EverydayBeast
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You're supposed to trust the helicopter
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Why don't helicopters have parachutes?
- Thread starter Mister Apoc
- Start date
Is it true that it's game over if a helicopter's tail rotor fails? I've often heard the view that if something goes wrong in a civilian helicopter then the chance of survival is very low – you are basically a passenger in a falling chunk of metal. This is in contrast to an aeroplane which can still be guided to a crash landing.
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Autorotation - Wikipedia
Sounds like he ran into a mountain though?
MeatSafeMurderer
Member
Not at all. It does become much more difficult to control, especially at low speed, (the tail rotor is there to counter the forces imparted on the helicopter by the engine and blades and stop the helicopter spinning) but it's by no means impossible to recover and a skilled pilot can bring it in safely.
DiscoJer
Member
The thing is, if the engine goes out, helicopters can still generally land safely because of autorotation, the air moves the rotors as the helicopter falls, providing some lift. Enough to make a safe landing.
Guardian's Light
Member
In all honesty, knowing how helicopter lose control when They fall, and knowing I have no choice but die, I'd prefer to instantly die in the crash than ending horribly mutilated by the blades spinning, whose chance would be imo very high if you try to jump from a falling heli
( knowing myself, tho, in the fear and rush I'd probably try the last chance to jump out anyway, if I have a parachute)
( knowing myself, tho, in the fear and rush I'd probably try the last chance to jump out anyway, if I have a parachute)
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A parachute takes 600 to 1200 feet of fall to deploy the main parachute depending on velocity at the time of pulling the RIP cord. The secondary chute can open in 400 feet and it takes 700 feet at minimum distance to on average not sustain injury at minimum velocity.
If I am not mistaken its 1000 feet minimum over rural areas and only 500 over anything rural. So in general most helicopters are not high enough to warrant a parachute. Even at 1000 feet by the time you put one on you'll be below the minimum usage height.
And anyone who said helicopter blades then you need your head examined. When you jump out it's not like a parachute magically pops open to full extension the second you set one foot out of the vehicle like its spring loaded or something.
Then again not a lot of people earned their jump wings like I have.
If I am not mistaken its 1000 feet minimum over rural areas and only 500 over anything rural. So in general most helicopters are not high enough to warrant a parachute. Even at 1000 feet by the time you put one on you'll be below the minimum usage height.
And anyone who said helicopter blades then you need your head examined. When you jump out it's not like a parachute magically pops open to full extension the second you set one foot out of the vehicle like its spring loaded or something.
Then again not a lot of people earned their jump wings like I have.
HoodWinked
Member
anyone have an idea what the debris at the crash site mean? since its scattered so far and how everything has been disintegrated. also theres a huge patch of dirt wasnt sure if that was always there or if thats where it initially hit.
seeing alot of people say it slammed into the side of the mountain but it seems like a somewhat a gradual incline so shouldn't it skidded and not have been such a violent looking crash.
seeing alot of people say it slammed into the side of the mountain but it seems like a somewhat a gradual incline so shouldn't it skidded and not have been such a violent looking crash.
buizel
Banned
MeatSafeMurderer
Member
Jumping out of a plane / helicopter that is still actively in flight is a very different prospect from jumping out of a helicopter that is actively falling. As soon as you leap from the helicopter it will cease to influence your velocity. Depending on a number of different factors such as the exact mode of failure, orientation and aerodynamics of both you and the helicopter, it may / may not fall faster than you.
If it is and those blades are still spinning, no matter how impaired and damaged they may already be, jumping is a bad decision, since there is a very real chance you may get hit as it leaves you behind in the race towards the ground.
Edit: To say nothing of the tail rotor. If that fucker is spinning wildly and the tail rotor is still going...
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Captain Zyrain
Member
From what I read, it said they were descending at like 4000 feet per minute or something. I would guess by the wreckage that they were heading left to right, and just smacked into the mountain.
These were taken sometime after the crash, and it was still really foggy. I am guessing the pilot couldn't see the ground and was trying to get down quick to find the freeway again.
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Gp1
Member
because when you crash on a fricking terrain it doesn't matter
JareBear: Remastered
Banned
Why don't parachutes have helicopters?
Grand Theft Scratchy
Banned
Some people are talking about it as if it's like the movies when you see a helicopter spinning wildly out of control so you fear they would be cut to pieces if they bailed, but the reality is that Kobe's helicopter crashed into a hillside in extreme fog considered dangerous for flying. It's tragic but it sounds like they were doomed from the start having flown in bad weather.
Karma Jawa
Member
It would have been scary but quick.
Darmstadtium
Bandwagoner
Ejection seats could be cool maybe. Not sure if the physics work.
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Gp1
Member
The russian KA-50 Kamov have ejection seats afaik.
can't find a real video so here is the arma 3 version of how it works
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HoodWinked
Member
okay that's ingenious, i never thought to blow off its main roters like that. see this is why you need to ask stupid questions sometimes.
