That was probably the biggest waste of time they could have possible came up with.
There was a myth floating out there that fixing a postage stamp to a helicopter rotor would throw the rotors out of balance and cause the thing to crash.
Who in their stupid brain would even remotely consider this to be a valid myth/theory?
A postage stamp? Does anyone think that the rotors are wieghed and matched to the exact gram? That would be insane, unless the rotors were spinning at 70,000 rpms.
Another thing to consider. Helicopters are often used in climates with snow and ice present. Is a grams worth of ice/snow buildup on the fight-for-life helicopter going to bring it down?
Or even rain, there is no guarantee that each blade will have the same amount of rain on each.
Finally, helicopters are parked outside most of the time. The average bird crap will weigh more than a postage stamp does. This fact alone should have made them think twice about trying to take this myth off the drawing table and into the shop.
I usually appreciate their efforts, but this one was a huge waste of time.
I think the reason why they did it is because it makes for good television… there’s machines, a stupid theory to test, and at the end of it all, a slight expectation that there might be a deadly helicopter crash.
As a producer, as a guy selling ads: What’s not to love?
It’s entertainment. I was 99% sure a postage stamp would have no effect, but it was still fun to watch them test it. And now I’m 100% sure, which is a lot better than 99%.
The same with the “Pyramid Power” myth. This is not science, and a waste of time for the team. Not even good TV. Seems like a lot of the other myths they try to bust by building things could be done a lot easier by doing the math ahead of time.
Sometimes the exercise is more important than the results. It is educational, and fun, to see these guys set up experiments and add in various controls, when possible.
It’s no so much the myth part as it is the creative experimentation that drives the show.
It’s good science. Just because right-thinking people know pyramids don’t have mystic power doesn’t mean an experiment is unnecessary. It shows nut jobs who get all their information from the TV the truth.
The stamp on a helicopter was one of those “hell, ya never know unless you try it” myths. They’ve been surprised before. It was a little boring, but they destroyed a RC helicopter and Kari looked hot.
There is a part of me that wants them to finish every myth like the cement mixer truck.
Uh, I hope not. That’s one of the few experiments on the show which I do think was completely pointless. It didn’t prove anything, and it didn’t even create an interesting-looking wreckage.
I do suspect that they’re scraping the bottom of the barrel these days. One recent episode saw them revisiting myths that they already looked into, but which drew complaints from viewers. Apparently, this was not the first “Myths Revisited” episode they did, either. (I didn’t see the first one.) When they did the myth about catapulting illegal immigrants over the border, more than one Doper accused the Mythbusters of inventing this “myth” themselves. No one had ever heard of this idea before.
The postage stamp on a helicopter myth is far fetched, sure. But, so it living through an Indiana Jones inspired liferaft falling out of a plane myth, and that one worked!
I forget the ending to the helicopter myth, though. Did they follow the usual routine and keep adding weight to a blade just to get a result even if it took a huge amount? They probably don’t have the budget to waste a helicopter, even with the shows success.
Oh, and who doesn’t love the vodka myths? They’re great!
They used a scaled down remote control helicopter and it still took lots of stamps to get the thing to break apart. I forget how many exactly (8,000?), but scaled up to a real heli would have been a lot of weight.
They actually flew a real copter with a stamp on one main rotor and one on the tail rotor with no noticeable affect said the pilot.
Except, they called the myth “busted”, for some reason.
Anyhow, after seeing that episode, I really want to strap myself to a jetliner escape slide (or similar device) and be dropped from a plane. It looks like a total blast, and you could probably build one which, due to its aerodynamics, would always land with you on top.
On tonights episode they were saying “I’m sure this will generate a lot of complaints from viewers. Y’know, if you want to complain, go to our website” nudge nudge, wink wink. So they are now soliciting complaints. It is possible that they are getting desperate for material.
I have not seen enough episodes to know what all they have already covered or I would try to send in some ideas. It is a great show and I would hate to see it stagnate for lack of good material.
I remember reading at the time that the “human catapult” myth was actually inspired by a story in the Weekly World News. So instead of an actual myth, it was completely made up by some humor writers posing as tabloid journalists, but it was still a fun episode. I’d actually like to see more of this. Maybe they’ll go hunting for batboy!
I’d really like to see them take on dowsing. It has to be more interesting than the pyramid power segment, and there are still quite a few people who believe it’s possible.