vote. Reasons to push for organization went beyond pay,

Photography (from top to bottom): courtesy Offshore Logistics; Jack Bowers; Air Methods

The pilots of Air Methods voted to form a union in September 2003. Air Methods primary business involves EMS air operations. According to pilots involved at the time, the primary issues associated with a union vote involved “the failure of the company to provide realistic, fair or timely solutions to workplace problems: structured salary scales including “workover” and “overtime”; job protection rights; and a “just cause” review system and general improvements in benefits. Air Methods is still in the midst of the negotiation process for their initial contract. 55% of the pilots voted in favor of collective bargaining and there are approximately 600 union eligible pilots at Air Methods. END

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Special Section - Helicopter Pilots and Unions

8 Pro-union pilots may seek some assistance from existing and experienced union groups. OPEIU (Office & Professional Employees International Union) is such a group and it has supported the efforts of all of the existing helicopter pilot organizations. Highpriced legal assistance frequently becomes involved on both sides and prounion pilot leaders may even face increased job-performance scrutiny and pressures. Initial union formation battles take courage to enjoin and I have a lot of respect for those employees willing to lead them. CONTINUED FROM PAGE

OK, there’s a vote and more than 50% of the pilots decide to bargain with the company as a group rather than as individuals. They decide to form a union. Now what? Since the company, to date, does not have a contract with its pilots, the first step is to create one. This requires that management and pilot representatives sit down together to hammer out an initial agreement. This contract process frequently takes several years and usually proves to be even more tumultuous than the initial union vote. The company usually has some advantage because they know, in infinite detail, the financial statements of the company. A great deal of homework must be done by both sides and a regulated series of negotiation meetings take place. The RLA defines the framework for this process, including 10

cooling-off periods and mandatory mediation, if required. It is a laborious, stressful process with much at stake. But finally, a contract is created, and this contract, usually good for 2-3 years, defines the working conditions, pay scales, benefits, and expectations for all of the pilots in the company. This is what collective bargaining is all about. Do I have to join? Suppose you decide to go to work for an operator whose pilots belong to a labor union, do you have to join? Do you have to pay dues? Well, that depends upon whether your operation is a “closed” shop, a “union” shop, an “agency” shop, or an “open” shop. In labor parlance, this topic is known as union security. Nothing’s ever simple anymore, is it? What ever happened to plain old yes or no answers? A closed shop is one in which the employer agrees to hire only persons who are already members of the union and to discharge anyone who is not. The Taft-Hartley Act (1947) eliminated closed shops for nearly all intents and purposes (construction labor is a notable exception). A union shop agreement requires the employer to make union membership a condition of employment for all employees in the bargaining unit. A new employee does not have to be a member

when hired, but the worker must join the union after the 30 day probation period and remain a member in good standing or be discharged. Labor law is somewhat ambiguous on the legality of union shops. Consequently, most union shops actually function as agency shops. An agency shop is a modified union shop. Though employees are not required to join the union as a condition of employment, they are required to pay the union the equivalent of initiation fees and dues in return for the union’s services for acting on behalf of all the employees as their bargaining agent. In an open shop, unions are required to represent fairly and equitably all members of the bargaining unit, whether they are union members or not. In other words, the union negotiates for all the workers, but no worker is required to join the union or pay dues. Further, the union cannot refuse to process a grievance for a nonmember. Open shops are more likely to be found in the 20 or so states with “right-to-work” laws. Too many pilots If helicopter pilots have a problem, it began in Vietnam. The Vietnam war created an army (no pun intended) of helicopter pilots. Many of those that survived their war experience wanted to continue flying in the civilian world upon their return from combat. In many cases it was a simple matter of they didn’t

Photography: TH-67s ready for early morning launch at Cairns Army Airfield, Ft. Rucker; Autorotate Staff

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Special Section - Helicopter Pilots and Unions know what else to do. This created a glut of well-trained, experienced pilots. The natural law of supply and demand used this fact against them and us. If one pilot didn’t want to work for an offered wage, there would be ten pilots behind him in line who would. Wages were suppressed, benefits were limited and pilots didn’t have a full voice regarding working conditions and safety issues. We were just too easy to replace. Any objective article has to contrast the helicopter pilot’s position to that of an airline pilot with similar qualifications. The airline pilots were largely organized under the umbrella of the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) way back in the early 1930s. Shortly after World War I, the nascent aviation industry emerged not to carry people, but to carry the mail. Nearly all of the major air carriers we’ve known: United, American, TWA, Delta, Western, Northwest, etc. were formed as mail carriers and later realigned to carry passengers. It is a fascinating story if I say so myself. (See Autorotate October November 2002 and January February 03; “FARs, Can’t Live With em, Can’t ‘Live’ Without em” and “The History of Aviation, Part II” at www.autorotate.org). Airline pilots, a long time ago, found themselves in a similar position and organizing helped them in many ways. And we’re not just talking wages, we’re also talking safety. The end or just the beginning? So now we’re at the end of the article. I can’t help but feel like I’ve left some loose ends untied, and indeed I have. Are unions good? Are unions bad? Is a union right for you? That’s for each of us to decide in light of our own situation. There are, however, some observations that can be made in an objective fashion.

