Helicopters Make Me Nervous

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MoonlightVFR
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Helicopters Make Me Nervous

Post by MoonlightVFR »

At the same time helicopters thrill me.

Something new in my St Louis neighborhood. - Smart Grid - more later

Jurasic Park scene - Jeff Goldblumm - babling science jargon while copter headed Right into a rocky Crevice - yes you are nervous looks like an impact scene , but not at start of movie please!
-filmed in Hawaii -

Yes I spent tourist dollars for an almost reenactment flight.

So helicopter pilot flew into the crevice without slowing down, hovering , etc - just start right in like in Jurassic park scene. Made me nervous.

Do you want to know what is inside the the rocky crevices of Hawaii? Forget Jeff Goldblum at this point.

About 20-25 feet off my left blade tip I spot the fist one. A mother Goat w Kid . Mother Goat ignores the helicopter I do not trust the Kid, Eyeball to eyeball hope he does not try to jump onto rotor blade.
About a half mile in the crevice it suddenly forks and there is a cloud right in the way. Get me out of here!
Pilot does a 180 and so we pop out over the ocean. Enough of the Vertical Goat farm.

Then we fly the coast of Maui see Jim Neighbors mansion, K nut farm.

Next "Smart Grid"
gradyb, '54 B N2890C
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GAHorn
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Re: Helicopters Make Me Nervous

Post by GAHorn »

The most-dangerous things about helicopters are not the goats. :wink:
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention.
An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons. ;)
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ghostflyer
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Re: Helicopters Make Me Nervous

Post by ghostflyer »

Our family loves to holiday in Hawaii and each time we do a flight with “Paradise Helicopters “ with the doors off. They use a MD 500 helicopter. Each time there has been something different . The best time was when rain and a low cloud base forced us to track down the canal that runs down the middle of Honolulu. This was done at about 50 ft. Never had I enjoyed myself so much.
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cessna170bdriver
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Re: Helicopters Make Me Nervous

Post by cessna170bdriver »

My only helicopter ride ever started and ended in my back yard. An instructor friend was giving a friend of his a BFR in his Bell 206 and invited us along for part of the ride. I didn’t see any rock crevices or mountain goats here in SE Michigan, so it was a very stress-free ride.
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Miles

“I envy no man that knows more than myself, but pity them that know less.”
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Bruce Fenstermacher
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Re: Helicopters Make Me Nervous

Post by Bruce Fenstermacher »

The most most helicopter pilots agree, the most dangerous thing with a helicopter is we have to operate around AIRPLANES. You should see all the crazy things airplanes do to try to kill us.
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GAHorn
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Re: Helicopters Make Me Nervous

Post by GAHorn »

The first time ever I was off the ground was as a 12 year old Boy Scout on the way to summer camp. The troop bus stopped for lunch at Aquareana Springs in San Marco, Tx, where some guy was selling rides for $5. Typically, Five bucks was all each scout had for spending-money for the entire week at summer camp.... so My buddy Jeff Burch talked the guy into giving three of us a ride all together for $5. We went up for maybe 5 minutes over the tourist-trap/springs and it was real fun.

Since that time, helicopters have gotten so dangerous that each passenger must have their own seat belt.
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention.
An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons. ;)
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flyguy
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Re: Helicopters Make Me Nervous

Post by flyguy »

Most of us old aircraft mechanics give this description for helicopters - "one million spare parts flying in close formation."
OLE GAR SEZ - 4 Boats, 4 Planes, 4 houses. I've got to quit collecting!
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GAHorn
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Re: Helicopters Make Me Nervous

Post by GAHorn »

flyguy wrote:Most of us old aircraft mechanics give this description for helicopters - "one million spare parts flying in close formation."
They fly based upon two popular theories:

1- They beat the air into submission.
2- They make so much noise and vibration the earth rejects them.


