Why Flying a Helicopter is Hard

Why do people have trouble flying a helicopter? Some don't! I taught a U.S. Navy airplane pilot to fly and hover a helicopter in about twenty minutes. At no time did he lose control of the machine, even hover taxiing back to the parking spot. Why did this guy have such an easy time? As an experienced jet and instrument pilot, he was very sensitive to changes in aircraft attitude. If the nose yawed very slightly to the left, he put in a slight right pedal pressure. If the nose dropped very slightly, he noticed the horizon moving and pulled back on the cyclic slightly.

What do folks who've never flown an aircraft before do? Sit there fat and happy while the attitude drifts a bit. Eventually the drift gets to the point that the helicopter is pointing 180 degrees from where it started or 45 degrees nose-up or 45 degrees nose-down and heading straight for the trees. At this point even a brand new pilot senses that something is amiss and it is time for a flight control input. A big one. The 45-degree nose-down attitude then turns into a 45-degree nose-up attitude.

The key in flying successfully and smoothly is to watch for small attitude changes and compensate with small control inputs. This is easier said than done, of course, and the instrument-rated airplane pilots have a big edge.