"Searching" for feedback. It gives a sense of security to feel that the the aircraft is responding to your input.

Good video and congratulations on the book. Try this... Bring the aircraft to about a three foot stable hover. Without changing the collective position, stir the cyclic. In most helos loaded with relatively full gas and two pilots, the aircraft will actually settle to the ground without collective input. That's how much inefficiency in lift you introduce into the rotor system by "stirring the pot." This is a great way to illustrate the point. Also consider this... Performance charts do not take into account excessive cyclic movements during an OGE hover. They're figured in relatively stable hover regimes. Now consider yourself in an OGE hover with outside inputs that you have to react to with the cyclic in order to maintain your position over the ground due to rapid CG shifts and general instability. I'm talking about Fast Rope Insertions and maybe long-line, hoist ops...stuff like that. If you've done the math and found that you will be operating just below limits, this cyclic stirring (somewhat required and unavoidable in these cases) can be just enough to exceed limits. I've found it very helpful in planning to back it off and leave some room for real life in those performance numbers.

My instructor called it “making cyclic soup!” I didn’t even realize that I was doing it! He showed me that it is a bad habit because if you are operating at or near max power it will take away a bit of lift that you need. Also I love the videos Kenny keep up the great work!! I have been a HOGS member for many years:)

My initial rotorcraft flying was in a very stiff cyclic. I learned some bad habits. I called it "Nudging." I was constantly nudging the cyclic back and forth to keep it in the intended flight path. I guess the instructor just didn't care about it, or what I don't know. My Checkairman, combined with R44 I was flying for my private checkride, probably broke 80% of that habit! Yes I wasn't happy about the correction, but they made me a better pilot!

“Making cookies”/ “Stirring the pot” . I show my students from a stable hover that if you “stir the pot”, it causes the loss of lift and you will settle to the ground. Then when they stop stirring, the helicopter will lift right back up, never touching the collective.

More Great Helicopter Information Kenny!!!

Yep. It happens with students in airplanes, too. I did it when I first started in 1962 flying a 7AC Champ. My instructor was old school. He warned me about it and when I didn't respond appropriately he grabbed the joystick and slammed it back and forth on the inside of my knees. Ouch! don't recommend it, but it was effective. Ever since it's been something I see in nearly all of my students and applicants in both airplanes and helicopters and work hard to eradicate. I think it's caused partially by tenseness, which is why it manifests on touchdown and autorotations, and partially because they haven't developed the muscle memory or control touch yet that they'll have with more experience.

I'm going the other direction.... Stirring the soup for the beginner is a good thing. The goal is to fly a stable ship, and if they are getting the feel for the cyclic , you need to work it in all directions too learn the feeling of balancing on a ball. If you are too rigid you won't get the feeling. To call out a student is a good thing because the goal is to stabilize the ship and they will tune up their game...Smooth controls with no drift is the goal.After a week of no flying i would always stir the soup until I had the feeling back.. It did help me feel the ship but getting called out on it also helped too tighten it up....

Thanks 🙏 Kenny

Thank you sir!

I am guessing it happens in an attempt to stay stable. They probably get into the habit if they struggle with the pendulum action that happens in the beginning learning to hover.

Control hunting. You see it on boats or people driving vehicles. They will constantly jostle the steering wheel back and forth between the play in steering. But if they just relax and hold the steering wheel in the center of those two points, the vehicle will go straight. With "stirring the pot" and "collective pumping" I imagine they're just over-correcting because of lag in the control/response. If you're stressed, you're probably over-correcting. You have to fight against pilot-induced-oscillations.

I’m definitely guilty. I wonder if this happens when you tense up and lock your wrist? If you lock your wrist, small, fine corrections are now being coordinated by the muscles in your shoulder- which is objectively less precise than muscles in your forearm and fingers. Hence over controlling ensues. Just a guess. Thoughts?

My girlfriend said that you need to add "patting you head while rubbing your tummy". She was laughing and joking. No disrespect.

I know the feeling, Kenny - I had a '72 El Camino. Bought it in Phoenix for next to nothing. Drove it home to MA from CA after I moved there for a few months (until I crashed my motorcycle and ran out of money). Had the car 11 years. In '07 I bought a Silverado 1500 brand new - first new vehicle I had ever bought in my life, so the car sat. Mice got into the interior and destroyed it. I got spooked that the car was going to hell, and sold it like a dummy. Now I can't even buy a rotted out junk for what I sold it for! It was many times what I paid, but I'd rather have the car! Biggest regret of my life. If I could buy another one, I would in a heartbeat. Can't wait to see what you're eyeballing there Kenny! I have a feeling we're going to see more tire paint on the hangar floor ... gotta christen it, ya know. 😉😁 Great vid, Kenny - good for me to learn what not to do, in case I ever get the opportunity to do it. 👍

Doobie Brothers, Min by min...

How long is the 4th of July sale will last? Thank you 🚁

I found myself doing that in the hover in the R44.

First!!!