President’s Helicopter

It is a summer Saturday morning. Andrey Morozov, President of CBOSS Corporation, boards a helicopter and takes the pilot’s seat. He is headed to the Tver oblast to visit the CBOSS recreation center and furniture factory. There is no time to answer the journalist’s question, whether it’s a hobby or social responsibility of business – he is busy with engine warm-up and pre-flight checks.

THE STANDARD # 7(54), July 2007

First – ignition, then – rotor rotation. The pilot should concentrate on the machine. Request and permission to take-off. Climbing, setting the course, taking an air corridor, reporting on passing the first checkpoints. We are moving at the altitude of 450 m and heading Northwest. Before passing the control from Sheremetyevo’s to Tver’s dispatchers, connection is temporarily lost. Here – where radio exchange is most important – connection, unfortunately, is almost unavailable. Commands are passed via another aircraft, flying twenty kilometers behind us. At last, pilot Morozov holds his promise to tell us about helicopters and the Robinson-44 we are flying.

Da Vinchi’s Rotor

It is generally considered that aeronautics with the lifting force of a rotor was invented by the great Leonardo. However he did not invent the helicopter. To do this, numerous engineers created and perfected various additional devices. The revolving rotor, joyfully soaring upwards, cannot unfortunately perform the most important task – cargo transportation in the air. A rotary wing aircraft has six or even seven degrees of freedom. To be able to control the flight, the aircraft has at least to be reliably stabilized. The rotation of the body of the helicopter in the opposite direction of the main rotor, in accordance with the laws of mechanics, was successfully compensated by an anti-torque tail rotor. The regulation of the blade angle in the main rotor allowed pilots to manage the upward-downward movement. But even after this, a helicopter remained a monocycle, prone to falling to the side. A breakthrough in helicopter aviation was achieved in Russia at the beginning of the ХХ century when a device enabling continuous alteration of the angle of attack of the main rotor blades was invented. Thanks to this so-called swash plate, the helicopter started to literally flap its wings and stabilize itself. The aircraft is kept in the air by a large flapping round wing; however difficult it is to fly, certain skills make the experience safe, easy and exciting.

Below the Lowest

Robinson-44 is a two blade four-seated American budget helicopter. A 260-hp engine allows the speed of up to 220 km/h and altitude of up to 4 km. We are moving at the altitude standard for small aircrafts, as pilots say, “below the lowest range” (below 900 m). There is no steering wheel in the helicopter. The aircraft is controlled by the cyclic lever or “poker”. On the pilot’s left side there is something looking like a handbrake – the collective control. Below are two pedals controlling the tail rotor. A compact pilot’s console: pressure altimeter, gyroscope, vertical and horizontal airspeed indicators, dual engine and rotor tachometer, radar altimeter, pressurization indicator, oil manometer and thermometer, fuel indicator, radio, and clock. Our route is regulated by the aviation map. Morozov smiles and points to a small GPS navigator over the console, “This device may only be used optionally so far. Electronic navigation will be allowed perhaps when GLONASS is fully implemented. And they will make us fly with some domestic device. I hope it will fit into the cockpit.”

Brainware

When you drive a car, you don’t need to maintain balance. But on the helicopter it is an absolute must. It is not hard but requires certain dexterity. Like riding a bicycle – on a subconscious level. You got it – you go. Sort of "brainware" is installed, and the skill becomes automatic. The only difference is that in helicopter flying brainware is seven times more complicated. “But we thought that only fools fly helicopters!” We suddenly hear a joyful voice of a pilot of the following aircraft. Talking during the flight, Morozov forgot to depress the push-to-talk button. “Sorry. I have the press here, giving an introductory course.” “Ok, ok,” they answer. “At least we are now awake! By the way, there is a super phrase for the press: ‘smoothly decelerating rotors, a helicopter was approaching’.” “Well, this is only for incompetent press,” notes Morozov, having disconnected the radio. “Rotation speed is of course constant. As for pilots, my instructor used to say that a pilot should be dumb and healthy.”

Alternate Landing Pad

We are approaching. Below I see Peno – one of the lakes at the Upper Volga. On the lake there is a regional center of the same name. Andrey Morozov received the information about a former scout camp for sale here with e-mail spam. Back then, five years ago, he says, the situation in the region was not especially favorable. We had to participate in the local electoral campaign to ensure that civilized people become regional leaders. CBOSS then acquired the local woodworking plant and started furniture production. This is how the company “participates in addressing issues” here. The president assures that the Ozernaya recreation center was bought primarily for CBOSS employees. And helicopters, too.

We land at Ozernaya, which turns out to be a log cottage village in a pine forest but with every comfort, including Swedish bathroom equipment. On the veranda of a trendy restaurant our conversation about helicopter piloting continues over a schnitzel from the Polite Elk restaurant.

