3 ms·

I wonder what would be the maximum distance where a Lamborghini is actually faster than a helicopter (assuming there's almost no traffic e.g. at night).

rasz 6y ago
For most helicopters its around as far as it takes Lambo to accelerate for 20 seconds.
- tutfbhuf 6y ago
  Sure, but I would also like to consider the prep time + starting and landing. So lets assume, you call an helicopter pilot and a lambo driver at night up out of their bed, both lets say 20 km far away, in the middle of the night. For this distance I would bet that the lambo driver would be faster.
- snypher 6y ago
  I'm not sure what you are trying to say here. Lambo average speed ~150mph. Eurocopter EC145 cruise speed ~150mph. Even the never-exceed speed of the 145 is ~170mph, which the Lambo should be more than capable of (~200mph). It surely comes down to a matter of fuel capacity and straight-line travel.
  - rasz 6y ago
    I read the question wrong, minimum, not maximum. So the minimum is whatever the distance Lambo covers in 20 seconds, as thats the time it takes to accelerate past EC145 top speed of 167 mph. Max would depend on road availability and refueling speed.
  - yencabulator 6y ago
    The helicopter can fly in a straight line, the car must follow roads. The helicopter has no traffic to slow down for, no turns, and a relatively low risk of accidents.
Hamuko 6y ago
Does that the time that it takes to prepare a helicopter and a pilot? Because that's probably the slowest part. I've been on a helicopter ride once and it took quite a while before we were actually in the air. A lot of the time was spent on all of the pre-flight stuff and refueling. And that was in a scenario where a pilot was waiting for us at the airfield. I have no idea if the police in Italy always have a pilot ready to hop in at a moment's notice.
- Xylakant 6y ago
  I don't think that would be a concern here - donor organs don't just suddenly show up at the blink of an eye, they need to be carefully extracted and prepped in an operating room. There's certainly enough time to prep a helicopter crew, if there isn't any on standby. That said, at least in Germany and the surrounding countries, there's a fairly dense network of rescue helicopters which are usually ready on the pad, crew on standby. They're supposed to be airborne within minutes.
- cranekam 6y ago
  If this was a concern other fast-response helicopter services wouldn’t work. As well as the common helicopter air ambulance services used in many countries, helicopters are used on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro to drop lifeguards next to people who’re in trouble in the sea. Given someone in that situation could be dead in 3 minutes it’s clear that getting a helicopter off the ground in time is feasible. (I don’t know for sure but I doubt they have a crew sitting in the helicopter with the engine running 24/7, just waiting for a call.) And as others have noted, the need to transport organs isn’t something that appears out of the blue — there’s at least some lead time available.

rasz 6y ago

For most helicopters its around as far as it takes Lambo to accelerate for 20 seconds.

tutfbhuf 6y ago
Sure, but I would also like to consider the prep time + starting and landing. So lets assume, you call an helicopter pilot and a lambo driver at night up out of their bed, both lets say 20 km far away, in the middle of the night. For this distance I would bet that the lambo driver would be faster.
snypher 6y ago
I'm not sure what you are trying to say here. Lambo average speed ~150mph. Eurocopter EC145 cruise speed ~150mph. Even the never-exceed speed of the 145 is ~170mph, which the Lambo should be more than capable of (~200mph). It surely comes down to a matter of fuel capacity and straight-line travel.
- rasz 6y ago
  I read the question wrong, minimum, not maximum. So the minimum is whatever the distance Lambo covers in 20 seconds, as thats the time it takes to accelerate past EC145 top speed of 167 mph. Max would depend on road availability and refueling speed.
- yencabulator 6y ago
  The helicopter can fly in a straight line, the car must follow roads. The helicopter has no traffic to slow down for, no turns, and a relatively low risk of accidents.

Hamuko 6y ago

Does that the time that it takes to prepare a helicopter and a pilot? Because that's probably the slowest part. I've been on a helicopter ride once and it took quite a while before we were actually in the air. A lot of the time was spent on all of the pre-flight stuff and refueling. And that was in a scenario where a pilot was waiting for us at the airfield. I have no idea if the police in Italy always have a pilot ready to hop in at a moment's notice.

Xylakant 6y ago
I don't think that would be a concern here - donor organs don't just suddenly show up at the blink of an eye, they need to be carefully extracted and prepped in an operating room. There's certainly enough time to prep a helicopter crew, if there isn't any on standby. That said, at least in Germany and the surrounding countries, there's a fairly dense network of rescue helicopters which are usually ready on the pad, crew on standby. They're supposed to be airborne within minutes.
cranekam 6y ago
If this was a concern other fast-response helicopter services wouldn’t work. As well as the common helicopter air ambulance services used in many countries, helicopters are used on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro to drop lifeguards next to people who’re in trouble in the sea. Given someone in that situation could be dead in 3 minutes it’s clear that getting a helicopter off the ground in time is feasible. (I don’t know for sure but I doubt they have a crew sitting in the helicopter with the engine running 24/7, just waiting for a call.) And as others have noted, the need to transport organs isn’t something that appears out of the blue — there’s at least some lead time available.