Oxymorons:

1- Amicable Divorce

2- Good Lawyer

3- Military Intelligence

4- Helicopter Pilot

:lol: :lol: :lol:

(I wish I could afford the rating.) :(
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention.
An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons. ;)
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gfeher
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Re: Helicopters Make Me Nervous

Post by gfeher »

In A&P school I had to take a class requiring us to do an annual inspection (or maybe a 100 hr) on a helicopter. The instructor said he would never fly in one. Too many moving parts keeping you suspended that must always work exactly as designed.
Gene Feher
Argyle (1C3), NY
'52 170B N2315D s/n 20467 C-145-2
Experimental J3 Cub Copy N7GW O-200
flyboy122
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Re: Helicopters Make Me Nervous

Post by flyboy122 »

Knock on wood, if I ever have an engine failure I hope it's at least in a helicopter! The helicopter I can land practically anywhere. Airplanes need a clear stretch. I was practicing 180 autos today (fun!) and it's amazing where you can put those suckers. And if I do have to crash into something, I can do it at near zero airspeed. In my mind they are much safer than airplanes.

Sergei Sikorsky said "It makes much more sense to stop and then land than to land and then stop."

But I may be just a bit biased as I sell them for a living. :)

DEM
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GAHorn
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Re: Helicopters Make Me Nervous

Post by GAHorn »

I'd rather land gliding forward at 52 mph in a 170 than hit down amongst thrashing blades. It's my imagination perhaps, but somehow I doubt unexpected engine failure in a helicopter is any more comforting than in a fixed wing, and the light touch-downs accompanying autorotation training exersizes aren't typical to actual failures.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyOg4IIRP3A


https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/18/us/utah- ... index.html

Tail rotor failure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnK9bGCvYtU

From an online statistics (for whatever that's worth):
General aircraft—airplanes, helicopters, balloons, blimps, and everything else—average 7.28 crashes for every 100,000 hours of flight time. The crash rate for helicopters alone is 9.84 per 100,000 hours. That means helicopters crash about 35 percent more often per hour in the air than your average aircraft.

Since helicopters typically land and take off far more often than larger aircraft, and since general aviation pilots aren't required to have as much training or experience as commercial pilots, helicopter flights are more prone to accidents, including fatal ones. (I believe this statement is odd because, on a percentage basis, it's also more likely that helicopters are flown by professional pilots than fixed wing aircraft.

Flying is hazardous to your physical health and wonderful for your happiness. :twisted:
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention.
An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons. ;)
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GAHorn
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Re: Helicopters Make Me Nervous

Post by GAHorn »

Agreed. Bruce gave a presentation at the Galveston convention which made believers of us all... Marshallers who direct you into invisible high-tension lines, etc etc.

In 1986 I was at the Board Mtg of the Airline Pilot's Assoc'n as chairman of my council and had the opportunity to sit in on a safety meeting that concluded a study of PHI (Petroleum Helicopters, Inc.) who had suffered a safety record no one would find enviable.
Those guys woud fly from pre-dawn to dusk (and maybe push a little past that) out in the Gulf of Mexico just above the waves in all kinds of weather. The safety study involved an attempt to discover why their highest accident-periods were... get this... NOT predawn. NOT post-dusk. NOT bad wx….. but in VFR/Clear Weather, Daylight, about 10-11 AM.

The REASON for that was even more puzzling.

The accident-investigation-board came to the conclusion the REASON these guys were killing themselves and their passengers in broad daylight and good weather was.... "Their pay checks included "per diem." 8O

The company quit paying perdiem, and immediately the accidents went away.

Why?

It seems the pilots rec'd $16 for breakfast, $14 for lunch, and $22 for dinner. Their hotels were prepaid by the company.

These pilots were getting up at 5 AM and catching the crew bus to the airport where they gorged themselves on the free coffee and donuts the company had sitting out by the scores in the pax lounge. They were not spending their per diem on a real breakfast. By 10 AM they were hypoglycemic and inattentive and running into waves and obstacles/oil-rigs due to inattention.

When the company quit paying perdiem and instead had the hotel provide free breakfast the pilots ate cereal/fruit/milk, bacon and eggs and biscuits/gravy and drank coffee at the airport. '

The accident rate dropped to zero.

I was there and found it hard to believe but that's what happened!

Fixed-wing: inattentive pilots operating in the flight levels on autopilot don't have the same operating environment that helicopter pilots have.

Here's a pic I took of my crewmember one flight at FL350 somewhere over Tenn. on the way to NY. :oops:
(Got my cocktail lounge tab paid for on that flight.) :wink:
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'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention.
An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons. ;)
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