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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didier_Delsalle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didier_Delsalle I bet you could design helicopter that would be able to repeat this

by qaq 9y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didier_Delsalle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didier_Delsalle I bet you could design helicopter that would be able to repeat this with much less effort

thinkpls 9y ago
Yes, I’m sure it really is that simple.
- qaq 9y ago
  It's not a question of it being simple it's a question of ROI the market would be too small. If you read the article this was done using stock Eurocopter AS350 Squirrel.
  - thinkpls 9y ago
    I don’t doubt you at all. I truly believe nobody has ever thought through all the ways of rescuing people from Everest. This has the power to be game-changing.
  - plsthink 9y ago
    I’m sure they haven’t thought of this yet. Please tell me more.
    - qaq 9y ago
      Who are "they"? I was replying to a person postulating that rescue is impossible. My point it's not impossible it's impractical given the resources that would need to be allocated to solving this problem.
rascalbrother 9y ago
That chopper was stripped to the bone so that one dude could fly in it, with a fuel time of 1 hour. It also landed on the summit which is more flat. Don't think it would be easily and safely able to carry an addition (dead) body that's probably perched on an incline, let alone carry rescuers. It takes upwards of 6 hours to chip the dead body off the ice (if it's been frozen there for a while)
- qaq 9y ago
  I am not advocating building one or using it to remove bodies I am just speculating that it's possible to design and build a model that could accomplish the fit much easier and that theoretically could be used for rescue. It's obviously would require too much $ to be practical.
- pavel_lishin 9y ago
  According to Wikipedia, he didn't remove that much: > Delsalle used a virtually standard version of the Eurocopter AS350 Squirrel B3, only removing unnecessary elements, such as passenger seats, to reduce the standard weight by 120 kg (265 lb) and thus extend the 1-hour fuel range. And in any case, I believe the user you responded to was talking about rescues, not removing corpses.
- manquer 9y ago
  You don't need to use a manned one at all . You could design unmanned drone which can carry the weight of the (dead)person. Losses while perhaps costly will improve the design and more acceptable than risking human lives.
jsmthrowaway 9y ago
The rotor would have to be enormous and fast, and the helicopter incredibly light with very little payload. One or both of those constraints are probably beyond our materials knowledge, particularly a controllable rotor that would work. Passenger jets are fine up there because they haul ass, often north of Mach 0.7-0.8, and push as much of the thin air as possible over the wing. (One of the cool things about commercial air travel is that most people don’t realize they’re flying at transonic speeds, but you’ll occasionally see evidence of it in flight.) It doesn’t take much slowing down for a passenger jet to start descending, and ultimately stall, at cruising altitude. The flight envelope at Everest altitude is much smaller than you’d expect. For a helicopter, you’d need to replicate that set of circumstances, but with wings rotating above you instead. One has to worry about other conditions, too: in the '70s, when Boulet set the helicopter altitude record above 40,000, the engine flamed out on account of how cold it was and wouldn’t restart. High altitude helicopters are a very difficult design problem, and there isn’t much economic demand to solve it.
- qaq 9y ago
  The above link the dude did it 2 days in a row on a stock stripped down helicopter. If you had tolerance for higher cost you can make a much lighter version replacing parts with composites, titanium etc. and modding the engine to work better at high altitude.

by qaq 9y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didier_Delsalle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didier_Delsalle I bet you could design helicopter that would be able to repeat this with much less effort

thinkpls 9y ago

Yes, I’m sure it really is that simple.

qaq 9y ago
It's not a question of it being simple it's a question of ROI the market would be too small. If you read the article this was done using stock Eurocopter AS350 Squirrel.
- thinkpls 9y ago
  I don’t doubt you at all. I truly believe nobody has ever thought through all the ways of rescuing people from Everest. This has the power to be game-changing.
- plsthink 9y ago
  I’m sure they haven’t thought of this yet. Please tell me more.
  - qaq 9y ago
    Who are "they"? I was replying to a person postulating that rescue is impossible. My point it's not impossible it's impractical given the resources that would need to be allocated to solving this problem.

rascalbrother 9y ago

That chopper was stripped to the bone so that one dude could fly in it, with a fuel time of 1 hour. It also landed on the summit which is more flat. Don't think it would be easily and safely able to carry an addition (dead) body that's probably perched on an incline, let alone carry rescuers. It takes upwards of 6 hours to chip the dead body off the ice (if it's been frozen there for a while)

qaq 9y ago
I am not advocating building one or using it to remove bodies I am just speculating that it's possible to design and build a model that could accomplish the fit much easier and that theoretically could be used for rescue. It's obviously would require too much $ to be practical.
pavel_lishin 9y ago
According to Wikipedia, he didn't remove that much: > Delsalle used a virtually standard version of the Eurocopter AS350 Squirrel B3, only removing unnecessary elements, such as passenger seats, to reduce the standard weight by 120 kg (265 lb) and thus extend the 1-hour fuel range. And in any case, I believe the user you responded to was talking about rescues, not removing corpses.
manquer 9y ago
You don't need to use a manned one at all . You could design unmanned drone which can carry the weight of the (dead)person. Losses while perhaps costly will improve the design and more acceptable than risking human lives.

jsmthrowaway 9y ago

The rotor would have to be enormous and fast, and the helicopter incredibly light with very little payload. One or both of those constraints are probably beyond our materials knowledge, particularly a controllable rotor that would work. Passenger jets are fine up there because they haul ass, often north of Mach 0.7-0.8, and push as much of the thin air as possible over the wing. (One of the cool things about commercial air travel is that most people don’t realize they’re flying at transonic speeds, but you’ll occasionally see evidence of it in flight.) It doesn’t take much slowing down for a passenger jet to start descending, and ultimately stall, at cruising altitude. The flight envelope at Everest altitude is much smaller than you’d expect. For a helicopter, you’d need to replicate that set of circumstances, but with wings rotating above you instead. One has to worry about other conditions, too: in the '70s, when Boulet set the helicopter altitude record above 40,000, the engine flamed out on account of how cold it was and wouldn’t restart. High altitude helicopters are a very difficult design problem, and there isn’t much economic demand to solve it.

qaq 9y ago
The above link the dude did it 2 days in a row on a stock stripped down helicopter. If you had tolerance for higher cost you can make a much lighter version replacing parts with composites, titanium etc. and modding the engine to work better at high altitude.