Helicopter Dreams

I must show you what a collegue of mine sent to me. A piece of symphony, lean back, put on your favourite headphones and enjoy Stockhausen’s “Helicopter String Quartet”!

Karlheinz Stockhausen says that he first conceived of “Helicopter String Quartet” in a dream, and it’s not long into the 32-minute piece that you’re right there with him, hovering somewhere between fleeting vision and unimaginable reality. The composition, originally executed in 1995, recorded the members of the Arditti String Quartet playing inside four Royal Dutch Air Force Helicopters. The choppers, meanwhile, flew patterns charted in the composer’s score. Both the helicopters and the string players were miked for sound, broadcasting in real time to a console on the ground where Stockhausen mixed them together.

Thanks for the contribution Björn!

Here is an excellent instructional video in 8 episodes from the 80’s (about 80 minutes). Sit back and enjoy, really good if you want to learn about the basics of the helicopter and the maneuvers. I like the style of the guys in the video!

Just got home after Qualifying Tests in Navigation and Meteorology, passed both of them, yes, yes! I had 82 % in MET and 90 % in NAV, you need 75 % to pass. I better sign up for final tests next week, otherwise I might forget everything that I’ve stuffed into my head (learn for life…ehhh?).

Still need to practice some more on the Radio navigation using the ADF/NDB and VOR.

Only one thing before I go to bed, need to check the weather forecast for tomorrow, flying or not?

Good night!

When I got back after the exam in Radio Communication on Saturday, I had a rest of about 30 minutes before I started to study like a maniac for the rest of the weekend, non-stop. We have two QT (Qualifying tests) tomorrow in Navigation and Meteorology. I just got back from todays lesson in Navigation (NAV 7), where we did some sum up of everything until the test tomorrow.

If it at least could be some snow outside, in the northern parts it’s loads of snow already and here in Stockholm it’s dark, cold and rainy, which also is the reason why it’s almost impossible to get up in the air this time of year. BUT…today I did! I had a great time today, I was more relaxed than ever before. Pretty good conditions, a bit windy, about 16 kt, clouds at about 1100 feet.

I flew for about 1,5 hours north of Stockholm, close to the exclusive golf course in Bro making smooth landings and take offs. The only thing that I didn’t get to work was the very last part before the landing. You really have to coordinate the Collective and the Cyclic so that you don’t overdo any of them, they need to be in synch. I tended to flare the helicopter (by reducing the Cyclic) too much instead of making a smooth reduction of speed in combination with raising the Collective. After a couple of times it worked quite well and we went back to Bromma airport for some hovering.

Wish me good luck for the tests tomorrow, may the God of all helicopters be with me!

Yes! Did my first exam at LFV this morning, in Radio Communications. 20 questions in 30 minutes, a bit trickier than I thought, not because it was difficult more that I realised that I should have studied some parts more in detail. It’s always difficult to know what parts to cover when you at the test only get parts of whats covered during the course. It will be 10 times worse on wednesday when we have the qualifying tests in Navigation and Meteorology. In other words you know what I’ll be doing this weekend!

One part that is more MET related that I wasn’t sure of today was the “sky covered with clouds” differencies:

• SKC - Sky clear (0/8 of sky covered with clouds)
• FEW - Few (1-2/8 of sky covered with clouds)
• SCT - Scattered (3-4/8 of sky covered with clouds)
• BKN - Broken (5-7/8 of sky covered with clouds)
• OVC - Overcast (8/8 of sky covered with clouds)

Need to get back to the MET and NAV studies!