Have helicopter pilots historically been underpaid and undervalued? The only honest answer is yes. No matter where we worked or what type of work we did, the pay we received is historically not commensurate with our level of skill, training, and risk when compared to comparable jobs both within and without the aviation industry. Have unions been effective in raising the standards of living of pilots who belong to union shops? The evidence says yes—in some cases, dramatically. Will unions undermine the survivability of a sometimes fragile industry over time? I don’t know. I can’t see into the

future. But, are they something we need to understand and be informed about? Absolutely. I hope this issue of Autorotate has helped. Editor’s Note: Much of the legal information and labor terminology and definitions that appear in this article were taken nearly verbatim from “An Introduction to Labor Law,” by Michael Evan Gold. 1998, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY. Second Edition. Paul Bohelski contributed to the legal content of this article. END

Air Logistics Pilots Ratify New Labor Agreement After a two-year struggle involving more than 70 negotiation sessions, the 287 helicopter pilots of OPEIU Local 107 employed at Air Logistics Inc., operating in the Gulf of Mexico, and Alaska (Air Logistics of Alaska Inc.) both subsidiaries of Offshore Logistics, Inc., voted to ratify an industry-leading contract on April 4, 2005. The new fortytwo month labor agreement, unparalleled in the U.S. helicopter industry, raises wages 15%-45% based on skills and years of service. The original contract in May of 1999 between labor and management resulted in a 34% wage increase as well as improvements in benefits and working conditions. In fact, since 1997, entry level wages for VFR GOM (Gulf of Mexico) pilots have gone from $21,000 prior to the initial contract to $51,184 today. Entry level wages for

IFR pilots have gone from $32,000 to $52,511. Wages for pilots with 20 years of service have gone from $35,000 to $74,197 and wages for pilots with 29 or more years of service, flying under IFR have gone from $45,000 to $100,000. Though the negotiation process has been very difficult and at times very contentious, Air Logistics President, Drury A. Milke, praised Air Logistics employees for “continuing to perform their duties in a safe and professional manner” throughout the process. OPEIU representatives including President Michael Goodwin; Director of Organization and Field Services, Kevin Kistler; attorney Jim Hicks; and International Representative Paul Bohelski provided a great deal of assistance to the Local throughout the negotiations. END

11

A Fireside Chat about Autorotations with Pete Gillies Imagine sitting in an easy chair in front of a roaring fire on a quiet winter evening. Sitting across from you is Pete Gillies of Western Helicopters in Rialto, California; friendly, open, knowledgeable—just the kind of guy you’d like to chew the fat with in front of a crackling fire. Western Helicopters could also be called Autorotation University—it’s their specialty and Pete is the Chief Pilot. Western teaches a course on precision autorotations. Graduates include the DEA, U.S. Customs, FAA, BLM, U.S. Border Patrol, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Dept. and the list goes on. If they produced a course catalog, this course description might read something like, “How to autorotate precisely and repeatedly to a small square of land from a variety of altitudes, locations and airspeeds.” Pete and I have had numerous conversations discussing the nuances of autorotations and a recent question from me, “When is the best time to bring the throttle back in, in a power recovery autorotation in a turbine helicopter?” prompted a lengthy exchange about the entire topic. “Why not put this in the magazine,” I thought? So here it is.

Tony: Pete, I recently asked you about power-recovery autos (PRAs) in turbine aircraft. There seems to be some controversy over this subject, some pilots feeling that PRAs are a waste of time and are abusive to the machinery, while others say that there is a very definite benefit to doing them. What do you think? 12

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Photography: Tom Magill; Composite by Studio 33

13

Pete: Tony, this PRA thing is a question without a perfect, totally correct, answer. Let's skip the flight-school end of the training scenario, where PRAs are the norm, and should be. Except for taking a CFI checkride, PRAs, properly done, meet the requirements given in the Practical Test Standards. So for training to the PPL and CPL levels, PRAs are fine. Nothing more is needed. Do them right and pass the flight check! But, in the event of a real engine or drive-line failure you will have to make the best landing of your entire career. That is going to be a touch down auto (TDA). The PRAs learned in flight school are nothing more or less than a flat-pitch descent followed by a smooth transition to a hover. Yes, the pilot will learn the glide characteristics of the helicopter, and how wind, or lack of it, will affect the accuracy of the flare, but he won't learn much beyond that. Most flight-test examiners don't want the student to perform any abrupt maneuvers on the way to the flare. They really don’t want to see any major changes in attitude or airspeed, so the student should practice and practice getting the entry point just right, so the flare occurs within an acceptable distance from the requested flare point, or the target. All this looks real good on paper, so to speak, but in the real world we sometimes have engine or drive-line failures without any warning whatsoever. When this happens, the pilot is called upon to fly "those last three feet" without busting up the helicopter so badly that someone is hurt, or worse. And this is where going all the way to the ground or water, in training, is so beneficial. The pilot learns how to successfully perform the second most important part of the autorotation. Tony: What do you mean, "the second most important part of the autorotation?” Isn't the landing the most important part? 14

