looking for a good magazine article

[Heli+]

Hi,

I am looking for a helo magazine article (someones opinion on the last page). It compared helo to fixedwing ops and had some very good thoughts.
One of them was that airlines make everything adapt to them to increase safety. They operate in a completely standardized environment with most variables known like runway conditions etc. Helicopters only survive in a market niche where all of that is missing (we wish we'd know where we will be landing even after having taken off) and therefore approaches to safety from the airline industry can not be applied 1:1 in the helicopter industry.

I have no idea what magazine it was, maybe American, maybe Canadian.
From 2008 or the end of 2007. I wanted to copy it next time I visited
that base, but somebody had thrown out all the magazines under the table :-(

Somebody actually cleaned up! :ugh:

[Gordy]

Was this is:

This has been a serious debate for quite some time with battle lines well drawn and the debate field hot, furious, and emotional. Obviously, the heat of the debate and the surety of the participants are directly proportional to the amount of liquid intelligence that has been consumed. Nevertheless, this humble observer will present the evidence that clearly proves helicopter pilots are, as a matter of fact, the most superior pilots in the aviation community.

First, let’s talk about the numbers.
Airplanes have a lot of numbers, V1, V2, VTOSS, MMO, the figures many helicopter operations emulate. However, while helicopter pilots try to operate “by the numbers”, the operating environment often precludes such a luxury. The 757 pilot is, “going to come over the fence at Vref+15k” or some other such number like that. Meanwhile, the helicopter lands on a rig, perhaps with a 30K head wind, a 15K crosswind, or maybe he has to land in a remote area with no wind… and he will LAND AT 0K GROUNDSPEED! If you know anything about aerodynamics, I shouldn’t have to say anything else – the safety of the numbers does not always grace the helicopter pilot therefore, they need special skill to compensate when the numbers are not even applicable. The rotorhead may be landing at 40K IAS or 0K… airplane safety margins are all off!

Not convinced, let’s talk operating environment.
It would be nice to be able to land on a flat piece of paved real estate that was 200’ wide and 8000’ long, for every landing; but for helicopter pilots, that’s the exception rather than the rule (We are even told to “avoid the flow” of the starch wingers lest we upset their “numbers.”). Helicopter pilots are called to land on small offshore platforms, smaller shipboard platforms (that can be bobbing and weaving like Mike Tyson), rooftops, forests, jungles, and next to highways at night to pick up the injured. This is a VFR operation that would make most airplane pilots cringe. This goes beyond those fixed wingers who call themselves “bush pilots.” Helicopter pilots are the true Bush Pilots – they land and takeoff in the midst of the bushes!

To this, the helicopter pilot adds all the stuff the corporate or 121 operator does. They operate in dense airspace, fly instrument approaches, operate at busy airports, and fly in severe weather – often without the help of a four-axis autopilot with “autotrim.” (In fact, the only autopilot may be control friction… and any objective dual-rated pilots will confess the helicopter is quite a bit more difficult to fly on the gauges!)

At this point I have to interject for the prima Donna part 91 operators in their Citation X’s, Gulfstreams, and Falcon 50’s. Yes Veronica, there are a lot of helicopters with color radar, multiple MFDs, EFIS, digital fuel controls, 4 axis autopilots, and all the other goodies, so don’t go there! We can operate your fancy equipment as well!

I’m not done – what about workload?
The helicopter pilot is normally the “company man” on the job. Therefore, they must not only be able to fly the aircraft, they have to be the local PR man with the customer, often solving the customer’s problems so the aircraft is used the most efficiently. The helicopter pilot might have to arrange for his own fuel and even refuel his own aircraft. He checks the landing sites, trains people how to work around helicopters without getting injured, and makes sure the aircraft does not disturb Grandma Bessie’s chickens!

But wait, like the Ginsu knife, “there’s more!”
The rotor head does it all. He does all the pre-flight planning, submits the flight plan, prepares all the paperwork including the weight and balance, loads and briefs the passengers, loads cargo, and after landing takes care of the unloading and finally arranges for their own transportation and room. This is often interspersed by telephone calls to some company weenie that changes plans and expectations every hour.

Finally, the all important question, “What about control touch?”
I want to shut up all the hotshot fighter pilots. I’ve been in their aircraft and they have been in mine… I could fly theirs but they were all over the sky in mine! So then, Mr., Starch Winger; when you see a Hughes 500 or Bell 204 pilot hold one skid on a 5000’ knife edge ridge that is only 2 feet wide so passengers can step out onto the ridge, while the other skid is suspended in space… when you watch a Skycrane, Vertol, S61, 212, or 214B pilot place a hook, that’s on a cable 200’ below the aircraft, in the hand of a ground crewman… when you see a Lama, AStar, or Bell 206L land in a space in the trees that’s scarcely bigger than the helicopter… and if you ever watch a BK 117, 105, or A109 pilot land in a vacant lot next to a busy freeway surrounded by power lines – at night… Well then, you’ll have some idea who is the master manipulator of aviation equipment.

