Robinson R44 commercial helicopter lesson (straight, 180, and zero speed autos)

These are the highlights from a recent commercial helicopter lesson in the Robinson R44 helicopter. I have just under 100 hours total and less than 20 hours in the R44. For the first 14 hours I flew in a steam gauge R44. Now I alternate between that and a glass cockpit R44. This lesson was my first time with a third person onboard. Highlights include a steep approach, straight in auto, 180 auto to the right, 180 auto to the left, zero speed auto, aborted takeoff, max performance takeoff, MCP cruise to a helipad, and a dolly landing. I started off in a Cabri G2. I’ve almost finished paying off my PPH license training and, in another six months or so, will have enough hours to take my commercial test. This R44 is a fantastic helicopter to fly. Coming from the G2, the hydraulic cyclic takes a bit of getting used to. The glass cockpit in the G2 was laid out very well, but the main gauges were classic style. The Garmin glass cockpit takes some getting used to, but I’m getting the hang of it. The VSI readout is a bit small, though, and hard to scan. The moving map display is great and vey easy to read, but it doesn’t incorporate ADSB or the onboard anti collision system so I like to have ForeFlight on my knee and the Sentry mini in the window. ForeFlight also has a great obstacle feature that keeps me informed of upcoming towers. You might notice that I moved the cyclic a little too much a few times in the video. The 3rd person onboard moved the C.G. forward, which required a little more aft cyclic. I have a 40” waist and this change brought the cyclic back to just a small amount of clearance. With just 2 people onboard, I can rest my forearm on my thigh. During this lesson, I didn’t find a good resting spot with the cyclic so far back. Something to work on in the future.