I want one!

I had one of those "helicopter jealousy" moments when I was in the pattern at JVL and someone called, "Janesville Tower, helicopter Nxxxx is on the ground at home. See ya later."

But then I realized I should just live at an airpark so that I could park something FAST at home. :D
 
A friend of mine who really wants to get into those aircraft claims they are just as safe as planes and can indeed glide if need be. I was always under the assumption that once something goes in a helicopter gliding was not an option.
 
LJS1993 said:
A friend of mine who really wants to get into those aircraft claims they are just as safe as planes and can indeed glide if need be. I was always under the assumption that once something goes in a helicopter gliding was not an option.
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Depends entirely on the "something." I've watched the folks train in helos at BJC and while they don't glide very far during engine-out practice (called autorotating or something similar), they do get to the ground in survivable condition. Autorotations look like they'd be fun to practice after you've done about a hundred or so (hundred is my default number for learning to do the more challenging tasks in aviation).
 
Best possible "glide ratio" (if you want to call it that) for a Robinson R44 in an autorotation is about 4.7:1...or what I saw online comes to 1 mile for every 1300 feet of altitude. That's actually pretty good and I'm used to quite a bit less for most helicopters, but you'll get at least 2:1 if you're within the proper parameters (e.g. rotor RPM and forward airspeed).

The biggest difference to me is that in a helicopter, you will (should?) be touching down at or near zero groundspeed, while in most airplanes, you'll be touching down generally in the 50-70 knot range.
 
darrell said:
Best possible "glide ratio" (if you want to call it that) for a Robinson R44 in an autorotation is about 4.7:1...or what I saw online comes to 1 mile for every 1300 feet of altitude. That's actually pretty good and I'm used to quite a bit less for most helicopters, but you'll get at least 2:1 if you're within the proper parameters (e.g. rotor RPM and forward airspeed).

The biggest difference to me is that in a helicopter, you will (should?) be touching down at or near zero groundspeed, while in most airplanes, you'll be touching down generally in the 50-70 knot range.
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Wow I definitely learned something today about helicopters from you guys. I can see it now; my own helipad on my ranch. :D
 
I will take an engine failure in a helicopter over a fixed wing any day. Fifty feet of clear space is all you need.
 
ateamer said:
I will take an engine failure in a helicopter over a fixed wing any day. Fifty feet of clear space is all you need.
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I'll take a jesus nut failure in a fixed wing any day!

just giving you a hard time...
 
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