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While true, it's worth noting that mandatory auto-rotation training is due to the fact that helicopters are inherently unstable aircraft whose turbine engines h
by Dangeranger 8y ago
While true, it's worth noting that mandatory auto-rotation training is due to the fact that helicopters are inherently unstable aircraft whose turbine engines have the habit of stalling at the worst possible moment.
> "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 general, airplane pilots are open, clear eyed, buoyant extroverts, and helicopter pilots are brooders, introspective anticipators of trouble. They know that if something bad has not happened, it is about to."
-Harry Reasoner
- Theodores 8y agoThen there is the Harrier Jump Jet. Then there is the challenge of landing a Harrier Jump Jet on an aircraft carrier. Then there is the challenge of landing a Harrier Jump Jet on an aircraft carrier that happens to be postage stamp sized and in the South Atlantic high seas during an actual war, the Falklands War.
- dingaling 8y ago> whose turbine engines have the habit of stalling at the worst possible moment Helicopter turbine engines operate on exactly the same principles at the 90,000lb thrust turbofan under the wing of a 777. They are incomprehensibly reliable. Things that lead to helicopter autororation are usually mechanical failure of the transmission.