Comments on: ‘A person who can drive an automobile can fly a helicopter’ http://www.howwedrive.com/2010/09/22/a-person-who-can-drive-an-automobile-can-fly-a-helicopter/ Just another WordPress weblog Wed, 23 May 2012 16:20:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Thomas http://www.howwedrive.com/2010/09/22/a-person-who-can-drive-an-automobile-can-fly-a-helicopter/#comment-18158 Thomas Fri, 24 Sep 2010 17:57:40 +0000 http://www.howwedrive.com/?p=1640#comment-18158 I'm a skydiver and to compare this to parachute canopy flight, I'm not talking about freefall or canopy deployment, it's a solidly terrible idea. Even with un-powered, mechanically simple, slow moving aircraft that have an extensive training and licensing regimen and that are made out of cloth, collisions, entanglements and landing accidents happen with alarming frequency, sometimes with fatal results. I think we should chock this article up to a degree of naiveté and aggressive optimism about technology that predominated during the middle of the twentieth century. I’m a skydiver and to compare this to parachute canopy flight, I’m not talking about freefall or canopy deployment, it’s a solidly terrible idea.

Even with un-powered, mechanically simple, slow moving aircraft that have an extensive training and licensing regimen and that are made out of cloth, collisions, entanglements and landing accidents happen with alarming frequency, sometimes with fatal results.

I think we should chock this article up to a degree of naiveté and aggressive optimism about technology that predominated during the middle of the twentieth century.

]]> By: Richard Masoner http://www.howwedrive.com/2010/09/22/a-person-who-can-drive-an-automobile-can-fly-a-helicopter/#comment-18091 Richard Masoner Thu, 23 Sep 2010 21:16:34 +0000 http://www.howwedrive.com/?p=1640#comment-18091 "<i>A man or woman with a heart ailment should not drive a helicopter — <b>nor an automobile</b></i>" - Haw! “A man or woman with a heart ailment should not drive a helicopter — nor an automobile” - Haw!

]]> By: Jeremy Miles http://www.howwedrive.com/2010/09/22/a-person-who-can-drive-an-automobile-can-fly-a-helicopter/#comment-18014 Jeremy Miles Wed, 22 Sep 2010 15:54:16 +0000 http://www.howwedrive.com/?p=1640#comment-18014 London has some interesting rules about where helicopters can fly: http://everything2.com/title/crashing+a+helicopter+in+Central+London+is+illegal London has some interesting rules about where helicopters can fly: http://everything2.com/title/crashing+a+helicopter+in+Central+London+is+illegal

]]> By: Brent http://www.howwedrive.com/2010/09/22/a-person-who-can-drive-an-automobile-can-fly-a-helicopter/#comment-18007 Brent Wed, 22 Sep 2010 14:51:36 +0000 http://www.howwedrive.com/?p=1640#comment-18007 During the day, it usually takes me a long time to spot other airplanes air traffic control points out to me -- they're really hard to see. I appreciate Sikorsky's enthusiasm for his product, but I wonder how he could have thought helicopters pilots wouldn't face similar difficulties as the airplane pilots then faced. By the 1940s, many (if not most) of the basic difficulties of flying had already been worked out, with much of the experience being paid for by pilots' lives. During the day, it usually takes me a long time to spot other airplanes air traffic control points out to me — they’re really hard to see. I appreciate Sikorsky’s enthusiasm for his product, but I wonder how he could have thought helicopters pilots wouldn’t face similar difficulties as the airplane pilots then faced. By the 1940s, many (if not most) of the basic difficulties of flying had already been worked out, with much of the experience being paid for by pilots’ lives.

]]>