Why don’t you fly rotor wing?

BladeSlap

Ejection Handle Pulled
Joined
Oct 3, 2021
Messages
493
Location
FL
Display Name

Display name:
BladeSlap
So I’ve been here for a little while now, got to ask, for a short range burger hop wouldn’t a R22/44 be much more fun?

Plus we have much more options with some of the rules and landings, where we can put down if we need to, etc
 
We are weird, and we dig that
 
Too slow, short range…I don’t do short trips, mine tend to run 500nm+.
 
wouldn’t a R22/44 be much more fun?
Probably because I always thought it took a challenged individual to fly a Robbie. Most plank-wing guys are pretty mainstream and upstanding individuals.:)
Not too many vintage helo fly ins….
Mostly because those "vintage" helicopters are still working for a living.
 
this
more money, more training, more money, less rental options, more money, higher insurance, more money......
+ I don't have enough money....

I have always wanted to fly helicopters more than I have planes. The idea of picking your landing spot down to the rock you want to land next to seems cool..... Just not realistic.
A part of me day dreams about flying gyros for sport, but kind of seem like a helicopter with a lot of the flaws of a fixed wing+ all the regulatory limitations on them make them less appealing.

+ not enough money
 
But how many early Sikorskys from the 40s and 50s do you see flying today?
Around 100 in the US alone (55/58/61). Most still working. Plus there's over 500 Bell 47s still flying for a living also.
 
These excuses, meh

How many have at least have a intro flight in a helicopter?
 
These excuses, meh

How many have at least have a intro flight in a helicopter?
I have about 2.5 hours. I wanted to learn to hover for the satisfaction of doing it. Cruise flying didn’t seem much different than airplanes so I stuck to the challenging part. My instructor thought I was nuts doing nothing but the “hard” stuff, but I figured it out fairly quickly. I have hundreds of hours in RC helis, real ones, not quads, so I knew how to do it already in theory, just had to get the hang of the real thing. Pretty sure that knocked 5 or 10 hours off the time to learn.
 
I would take rotor lessons, especially after hearing a really good presentation at OSH a couple of years ago by Philip Greenspun, describing the instruction, from the perspective of a fixed-wing pilot.

However, no rotor instruction is offered near me.

Fixed-wing instruction is much easier to find in less urban areas.
 
These excuses, meh

How many have at least have a intro flight in a helicopter?
I have a little over 100 hours. I got hooked on an intro flight. Thought briefly about changing careers from fixed wing, but I already had a lot of fixed wing hours and helicopter jobs require time in category. Fixed wing time basically doesn't count.
 
I have a little over 100 hours. I got hooked on an intro flight. Thought briefly about changing careers from fixed wing, but I already had a lot of fixed wing hours and helicopter jobs require time in category. Fixed wing time basically doesn't count.

Seems if you have 1k to 1.5k helicopter you’re golden
 
1) expensive
2) not sure what I’d do with the rating after I got it
3) I know just enough about them to be scared
 
Seems if you have 1k to 1.5k helicopter you’re golden
Yeahbut there's getting from 100 hours to 1000. And I was already pretty established in the fixed wing world. I probably had about 4000 hours at the time. I'm glad I got the experience, though.
 
Yeahbut there's getting from 100 hours to 1000. And I was already pretty established in the fixed wing world. I probably had about 4000 hours at the time. I'm glad I got the experience, though.

Tours or CFI?
 
Simple. When you let go of the controls of an airplane, it still wants to fly. When you let go of the controls of a helicopter, it wants to kill you.

I used to say "wants to crash", but was corrected by a UH-60 pilot while he was "trying to get the other stupid engine to start" during one of the tropical storm responses.
 
FYI: all main rotor blades flap, feather, lead, and lag. How they perform each depends on the type rotor hub/system.

I'm merely a student pilot (with a lifelong love of/fascination for aviation). I know I don't need to go through the helo parts of the ground school (ASA, in my case) material, but I figured it would be good to know. Flapping, feathering, lead/lag, that whole section gave me a certain appreciation for helos. I do think it'd be cool to be able to zip around in a BK-117, but, man, those costs.

Or horses.

Or worst of all, women with horses.

I dated a horse chick for a while in high school. Which was a long, long time ago. So. Many. Stories. I would summarize the entire experience by saying she had a much better appreciation for, and understanding of, the natural order of things than I did, at the time.
 
Back
Top