Helicopter Safety
As a lay person with regard to helicopter flight, what I take from all these discussions is that helicopter flying is inherently dangerous when hovering below 6-700 feet and flying at slow or very high speeds when close to the ground. Pretty much any rescue operation, surveillance or low level lifting work involves flying for extended periods within the performance avoidance curves.
The concept of helicopters seems to have been sold to the general public on their ability to hover, fly slowly and great manouverability together with the ability to drift to the ground like thistledown using autorotation in the event that things go badly wrong at any time.
It seems that the time has come when we should really be considering airships for these tasks since they seem to be capable of similar flight roles and when filled with helium are inherently safer. This is especially applicable over populated areas.
Clearly helicopters are still needed, for example, by the military and search and rescue in the teeth of a North Atlantic gale, but are we using the right tool for the job now that possibly better and eventually cheaper alternatives could be manufactured?