Hey all, lets keep it simple. Please remember the question, and I quote:
"Picture this - A Bell 206 in a huge cardboard box. The box, with the aircraft inside it is sitting on a massive pair of bathroom scales which show the weight of the helicopter plus that of the box. Now, the pilot is already inside the aircraft inside the box and lifts into a hover.
What do the bathroom scales show now??? "
I am not going back on the threads, but someone did mention earlier about flight planning off shore. I agree with you. Nothing is confirmed until you land back home.
Fay Slag: You have brought up a topic, that I have heard of, and been asked many times before. On one flight off shore we had a fly in the flight deck, and started an hours discussion on exactly the same topic. Everything has mass, no matter dimension. What you are asking in simple terms is weight. Now, in a sealed box, for a simple explanation, should be the same as mass. Mass has many factors affecting, weight fewer. If anybody can remember when we start our flight training, Newtons law: For every action, there will be an equal and opposite reaction. The aircrafts weight is displacing air to counter its weight to overcome gravity. Mass is involved, but not considered in this discussion. In theory, the weight indicated on the scale should remain the same, right??? I still don't know, but think about it. We don't want to know about exhaust gases, and vortex ring, and, and ,and... Simply, lift, opposes weight, the same as thrust is opposite to drag. In a 'sealed' box, with no other influences, nothing should change.
I would like to see how far this is gonna go. Keep it up all of you, some good thinking going on here. Once we answer this one, we can solve anything, maybe time travel.... This is not an easy one.