I've enjoyed playing the game Battlefield 2 when I can fit it in my schedule. One element of the game is that you can jump in a helicopter and take off to provide close air support or to move other players to strategic locations. The first time I ever tried to use a helicopter It took off, went belly up, and then smashed down hard core. It kind of looked like this. Same thing happened the next three times until I had a chance to pull up some web tutorials. It should tell you something that if you put "Battlefield 2, helicopter tutorial" in the YouTube search you'll get quite the list of videos.
I've always thought of helicopters as cool. As a kid I would check out aviation books from the library and read them. One of my favorite memories is watching four fully loaded AH-64 Apache attack helicopters fly over my house. Mountain Home Air National Guard was transferring them elsewhere and hour house was on the flight path. It was impressive. My interest in helicopters was peaked again after I received another game, Comanche CD, back in 1994. The controls were simple, the graphics even more so, but the missions were challenging and you could take advantage of some of the things that make helicopters different.
As a college student I had the awesome opportunity to take a history of aviation and aeronautics class from Dr. Timothy Wolters. If you check out his Vita from the time you will see that I had him right after held the Ramsey Chair of Naval Aviation History at THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, National Air & Space Museum! This guy knows his stuff, particularly when it comes to technology. The class was 1/3 history majors, 1/3 Air force ROTC, and 1/3 mechanical/aerospace engineers. And Dr. Wolters knew it all. He's currently at Iowa State University, so if you are from there take a class from him (just make sure it's not one you need calculus for - no joke). In the class we learned both the mechanics of flight and the history of it. I had to become an expert on twenty-five different aircraft for the final. How cool is that?
Although we didn't spend much time helicopters, I did learn something interesting. Because of the dynamics of how a helicopter works, there are significant limitations on their design that prevented them from replacing fixed wing aircraft as the leading flying machine. However, because of their unique abilities (tight control, hover, vertical and near vertical takeoff and landing, etc.) they do fit two very popular markets: Private, urban transportation, and military. They are used in other areas as well, but those are the two biggest functions. Since almost any high rise building with a flat roof can act as a landing pad and they are able to maneuver in tight spaces (that fit their dimensions) they are very useful for working in the city. The military takes advantage of their lift capacity, relatively stable platform, and, again, their maneuverability. When it comes to close air support for troops on the ground, I can only think of two fixed wing aircraft that are usually mentioned: the A-10 Thunderbolt II "Warthog", and the AC-130. (Fun fact: If you were to mount the A-10's Avenger cannon onto a car in neutral and start firing, you would go really fast). However, the Mil Mi-24 Hind D could both transport and support troops on the ground. While not a cure all, helicopters have proved themselves in the military many times.
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So, what got me musing about helicopters? First, I ran across an old video from Destin who had a YouTube Channel Smarter Every Day. He did a whole series of videos on helicopter physics that was really neat. Including a video on inverted flight. (See, helicopters can fly upside down. And yes, their are some that can't). Destin includes a video on one of the limitations of helicopters, as well one on how helicopters can land safely without power.
When it comes to amazing uses for helicopters thought, I think it's hard to beat the story about the deer on the ice. The animal was unable to stand and liable to freeze to death when a helicopter pilot used his down draft the sweep it and its young to shore. You can hear an interview with the pilot on episode 98 of How to Do Everything.
I will end by sharing advice I received from a helicopter pilot on how to signal a helicopter and help it land at night. Once while backpacking with my father, uncle, and cousin we had a situation where a copper was called in to extract a kayaker who was badly dehydrated. When the med-evac arrived, it was dark and in the bad lands of Utah outside of Coyote Gulch, which rise and fall with sand, petrified dunes, and rock. We heard it before we saw it and turned on flashlights to show our position. It had a big spot light on but as it came in it missed the small plateau we were on instead almost landing on the slope which would have been bad. When it did land it came in hard and apparently it damaged the engine. As a result they kept the rotors turning quickly because they didn't know if they could get them back up. The pilot told us the reason for the difficulty in landing was that with only one light, he couldn't depth. Everything looked kind of flat like the picture of the area I have. You can see that their are lines of elevation but you can't tell how tall / low they are. So, if you have to bring in a helicopter at night: First use a light as a signal for your location by shining it in the air. Then as soon as the helicopter has your position shine the lights on the ground. This give the pilot a second frame of reference so they can see depth.
Just for fun, here is a list of slang terms for helicopters that I found at helicopterlinks.com (glossary section):
Air-crane, angel (military: a soldier waiting to be rescued by an angel), air horse, air pony, airship, astronaut (CB Radio slang for police helicopter [Citizens Band Radio]), bear-in-the-air (CB Radio slang for police helicopter), bird, blender, Budgie (From a children's book and animated TV series in the United Kingdom), chopper, copter, eagle, eggbeater, eye in the sky (CB Radio slang for police helicopter), fly in the sky (CB Radio slang for police helicopter), flying smokey (police helicopter, certain police departments wear Smokey the Bear hats), ghetto bird (police helicopter flying over ghettos or poor neighborhoods), heli, helo, hilo, hummingbird, log bird (military: logistical resupply helicopter), rotorcopter, rotorcraft, rotory-wing, machine, sky bear (CB Radio slang for police helicopter), slick (Vietnam war: troop carrying helicopter), sky-hook, sky-crane, spy in the sky (CB Radio slang for police helicopter), whirlybird, x-ray unit. (Some of these slang terms are rather uncommon.)