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MeatSafeMurderer
Member
While it's true that a parachute wouldn't have saved Kobe OP asked a more general question: Why don't helicopters have parachutes? Well, the answer is because you can either bring it in safely for landing, and so don't need a 'chute, or it's spinning wildly out of control in freefall with no hope of survival, in which case you don't need a 'chute because you're going to die either way. There's really no inbetween with something like a helicopter that is already incredibly unstable when it's working properly. In or out of the helicopter, it makes no difference, a parachute can't save you.
ExpandKong
Banned
yo for real though why didn't they just all jump up in the air at the last second right before it hit the ground
V4skunk
Banned
The pilot nose dived 4000 feet into the ground.
Some thing went wrong other than not seeing a mountain.
Because the human body is pathetically weak.
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MetalAlien
Banned
Allow me to demonstrate why with a handy dandy gif.
Hope that clears up any questions you might have OP.
F
Foamy
Unconfirmed Member
/threadAllow me to demonstrate why with a handy dandy gif.
Hope that clears up any questions you might have OP.
Woo-Fu
Banned
No time, no training, no point.
Most helicopter accidents don't appear to offer the time/opportunity to put on a chute and safely exit the copter at a height conducive to parachuting.
Most passengers don't have the training to parachute from anything, much less a helicopter that has suffered some sort of catastrophic failure that prohibits landing/ditching.
If the pilot has enough control of the copter for passengers to kit up and jump the pilot has enough control of the copter to land/ditch it instead.
Most helicopter accidents don't appear to offer the time/opportunity to put on a chute and safely exit the copter at a height conducive to parachuting.
Most passengers don't have the training to parachute from anything, much less a helicopter that has suffered some sort of catastrophic failure that prohibits landing/ditching.
If the pilot has enough control of the copter for passengers to kit up and jump the pilot has enough control of the copter to land/ditch it instead.
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ipukespiders
Member
Not necessarily. A good designer incorporates checkpoints to avoid this.
JordanN
Banned
Ownage
Member
A cockpit and body frame can be built to withstand greater impacts. With massive airbags, seems like some possibility to survive would exist.
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DESTROYA
Member
Why don't you have a parachute
M
Mister Apoc
MeatSafeMurderer
Member
Helicopters aren't like planes, they have to be lightweight. Planes use aerodynamics to float on a cloud of air. Helicopters batter air into the ground with giant paddles to maintain lift.
V4skunk
Banned
You are not surviving a 186mph impact head on into the ground. No matter what.
Mihos
Gold Member
Some airplanes have a chute for the whole plane
www.airspacemag.com
Whole-Airplane Parachute
In 1998, during eight tests including this one with an SR20 out of Ocotillo Wells Airport in California, engineers and pilots from Cirrus Aircraft and Ballistic Recovery Systems took the plunge. They fine-tuned many items, including how the whole-airplane parachute’s rocket extracts the system...
www.airspacemag.com
The Scrivener
Member
What about jetpacks instead of 'chutes, nobody think of that?
Hawking Radiation
Wants to watch an Event Horizon porno
Spinning rotors will chew you up on the way down. Also Helicopters go down really fast. Either way the craft is going down you're fucked to put it mildly.
Ownage
Member
Apollo capsule used 'shutes to deccelerate their reentry. As with the Russian chopper popping off blades, under some conditions the Apollo method would work, which in a % of crashes is beneficial. Like seatbelts saving lives in some conditions, but not all. Running smack dab into a mountain isn't the same set of conditions. Instead, build chopper cockpit infrastructure stronger than fiberglass. Am sure it can be done, right Elon? It comes down to cost vs weight.
JareBear: Remastered
Banned
Sounds like my Friday night
MeatSafeMurderer
Member
We need to lobby for common sense helicopter control.
diffusionx
Gold Member
Just double jump right before you hit the ground lmao
God Enel
Member
When you jump out in the right moment you can pass between the blades.
jts
...hate me...
Honestly one of the biggest problems is the explosion and fire that follows a crash, and that goes for cars too. Even if you survive the crash you can be set ablaze.
If only there was a system that in case of an impact would pump the shit out of the fuel the fuck outta there at high speed, IDK. Or that would burn it in a controlled way. It could at least minimize the hell that goes on in such an event.
If only there was a system that in case of an impact would pump the shit out of the fuel the fuck outta there at high speed, IDK. Or that would burn it in a controlled way. It could at least minimize the hell that goes on in such an event.
poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
jts
...hate me...
I am just spitballing, not greenlighting an idea without even seeing its execution or reliability. There's just so advanced tech nowadays, AI, machine learning, machine vision, things that could be used to determine if it such a manoeuvre is safe or not etc.