PLT262: Helicopter Hazards: Dynamic Rollover, Low-G, LTE
What code PLT262 covers, why the FAA tests it, and how to study Helicopter Hazards: Dynamic Rollover, Low-G, LTE before your checkride.
Recall helicopter hazards - dynamic rollover / Low G / LTE
What this means for your checkride
Dynamic rollover occurs when the helicopter pivots laterally about a skid or wheel with thrust greater than weight and a rolling moment present, and once the critical rollover angle is passed the cyclic cannot stop it, so quickly reducing collective is the recovery. A low-G condition, common in two bladed teetering rotors after abrupt forward cyclic, unloads the rotor and can lead to mast bumping, and the recovery is to gently apply aft cyclic to restore normal G before correcting any roll. Loss of tail rotor effectiveness, or LTE, is an uncommanded yaw that develops at low airspeed and high power when wind reduces tail rotor authority, and recovery uses forward cyclic to regain airspeed while applying the needed pedal. All three are avoided by proper technique and awareness of wind and loading.
These are among the most lethal helicopter hazards, and each has a specific, sometimes counterintuitive, recovery a pilot must know.
For dynamic rollover pilots instinctively apply opposite cyclic, but past the critical angle only lowering collective removes the thrust that is driving the roll.
Where to study it
A code on your test report is an area of deficiency. An authorized instructor must review it with you and endorse that review before you take the practical test, and the examiner may revisit it during the oral. Study it until you can explain it out loud, not just recognize the answer.