Helicopter safety record?

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No7 said:
That's not strictly true. If power is lost, you would be shocked at the amount of different planes that have the aerodynamics of a brick when no thrust is available
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Such as ?

There's been cases of big jets losing all power way out over the ocean and still gliding to a safe on land landing.

Lose power over water in a chopper and you're buggered saving a miracle.
 
lenshack said:
Such as ?

There's been cases of big jets losing all power way out over the ocean and still gliding to a safe on land landing.

Lose power over water in a chopper and you're buggered saving a miracle.
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True but most chopper pilots can and are taught to auto rotate to water
 
lurker said:
Rotor failure, gearbox failure, engine failure can all kill you pretty quickly especially if the helicopters pushing top speed
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unless you have an actual rotor failure (as in in comes apart) you should always be able to auto-rotate in all 3 cases you've listed

lose a wing on a plane for example and you'll crash - no chance of a glide forced landing there
 
gizmoganzee said:
True but most chopper pilots can and are taught to auto rotate to water
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Then what ?
You're probably fish food unless in range of a quick rescue.
Lots of casualties with choppers going down in water in recent years, I wonder what the survival rate is ?
With fixed wing as long as you have height you have a chance of a safe landing.

Scotty said:
unless you have an actual rotor failure (as in in comes apart) you should always be able to auto-rotate in all 3 cases you've listed

lose a wing on a plane for example and you'll crash - no chance of a glide forced landing there
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So rare for a plane to lose a wing, it's hardly worth a mention.
 
lenshack said:
Such as ?

There's been cases of big jets losing all power way out over the ocean and still gliding to a safe on land landing.

Lose power over water in a chopper and you're buggered saving a miracle.
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Most larger choppers have floatation devices.
 
Typhoonftm said:
Autorotation as mentioned above. A chopper can glide to pretty much anywhere. A fixed wing can't.
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So how come they nearly always end up in the drink ?

Given height planes can glide hundreds of miles
 
lenshack said:
Then what ?
You're probably fish food unless in range of a quick rescue.
Lots of casualties with choppers going down in water in recent years, I wonder what the survival rate is ?
With fixed wing as long as you have height you have a chance of a safe landing.



So rare for a plane to lose a wing, it's hardly worth a mention.
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Choppers will float mostly and have stringent maintenance so less likely to have casualties
 
Doesn't auto rotation only work at specific height and speeds which vary between helicopters? So if your outside of those parameters your fucked as it's almost impossible to auto rotate?
 
lenshack said:
So how come they nearly always end up in the drink ?

Given height planes can glide hundreds of miles
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Bexcuse the only crashes you really hear about are in the north sea.

Ye's, but any plane outwith airliners don't have the height to do that. You'll get about 100km from 30,000 in an average airliner.

As mentioned above. Give me the choice of chopper or plane to lose engine's in. Chopper every time.

Rusty said:
Doesn't auto rotation only work at specific height and speeds which vary between helicopters? So if your outside of those parameters your fucked as it's almost impossible to auto rotate?
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So does gliding.
 
Typhoonftm said:
Bexcuse the only crashes you really hear about are in the north sea.

Ye's, but any plane outwith airliners don't have the height to do that. You'll get about 100km from 30,000 in an average airliner.

As mentioned above. Give me the choice of chopper or plane to lose engine's in. Chopper every time.


So does gliding.
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It just seemed like people were making out that no matter what height and speed you can glide for as long as you want which is far from the truth.
 
lenshack said:
So how come they nearly always end up in the drink ?

Given height planes can glide hundreds of miles
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sure, a mig25 at 100000ft might be able glide hundreds of miles but a passenger jet at its normal cruising altitude might get 100 miles with a glide

(of course, its practically unheard of for a multi-engine plane to lose all its engines and i figure a 747 could probably lose 2 and still be able to land under its own power so its kindof a moot point)
 
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