Chapter 5
The sun rose in Mineral Wells area for the start of another day of training at Fort Wolters.
After breakfast, Michael joined Eric, Bruce, and Calvin on the bus. They headed back to the Downing heliport.
The bus arrived at the Downing heliport.
Michael, Eric, Bruce, and Calvin now waited outside that large building.
"Good morning. Let's have Wilson go with me to the stagefield Ramrod this time. The rest of you can ride the bus over there," IP Perry said while he walked up to the four candidates.
Eric walked away with IP Perry to the TH-55 helicopter.
Michael, Bruce, and Calvin walked over to the bus along with the other candidates.
It was a quiet nervous ride for Michael while the bus drove over to the stagefield Ramrod. His mind raced with thoughts of screwing up again.
A little while later, the bus parked by the hut at the stagefield Ramrod. The bus doors opened, and all the candidates filed out and walked over to the hut.
Some of them stopped at the door of the hut and looked at the stagefield. They had sparkles in their eyes while they saw helicopters practicing hovering techniques. Michael went inside the hut with his TH-55 manual in hand like a schoolboy.
While Michael waited in the hut, he studied the crap out of his manual. He also started to get nervous when he was the last one to take a lesson today.
"I'm going to be eliminated! I know it!" he muttered to himself while he tried to concentrate on his manual.
Time had passed. Bruce walked up to the table where Michael, Eric, and Calvin studied their manuals.
"It's your turn, Michael," Bruce said while he sat down at the table and looked beat.
Michael looked nervous while picked up his flight helmet and stood up.
Michael walked out of the hut and saw the TH-55 chopper with IP Perry waiting outside on the tarmac. He rushed over to the chopper and ducked down when he got close to the rotating blades.
Michael got inside the chopper and looked nervous with flying. "Mr. Perry," he said the second he hooked up his flight helmet to the intercom.
"Yes, Grayson," IP Perry said while he glanced over at Michael.
"I'm so sorry for yesterday," Michael said and looked ashamed.
"Sorry? For what?" IP Perry said and looked a little baffled by Michael's statement.
"For my poor performance. I don't know what went wrong. I've been studying how to fly helicopters since I was a kid. I know everything there is to know about them. Yesterday should have been so easy for me," Michael told him.
"Listen. Reading about how to fly and flying them are two different things. Trying to hover one of these contraptions is somewhat like trying to balance a tennis ball on a needle. I sucked when I started. So don't worry, it takes time and practice," IP Perry said then patted Michael on his shoulder.
"Thanks," Michael said, feeling better and was still nervous.
"Come on. I'm going to teach you how to fly a helicopter," IP Perry said.
A few minutes later, IP Perry lifted the TH-55 off the tarmac and taxied down the stagefield.
IP Perry hovered the TH-55 about four feet off the ground.
"Okay, you have the cyclic and anti-pedal controls," IP Perry told Michael.
Michael looked nervous while he placed hands and boots on the controls.
The TH-55 chopper moved forward.
Michael moved the cyclic back.
The TH-55 moved backward.
Michael moved the cyclic forward.
The TH-55 moved to the right.
Michael moved the cyclic to the left.
The TH-55 moved to the left.
"Rest your right arm on your right leg. Use tiny movements with the cyclic," IP Perry instructed Michael.
Michael followed his instruction and rested his right arm on his right leg.
The TH-55 continued with the forward, backward, right, and left movements. But his movements were not as drastic as before.
"Don't tense up your arm as that will cause the helicopter to move around," IP Perry told Michael.
Michael relaxed a bit, and he started to have better control of the chopper.
They finished hovering practice and other maneuvers. IP Perry flew away and headed back to the Downing heliport.
He leveled off at one thousand feet. "I'm going to let you take control of her. See that distance between the horizon and the tips of the blades?"
Michael looked straight ahead and saw that distance. "Yes, sir."
"Good. Now, keep that distance with the cyclic. That will keep the airspeed constant. If that distance decreases, your airspeed will increase. If that distance increases, your airspeed will decrease. It's all about outside references," IP Perry added. "Okay, take over the controls."
Michael places his hands and boots on the controls. He concentrated with keeping the tips of the blades at the same distance above the horizon. He did a great job.
