COMMON ERRORS
1 Tenseness and slow reactions to movements of the helicopter.
2 Failure to allow for lag in cyclic and collective pitch, which leads to overcontrolling.

1 Confusing attitude changes for altitude changes, which result in improper use of the controls.
2 Hovering too high, creating a hazardous flight condition.
3 Hovering too low, resulting in occasional touchdown.

HOVERING TURN
A hovering turn is a maneuver performed at hovering altitude in which the nose of the helicopter is rotated either left or right while maintaining position over a reference point on the surface. The maneuver requires the coordination of all flight controls and demands precise control near the surface. You should maintain a constant altitude, rate of turn, and r.p.m.
TECHNIQUE
Initiate the turn in either direction by applying anti-torque pedal pressure toward the desired direction. It should be noted that during a turn to the left, you need to add more power because left pedal pressure increases the pitch angle of the tail rotor, which, in turn, requires additional power from the engine. A turn to the right requires less power. (On helicopters with a clockwise rotating main rotor, right pedal increases the pitch angle and, therefore, requires more power.)
As the turn begins, use the cyclic as necessary (usually into the wind) to keep the helicopter over the desired spot. To continue the turn, you need to add more and more pedal pressure as the helicopter turns to the crosswind position. This is because the wind is striking the tail surface and tail rotor area, making it more difficult for the tail to turn into the wind. As pedal pressures increase due to crosswind forces, you must increase the cyclic pressure into the wind to maintain position. Use the collective with the throttle to maintain a constant altitude and r.p.m. [Figure 9-2]
After the 90° portion of the turn, you need to decrease pedal pressure slightly to maintain the same rate of turn. Approaching the 180°, or downwind, portion, you need to anticipate opposite pedal pressure due to the tail moving from an upwind position to a downwind position. At this point, the rate of turn has a tendency to increase at a rapid rate due to the weathervaning tendency of the tail surfaces. Because of the tailwind condition, you need to hold rearward cyclic pressure to keep the helicopter over the same spot.
Because of the helicopter’s tendency to weathervane, maintaining the same rate of turn from the 180° position actually requires some pedal pressure opposite the direction of turn. If you do not apply opposite pedal pressure, the helicopter tends to turn at a faster rate. The amount of pedal pressure and cyclic deflection throughout the turn depends on the wind velocity. As you finish the turn on the upwind heading, apply opposite pedal pressure to stop the turn. Gradually apply forward cyclic pressure to keep the helicopter from drifting.