Pete: Not at all, Tony. Not at all. The most important part is the entry to the autorotation! If you blow that, the flight is all over at that point, and you are nothing more than a falling object all the way to the ground. I'm talking about getting the cyclic back very quickly at the first sign of a power problem. And I mean NOW. Collective down? Sure. You bet. As rapidly as you can. But unless and until the cyclic is moved aft such that the oncoming air is flowing upward through the rotor system, you are not in an autorotation, and the rotor rpm is dropping rapidly. And when it is just a few percent below the lower red line on the rotor tach, you enter a mode of flight where the rotor rpm can never be brought back into the operating range, regardless of how much altitude you have, what maneuvers you do, or anything else. The drag of the rotor system cannot be overcome by the autorotative forces trying to increase rotor rpm. Putting the pitch down is very necessary, of course. This reduces the rate of decay of the rotor rpm, but it also causes the whole rotor disc to pitch down at the front, making it even more imperative to bring the cyclic back asap! I cannot over-emphasize this, Tony. Most pilots don't have a clue about this. They think all they have to do is slam the collective down, and this will guarantee that they'll make a successful autorotation to the ground. Not so! Unless the cyclic is brought back immediately upon a power failure, the flight is probably over at that point. Cyclic back, cyclic back! This must be a "default" movement of the flight controls whenever something "big" happens to the helicopter and the pilot doesn't know what's going on. Start the cyclic back NOW, with whichever hand you have on it. If you can move the collective down at the same time, fine. Do it. But if not, give the cyclic the top priority, over the collective.

Tony: But, what do you recommend when you’re going too slow, less than 60 knots and you need to enter an auto? Pete: The entry into the autorotation, whether it will be a PRA or a TDA, is the most critical phase of the whole maneuver, as I've already said. The entry must NEVER be a push-over maneuver, which usually gives the crew a "whee" feeling as they experience less than 1-G on their bodies. Don't do that! If the engine really quits at the start of the autorotation, pushing the cyclic forward might well be the last time you ever do that! Pull the cyclic back! Get the rotor rpm back into the "green," and then carefully move the cyclic forward if you need additional airspeed for your flare. We forget that we are flying "rotarywing" aircraft. The airspeed indicator is connected to the pitot tube, not the rotor blades, and airframe airspeed is of absolutely no value at all when the engine quits and the rotor rpm is falling like a stone. What IS important is the airspeed over the "wings," which is represented by only one indicator on the panel: THE ROTOR TACH. Unless and until the rotor rpm is back in the green, nothing else matters. Cyclic back, pitch down, and hope you've done both things in time. So, a PRA is beneficial because it gives the pilot a chance to practice the right way to enter an autorotation. Never less than 1-G until the rotor rpm is back in the green! Once the rotor rpm is happy, then the pilot can do any sort of maneuvers needed to make the landing spot, but keep in mind that hard pushovers will cause the rotor rpm to quickly drop below "low red" on the rotor tach. Airspeed is important, but it's never more important than getting the rotor rpm back into the operating range. One more thing about letting your rotor RPM go too low in an auto. If it happens to you, your helicopter will turn left or

www.autorotate.com right all the way to ground contact. You cannot control the direction of flight. Why is this? Well, it's a flight limitation that we normally associate with high-speed flight. It's called retreating blade stall! If your rotor turns counter-clockwise as seen from above, the helicopter will turn left all the way to the ground. If the rotor turns clockwise as seen from above, the helicopter will turn right all the way to the ground. The Vne charts we're all familiar with don't mention the fact that the numbers on the chart assume that rotor rpm is "normal." Of course they do! But Vne can occur at much lower speeds if the rotor rpm is below normal. And that's what's happening when the rotor falls below the critical point and the pilot can't get it back into the green. The rotor rpm keeps on falling and falling, too, and the left or right turn gets tighter and tighter. Then, contact with the surface is made on the left side or right side of the helicopter, and HARD. The crashworthiness of the helicopter is greatly compromised by this, of course, as is the pilot's restraint system. Major injuries, or worse, are the norm in this type of a "landing." A final point is this. How slowly the rotor blades were turning when the aircraft hit the surface is shown by the amount of damage they sustain. Often only one or two of the blades show significant damage. Some of the blades of a multi-blade system may not even make ground contact during the crash! And this is with the ship essentially on its side! Tony: “Cyclic Back,” the Western mantra—got it. Okay, so we know that the primary benefit of practicing PRAs is that the entry can be fine tuned. How about the descent to a hover?

