Why don’t you fly rotor wing?

Kritchlow said:
Referencing my earlier post… what does one do with the rating after they get it??

I understand the profesional aspect, but recreational just seems…. Non existent.
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The same thing recreational fixed wing pilots do, which is fly for fun.

One thing I’ve observed about the majority of the posters on this board is that the posters seem to have the idea that the only reason for flying is to go somewhere. Not all recreational aviation and pilots do that, some are more than happy flying in a 20-30 mile radius of their home airport or house. For that kind of flying there is nothing that would stop someone from doing it in a helicopter if they wanted to.

I know a couple of recreational helicopter owners. They take them out just like someone takes out a Cub on a nice day.
 
Piperonca said:
The thing is, helicopters are different from airplanes. An airplane by its nature wants to fly and, if not interfered with too strongly by unusual events or by a deliberately incompetent pilot, it will fly. A helicopter does not want to fly. It is maintained in the air by a variety of forces and controls working in opposition to each other, and if there is any disturbance in the delicate balance, the helicopter stops flying, immediately and disastrously. There is no such thing as a gliding helicopter. This is why a helicopter pilot is so different a being from an airplane pilot, and why in general, airplane pilots are open, clear-eyed, buoyant extroverts, and helicopter pilots are brooders, introspective anticipators of trouble. They know if anything bad has not happened, it is about to.

Harry Reasoner
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A great reporter from a bygone era in the news business. But still a typical reporter. Helicopters glide just fine.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
Any single wing attach bolt failure will kill you in most GA airplanes. Hell - strut-winged Cessnas have 6 of them. Any single one fails and there goes your wing.

True of really the entire fleet until you get into transport category aircraft.
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Ah...no.
spar.jpg
Someone else's (stock) RV-4 wing spar/fuselage interface.
Loss of a single one is not a guarantee of failure in any GA airplane I'm aware of. OTOH, any wing spar will fail with *all* the bolts in place if you're determined.

Nauga,
who values his soft pink body
 
Tarheelpilot said:
A great reporter from a bygone era in the news business. But still a typical reporter. Helicopters glide just fine.
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Somebody probably showed him an autorotation. You could forgive his misconception after experiencing that, if he did. You and I would think whee this is great and old Harry would be swallowing his tongue.
 
Ghery said:
True, but you hear about the Jesus nut on helicopters a lot more than you hear about wing spars being a single point of failure on fixed wing aircraft. Real or not but...
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As with any urban legend, it tends to get repeated more often than the facts. As mentioned, don’t know of any Jesus nut failures even back to the Vietnam days where this term was supposedly created from an old WWII term. Now there were a number of M/R TT strap failures, but since it never hit “legend” status we don’t have the Jesus “strap” term in our vocabulary. But fixed-wing will fall into the same trap of urban legends as some people won’t fly in a 737MAX because they can’t fly without a computer, or back in the 80s people wouldn’t fly in DC-10s because all the engines fall off. So it all depends on what you believe, legend or fact.
Kritchlow said:
but recreational just seems…. Non existent.
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It exists, but you have to put it in context. The entire US GA rotorcraft fleet makes up less than 7% of the aircraft when compared to the GA single engine, multi-engine, turbo-prop fleet. However, if you compare the number of “recreational” helicopters to the number of “recreational” multi-engine and turbo-prop aircraft you’ll find the helicopter numbers fit in the middle of those 2 categories as well as the average costs. It’s not a large market but it is there comparatively with the “recreational” rotorcraft side at higher numbers now than in the past 10 years. Had I wanted to work on R22/R44s I probably would have only semi-retired 7 years ago as there is a solid demand from the “recreational” side for mx services.
Tarheelpilot said:
But still a typical reporter.
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The full article:
Helicopter-Pilots-are-Different.jpg
 
That drawing is a masterpiece. My favorite was the compass calibration card. “Our Father…”
 
Velocity173 said:
I remember some mast bumping with tge Cobras but don’t remember the lawsuits. I do remember some widows sued Bell over some Oh-58 crashes though.
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It happened. Specifically the AH-1. I did it in a UH-1 (and walked away) one dark and stormy night over a SF camp near where Mel Gibson whipped um. The VHPA magazine covered it too. Was later discussed in class at my employer.
 
DaleB said:
And there you have half the reason I don’t fly one and never will. The other half is the fact that there’s no such thing as an LSA helo.
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BUT there are helo kit companies that claim their little bird is an LSA. Single seat and very useful load limited. Limited to one welter weight, 5 gallons of gas and a verbal message.
 
Maxnr said:
that claim their little bird is an LSA.
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Unfortunately the FAA does not define a "a helicopter or powered-lift" as an LSA so those claims are only a marketing ploy.
 
Maxnr said:
BUT there are helo kit companies that claim their little bird is an LSA. Single seat and very useful load limited. Limited to one welter weight, 5 gallons of gas and a verbal message.
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I believe it's called the Mosquito: https://composite-fx.com/

Looks like fun and very cheap (relatively). Only one person though.
 
