4 ms·

Out of curiosity, what does the average person need a helicopter for? The expertise and cost is no joke. Enclosed autogyros and weightshift ultralight airplane

• geon 10y ago
  If you do need a heli, you are hardly an average person, are you? And aren't helis mostly used when you specifically need the ability to land on a building or hover?
  • mdorazio 10y ago
    In general, yes, but there's a fairly large market for filming with helis since you can mount nice camera equipment unrestricted by fixed wing fuselages, propellers, etc. and take nice, slow shots at low altitude. Of course, this is being replaced by much cheaper drones. Sightseeing is another decent size use case, which often doesn't really involve hovering. And news/traffic reporting usually occupies a few helis in cities where they're primarily cruising around.
• hughperkins 10y ago
  They sounds awesome fun for one thing... If cost was no object, I'd certainly be roaming the skies in one, rather than rollerblading and such... (I mean, I'd do both, not at the same time probably)
  • pc86 10y ago
    I'm trying to imagine operating a helicopter with rollerblades on.