result in a severe nose tuck which is quickly corrected with  right pedal application. A power recovery can be made during training in lieu of a full  touchdown landing. Refer to the section on power recovery  for the correct technique.  the green range. In the execution of the flare, care must be  taken that the cyclic be moved rearward neither so abruptly  that it causes the helicopter to climb, nor so slowly that it  fails to arrest the descent, which may allow the helicopter  to settle so rapidly that the tail rotor strikes the ground. In  most helicopters, the proper flare attitude is that resulting in a  groundspeed of a slow run. When forward motion decreases  to the desired groundspeed—usually the lowest possible  speed (position 4)—move the cyclic forward to place the  helicopter in the proper attitude for landing. After the helicopter has come to a complete stop after  touchdown, lower the collective pitch to the full-down  position. Do not try to stop the forward ground run with aft  cyclic, as the main rotor blades can strike the tail boom. By  lowering the collective slightly during the ground run, an  increase in weight is placed on the landing carriage, slowing  the helicopter; however, this is dependent on the condition  of the landing surface. This action gives the student an idea of airframe attitude to  avoid, because a pilot should never allow ground contact  unless the helicopter is more nose-low than that attitude.  Limiting the flare to that attitude may result in slightly faster  touchdown speeds but will eliminate the possibility of tail  rotor impact on level surfaces. One common error is the holding of the helicopter off the  surface, versus cushioning it onto the surface during an  autorotation. Holding the helicopter in the air by using all of  the rotor rpm kinetic energy usually causes the helicopter to  have a hard landing, which results in the blades flexing down  and contacting the tail boom. The rotor rpm should be used  to cushion the helicopter on to the surface for a controlled,  smooth landing instead of allowing the helicopter to drop  the last few inches. The landing gear height at this time should be approximately  3–15 feet AGL, depending on the altitude recommended by  the manufacturer. As the apparent groundspeed and altitude  decrease, the helicopter must be returned to a more level  attitude for touchdown by applying forward cyclic. Some  helicopters can be landed on the heels in a slightly nose high  attitude to help decrease the forward groundspeed, whereas  others must land skids or landing gear level, in order to spread  the landing loads equally to all of the landing gear. Extreme  caution should be used to avoid an excessive nose high and  tail low attitude below 10 feet. The helicopter must be close  to the landing attitude to keep the tail rotor from contacting  the surface. At this point, if a full touchdown landing is to be performed,  allow the helicopter to descend vertically (position 5). This  collective application uses some of the kinetic energy in the  rotor disk to help slow the descent rate of the helicopter.  When the collective is raised, the opposite antitorque pedal  used in powered flight will be needed due to the friction  within the transmission/drive train. Touch down in a level  flight attitude. Control response with increased pitch angles will be slightly  different than normal. With a decrease in main rotor rpm,  the antitorque authority is reduced (the pedals react more  slowly), requiring larger control inputs to maintain heading  at touchdown. Some helicopters, such as the Schweitzer 300, have a canted  tail stabilizer. With a canted stabilizer, it is crucial that the  pilot apply the appropriate pedal input at all times during the  autorotation. If not the tailboom tends to swing to the right,  which allows the canted stabilizer to raise the tail. This can  11-5 Common Errors 1.  Not understanding the importance of an immediate  entry into autorotation upon powerplant or driveline  failure.  2.  Failing to use sufficient antitorque pedal when power  is reduced. 3.  Lowering the nose too abruptly when power is  reduced, thus placing the helicopter in a dive. 4.  Failing to maintain proper rotor rpm during the  descent. 5.  Applying up-collective pitch at an excessive altitude,  resulting in a hard landing, loss of heading control,  and possible damage to the tail rotor and main rotor  blade stops. 6. Failing to level the helicopter or achieve the  manufacturers preferred landing attitude. 7.  Failing to minimize or eliminate lateral movement  during ground contact. (Similar for items 8 and 9) 8.  Failing to maintain ground track in the air and keeping  the landing gear aligned with the direction of travel  during touchdown and ground contact. 9. Failing (in a practice run) to go around if not within  limits and specified criteria for safe autorotation.