Pete: Assuming that during the descent the needles are split, or just barely touching each other, a lot can be learned and practiced about the way the helicopter glides and how it can be maneuvered on the way to the eventual flare. Engine or no engine, when the pitch is full down, the rotor system is totally on its own, and how the ship flies is determined by the way it is designed and the way it is being flown. Sure, the weight of the helicopter and the density altitude and the effect of externally mounted things such as FLIR balls, searchlights, antennas, etc., all figure in to the glide performance of the helicopter. But, the point is that yes, what will become a PRA at the bottom can help teach the pilot all sorts of things about how his helicopter flies when the engine is not delivering any power to the rotor system. Good stuff, and well worth the time to explore and practice.

Tell us who you are in Autorotate’s Member Profile Autorotate would like to profile YOU in one of our next issues. All we need is a good photograph of you and your helicopter; your name, e-mail address, and PHPA member ID; and a brief write up about you, your location, and your photo. Send the information via e-mail to Tony Fonze, the editor at [email protected].

Tony: Pete, you mentioned the needles being split and the engine not delivering any power to the rotor system. What is behind those comments? Pete: Tony, in 1989 we discovered what we named "The Best Kept Secret in Helicopters," or the BKS. And this is the benefit that an idling turbine engine can provide to the helicopter's rotor system during practice autorotations. Let me explain:

Live and Learn— More than just entertaining reading We can all learn from the experi-

First of all, the BKS does not apply to any piston-powered helicopters or to helicopters powered by fixed-shaft turbine engines, assuming that the throttle in these types of helicopters has been retarded such that the only two tachometer needles on the instrument panel are "split" during the entire autorotation, be it a PRA or a TDA. In piston-powered helicopters, we usually have a dual tach or individual tachs, that give the rpm of the engine and the rotor. This is also true in the three models of turbine helicopter referred to above: The Lama, the Alouette III and the Gazelle.

ences of each other. It is something we can give back to our pilot community. Your story may even save a life. With that in mind–

Get Off Your Butts and Send Me Some Live and Learns! They can be brief or long, rough drafts or well crafted. Don’t worry about your English or writing skills— that’s why we’re here. Submit your Live and Learn stories to Tony Fonze, editor at [email protected]. You’ll be glad you did, and so will we!

15

When the needles are split in this type of helicopter, the engine goes to idle and stays there until the ship is on the ground (TDA) or until the pilot rolls the throttle back on (manually, or by correlator, or both). Therefore, at no time during the maneuver does the engine assist the rotor in any way, no matter what the pilot does with the controls. For "engine failures in a hover," aka hovering autos, the engine provides no assistance at all after the throttle is rolled to idle. Now, let's take the other case—a helicopter powered by a gas-coupled compressor and turbine assembly (a "free turbine engine"), typically represented by a tachometer dedicated to the gas-producer rpm (N1 or Ng), and another tachometer dedicated to power-turbine rpm (N2, Np, etc.) along with rotor rpm (Nr, etc.). Here we are talking about every turbinepowered helicopter being produced today. And the engine just about everyone is familiar with is the well-known and popular Allison/Rolls-Royce C20 series; the C20, C20B and C20R. Let's use helicopters powered by this engine as an example, and this would include the Bell JetRanger and the MD500. Let's do a PRA in, say, an MD500D. Enter the auto by retarding the throttle to idle and moving the cyclic aft promptly, to keep Nr from dropping below the rotor operating range. And yes, pitch down promptly, too! During the descent, notice the dual tach. Are the needles split? If so, what you are experiencing during the glide is exactly what you would experience with the engine shut off, as in a "real" autorotation. But, the flight manual tells you that the maximum glide distance for a MD500D is obtained by dialing in two parameters: 80 knots IAS and the rotor rpm at 410, which is the bottom of the operating 16

