Just to clarify a couple of things re helicopters: Once the engine stops there is no torque and the helicopter can be autorotated to a safe landing using the same principle as a gyrocopter. This manouvre is part of training to get a licence and is practised many times.
The danger with an autorotation is: 1) the helicopter is low and the pilot is slow to take corrective action, then the main rotor doesn't have time to spin up before you hit the ground; 2) sometimes (gearbox broken, tail blades lost) you don't have yaw control and you land with sideways movement relative to the ground. This can happen if you get a side gust while in the hover just before dropping to the ground. The helicopter rolls over. HTH, Nick _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
