🚀 go-pugleaf

"David Melville" <davidmelville@exemail.com.au> wrote in message 
news:j2pn36$bc9$2@dont-email.me...
> On Sat, 20 Aug 2011 06:56:41 +1000, DonH wrote:
>
>> Is the helicopter essentially an unstable aircraft?
>>   By that, I mean, is it usually fatal if something goes wrong? Unlike
>>   fixed-wing aircraft, it can't glide down if the rotors stop. If at
>>   high enough altitude, the pilot could bail out, and parachute down. Is
>>   there a remedy?  Retractable wings? The virtue of a helicopter is - it
>>   can hover. Its vice is - falling like a stone.
>
> AIUI, there is an intake at the base of the copter which channels air up
> to the rotors giving the pilot /minimum/ control over uncontrolled
> descent. You're still plummeting, but you might be able to choose between
> a big rock, and a small one to land on.
>
> I'm no expert. The above was told to me by a guy who's been in two (!)
> separate helicopter crashes. Might be only certain makes/models.
>
> HTH.
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Cheers,
> Dave
>
> "I will kill for the good of the
> fight for the right to be right."
>
> David Bowie, Cygnet Committee

#  Thanks for the info. So, it is possible to survive a helicopter crash, 
without being sliced by the main rotor, or smashed into the ground.
    My ideal helicopter would have two rotors, used solely for lift, and 
with the torque rotor replaced by a conventional forward-motion propeller - 
which would then require a rudder.  Should one rotor stop completely, then 
wings would sprout from that end of the craft, to assist an emergency 
landing.
    Are V/STOL airplanes, such as the British Harrier (jump jet), still in 
service?