Honestly Nick, Nothing was being hawked.
It was just some musing about conflicting desires. This can apply to vocations and to extreme sports. How can a person have the adrenaline rush of risk, while at the same time having the comfort of security?
Helicopter pilots like the challenges, and yet they want the safety. I was just curious how helicopter pilot's reconciled these two opposing desires.
_______________
Ok. Now the gloves come off.
It's also off topic, but what the heck.
The Holy Grail is not the sacrificing of control for stability, or visa-versa. The Holy Grail is to make the rotorcraft much more efficient within its environment. This is an aerodynamic problem not an electrical one; unless ionizing the air around the craft helps.
The rotorcraft's lift/drag ratio is pitiful when compared to that of the airplane. The given reason is the widely divergent aerodynamic situations that are encountered by the blades at different radii and azimuths. IMNSHO, these are excuses. In addition, they must be solved aerodynamically.
Isn't it time to consider;
~ The 10 to 20% loss due to the tail rotor ~ Prouty.
~ The ability to provide Active Blade Twist AND at rates exceeding 1P.
~ Diminishing the discrepancy between root and tip by slowing the rotor.
~ Off-load some of the propulsive force onto propellers.
Then, and only then, can the pilot pick up his pre-programmed disk, walk out to the aircraft, punch it into the onboard computer and go to sleep.
