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I have 15 hours as a trainee helicopter pilot (non-solo). The key quote is this: "You still need someone with training in communications protocols, what speed

I have 15 hours as a trainee helicopter pilot (non-solo). The key quote is this: "You still need someone with training in communications protocols, what speed and elevation to fly and where the system is unsafe to operate." Flying a helicopter is, by its nature, unsafe to operate. At any moment, you could have an emergency. If you have someone at the controls who only knows joystick flight when any such emergency occurs, good luck to them. Helicopters are not like airplanes; they are not a "set and forget" experience. You have to actually fly the helicopter from point A to point B. You have to be ready to make that helicopter drop at a moment's notice because if the engine dies, you need air blowing up through the rotor to keep it spinning. If it slows down enough, that is automatically "Game Over". (Search "rotor stall".) In the helicopter I flew, you had two seconds to get the collective down, and that was only the beginning. Watch [1]. At 1:24, the engine dies, and you hear a horn almost immediately. That's the low rotor speed horn. The horn goes off after about a second; that's because the pilot slammed the collective full down. Then the pilot turns left and crash lands. Why? Because there were wires in front of him. The wires could have flipped the helicopter. Would a bot have flown into those wires? Almost certainly, and everyone would be dead. Oh, and did you notice that the low rotor speed horn was sounding a lot during the crash sequence? That's because during such an event, you have to maintain the rotor speed in balance while trying to pick a spot and bring the helicopter in. He had a full helicopter, so he actually couldn't force the rotor speed much higher. And yet he couldn't go full down either because that would not slow them down near the ground. In other words, those guys are lucky that their pilot is awesome. And even though he was, they still landed hard. On top of that, as dmitrygr says [2], flying the helicopter is a fraction of what you have to do. I would never fly in a helicopter where the "pilot" was anything but. And the same goes for airplanes. They may be able to fly themselves, but that is only true in non-emergencies. And even in some non-emergencies. Pilots are expensive because they train for the worst, and most of the time, when it does happen, they handle it with aplomb. Bots will not. When it comes down to it, bots will never replace humans where life-threatening emergencies can happen. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYBf3XPwvaU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYBf3XPwvaU [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28995347 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28995347

LamboJ 5y ago
While I do understand where you're coming from I don't see it as an impossible problem to automate. An automated system can instantly set the collective to the perfect rpm for autorotation, and can do it much quicker (and better) than a human. Especially on something like an R22 or R44 with very low rotor inertia. In a smaller aircraft, you're relying a lot more on your forward momentum (i.e. forward airspeed) to cushion your landing, whereas in a larger helicopter the rotor inertia has enough energy such that you can place it straight down on pretty much any flat surface the system can find. Garmin already has something called Smart Glide for fixed wing aircraft where it calculates engine out trajectories, and so I don't see this as something impossible with a helicopter. Especially coupled with a wire strike cut (basically just a sharp knife sticking out of the front of the helicopter that just cuts any cables you run into). I'd think given the use cases for some helicopter flights (e.g. sightseeing tours) where you're typically in VFR weather there's certainly an opportunity to have automated flights. I agree we're not there yet, but I don't see it as impossible in the near future. (I mainly fly fixed-wing, but I have about 50 hours in an R22)
- treetoppin 5y ago
  Your comment about automating autorotations got me interested, and it appears that one UAV company has done a tech demo for it, at least from my cursory search. From what I can tell though the design space would be extraordinarily difficult to fully automate. Management of rotor RPM requires finesse, functioning flight controls and also quick decision making about where and how you are going to land. Usually the automatic flight control system would require either enough battery power to power your servo actuators after an engine failure or a system designed to run in AC power which is generated by your rotor system (which of course means it’s depleting rotor RPM at a time when rotor RPM is what is most important to manage). I think you’d have to design a lot of the aircraft systems with automation in mind, so it really would have to be a new aircraft in many regards, and you’d be unlikely to be able to retrofit an older airframe to do it. I think there’s just too many trade offs to make the system worthwhile in the low margin business of crop spraying, tour rides, or electronic news gathering. Medevac, oil rig transportation or military applications could make use of an automatic autorotation system, but those aircraft also tend to be medium to heavy twin engine aircraft which negates a lot of the need to focus as much on autos when you are designing the overall system.

LamboJ 5y ago

While I do understand where you're coming from I don't see it as an impossible problem to automate. An automated system can instantly set the collective to the perfect rpm for autorotation, and can do it much quicker (and better) than a human. Especially on something like an R22 or R44 with very low rotor inertia. In a smaller aircraft, you're relying a lot more on your forward momentum (i.e. forward airspeed) to cushion your landing, whereas in a larger helicopter the rotor inertia has enough energy such that you can place it straight down on pretty much any flat surface the system can find. Garmin already has something called Smart Glide for fixed wing aircraft where it calculates engine out trajectories, and so I don't see this as something impossible with a helicopter. Especially coupled with a wire strike cut (basically just a sharp knife sticking out of the front of the helicopter that just cuts any cables you run into). I'd think given the use cases for some helicopter flights (e.g. sightseeing tours) where you're typically in VFR weather there's certainly an opportunity to have automated flights. I agree we're not there yet, but I don't see it as impossible in the near future. (I mainly fly fixed-wing, but I have about 50 hours in an R22)

treetoppin 5y ago
Your comment about automating autorotations got me interested, and it appears that one UAV company has done a tech demo for it, at least from my cursory search. From what I can tell though the design space would be extraordinarily difficult to fully automate. Management of rotor RPM requires finesse, functioning flight controls and also quick decision making about where and how you are going to land. Usually the automatic flight control system would require either enough battery power to power your servo actuators after an engine failure or a system designed to run in AC power which is generated by your rotor system (which of course means it’s depleting rotor RPM at a time when rotor RPM is what is most important to manage). I think you’d have to design a lot of the aircraft systems with automation in mind, so it really would have to be a new aircraft in many regards, and you’d be unlikely to be able to retrofit an older airframe to do it. I think there’s just too many trade offs to make the system worthwhile in the low margin business of crop spraying, tour rides, or electronic news gathering. Medevac, oil rig transportation or military applications could make use of an automatic autorotation system, but those aircraft also tend to be medium to heavy twin engine aircraft which negates a lot of the need to focus as much on autos when you are designing the overall system.