It always strikes me how many casualties helicopters, and their plane based derivatives, are responsible for. I remember watching the casualty numbers in the opening days of the Iraq war with my...
It always strikes me how many casualties helicopters, and their plane based derivatives, are responsible for. I remember watching the casualty numbers in the opening days of the Iraq war with my dad and both of us being shocked at how many more US troops had died from helicopter malfunction than actual military engagement.
"The thing is, helicopters are different from airplanes. An airplane by its nature wants to fly and, if not interfered with too strongly by unusual events or by a deliberately incompetent pilot,...
"The thing is, helicopters are different from airplanes. An airplane by its nature wants to fly and, if not interfered with too strongly by unusual events or by a deliberately incompetent pilot, it will fly. A helicopter does not want to fly. It is maintained in the air by a variety of forces and controls working in opposition to each other, and if there is any disturbance in the delicate balance, the helicopter stops flying, immediately and disastrously. There is no such thing as a gliding helicopter.
This is why a helicopter pilot is so different a being from an airplane pilot, and why in general, airplane pilots are open, clear-eyed, buoyant extroverts, and helicopter pilots are brooders, introspective anticipators of trouble. They know if anything bad has not happened, it is about to."
This is true. Also, the sheer number of moving parts on a helicopter is mind boggling. An airplane is mostly a solid sheet of metal, formed in an aerodynamic, lift producing way, with something...
This is true. Also, the sheer number of moving parts on a helicopter is mind boggling. An airplane is mostly a solid sheet of metal, formed in an aerodynamic, lift producing way, with something pushing it forward, and slight movements in those aerodynamic surfaces let you maintain control.
A helicopter is a mish-mosh of rotating parts spinning between 800 and 9000 RPM all throughout the system. Complicated sets of swash plates, PC links, hydraulic control systems, bearings, driveshafts and gearboxes all work in concert to keep the thing aloft. Any one of those systems stops working and you're screwed. Working on helicopters for many years has given me a great respect, fear, and distrust for any complicated system. For helicopters, that unholy mess of complexity is worth it for the ability to hover, land, and take off vertically. For other systems, maybe not.
Helicopters don't fly, they vibrate so badly the ground rejects them. -Tom Clancy
The old joke among helicopter mechanics is that you can describe a "bird" as 10,000 parts rotating around an oil leak, waiting for metal fatigue to set in. -Sauce
I have a family friend who works for the NTSB. He once told me that if he were injured on a mountain and offered an airlift off, he'd rather take his chances in the wilderness. Maybe an...
I have a family friend who works for the NTSB. He once told me that if he were injured on a mountain and offered an airlift off, he'd rather take his chances in the wilderness. Maybe an exaggeration, but the point stuck.
It always strikes me how many casualties helicopters, and their plane based derivatives, are responsible for. I remember watching the casualty numbers in the opening days of the Iraq war with my dad and both of us being shocked at how many more US troops had died from helicopter malfunction than actual military engagement.
"The thing is, helicopters are different from airplanes. An airplane by its nature wants to fly and, if not interfered with too strongly by unusual events or by a deliberately incompetent pilot, it will fly. A helicopter does not want to fly. It is maintained in the air by a variety of forces and controls working in opposition to each other, and if there is any disturbance in the delicate balance, the helicopter stops flying, immediately and disastrously. There is no such thing as a gliding helicopter.
This is why a helicopter pilot is so different a being from an airplane pilot, and why in general, airplane pilots are open, clear-eyed, buoyant extroverts, and helicopter pilots are brooders, introspective anticipators of trouble. They know if anything bad has not happened, it is about to."
-Harry Reasoner
Approach magazine, November 1973
This is true. Also, the sheer number of moving parts on a helicopter is mind boggling. An airplane is mostly a solid sheet of metal, formed in an aerodynamic, lift producing way, with something pushing it forward, and slight movements in those aerodynamic surfaces let you maintain control.
A helicopter is a mish-mosh of rotating parts spinning between 800 and 9000 RPM all throughout the system. Complicated sets of swash plates, PC links, hydraulic control systems, bearings, driveshafts and gearboxes all work in concert to keep the thing aloft. Any one of those systems stops working and you're screwed. Working on helicopters for many years has given me a great respect, fear, and distrust for any complicated system. For helicopters, that unholy mess of complexity is worth it for the ability to hover, land, and take off vertically. For other systems, maybe not.
That is an amazing quote.
A few more fun ones for you.
I have a family friend who works for the NTSB. He once told me that if he were injured on a mountain and offered an airlift off, he'd rather take his chances in the wilderness. Maybe an exaggeration, but the point stuck.