Reasoner's first paragraph is largely correct. Autorotation only works above 500' AGL, and not at all if the rotor system is damaged or seized. The San Jose po

Reasoner's first paragraph is largely correct. Autorotation only works above 500' AGL, and not at all if the rotor system is damaged or seized. The San Jose police lost a chopper 20 years ago. Even though they autorotated, the avoidance of houses and landing on pavement killed both occupants. https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/2-Killed-As-Police-Helicopter-Crashes-on-San-Jose-2900622.php https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/2-Killed-As-Police-He... Even today, most helicopter operations are VFR. If the clouds come down, even EMT flights don't fly IFR and they impact terrain weekly. The second paragraph of amateur psychology is not correct. Most US helicopter pilots first get a fixed-wing (airplane) rating then get the helicopter add-on, since it's cheaper that way. However, if I was a North Sea oil platform helo pilot, yeah I'd be grim af every day too. Not mentioned is that because of weight limitations in aerospace engineering, helicopters just don't have the design margin available for adequate safety. The #1 helicopter mfg. in the world is Robinson Helicopter in SoCal. The only way they stayed in business was to be bastards on mfg. processes (in-housing it similar to SpaceX) and training requirements. The tail rotor axle looks like a Christmas wrapping paper tube. FAA SFAR-73: Robinson R-22/R-44 Special Training and Experience Requirements http://rhctraining.com/sfar-73/ http://rhctraining.com/sfar-73/ In addition, as we've found out with Hawaiian helo tours, the popout floats just don't work in the ocean, so it capsizes. In case you haven't noticed, I love picking on helicopters! :) Source: commercially-rated pilot.