One of my Christmas presents from Bron was a voucher for a helicopter training session. I waited until the warmer weather and set off towards the end of May 2019 on a sunny and calm day from Cardiff Heliport. The instructor gave an initial account of the inventor and designer of this, the smallest of all helicopters. He said no traditional helicopter firms would develop this very small version as they saw no worthwhile market for these apart from military use. So Frank Robinson made the first in his garage at home and took several years to get it certified by the authorities. The Model R22 is small with room for just two of us. The engine is basic and comes from a Cesna. The controls are all rod connected with no hydraulics and electric assistance. As a result the flight controls are very sensitive and require a light touch to avoid over-correcting. A student who masters an R22 does not have a problem transitioning to a heavier helicopter.

 

Having told me all this, we hopped in and spent the next ten minutes in pre-flight checks. The glass bubble canopy where we were sitting was like a greenhouse on a sunny day, however, after we took off little metal flaps in the doors could be opened to allow a flow of cool air, like my father's 1935 Morris Ten. Before taking off, the engine had to be run up to working temperature.  The log single span propeller gathered speed and slowly beat the air like a pheasant trying to take off from the hedgerow.

 

It was then time to talk to Cardiff air traffic control and the Whizz-helicopters head office in Wrexham. All this came through on my headset as well as the pilot talking me through his every move. Finally we left the safe haven of tarmac and were quickly at 1,000 ft and well above the oil terminal in Cardiff docks. We flew up towards the city passing the Sennedd and were soon over the City Hall. All the close-packed houses of Cathays side streets were spread in neat rows beneath us as we approached the Heath hospital and turned right towards Newport.

 

The pilot then invited me to have a go. He'd already briefed me on the ground about the very gentle touch needed to affect altitude and direction, nevertheless I was surprised at the difficulty in not overreacting in aligning with the horizon or tilt as we banked towards the large white LG factory in Newport. It requires much more concentration than I'd expected and I was quite glad when he took back control and turn to the coast line and back towards Cardiff. I flew a little more before we returned to base, then the pilot took the helicopter into the white triangle that was our landing mark.

 

He then stopped 10ft above ground and tried to teach me how to hover steadily. That was even more difficult than any other skill and he had to keep correcting my imbalance. Finally he took control and flew very fast round the boundary of the airfield tilting the helicopter on it side as he flew past trees and back round to our resting place. That really shows how fast and controllable the little machine is in the hands of an expert.

 

We touched down and completed the routine of reducing revs and cooling the engine before starving the engine of aviation fuel, which silences all except the huge rotor which continues to swing round until he pulls on the parking brake.

 

It was an amazing experience, but I'll never aspire to holding a licence for a private helicopter as it really is far beyond my capability to acquire a new skill of this difficulty.