I am an “OK” flyer now, it took me years to learn to overcome this, anyway, I do OK, with jets and I’ve even managed to fly in small 4 seat planes with the propellers.
When I visited San Francisco and New York City, I would always see excursions with helicopters for rides over those cities. Now I wasn’t brave enough to attempt those.
So I am asking those who have flown in helicopters how different is it from flying in a plane? I’m guessing it must be a world of difference from a big jet, but what about a smaller type propeller plane with just a few seats?
I flew in a helicopter for three years in the military, I have a few hundred hours in them.
I hate flying in commercial airliners because at least in a helicopter you can see what the pilot sees.
Depending on how the pilot flies, you’ll feel the ups and downs a lot more, more zero g feeling, if he so chooses to do it. It’ll be a civilian flight, so I doubt that. It’s louder but if it’s just a straight and narrow flight it won’t feel that much different.
You’ll feel more of a drop for the landing, but that’s about it.
A helicopter will have more of an elevator feel to it than a small plane when taking off and landing. A plane will push you back in your seat when taking off and a helicopter will push you down in your seat.
Here’s a Fast! Fact! to quell that fear of flying in a helicopter.
If the engine stops turning in an airplane, the best case scenario is that you arrive on the ground at the slowest speed that that airplane can fly. Some places are better than others to do this, and you may be in one of the ones that’s not so good.
If the engine stops turning in a helicopter, the best case scenario is you arrive on the ground pretty much the same way you would if the engine hadn’t stopped turning (due to the fact that a helicopter can “autorotate”).
If the engine seizes or just plain quits in a helicopter, the rotor system is disconnected from the engine by the Sprag clutch (‘freewheeling unit’). This allows the rotors to keep turning for autorotation.
My first flight in a helicopter was a little weird when we took off. We just sort of levitated off of the ground, which surely isn’t normal! In flight, a helicopter feels pretty much like an airplane. One difference is with turbulence. A helicopter is a bit more ‘jerky’ than an airplane, which (depending on the turbulence, of course) is a little more ‘floaty’, I’ve heard that people are less likely to become airsick in a helicopter because it doesn’t ‘float’ like an airplane.
Visibility is much better in a helicopter. You don’t have a nose sticking out like on an airplane or a car, which I guess might be a little unnerving to some people. But if you like a view, helis are great. This is especially true with the doors off. There’s nothing like having nothing between you and the outside.
The main problem with helicopters is keeping cameras away from them. Anyone who watches movies knows that there is about an 80% chance that a helicopter on camera will explode in mid-air, usually right after losing it’s tail rotor.
Other than that, they are a blast - I love max-power take-offs, although I’ve never been on board during an autorotation. Going to try that next time I can go up on a test flight with Mr. Cake.
I’ve taken a couple of tourist helicopter rides. Slight jolt upon liftoff, but then you don’t feel a thing. Those copters are not going to fly any sort of stressful maneuvers where you would feel any inertial effects. It will basically be like sitting in a car seat.
Being fixed-wing rated, but not rotary wing, I’ll defer somewhat to your opinion since you fly helos.
But that said…
I’ve been in a helo autorotation, and it struck me as a decidedly different experience than an engine-out in an airplane.
The helo instructors I know tell me they practice autorotations to a hover. That is, without actually touching down in order to avoid damage from hard landings. That tells you something right there, I would think. The vertical speed downward is significantly higher than fixed-wing. AND, you’re usually flying lower in the first place, which means less time to react.
Actually, he’ll sit where the pilot tells him to sit. Weight and balance is very important in small aircraft.
Which I think is caused by the better view. That is, if you closed your eyes and didn’t know whether you were in a helicopter or an airplane, the actual physical sensation of the term should be the same.
(Actually, I’ll hedge a bit on this one–maybe I’m full of shit. Johnny L.A.? I’m just thinking that all the forces acting on a passenger are the same in a turning aircraft, whether that turning aircraft is an airplane, a helicopter, a glider, a fanwing, whatever.)
For the Private certificate (which is what I have) the FBO taught autorotations to a hover recovery. They also taught, as is required, autorotations from a hover. That is, you’re a few feet off the ground and the instructor chops the throttle. Take-off aborts are also practiced. A ‘full-down’ autoroation is basically the three pieces put together. Time and lack of money curtailed my Commercial training, but I did do a couple of full-down autos; and of course full-down autos were demonstrated from time to time even in the Private training. Autorotations are one of the most fun things you can do in a helicopter. I enjoy the heck out of 'em!
