how important is the robinson safety course

Robinson Safety Course This European Robinson Safety Course is designed for a range of pilot abilities, from those who have recently gained their PPL (H) to more experienced pilots and instructors. The aim is to assist you in reaching a greater level of aircraft knowledge and safety awareness.

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The Course

The course began with an introduction by Kurt Robinson, president and CEO of Robinson Helicopters and son of company founder Frank Robinson. Kurt welcomed us all to the course and explained why it’s important to enhance pilot safety awareness through education and training.

The Aircraft

This was my first time flying a Robinson product. The R66 was easy to start while monitoring the N1 and temperature gauges. Although I’ve never flown an aircraft with the famous Robinson “T” handle cyclic, and was not sure I would like it, I found it very easy to get used to.

Organization

Class photo of recent graduates of Robinson’s pilot training course in Torrance.

Final Thoughts

Robinson practices good safety risk management, which is a fundamental part of a Safety Management System (SMS). By doing this, they help prevent personal injury, ensure a safe working environment, sustain public confidence, and help prevent property and environment damage. The Pilot Safety Course is a good example of safety risk management.

Where is the Robinson course held?

The course is held in Torrance, California at the Robinson Factory. Torrance is about 15 miles south along the coast from LAX. It was very easy to find with the map that Robinson sends you in the course packet. The drive is nice with not too much traffic for California standards and you basically stay on one road the whole time.

Who was the first pilot to teach at Robinson?

Our first instructor was Tim Tucker, he is the Chief Pilot for Robinson and has worked there for many years, starting as a test pilot on the R22 I believe. He has over 20k hours of RW and knew his stuff to say the least. He travels all over the world holding these same factory courses and had just returned from Greece. It was cool to hear about the early days at Robinson, and what they all had gone thru to get to where they are today.

How many hours before TBO on R44?

Because of this, the engine manufacturer has allowed 2000 hours before tbo on the engine instead of the 1500 on the fix wing engines, realizing that it is not stressed in the R44 like the same engine used in fix wing aircraft (the fix wing run the engine at near max rpm most of the time).

Why are there so many young pilots with low time?

It sounds just like it was when I did it. The reason so many young pilots with low time are there is because it is normaly required in order to flight instruct. This is an insurance requirement. Since there is such a long wait time most schools tell their students to sign up as soon as the have their PVT or close to it.

Is a turbine engine more reliable than a piston engine?

First, the thoughts in the industry that turbine engines are so much more dependable than piston engines. This was true in the early days, when piston engines were ran at higher and higher rpms to get the maximum power out of them needed for helicopters. These engines failed a lot due to the stress from all the high revs. Now days, piston engines have the horsepower needed for helos, and they are much more dependable for many reasons… better ignitions, stronger alloys, etc. So, the difference between turbines and pistons are not that far apart when it comes to dependability. In fact, in ten years there has been only one accident related to a piston engine failure in a Robinson. (now, I hear the gears grinding in your head.. that’s not “engine failures” as there have been more of those, but accidents attributed to engine failures. There have been other failures, but those ended in successful autos to safe landings). I would like to know the numbers industry wide of engine failures, both turbine and piston to do a comparison. (The numbers that I wrote down from the class are: in a 5 year period there were 13 turbine failures in Bell 206’s, 9 turbine failures in MD500’s, and none in the R44).