range. Are these numbers correct? I have no reason to doubt them. Will the helicopter glide the farthest? Yes, it will. But, guess what? When you pull the rotor rpm down to 410 by raising the collective, you are also dragging N2 down to the same spot on the dual tach. And when you do that, the engine is still delivering approximately 17 horsepower to the rotor system! And the result is that (a) the helicopter glides farther than it would if the engine were not there at all, and (b) the pilot thinks that he/she is obviously the "ace of the base." It's an illusion. With the engine flamed out, the glide distance is reduced, and this is noted in the MD flight manuals being printed today. The really big surprise comes when a pilot is used to performing touchdown (full down) autorotations with the turbine engine at idle, and then finds out the hard way what the rotor really is like when the engine is flamed out. For most pilots, this is a BIG shock! Where did all that inertia go? Well, there never was any. “Most of it was the engine, stupid!” What you see and feel when you do that final pitch pull in a real (engine out) auto is what I call the "naked rotor." No assistance from the idling engine. And how much assistance are we talking about here? Well, for C20-series engines, when N2 is pulled down to 65% by Nr, which is the point where the rotor runs out of everything and the ship makes ground contact, the engine is delivering 35 horsepower to the rotor! Now, imagine how it feels when you pull that same pitch at the end of an autorotation, and the engine isn't there at all! BIG SURPRISE! Tony, I apologize for drifting a bit off the subject here. But, all helicopter pilots need to know that a free-turbine engine can provide some very useful (and critically important) assistance during a practice autorotation, both during the descent

and during the touchdown if one is done. The assistance occurs when N2 and Nr are joined and N2 is being dragged down by Nr. The more N2 is dragged down, the more horsepower is transferred into the rotor system. So, PRAs are very useful if Nr and N2 (or the engine tach needle) are split during the descent. The pilot will experience performance identical to what he would get with the engine completely off line. Tony: Okay, Pete. Sounds like we are coming to the point where we will begin the flare. How do you feel about PRAs at this point in the autorotation? Pete: Tony, the big discussion at this point is this: Just when does one roll the throttle back on? And what are the pro's and con's involved? Some operators roll the throttle back on when the helicopter is still well above ground level and well before the flare should begin. Many government agencies make a practice of this, hoping to avoid at least two things: (1) the pilot forgetting to roll the throttle back on in time to prevent ground contact, (2) the pilot rolling the throttle back on late in the flare, resulting in one or more exceedances during the recovery. Well, how about rolling the throttle back on during the flare but before the final pitch pull begins? The timing is often the tricky part, and the pilot's concentration is on "engine management" instead of flying the helicopter. It has to be done fairly quickly and correctly. If not, things like engine overspeed, over temp and over torque can easily occur, and if it happens on a check ride, the examiner will often stop the check ride then and there. You busted it! So for check rides not requiring touchdown autorotations, my feeling is that the throttle should be smoothly rolled on before the flare begins. But again, watch out for

www.autorotate.com overspeeds! Marry those needles such that the engine rpm doesn't go above engine redline while chasing after Nr. With a little practice, one learns to ease the collective up, causing Nr to drop slowly as engine rpm is rising, with the needles joining within the engine operating range. With the throttle rolled back on before the flare begins, the maneuver is no more than a flat-pitch descent followed by a smooth transition to a hover. These are two very normal procedures that hardly qualify as an "emergency procedure," except for the benefits already discussed above; practicing the right way of entering an auto, and practicing the gliding and maneuvering portions of the descent. There certainly is benefit to be had by performing PRAs, but the mistake is to think that this automatically qualifies one to handle a real autorotation, should one be necessary.

around and around the airport, high enough to easily glide to a runway or taxiway or big parking area, always anticipating an engine failure, you will find that PRAs just don't cut it for the serious, professional pilot. But to keep as sharp as possible between TDA recurrency sessions? Sure. Every little bit helps. But, if you really want to earn the title of Ace of the Base when you have an engine or drive-line failure, get some real-world experience with full touchdown autorotations in the make and model you fly. And if you fly turbines, get some TDA training in a piston-powered helicopter. You'll then have a much better understanding of how much inertia is in a "naked" rotor. And remember the BKS (Best Kept Secret): When you pull pitch at the bottom of an autorotation in a helicopter powered by a free-turbine engine, the

more you drag down N2 with Nr, the more assistance the engine is giving to you, and it will NOT be there when you pull pitch at the bottom of a real autorotation. That's all I can think of for now, Tony. Thank you for letting me share my thoughts with you. I hope all of your Autorotate readers will find some useful information in our conversation. Tony: I’m sure they will Pete. And, I’d be the first to suggest that if they’d like to go out and practice the real thing, the right way, they should give Western Helicopters a call.

Pete Gillies may be reached at [email protected] or telephone, 909-829-1056. END

It's those last three feet that count, when it's all said and done. Just about anyone can get down to the three-foot point, assuming they don't blow the initial entry into the autorotation. But, the metal often gets bent when the pilot has to go from three feet above ground to full ground contact. How well the helicopter and its contents make out depends on what happens to the cockpit when touchdown occurs. Was the pilot able to reduce ground speed to a minimum? And height above ground also? And was he able to control the descent so the autorotation terminated at the best landing site available? Only by practicing touchdown autorotations can one experience the challenges of hitting the spot with minimum altitude remaining and the slowest possible ground speed. Sure, when the engine failure happens right over the airport, and one has a virtually unlimited smooth, hard surface to land on, it's as easy as it's gonna get. But unless all you do is fly 17

Live & Learn

26,000 Hours and Counting

divorced my first wife. I’m not sure those events were related, but I’m not sure they weren’t, either. A helicopter pilot’s life can be bad for a family and at least 99% of the blame lay with me.

