Helicopters are useless and dangerous?
I flew'em in Viet Nam. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers are alive today, because of helicopters.
I fly helo EMS.
I'll tell you with complete assurance that there is no truth to the engine failure below 400 feet statement BS. Yes, you can put yourself in a non-survivable situation in a helicopter- as you can in an airplane, automobile, canoe... However, there's an argument to be made that the safest single engine aircraft in the world is a helicopter. I know I feel safer, at least from a power failure aspect,in a helo.
The reason that there aren't more personal helos? Expense, and to a lesser extent, noise. I know professionals who can justify the cost of the few minutes saved and operate personal helos, but they are few and far in between. For ordinary mortals, $3-4 dollars a mile to reduce and hour's commute to 30 minutes is impractical.
Now, airplanes- they are truly ugly, impractical and dangerous. But they are cheaper.