First Lesson: Air

Before you get into the air you'll probably spend about half an hour on a preflight inspection of the helicopter. With most airplanes most of the critical pieces are hidden underneath bodywork and not accessible except to a mechanic during an oil change or 100-hour inspection. With the Robinson R22 the engine is mostly flapping in the breeze and what is hidden can easily be accessed via a flip-up door.

If the weather is nice you'll probably remove the doors. This ensures that you'll be nice and cool inside the machine. In theory you could look straight down while in flight and scare yourself but in practice your attention will be focussed on looking out the front and trying to hold the machine in a fixed attitude relative to the horizon. So don't hesitate to fly your very first lesson with the doors off. When the doors are off, it is good practice to take everything out of your pockets and put them in the baggage compartment underneath the seats. You don't want loose items getting sucked out of the helicopter and contacting the tail rotor, the fastest-rotating and most fragile part of the whole machine.

Sadly, a big part of your first lesson will be practicing the most difficult helicopter maneuver: hovering. Hardly anyone is able to become proficient at hovering in less than 5 or 6 hours of flight training. Every one of those hours is exhausting. Much of the time is frustrating.