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Article mentions helicopters can't (or safely) fly there due to thin air at altitude. Sounds logical for existing helicopters designed to operate at lower alti
by RetroTechie 3mo ago
Article mentions helicopters can't (or safely) fly there due to thin air at altitude.
Sounds logical for existing helicopters designed to operate at lower altitude.
But wouldn't it be possible to design or adapt a helicopter specifically for this purpose?
It's not that aerodynamics / lift etc suddenly stop working, it's 'just' the numbers changing. Eg. a helicopter with longer rotor blades, or dual-rotor design might work? Bonus points if it could fly unmanned to not risk pilots' lives unnecessarily.
- ChucklsTheBeard 3mo agoThe wind is the major problem. During the ~1 week of the year where it's safest to summit, they're typically looking at 15kph winds with up to 50kph gusts. Conditions are worse for the rest of the year. It's unsafe to try to hover near the ground in those conditions, and the thinner atmosphere just compounds that problem. Also, you're talking about designing a new, specialized helicopter... that's not cheap, and someone would have to pay for it. What's the commercial incentive?