I've always thought of helicopters as cool. As a kid I would check out aviation books from the library and read them. One of my favorite memories is watching four fully loaded AH-64 Apache attack helicopters fly over my house. Mountain Home Air National Guard was transferring them elsewhere and hour house was on the flight path. It was impressive. My interest in helicopters was peaked again after I received another game, Comanche CD, back in 1994. The controls were simple, the graphics even more so, but the missions were challenging and you could take advantage of some of the things that make helicopters different.As a college student I had the awesome opportunity to take a history of aviation and aeronautics class from Dr. Timothy Wolters. If you check out his Vita from the time you will see that I had him right after held the Ramsey Chair of Naval Aviation History at THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, National Air & Space Museum! This guy knows his stuff, particularly when it comes to technology. The class was 1/3 history majors, 1/3 Air force ROTC, and 1/3 mechanical/aerospace engineers. And Dr. Wolters knew it all. He's currently at Iowa State University, so if you are from there take a class from him (just make sure it's not one you need calculus for - no joke). In the class we learned both the mechanics of flight and the history of it. I had to become an expert on twenty-five different aircraft for the final. How cool is that?
Although we didn't spend much time helicopters, I did learn something interesting. Because of the dynamics of how a helicopter works, there are significant limitations on their design that prevented them from replacing fixed wing aircraft as the leading flying machine. However, because of their unique abilities (tight control, hover, vertical and near vertical takeoff and landing, etc.) they do fit two very popular markets: Private, urban transportation, and military. They are used in other areas as well, but those are the two biggest functions. Since almost any high rise building with a flat roof can act as a landing pad and they are able to maneuver in tight spaces (that fit their dimensions) they are very useful for working in the city. The military takes advantage of their lift capacity, relatively stable platform, and, again, their maneuverability. When it comes to close air support for troops on the ground, I can only think of two fixed wing aircraft that are usually mentioned: the A-10 Thunderbolt II "Warthog", and the AC-130. (Fun fact: If you were to mount the A-10's Avenger cannon onto a car in neutral and start firing, you would go really fast). However, the Mil Mi-24 Hind D could both transport and support troops on the ground. While not a cure all, helicopters have proved themselves in the military many times.
When it comes to amazing uses for helicopters thought, I think it's hard to beat the story about the deer on the ice. The animal was unable to stand and liable to freeze to death when a helicopter pilot used his down draft the sweep it and its young to shore. You can hear an interview with the pilot on episode 98 of How to Do Everything.
I will end by sharing advice I received from a helicopter pilot on how to signal a helicopter and help it land at night. Once while backpacking with my father, uncle, and cousin we had a situation where a copper was called in to extract a kayaker who was badly dehydrated. When the med-evac arrived, it was dark and in the bad lands of Utah outside of Coyote Gulch, which rise and fall with sand, petrified dunes, and rock. We heard it before we saw it and turned on flashlights to show our position. It had a big spot light on but as it came in it missed the small plateau we were on instead almost landing on the slope which would have been bad. When it did land it came in hard and apparently it damaged the engine. As a result they kept the rotors turning quickly because they didn't know if they could get them back up. The pilot told us the reason for the difficulty in landing was that with only one light, he couldn't depth. Everything looked kind of flat like the picture of the area I have. You can see that their are lines of elevation but you can't tell how tall / low they are. So, if you have to bring in a helicopter at night: First use a light as a signal for your location by shining it in the air. Then as soon as the helicopter has your position shine the lights on the ground. This give the pilot a second frame of reference so they can see depth.Just for fun, here is a list of slang terms for helicopters that I found at helicopterlinks.com (glossary section):
Air-crane, angel (military: a soldier waiting to be rescued by an angel), air horse, air pony, airship, astronaut (CB Radio slang for police helicopter [Citizens Band Radio]), bear-in-the-air (CB Radio slang for police helicopter), bird, blender, Budgie (From a children's book and animated TV series in the United Kingdom), chopper, copter, eagle, eggbeater, eye in the sky (CB Radio slang for police helicopter), fly in the sky (CB Radio slang for police helicopter), flying smokey (police helicopter, certain police departments wear Smokey the Bear hats), ghetto bird (police helicopter flying over ghettos or poor neighborhoods), heli, helo, hilo, hummingbird, log bird (military: logistical resupply helicopter), rotorcopter, rotorcraft, rotory-wing, machine, sky bear (CB Radio slang for police helicopter), slick (Vietnam war: troop carrying helicopter), sky-hook, sky-crane, spy in the sky (CB Radio slang for police helicopter), whirlybird, x-ray unit. (Some of these slang terms are rather uncommon.)
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