View Full Version : Why do helicopters fly?
bruno23
7th Oct 2006, 00:44
I was having a quiet beer the other day and got into a conversation with a woman who asked me "What makes a helicopters fly? "
After I gave her the text book spiel as to why they fly she simply smiled at me and said, "Really, I always thought they flew because they are so ugly the earth rejects them."
I just had to laugh :O. Found out later her daughter was a fixed wing driver hence the quote.
Phoinix
7th Oct 2006, 08:27
Lets think about that again... helicopters take more power to fly than fixwinged crap, don't they? From that we can pull: mother earth likes helicopters a lot more as they need more horse power to overcome the love that this beautiful planet has to helicopters... gravity :E
Tell that to those fixwing think-a-likes, it should make them wonder why they fly that ugly piece of crap and not the beautiful helos.
And birds do envy them rotors :} Evolution went from birds to planes to helicopters :D
"What makes a helicopters fly? "
MONEYMONEYMONEY... is the only thing that makes helicopters fly. All that aerodynamic stuff is worthless if there is no money to get the helicopter flying ;)
GLSNightPilot
7th Oct 2006, 13:41
WHY do they fly? Because we force them to. How? Power. Given enough power, a barn door will fly. A brick takes even less.
The Hustler
7th Oct 2006, 16:41
A brick takes even less.You mean a Shorts? :E
Matthew Parsons
7th Oct 2006, 21:02
Helicopters fly by beating the air into submission.
Disguise Delimit
7th Oct 2006, 22:41
Helicopters are a triumph of science and technology over common sense.
They are also the most fun you can have with your clothes on.:ok:
Gomer Pylot
8th Oct 2006, 00:51
They are also the most fun you can have with your clothes on.1
No, not even close. :E
ShyTorque
8th Oct 2006, 07:36
But I read here, on this very website, that helicopters are so ugly that the earth repels them. :}
DanglyBob
8th Oct 2006, 09:48
Helicopters are a triumph of science and technology over common sense.
I've always been told that choppers are a triumph of Bull-headedness over common sense.
Nearly the same thing I suppose... :8
Phoinix
8th Oct 2006, 10:35
But I read here, on this very website, that helicopters are so ugly that the earth repels them. :}
Read again through second post...
CyclicRick
8th Oct 2006, 11:28
They don't :E
Phoinix
8th Oct 2006, 11:42
They don't :E
I'm feeling sorry for you :}
Fission
8th Oct 2006, 12:14
My instructor told me that:
1) You strap yourself 'TO' your helicopter, not 'in'
2) You dont fly a helicopter, you simply stop it from crashing!
:E
Fizzy - in training
Fixed wing are just too easy to fly to present any challenge to a real pilot - 'where shall I land today? I know, the same 4000' of tarmac I used yesterday and the day before that.':)
The Hustler
9th Oct 2006, 09:42
Stop and then land - seems to make more sense than hitting the ground at 70 knots+ and then stopping :ok:
Buitenzorg
9th Oct 2006, 21:30
Planks are for people with an interest in aviation who are afraid of making a firm commitment. :E
jon s gull
10th Oct 2006, 01:28
I don't really hold with the them and us debate but believe that the ability to fly is due to willpower at all levels.
the development of aircraft of all kinds has only come about by the willpower of a few people who saw the possibilities and refused to give up untill they had made them a reality.
Today those of us who fly have used the same willpower to raise ourselves up to the level of experience and acheivment that we dreamed of as kids. If at any point that will is overcome the goal will not be acheived.
To many the goal of vertical liftoff and landing seemed impossible and there were many failures which had to be overcome before the final success. Likewise flyers strive to overcome the groundfastness which is our natural state, and become at home in the air, ascending and returning at will.
jons:
"Say, again...???"
3top:uhoh:
Lord Mount
10th Oct 2006, 22:57
Wow!
I'll have a pint of whatever jon s has been drinking.
GLSNightPilot
10th Oct 2006, 23:04
It appears he's saying we fly through willpower, not through the power of turbine engines. I've tried to do it that way, but I'm afraid I'm weak, and need a strong engine behind me before I can lift off. It took all the willpower I had to stop using tobacco, and there isn't much left for flying. :}
Lord Mount
11th Oct 2006, 07:29
Gravity is a myth.
The earth actually sucks.
We only get airborne when the earth stops sucking to take a breath.
LM
topendtorque
11th Oct 2006, 11:07
Helicopters fly by beating the air into submission.
I'd have said that they don't fly they only beat the air into submission.
Seriously I think it has more to do with the hallucinatory effect of coffee, 'cause those dudes must have drunk yards of it when they were trying tio figyourrrre it all out, and it worked!