ACS Alignment

FAA-S-ACS-29 — Flight Instructor, Rotorcraft–Helicopter · Area of Operation IX. Fundamentals of Flight · Task: A–D — Straight-and-Level, Level Turns, Climbs/Climbing Turns, Descents/Descending Turns

HI.IX.A.S1 — teaching straight-and-level flight HI.IX.B.S1 — teaching level turns HI.IX.C.S1 — teaching climbs & climbing turns HI.IX.D.S1 — teaching descents & descending turns

⚑ FLAG (Walter): combines Fundamentals-of-Flight Tasks A–D — confirm HI. codes against the current FAA-S-ACS-29.

Teaching the Fundamentals of Flight

The building blocks of all maneuvering — coach attitude, trim, coordination, and a smooth scan.

By the end of this lesson you can:

Teach straight-and-level flight with attitude reference and trim.
Teach coordinated level turns (entry, hold, rollout).
Teach climbs and climbing turns (power/attitude/airspeed).
Teach descents and descending turns and anticipate the common coordination errors.

1 · Attitude & coordination

Teach the fundamentals on attitude flying: set a pitch/bank with cyclic, the power with collective, and keep it coordinated with pedals. Teach a smooth outside-inside scan and trimming to reduce workload. These four maneuvers underlie everything else.

2 · Turns, climbs, descents

Teach level turns (smooth entry, hold altitude with pitch/power, lead the rollout), climbs/climbing turns (set attitude and power for the target airspeed/rate), and descents/descending turns (manage power and attitude, lead the level-off). Tie each to the sight picture and the instruments.

3 · Common errors

Anticipate over-controlling, poor coordination (ball not centered), altitude/heading wander from a broken scan, and chasing the instruments. Correct with small inputs, trim, and a disciplined scan — and demonstrate the smoothness you want copied.

4 · Watch

Curated reference clip — “Lift, Weight, Thrust, Drag — The Four Forces of Flight” · FlightInsight (YouTube), verified via oEmbed. Embedded with the creator’s player; we don’t host or alter it.

5 · Reference sources

Use the authoritative references

📄 Helicopter Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-21) — Basic Flight Maneuvers 📄 Aviation Instructor’s Handbook (FAA-H-8083-9) — Demonstration-Performance

Your aircraft: trim/airspeed specifics are aircraft-specific — teach from the R44 POH and your demonstrated technique.

✍️ Fill in for the aircraft you fly the R44 cruise/climb/descent attitudes and airspeeds you teach and the common errors you watch for — confirm with your CFII.

⚑ FLAG (Walter): the R44 is VFR-certificated; confirm any aircraft-specific values you teach from the current R44 POH, and confirm all endorsement wording against AC 61-65 and 14 CFR Part 61.

Risk management (the “Consider”): the teaching risk is letting poor coordination and a broken scan become habit. Teach small inputs, trim, ball-centered coordination, and a continuous scan from the first lesson — bad fundamentals undermine every later maneuver.