My name is Jimmy Shuler, actually, James P. Shuler, Jr., and I’m a logging pilot living in Spirit Lake, Idaho with my wife Rhonda. Rhonda is my “CoPilot in Life,” as I like to call her. We do everything together. If I work away from home, she goes with me. If the job is just too far, I won’t take it. My job will never be worth more than my family again. Rhonda is my second wife and I don’t need to learn a harsh lesson twice. I’d like to pass this bit of information on to the younger pilots entering the field along with a few other things I’ve learned about life, flying and logging.

In 2000 I moved to Idaho to do timber logging for Alpine Helicopters and now Precision Helicopters of Bonner’s Ferry, ID. Logging is my specialty. I love Huey and Lama logging. Some people think logging is hard and unsafe, but to me it’s no different than flying air conditioners. Editor’s Note: Yes, I think flying air conditioners is dangerous too.

This all might work a little better if I told you just a little bit about myself, to kind of set the stage. I was born in Bronx, N.Y. from which we promptly moved upstate to a dairy farm. I played football for the Oneonta Yellow Jackets and in 1969, I joined the Marines. I was sent to Vietnam and served with the 1st Recon Batallion, 1st Marine Division. My “sheer fear” tour of duty ended and I was honorably discharged in 1971. Shortly thereafter, I moved to Portland, Oregon where I attended helicopter school at Columbia Helicopters. My 1st flying job was flying canceled checks around Seattle, Washington for the local banks, but the nagging fear of having an engine failure over the city became too much for me and I moved out to a little town called Forks, Washington, along the coast. Here, I learned to do external loads in a Hughes 500C. I had found my place in the helicopter world. I was doing shake block logging. I’d fly cedar shakes all winter and fly in Alaska all summer. In Alaska we were tagging polar bear, brown bear and caribou. In the 80s I started doing some oil exploration seismic work all over Utah, 18

By Jimmy Shuler Carl Neubig

The secret to being a good logging pilot is to know your limits and the limits of your aircraft and do not exceed either one. “It’s better to sit in the coffee shop and tell everyone what a chicken you were today, than to have everyone else sitting in the coffee shop tomorrow talking about how stupid you were yesterday." The next day, there will be another pilot to take your place and you’ll never be remembered as long as Elvis. A lot of pilots have pasted one in the logging world and the rest of us can only learn from their mistakes, and not repeat them. Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. Lama’s were the aircraft of choice, “over 10,000 ft. you should be speaking French.” In 1990 I went to South Carolina to learn how to log timber. These timber turns were a little bigger then the cedar shake blocks I was used to. I got my first Huey (205) time here logging the Hurricane Hugo blow down—the worst storm I’ve ever seen or hope to see. Shortly afterwards, I went back to Washington where I endured three mechanical-related accidents in quick succession: two tail rotor gear box failures and an engine failure. I

Flying logs is like a good 8 oz. glass of water. If you try to put any more water in the glass you’ll only make a mess. I’ve logged 26,000 hours so far and I haven’t lasted this long by only listening to myself. I got a lot of good advice from a lot of good pilots: Mark Fisher, Jim Mott and Bud Chitdick to name just a few. These pilots have helped keep me alive. I hope to do a little of the same for others before Alzheimer’s settles in. Be safe, Jimmy Shuler END

Photography: Jimmy Shuler

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Pilot Profile Darron A. Adams Chief Pilot, Metropolitan (D.C.) Police Dept. (MPD) I am fifty-one years old, and I have been a police officer for almost twenty seven years. I became a member of the aviation unit in 1988 as a tactical flight officer. Becoming a pilot in the unit was the realization of a childhood dream. I did not know how at the time, but I knew with hard work and focus, God would help me find a way. In 1990, the former commander of the unit, Lieutenant Don Pope, initiated a pilot development program in house. Lt. Pope then heard about a government program involving The Department of the Army, Drug Enforcement Administration and the Department of Defense, where the Army would train civilian police officers to become pilots. Officer Thomas Hardy and I were the first two chosen to complete the whole program. We were in Purple Flight, 91-24 and graduated June

10, 1992. I officially became a police pilot August 20, 1992. MPD pilots have now been historically trained at Fort Rucker, through an abbreviated, 3 month course. With the exception of the two newest pilots, all of our pilots are Fort Rucker graduates. I went through the Scout track in 91/92 and really learned a lot about how to fly the scout helicopter mission. Things I still use today.

