On Sun, Jan 1, 2012 at 1:29 AM, John Sessoms <[email protected]> wrote: > I don't think Reasoner is/was actually a helicopter pilot, but he pretty > much got it right about the attitude of a helicopter when it's off the > ground. Airplanes WANT to fly, helicopters don't. > > Auto-rotation isn't so much a glide as a way to brake the fall just a tiny > bit right before you hit the ground. Scary as shit if you happen to be > sitting in the back.
OR the front. We flew in a lot of helicopters during my 35 years in the survey business, as well as fixed wing and i always felt safer in the 'chopper'. We had a few emergency landings but I'm still here and pumping the economy buying camera gear.:-) Some of these stories will be in the memoir book if i can get going again. Dave > > From: Steven Desjardins > >> Can't a helicopter autorotate down if the engine fails? >> >> On Sat, Dec 31, 2011 at 1:42 PM, John Sessoms <[email protected]> >> wrote: >>> >>> From: "Daniel J. Matyola" >>> >>> >>>> I took a course in aeronautics. ?I understand how fixed wing aircraft >>>> >>>> fly, but helicopters are still a mystery to me. >>> >>> >>> >>> The thing is, helicopters are different from planes. An airplane by it's >>> 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 this delicate balance the helicopter stops flying; >>> immediately and disastrously. There is no such thing as a gliding >>> helicopter. >>> >>> This is why being a helicopter pilot is so different from being an >>> airplane pilot, and why in generality, airplane pilots are open, >>> clear-eyed, buoyant extroverts and helicopter pilots are brooding >>> introspective anticipators of trouble. They know if something bad has >>> not happened it is about to. >>> >>> ? Harry Reasoner, 1971. >>> >>> Helicopters don't fly....they beat the air into submission >>> >>> - Anon > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. -- Documenting Life in Rural Ontario. www.caughtinmotion.com http://brooksinthecountry.blogspot.com/ York Region, Ontario, Canada -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
