I’ll never set foot in a helicopter. Just flying death traps
Flight of the Angels over Victoria Falls is one of my all time favourite travel experiences…and it was in a helicopter.
Helicopter flight out to the Grand Canyon and back…excellent.
Heli-Rafting in NZ…wonderful.
Heli-Jet Boating in NZ…pure adrenaline rush.
I’ve always quite enjoyed any helicopter experience I’ve had.
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I’ve loved every helo flight I’ve ever been on. I’ve done doors-off, sitting on the edge, low-level at full belt, I’ve rapelled out of them onto rooftops, and all sorts of crazy stuff, but at the end of the day it is in effect a large blender trying to pull itself in several directions at the same time whilst defying gravity.
There’s a very good reason they call the big bolt that holds the rotor blades on “The Jesus Nut”.
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Helicopters can do a trick called autorotation, which lets them turn the energy in their spinning blades into a breaking force to land. A helicopter without power can land safely in a backyard, an aircraft without power needs to find a makeshift runway within gliding distance.
I thought it was immaculate conception??
I’ve also sworn off helicopters for life. I make one exception for medevac and that’s it, and you better sedate the fark out of me.
These tourist ones are even worse; generally they are older machines with fairly spotty maintenance practices and are not heavily regulated.
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Helly- chop-you’s.
There’s helicopters and then there’s Robinsons (R44).
Death traps.
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There’s actually a law firm that specialises in lawsuits against Robinson helicopters. That’s such a specific thing, but I guess it must be necessary.
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Is it the R22 that they use for cattle herding? It’s madness
Because structural failure?
Yep. The R22 is the 2 seater version of the R44. There’s the R66 too, but that’s a turbine engine type making it more reliable.
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Yes, because there is nothing else to do at that airport.
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Another Robinson R44
So he’s not the only one. Friday beers, I’ll get me coat.