7 ms·

I wonder by how many orders of magnitude that this would be less safe and more expensive that as commercial airline first class ticket to the same destination.

• throwaway0a5e 6y ago
  They're not gonna be trying to land rockets in bad weather so the helicopter rides should pretty much all take place during ideal conditions. Point to point helicopter rides are also very safe relatively speaking. Industrial and emergency helicopter usage really drags down the average.
  • beerandt 6y ago
    >Point to point helicopter rides are also very safe relatively speaking Not for coastal ops. It falls in the more dangerous category. All rig workers are required to pass HUET- Helicopter Underwater Egress Training. The gyro forces of the rotating blades ensure any splashdown is followed immediately by the helicopter inverting itself- so underwater and upside down. It also involves the immediate need for survival swimming, with a presumption of a burning oil slick at the surface that must be splashed clear each time you surface, until you can clear the wreckage. And since the water might be dirty, or covered in oil slick or debris, this training is often done blindfolded.
    • skinkestek 6y ago
      > And since the water might be dirty, or covered in oil slick or debris, this training is done blindfolded. Is the blindfold rule new? I never heard about it when I took HUET.
      • beerandt 6y ago
        It's not a rule (that I know of), but it's a standard part of the more serious training classes. The companies I'm familiar with have been teaching it that way for 15+ years. Edited to "often"
    • throwaway0a5e 6y ago
      Can you honestly not see the difference between a taxi that will only be used on days clear enough to land a rocket and regular ship to shore operations characteristic of the oil industry? Tesla's use case is likely less dangerous than the helicopters that fly VIPs all around NYC simply because the airspace will be so much less cluttered allowing for higher faster flights that are more tolerant of things going wrong.
      • beerandt 6y ago
        If you see a significant difference, it's only because you want to see one. The Gulf of Mexico already has the highest amount of helicopter traffic in the country. It's always cluttered. I'd expect most of the local helicopter services and pilots that ferry the oil industry would be also be ferrying for SpaceX. >Tesla's use case The SpaceX use case is based on high frequency launches. You don't get high frequency by sticking to Space Shuttle blue-sky launch requirements. (And the safety-obsessed oil industry isn't flying in weather it shouldn't be.) But it's still coastal weather, and even blue-sky launches are going to require pre-dawn (or after dark), foggy and/or windy flights out to the rig (and back to shore). If it's point-to-point rocket travel, daylight at the launch site means it's likely to be dark at landing, and vice-versa. Otherwise flight windows are going to be very restricted. If anything, time windows are likely to be more constrained for launches than for the oil industry (who might have a day-long+ window for personnel changes), which means more flying when you have to, not waiting for when conditions are ideal.
    • ghaff 6y ago
      >All rig workers are required to pass HUET- Helicopter Underwater Egress Training. Interesting. Never heard of that in the 80s. I wasn't a "rig worker" but I was an engineer who flew out to drilling rigs a lot.
      • Mauricebranagh 6y ago
        It was a thing back then I used to share an office with some one who had worked at RAE and flew on choppers for experiments who mentioned it. He also would have like to do the proper bail out (parachute course ) but never got a chance.
      • shiftpgdn 6y ago
        My father was a rig worker in the 80s in the gulf. He has a lot of interesting stories to tell.
      • beerandt 6y ago
        Also an engineer, but was first required to do it way back as a summer intern working on a deepwater support ship. A helicopter ride for me at the time would have only been for an emergency, but it was still required training.
        • ghaff 6y ago
          I'm sure safety standards went up over time. For example, after the Ocean Ranger went down off Newfoundland, survival suits became standard (which they amazingly hadn't been previously even in cold weather operations).
• mncharity 6y ago
  > how many orders of magnitude [...] more expensive [...] commercial airline first class ticket Estimates are order zero. Amortization on more frequent (because quicker) flights. Rocket vs airliner simplicity. Fuel is only a fraction of airline opex.
• TameAntelope 6y ago
  By the time it's open to the public, I'd expect for it to be approximately as safe as air travel currently is, possibly even more safe, given the very reasonable apprehension the public will have to rocket travel. And I'd expect the US Government to be heavily involved in ensuring that to be the case.