FEAR OF A CHOPPER PILOT !!!!!!!!!!!!! Helicopters are comple x, sophist icated ma chine s.

They consist of engines, rot ors, dr ive shaft s, gears, ele ctron ics, flight con trols an d landin g gear, a ll of wh ich mu st fun ct ion proper ly both in dependently and together for the he licopt er to operate sa fely. These in dividua l syste ms and their components must be de signed, manu factured, ma inta ined an d operated with the utmost skill and care if t he helicopter is to fly safe ly. Recently, government a gencies, industr y an d operators conducted their first Internationa l He licopter Safet y S ymposiu m wh ich wa s he ld in order t o deve lop means t o reduce helicopter accidents. The accident rate in helicopter flight was flat, or perhaps increasing atte ndees noted. The stat ist ics pr esented sh owed that the helicopter accident rate wa s 7 .5 per 10 0,000 hour s of flying, whereas the a irplane acciden t rate wa s a pproximately 0.1 75 per 100 ,000 flying h ours. As the Symp osiu ms chair man n oted: Vertica l flight is an exclu sive eng ineering feat that on ly he licopters ca n offer. They operate close t o the ground, with in th e earths boundar y la yer and are exposed t o ha zards be yond other flight veh icles. It therefore requ ires specia l attention to ensure sa fety of flight. Th is is true in general of he licopter operations, and part icu lar types of helicopter operat ion s military, fire -fight in g, la w enforce ment, medica l eva cuat ion are even more de manding. The causes of he licopter accidents can be grouped into thr ee major causa l areas: Opera tiona l error, mec han ica l ma lfun ct ion, and e lectr ica l malfunct ion. Within these broa d categ or ies, there are mu lt iple underlying cau ses. 1. Operatio nal Error . Alth ou gh a ll three categor ies involve some de gree of human error, operat iona l error is the one where the human error is most direct and apparen t. Th is human error can occur in flight p lannin g, actua l conduct of the flight, in tra in ing or in ma intenance. a. Fa ilure t o operate the a ir craft in accordance with the a ir crafts operat iona l limit at ions. b. Operat ing the a ircra f t in u nsafe envir onmenta l con d it ions. c. Fa iling to proper ly plan the flight . d. Improper ma intenance e. Improper tra in ing of flight and ma intenance personnel f. Fau lty manuals, train in g guide s, checklists and operat ion al procedures g. Fau lty oversight, au dit ing and review pr ocedures 2. Mec hani cal Malfunctio n. A component of the a ir craft fails or fa ils t o funct ion as int ended. Th is can happen anywhere a long the components life. a. Impr oper design b. Inadequate test in g c. Fau lty manu facture d. Inadequate qu a lity contr ol e. Inadequate operat ional monitor ing f. Improper use g. P oor ma intenance h. Ina dequate lubr icat ion or cooling i. Impr oper in sta llat ion 3. Electri cal Malfunctio n H ere, the electr ica l source stops wor king or one of it s comp onents has a ma lfunct ion. a. The e lectr ica l sour ce ma lfu nctions b. An e lectr ica l short occur s c. An e lectr ica l component malfunct ion s d. Inadequate design e. Inadequate test ing f. Inadequate qua lity control g. Inadequate operat iona l monitor ing Each of these ele ments of the th ree maj or cau sa l areas con tains its own subset of ind ividual fa ctors as to exa ct ly why and how it occurs. Some times these fa ctors resu lt in minor or n o a ircra ft da mage or injury, but a ll t oo frequently they cau se great a ircra ft dama ge and persona l injury, even death. One th in g is true as to a ll causes: they can be prevented by providing adequate tra in ing and supervision at a ll leve ls .

A boon called Autorotation

Helicopter flying is safer than plane is a statement that takes most people, particularly the fixed-wing pilots, by surprise! "But what if the rotor falls off?" That's one we hear a lot, from folks who know almost nothing about aviating. The truth is, the likelihood of the rotor falling off a helicopter is about the same as pulling the wing off an airplane......not very. Consider this: An airplane cannot, while it is flying and under control, go slower than its stall speed. And that is important. In an emergency landing, when the airplane wheels touch the ground, they will be traveling at or above the airplane's stall speed. Depending on the airplane, that will be 50 m.p.h. or above........ may be considerably above. Run into something stationary at that speed, and you're gonna know it! If the engine begins to make interesting noises on an airplane, the pilot will grab the map and start looking for the nearest airport. Should the front fan quit turning, he'll be looking' for the longest piece of flat, unobstructed real estate he can find! Now, do this. Imagine again that we are at altitude in a helicopter. Point your finger straight beneath you. That's where you can land if the helicopter's engine begins to stutter. And should everything get really quiet around you, the helicopter can "autorotate"......., only as we approach the ground, we can slow the helicopter to a stop, and also apply "pitch" or angle of attack to the main rotor to slow our vertical speed. Done properly, an autorotation can be done to an area the size of a tennis court. So emergencies, and for that matter, marginal weather, are a lot less stressful in the helicopter. If I need to get from point "A" to point "B" quickly, my weapon of choice will be the airplane, because of speed, and cost. But if I want to fly for relaxation and fun, give me the helicopter ANY DAY!