Two Cravings and a Dream

Andrey Morozov, CBOSS Corporation’s President, says, “From the human perspective, even in a critical situation I would not dump our social projects, which are also a profitable business. Nobody can keep people in Russia from buying high-quality services. However, it is a common practice on the В2В markets here.

The second dream was harder to realize. At home I had a piece of plexiglass on my writing table like many of my friends. Under it I collected images of real top-level foreign motorcycles. As a student I bought a Java bike, which was pretty cool back then. Later, as I worked in Moscow Cellular Communications, I found myself once at an exhibition in the World Trade Center and saw a real Kawasaki GPZ-1100. I haven’t been riding motorcycles for long, I was already an adult, but I saw such a miracle! And again something clicked in my head, my second childhood dream could also come true. I had a car then – a Niva, and here was a motorcycle for $10,000. I calculated and figured that I do have enough money. I ordered a black motorcycle, but it wasn’t delivered on time. I came to claim the penalty fee and saw the same Kawasaki but in red. I asked the manager for a test drive. He started the engine and told me I could take that one. And as I was, in a suit, white shirt and tie, I drove away.

In Love With the Sky

But my dream still hadn’t come true. As a child I used to dream of flying as a WWII pilot and bombing a train. This dream haunted me for a very long time. And, four years ago, I was driving past Crocus City Mall and saw a small helicopter and airplane standing next to each other. I could not stand the temptation – drove in, asked the price: money was again just enough. There was no way I could buy the airplane: we cannot afford our own aerodrome. But a helicopter was just OK! And I started digging into it. First I found a Soviet textbook on helicopter aerodynamics. There was a whole lot of formulas there. And it said that a helicopter cannot fly with two blades. So I referred to web sites. There people wrote that one needs only money to start flying anytime. Of course, all of this was and still is horrible lies. Finally, I ordered an R-44 and went to a training course. Got a pilot license and fell in love with the sky once and for all.

To Become a Pilot

Andrey Morozov, CBOSS Corporation’s President, makes nearly weekly flights to Tver and Pskov oblasts and other Moscow surroundings

I heard about a very serious manager from Lucent Technology, who worked in telecommunications. And then he changed his mind, received special training and became a pilot on scheduled flights. And the whole company was envious, “Cool guy!!! He is into something real!” Flights, probably, are tempting to everybody, but not everyone has the courage to realize the dream. However, you only need to come to ROSTO (DOSAAF’s successor) and start your training.

A pilot license requires 50 hours of flight time. It is followed by additional training, the so-called personal minimum. So far, Morozov has “300-3-13” (clouds not lower than 300 m, visibility not lower than 3,000 meters, wind speed not greater than 13 m/sec) plus a landing site selection permit. This qualification was also obtained after a special training course with a certified instructor. Such permit is required for flights to Ozernaya: the landing pad there is not yet radio-equipped.

To Own an Aircraft

Private helicopter aviation met a lot of obstacles even in prosperous Moscow. It took our special enterprise CBOSS Avia several years to overcome the bureaucracy and get the air route to Ozernaya approved. The company owns two aircrafts: Mi-2 and R-44, has established smooth interactions with the civil aviation authorities, offers advanced training for pilots, technicians and engineers, and can prepare landing pads. CBOSS President makes solo flights to Tver and Pskov oblasts and other Moscow surroundings almost weekly. Very soon, the company will get a quicker Bell-407. Morozov says that they have been waiting for this new helicopter for two years. Now demand has increased dramatically and the waiting time is five years already. Or you can get your order quicker on the reseller market, but at a double price. And this happens abroad, but how similar to the Soviet Union it is! Note that even the cheapest configuration of such helicopter costs more than a million bucks. Not a very high price in the current business environment. Morozov says, “My working hour costs the company about $10,000. If you take into account the time saved, it turns out that helicopter traveling may be efficient for many businessmen. We can even help others to walk this road to freedom – we have experience of approving landing pads with the civil aviation authorities and can outsource flight management. We have people at our disposal: technicians, pilots, special personnel who make the flights possible. We can, for example, accept a pilot and his own aircraft and provide full service: routine maintenance, refueling, guarding, flight plan filing. You can fly to your country house; enjoy fishing, hunting; work in a secluded place in the wilderness! Very soon, Moscow will be surrounded by a tight ring of helicopter landing pads for flights in any direction. It is a fast, comfortable and safe means of transport.”

Quick and Alive

Indeed, a helicopter is the only winged aircraft which allows controlled descent in case of engine failure. Without hovering but still softly. Landing with a disabled engine can be done by autorotation with forward speed – with the rotor driven into autorotation by the airflow (like a maple tree seed pod) or by vertical descent with rotor deceleration. Such maneuvers are often demonstrated at airshows. Within a split second, the pilot can and should manage to change rotor blade pitch and land the aircraft. Without the practice of landing with autorotation, automatic regulation of rotor rotation speed and hydraulic booster control, no amateur is allowed to make solo flights.