Bell206 said:
FYI: There are a number of E/AB helicopters: Safari, Helicycle, Sportscopter to name a few others in the US with a dozen more kits overseas. Some even have turbine options.
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Nice! I'm a gyro guy, so I only notice heli's when they pop up during a discussion.
 
Piperonca said:
That drawing is a masterpiece. My favorite was the compass calibration card. “Our Father…”
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There was a cartoonist a while back who apparently flew Mil Intel missions in the great war. IMHO his best was a RU-8F emerging from a CB with smashed windshield, crimped wing, dangling trim tabs, etc. Caption was: "OK GOD, I'll take it now!"
 
Under circumstances too lengthy and unbelievable to describe here, one night I prayed sincerely for the first time in my life. It was: God don't let me kill these troops on my aircraft. Yes, I think the Invisible Hand takes over sometimes.
 
Flew a CH-3C from our Test Wing once. About three minutes after I had been juggling collective, cyclic, rudder and twist grip, “YOUR AIRPLANE”. That was sufficient for my lifetime.

OTOH, a member of our EAA Chapter has a Robinson and loves it.

Cheers
 
One of my mentors told me that the modern airliner have many complex and moving parts, but the wings aren't one of them.
 
One of the proudest moments I've had as a new Dad is when my daughter got old enough to start pointing at airplanes and saying, "Dada!"

But then she started pointing at helicopters and saying the same thing.

****!
 
kayoh190 said:
One of the proudest moments I've had as a new Dad is when my daughter got old enough to start pointing at airplanes and saying, "Dada!"

But then she started pointing at helicopters and saying the same thing.

****!
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Happened to me, too. Was cured by taking her on long trips (8hr / day) several times now during vacation. She did the first long journey when she was 5….

Still not sure she‘s cured (she will be 10 this year). At least… she loves Gliders.

My son… on the other hand (4 y/o) only boards a plane if my wife is coming, too.
 
My two year old always points out airplanes and then verbally considers whether they are going to Mexico (our most recent family trip) or Missouri or Florida (two of our common family destinations). Helicopters (aka Hehcopters) don't seem to have a destination, but they are still worth pointing out.

I hope he really catches the bug and wants to fly when he is older...
IMG_1554 (1).jpeg

I almost forgot to answer the OP's question: I don't fly rotor wing because almost all of my flying is >1000NM
 
I'd like to fly rotors but there's no way right now to justify the expense. I do get to ride from time to time for aerial photography missions.
 
Tobias Göller said:
I always get scared to death if the wings move faster than the fuselage...
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Ha. But when the engine stops I always prefer to have those wings moving faster as it makes for a better landing in most cases.
 
RudyP said:
Helicopters (aka Hehcopters) don't seem to have a destination, but they are still worth pointing out.
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He has a point there if you ask me... To me the whole rotorwing stuff is a bit like a very severe accident. You look in shock and awe, wish you never had looked... but you still can't look away.
 
steingar said:
Only been married 30 years or thereabouts.
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... that does signify that you have A LOT of experience with one woman. But not so much with other women...

In Supply-Chain we call this "single vendor risk" :)

Tobias (sorry, could not resist :) )

P.S: I'm married for... let me check.... 13 years now. So same "problem" here :)
 
Tobias Göller said:
... that does signify that you have A LOT of experience with one woman. But not so much with other women...

In Supply-Chain we call this "single vendor risk" :)

Tobias (sorry, could not resist :) )

P.S: I'm married for... let me check.... 13 years now. So same "problem" here :)
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Salty's problem might be that he has lots of experience with women, but not with one woman. That could indeed be problematic and quite expensive.
 
steingar said:
Salty's problem might be that he has lots of experience with women, but not with one woman. That could indeed be problematic and quite expensive.
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Yeah, women tend to be even more expensive than old cars... Too many of them and you're ruined (and too many with women normally means: >1).

But it might be a nice way to go down.... :)
 
Bell206 said:
Ha. But when the engine stops I always prefer to have those wings moving faster as it makes for a better landing in most cases.
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In you case... if the engine stops it's likely as scary as if my wings start moving... so... Thank you but no thank you. I like my wings firmly attached (and not moving at all) :)
 
I am still disturbed by knowing I need something that looks like a runway in order to land an airplane. In a helicopter, I can land just about anywhere with a good chance of survival (as long as I don't botch the autorotation and landing).

If I had my own helicopter, I would give intro rides to anyone who wanted one as long as they bought lunch.
 
IK04 said:
I am still disturbed by knowing I need something that looks like a runway in order to land an airplane. In a helicopter, I can land just about anywhere with a good chance of survival (as long as I don't botch the autorotation and landing).

If I had my own helicopter, I would give intro rides to anyone who wanted one as long as they bought lunch.
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... and as long as you find a place to land (in mountainous area this can be difficult)

You're right: You do have some options fixed wing aircrafts don't have. Still... too many parts rotating around an oil-leak :)

Tobias
 
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