"Now, while you're flying, I want you also to keep your head moving from inside to the outside. I want you to crosscheck for airspeed, altitude, rpm and ground track," IP Perry said. "Airspeed, altitude, rpm, and ground track," IP Perry repeated to get it deep-seated in Michael's head.
Airspeed, altitude, rpm, and ground track! Michael repeated to get it burned in his mind while he performed those functions.
While Michael flew the TH-55, he practiced turns to the right then turns to the left. He also practiced making one hundred eight degree turns to the left and then to the right.
He flew the chopper back to Downing heliport at eighteen hundred feet to the east area marker.
He turned the TH-55 and headed to the outer marker.
"I got the controls," IP Perry said while he placed his shoes and hands on the controls.
Michael removed his boots and hands off the controls. He watched while IP Perry started descending the TH-55 back to the main heliport at Fort Wolters.
A little while later IP Perry landed the TH-55 chopper on the flightline.
The engine idled. "We'll give her a few minutes to cool down," IP Perry told Michael. They waited.
A few minutes passed. "Shut her down," IP Perry told Michael.
Michael grabbed the cockpit card off the console.
IP Perry watched while Michael performed the shutdown procedure per the cockpit card.
The engine whined down, and the blades started slowing down.
IP Perry glanced over at Michael. "See. You were a lot better after the second day. And I have a gut feeling that it'll get easier for you each day," he said.
"Thank you, sir," Michael said and felt a little more confident that he might not get eliminated.
The weeks passed, and Michael started to get the hang of flying a helicopter.
He mastered hovering and was proud when he received his "Hoverbug" card from IP Perry.
More weeks had passed. Michael was taking off, landing, and doing other maneuvers, including autorotations. He started to look like a helicopter pilot.
Then one day at the stagefield Ramrod, IP Perry had Michael landed and idled the copter.
"Take her around for three circuits then come back here and pick me up," IP Perry said. He unbuckled his harness then disconnected his helmet from the intercom.
Michael looked nervous, and IP Perry saw it in his eyes.
"Don't worry, I wouldn't step out if I didn't feel confident you can do this," IP Perry said.
IP Perry rushed away from the chopper, and when he was at a safe location, he gave Michael a thumbs-up sign.
"Michael glanced over at the empty left seat, and he had a sense of scary loneliness. He took a deep breath and glanced back at IP Perry. He wondered if that would be the last person he would see before he perished.
He revved up the engine and soon lifted the TH-55 chopper off the flightline
He taxied the TH-55 to the nearest lane.
Michael taxied over to Lane 2 and started his take-off.
"It's now up to me and only me," Michael said.
Michael completed his required three circuits and landed back to IP Perry.
IP Perry got back inside the TH-55 and buckled in his seat and hooked up his helmet to the intercom.
"Great job," IP Perry said then patted Michael on his right shoulder.
Michael gleamed from ear to ear, and the feeling of flying a helicopter alone was the best feeling in the world.
"I told you it would get easier," IP Perry said.
"That you did," Michael replied with his huge grin.
"Let's head back to Downing," IP Perry.
"Yes, sir," Michael replied. The engine revved up, and the blades were slicing their way faster through the air.
Michael lifted the TH-55 off the flight line and taxied to Lane 2.
A little while later, Michael landed the TH-55 back at the Downing heliport. After it cooled down, Michael worked on the shutdown procedures.
While they walked back to the hangar, Michael wore his yellow cap with the brim at the front. He had a huge grin.
It was later that day. Michael and the rest of his class went on the Army bus to the Holiday Inn located in the town of Mineral Wells.
This was a local hangout for the candidates of the helicopter school. They had solo parties at this hotel.
Eric, Bruce, Calvin, and other candidates carried Michael. They walked him under the two rotor blades that were in the ground like a large "A" letter. This was a tradition.
Two other groups of candidates carried two other candidates that also soloed today. They walked under the rotor blades.
They carried Michael and the two other candidates to the swimming pool area.
They tossed Michael and the two other candidates into the swimming pool.
Michael got out of the pool, soaking wet.
The two other candidates also got out of the pool soaking wet.
"You should feel lucky. In the past they would throw you in any water hole or a mud puddle," Bruce told Michael.
"Lucky me," Michael said. He walked over to a table where there were some cold beers waited to assist with their celebrations.
The candidates partied drinking beer, laughing at jokes and their training goofs. Life was grand.