Photography: Chief Pilot/Officer Darron Adams and Chief Tactical Flight Officer James Haskel; Darron Adams

The MPD mission differs from that of the U.S. Park Police, who also fly in the area, but occasionally our missions cross when they chase a wanted suspect in from somewhere inside or outside of the beltway. We have a professional relationship with the Park Police. END

19

Back to Basics

A Mighty Wind: Wings, propellers, and helicopter rotors create lift or thrust in one direction by pushing air in the opposite direction. A helicopter’s main rotor creates thrust by accelerating the mass of air above it from zero to some final velocity below it. By adding energy to the air stream in order to maintain the required mass of air flowing through the rotor disc every second, or mass flow rate, the rotor is able to produce thrust via this acceleration of air from above to below. This is Newton’s Second Law: force (thrust) equals mass (of air) times acceleration (of that air mass), or F = ma. All of this accelerated air results in a wind that can be annoying, even dangerous, or at times very useful. But what determines how much downwash a particular helicopter will create? Why are downwash and disc loading design considerations for engineers? And, what do they tell pilots about their aircraft? Using momentum theory, an expression can be derived for the velocity of the main rotor downwash. This downwash velocity, called the ideal induced velocity, is given by the equation:

where T is the rotor thrust in pounds, A is the rotor disc area in square feet, and ρ, the Greek letter rho, is the air density in slugs per cubic foot. This gives a downwash velocity, vi, in feet per second. In this equation we can see the relationship, T/A, the thrust divided by the area, which is the term for disc loading. Recalling that in a hover, the rotor thrust equals the aircraft gross weight, the induced velocity can be further written as:

THRUST

ROTOR DISC

vi 2vi figure 1

This vi is the induced velocity right at the rotor disc itself, while in the fully developed slipstream the velocity of the air is twice the downwash velocity in the equations above, or 2vi. Figure 1 illustrates the rotor slipstream. What does this tell us about the relationship between rotor size, disc loading and downwash? A given amount of thrust requires a certain mass flow rate, and a smaller rotor will have to pass this mass of air through it at a faster velocity. An example of this is two hoses of different size each delivering the same amount of water per second. In order to keep up with the flow rate from a larger hose, the flow velocity must be faster from the smaller hose. For higher disc loadings, higher downwash velocities are produced, while lower disc loadings produce lower downwash velocities. For a given helicopter, the downwash will increase or decrease with gross

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weight. Also, as the density of the air decreases, as with increasing density altitude, the rotor will have to push the available air faster to maintain the same mass flow rate. A comparison of downwash velocity versus disc loading for several rotorcraft is shown in Figure 2. The comparison is made at sea level on a standard day using each aircraft’s maximum gross weight. To provide some perspective, two horizontal lines denote the thresholds of both gale and category one hurricane winds. As the downwash reaches its maximum velocity between one and two rotor diameters below the rotor disc, it is worth noting the altitudes at which it can still reach the ground with considerable energy. Consider the diameter of the rotor on the helicopter you fly, and its downwash, and this will give you an idea of where you might be likely to experience brown out or white out. It will also give you an Diagrams: Courtesy of Eric Scheie

www.autorotate.com

Downwash and Disc Loading

By Eric Scheie

95 V-22 85

D o w n w a s h V e l o c i ty ( m p h )

BA 609

Category 1 Hurricane

75

CH-53E

65

S-92 CH-47D/F

55

Bell 412 EC-135

S-76 Mi-8 MD900

MD500E

45 Gale 300C

Bell 206B-3

35 R-22 Beta II

25 0

5

10

15

20

25

Disc Loading (lbs/sq ft)

figure 2

appreciation of the potential hazards to people and property from flying debris created by rotor wash in and around a landing zone. During an approach, you can also end up blowing FOD onto your landing zone as well as away from it. For those with wheeled landing gear, even ground taxiing can pose a hazard, something to be aware of if you are asked to taxi near light aircraft. Why is disc loading important? A primary design consideration affecting disc loading is whether a helicopter is going to be used mainly in hovering applications, or will it spend more time in cruise flight at higher speeds. Another design consideration is the power available from the power plant to be used – will it be able to provide enough power to the desired rotor system to lift the helicopter? Power plant fuel consumption will affect the amount of fuel needed to be carried, which in turn affects range, pay-

load capacity, and gross weight. There are also structural issues to consider regarding the stresses the blades will have to withstand, along with something very basic – will the rotor even be able to fit on the helicopter? Any increase in rotor radius will improve its efficiency in a hover due to the decrease in induced power as a result of the decrease in induced velocity. However, simply increasing the radius without addressing the tip speed and chord length of the blades can lead to a situation where the increase in profile power negates much of the benefit of the decreased induced power. Disc loading also influences a helicopter’s autorotation performance. A helicopter with a higher disc loading will require a higher descent rate for steady state autorotation. For aircraft with very high disc loadings it may become difficult to achieve acceptable autorotation

characteristics. These characteristics will also help determine the shape of a particular helicopter’s height-velocity diagram. By now it is probably evident that changing one aspect of a design can require changes in other areas. Nearly everything is inter-connected in some fashion. This is why aircraft design is an iterative process and one involving making compromises. Understanding disc loading, downwash, and a simple equation derived from momentum theory, illustrate relationships that can tell us quite a bit about our helicopter. Eric Scheie flew helicopters in the U.S. Navy and now flies for a major EMS provider. Look for future “Back to Basics” columns in Autorotate. If you have a “Back to Basics” area you’d like us to explore, or if you’d like to pass a message on to Eric, please let me know at [email protected] © Eric Scheie, 2004 END