Here’s my reasoning as to why an engine failure is more dicy in an airplane than an helicopter.
An airplane requires some sort of runway. Often a road will have obstructions (power lines, ground traffic, etc.) and fields might not be long enough for a roll-out. I did all of my helicopter flying in the L.A. area, and there are very few suitable landing places for an airplane. Sure, there are a fair number of golf courses; and there are other places that can be used. But I’d hate to lose my engine over a city.
A helicopter needs a much smaller landing area, and there is little or no roll-out required. (There will often be some forward movement upon landing, which makes a nasty sound when you do a full-down auto onto concrete; but it’s only a few feet.) This opens up a far larger number of emergency landing areas than area available to an airplane. Of course many helicopters attempting real emergency landings get tied up in wires just as airplanes do, but IMO there are more options. I’ve read that the safest single-engine aircraft in the U.S., in terms of crash survivability, is the Bell 206 JetRanger (possibly including the 207 LongRanger).
There is one area where a helicopter engine-out can be dicy: Especially in low-inertia rotor system helicopters like most recreational flyers fly, it is imperative that the collective lever be lowered immediately. Lowering the pitch of the rotor blades conserves rotor RPM. Without rotor RPM, your goose is cooked. At the same time you have to kick the anti-torque pedal to prevent yawing upon the loss of the engine, and enter your dive. So the drill is to lower the collective, remove anti-torque, and nose over. In a Robbo this will get you into a nice glide at about 70 kts. Your RPM is stable, your speed is stable, and it’s pretty much like gliding an airplane. Landing is much like any other landing, except that you don’t hover (much) before touchdown.
Given the low or zero landing speed and the larger number of available landing areas, I’d rather lose an engine in a helicopter than an airplane.
I’ve never closed my eyes while flying a helicopter, but it’s pretty much the same. Actually, I feel more g in an airplane because I tend not to turn as steeply in a helicopter than I do in an airplane. (Or ‘tended’ and ‘did’, since I’m not current.)
Note the word siezed. If a rotor siezes or has any other mechanical the rotating assembly becomes unstable. The same goes for the tail rotor. It is far more likely you will loose a rotor (the wing of the aircraft) than a conventional aircraft will loose it’s wing.
I did note that. But I’ve never heard of a helicopter’s rotor seizing. If it’s happened at all, then I suspect that the percentage is much lower than the percentage of airplane wings that have snapped off. EDIT after visiting link: Note that my interpretation of ‘seizing’ is that the rotors stop; not that they depart the aircraft, as happened in your link. Rotors do depart the aircraft (rarely) for other reasons; for example, mast-bumping. In the case of the Super Puma, the operators flew the aircraft for 34 hours after the chip detector annunciator illuminated. I was taught that if the chip detector annunciator lights up, you land ASAP and expect a total failure from the time the light comes on until you’re on the ground. Then you don’t fly the helicopter until the unit is torn down and repaired.
Tail rotors are a concern. This video from Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes shows what happens if the pilot strikes the ground with his tail rotor. It’s also possible for the coupling to fail in flight. As seen in the video, losing a tail rotor near the ground is bad. In cruise, the action is to immediately enter autorotation. The tail rotor is also called the anti-torque rotor. Cut the engine, and you get rid of the torque. So you can just do a normal autorotation landing. (Power may be applied carefully to extend the glide if necessary.)
I agree in theory that a helicopter would do better in an engine failure and I’ve seen the 2-seater video’s demonstrating it. Quite impressive. However, the commercial helo’s don’t seem to do so well when things go south.
I suppose not all helicopters are equal. It’s not like tail draggers give me any warm and fuzzies. Just got back from Oshkosh and the guy in front of me ground-looped it. It’s a guaranteed occurrence at every event.
In flight, a helicopter feels pretty much like an airplane. One difference is with turbulence. A helicopter is a bit more ‘jerky’ than an airplane, which (depending on the turbulence, of course) is a little more ‘floaty’, I’ve heard that people are less likely to become airsick in a helicopter because it doesn’t ‘float’ like an airplane.