# Whats the highest capacity of passengers for a military or emergency helicopter **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 7, 2015, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-capacity-of-passengers-for-a-military-or-emergency-helicopter/733792 "2015-10-07T10:55:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carlowplayer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@carlowplayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlowplayer)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-capacity-of-passengers-for-a-military-or-emergency-helicopter/733792/1 "2015-10-07T10:55:01Z")
Just wondering if their are military or emergency helicopters that hold up to 40 or 50 people at a time if not whats the highest amount of people these types of helicopters can hold ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-capacity-of-passengers-for-a-military-or-emergency-helicopter/733792/2 "2015-10-07T11:00:08Z")
Wikipedia lists the [Chinook](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_CH-47_Chinook) at a capacity of 55 troops. ---
**Author:** ![SuperAbe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@SuperAbe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperAbe)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-capacity-of-passengers-for-a-military-or-emergency-helicopter/733792/3 "2015-10-07T11:04:05Z")
The Russian [Mi-26](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mil_Mi-26) can carry a crazy 90 passengers in the densest configuration. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-capacity-of-passengers-for-a-military-or-emergency-helicopter/733792/4 "2015-10-07T11:24:33Z")
> [@SuperAbe](#): > > The Russian [Mi-26](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mil_Mi-26) can carry a crazy 90 passengers in the densest configuration. In [this crash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Khankala_Mi-26_crash) a Mi-26 apparently carried 5 crew and at least 135 passengers. ---
**Author:** ![txtumbleweed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@txtumbleweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txtumbleweed)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-capacity-of-passengers-for-a-military-or-emergency-helicopter/733792/5 "2015-10-07T12:38:13Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Wikipedia lists the [Chinook](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_CH-47_Chinook) at a capacity of 55 troops. I think that count of 55 is based on the number of seats that are installed. It wouldn’t happen in peacetime, but in an emergency we could cram many more in if willing to just seat them on the floor. IIRC The lift capacity was as much as 30000lbs of cargo so right there is room for 150 people at 200# ea. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-capacity-of-passengers-for-a-military-or-emergency-helicopter/733792/6 "2015-10-07T13:50:41Z")
That 55 also includes their gear: helmets, rifles and what not. So you could fit far more than 55 baggage-free civilians in there. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-capacity-of-passengers-for-a-military-or-emergency-helicopter/733792/7 "2015-10-07T15:33:03Z")
> [@txtumbleweed](#): > > I think that count of 55 is based on the number of seats that are installed. It wouldn’t happen in peacetime, but in an emergency we could cram many more in if willing to just seat them on the floor. IIRC The lift capacity was as much as 30000lbs of cargo so right there is room for 150 people at 200# ea. I think that the number of passengers is limited by seating, not by load capacity. The CH-53 series of helicopters all carry 55 passengers as well, although their lift capacities are well in excess of the CH-47 variants out there. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-capacity-of-passengers-for-a-military-or-emergency-helicopter/733792/8 "2015-10-07T15:53:37Z")
> [@Mops](#): > > In [this crash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Khankala_Mi-26_crash) a Mi-26 apparently carried 5 crew and at least 135 passengers. Wow. Crashed in their own mine field. Now that’s a bad day. ---
**Author:** ![txtumbleweed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@txtumbleweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txtumbleweed)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-capacity-of-passengers-for-a-military-or-emergency-helicopter/733792/9 "2015-10-07T19:13:16Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I think that the number of passengers is limited by seating, not by load capacity. The CH-53 series of helicopters all carry 55 passengers as well, although their lift capacities are well in excess of the CH-47 variants out there. That’s why I qualified it with the “in peacetime.” And I (well, Wikipedia) was wrong on the count for the Chinook. According to [FM55-450-2 Army Helicopter Internal Load Operations](http://usacac.army.mil/sites/default/files/misc/doctrine/CDG/cdg_resources/manuals/fm/fm55_450_2.pdf) there is only seating for 33 troops. However, in a full on, the zombies are inside the wire at Fort Zinderneuf situation, and the goal is just to get as many out as possible, all those little niceties like enough seatbelts and even seats would go by the wayside. You would use the entire 228sqft (90in x 366in) of floor space with the only limit being the max takeoff weight. A final number really depends on how tightly you can pack people, but my 150 pax guess was pretty optimistic once you look at the actual size of the cargo hold. (I think you could get 150 people on but they’d have to be standing the whole time). Still, if you figure 2sqft per person that’s 114 folks sitting on the floor (maybe string ropes through the tie-downs for them to hold onto), well within weight and balance without trying to get any equipment out.