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(This month’s questions were derived from “The Principles of Helicopter Flight” by W.J. Wagtendonk)

A. Flapping B. Coning C. Bernoulli’s Principle 3. Which of the following statements are true about “blow-back” A. Blow-back causes the nose of the aircraft to rise and the thrust vector to shift backwards B. Blow-back is a reaction to dissymmetry of lift and flapping C. All of the statements are true D. The cyclic must be moved forward to overcome the problem

5. Flying for maximum range requires

9. In autorotation, the driven region can be found

A. Flying for minimum drag for the horsepower required

A. Closest to the main rotor hub

B. Flying at the highest TAS C. Flying at the highest reasonable altitude 6. An object traveling on a curve must have a force pulling it towards the center of the curve. This force is called A. Centripetal force B. Coriolis effect C. Centrifugal force 7. Rotor RPM may increase in a flare because

B. In the center of the rotor disc C. Near the outside of the rotor disc 10. The requirements for entering vortex-ring state include A. A low or zero airspeed, some use of power, a rate of descent in the range of 400 fpm depending upon the aircraft B. A low or zero airspeed, a tail-wind, a rate of descent in the range of 1000 fpm C. High gross weight, high rate of descent, low airspeed

A. Lowering of the collective if a height gain is to be avoided results in increased RPM B. The increasing rotor thrust causes coning angles to increase which shifts the center of gravity of the blades inward (coriolis effect) resulting in increased rotational velocities C. Both A and B are true

4. B. Induced flow (the amount of air being pulled down through the rotor system) is inversely proportional to the angle of attack (more induced flow, less angle of attack). This phenomenon can be used to explain many helicopter aerodynamic observations: ground effect, transverse flow effect, etc.

2. Dissymmetry of Lift, the difference in lift between the advancing and retreating blades is alleviated by

C. Make you a lawn dart

5. A. Flying for range requires deriving the greatest usefulness for the power utilized. This occurs when we use the least amount of power to achieve the greatest amount of TAS to minimize drag. Increases in altitude ( C ) will also yield improvements in range.

C. The air in a tight confined area continues to recirculate at ever higher speeds increasing induced flow and decreasing the angle of attack resulting in continued collective increases.

B. Worsen the situation

B. False

6. A

B. A pilot inappropriately increases collective during low rotor RPM (frequently when approaching a hover at altitude) causing further rotor rpm decay.

A. Improve the situation

A. True

7. C

A. The pilot advances the cyclic too far forward during take-off and the front of the skids hit the ground.

8. Moving the cyclic aft during retreating blade stall will

8. B. Moving the cyclic aft worsens the stall. Aft cyclic produces a flare effect, reducing inflow angles and induced flow and increasing angles of attack. Easing the cyclic forward also worsens the matter because forward cyclic produces blade angle changes with the greatest increase in blade angle on the retreating side. Any recovery from retreating blade stall must involve reducing the angles of attack by lowering the collective, then aft cyclic can be used to slow down.

1. Over-pitching occurs when,

4. Induced flow is directly proportional to angle of attack

9. C. The stalled region is closest to the rotor hub and the driving region is found between the stalled and driven regions.

Editor’s Note: The physics of helicopter flight can get somewhat complicated, as we all know. I think the Wagtendonk book does the best job of any I’ve encountered of explaining these complicated phenomena in a way that most of us can still understand. I’ve read it twice and am still learning from it. I hope you’ll indulge me in the next few quizzes as we review some of the physical principles of helicopter flight.

10. A. A is the most correct answer though the presence of a tail wind and high gross weight can be contributors

Test pilot

3. C. During the initial stages of takeoff, the disc is tilted forward by the cyclic. As airspeed is gained and flapping eliminates dissymmetry of lift, the front of the disc shifts up and the back of the disc shifts down. This reorientation of the disc is called blow-back. As soon as the disc experiences blow-back the cyclic must be moved forward yet again to overcome the problem. 2. A. Flapping. The advancing blade flaps up, resulting in a decrease in angle of attack and the retreating blade flaps down, resulting in an increase in angle of attack. 1. B. As the collective is increased, the coning angle on the blades increases, effectively decreasing the disc size and the rotor thrust vectors point more inward, further reducing effective vertical thrust. C is called recirculation. Answers

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