The bottom line is; if all you want is to get into the air, find a Cessna, Beech, F-16, or 757. However, if you want to truly fly, to be an artisan in aviation and develop a bird-like control touch; then, you want to be a helicopter pilot. After all, a rock would probably fly if you made it go 180K.

The real question for our fixed wing brethren should be, “How fast can you fly backward?”

[Phil77]

Heli+:
Aside from Gordy's notes (I haven't got the time to read through it yet, sorry) I think you are talking about an article by our fellow PPRuNer Shawn Coyle in the "Vertical" February Edition "Torque Talk - Keeping up with the Joneses" (Page 112):
http://verticalmagonline.com/(S(h1rry3bmlociuu550d4qtk3c))/Default.aspx

[Scissorlink]

However, if you want to truly fly, to be an artisan in aviation and develop a bird-like control touch; then, you want to be a helicopter pilot.


Think Carrier pilots kick our arse there :sad:

[Gordy]

Think Carrier pilots kick our arse there

Nope......

[paco]

Yes, that's a good article.

I read in some helicopter dynamics book that fixed wing pilots are people interested in aviation but don't want to try it :)

Phil

[NickLappos]

Was it this one, Heli+?


Which should I fly, Airplanes or Helicopters?

I am often asked this by youngsters who want to wear the dark glasses and pull the ball cap over their eyes for a living. The answer is important, because helo hours cost at least three times more than airplane hours, and so a helo pilot’s license will cost three times more as well. I must admit, I am biased, but I am an instructor in both kinds, so I will try to answer from the heart. For starters, my training didn’t cost a cent - just a trip to the recruiter who could best answer the question, “How soon can I get into flight school?”

The typical helicopter job matches the typical airplane job in hours and pay, except for the major airlines, where ALPA somehow got the world to believe that an airline pilot has the skills of a brain surgeon, but needs a better sex life. Take one step below the Major Leagues, and the basic employment terms for all pilots are similar. Handling the machine and navigating the mission are far different, however.

I think the typical helo driver has to think more, has to work more at the controls, and has to expose himself to more hazardous situations to make a living. Airplanes give the world a haircut until it suits them, so that every airplane lands on the same runway every day. Cement trucks respond and another two miles of landing strip is created to help the big guys find the earth. The typical NY to DC or Paris to London shuttle spends 2% of its journey on runways and taxiways! If it weren’t for the numbers painted on the runway ends, there would be no difference, would there? Airplanes like to drive on electronic Super Highways to get to those sterile runways. Even their charts scrub off the earth and leave behind only the electronic beams that guide them. After all, the world is just a place to hold VOR’s, isn’t it?

Helicopter pilots know from the ludicrous variability of helo landing spots that all it takes to design a heliport is the ability to spell "H". It is a jump ball for a helo driver to figure out the best way to land, and the compromise between obstructions, wind and angry neighbors can spell the difference between success and embarrassment on a grand scale. Helo airways? Marked on the ridgelines around every city are the helo routes that make the most sense - follow the interstate; turn left at the Walmart, don’t pass over the rig with the 100 foot flames, watch for the ship’s masts near the harbor mouth. A good Esso road map and some common sense once got me from Saigon to Chu Lai. How many airline pilots would put up with a telephone pole exactly in line with final? What airline would allow its operations to land long, over the high tension lines? How many helo pilots have longed for a chain saw to help fix their company’s favorite heliport? Name one helicopter precision instrument approach.

Helicopter pilots usually do the un-usual, which is why the job needs a helicopter to begin with. We had a saying in the Sikorsky pilots office, "If the place needs helicopters, it isn't worth visiting." We earn our pay figuring it out on short final, going into rough country where the Weather Channel is the best we've got. We land on rigs at night with rain on the bubble and nothing to look at but the platform, because the horizon took the night off.

Helicopter flying is real flying, about as close as humans will ever get to what geese and ducks do for a living. I know. I've been squeezing the cyclic since 1968, and for 7,000 hours, its always been a gas. I've landed next to rushing streams in the Philippines where monkeys in the trees laughed at me, and watched a crowd of kids wearing “Apocalypse Now” T shirts run giggling to see my aircraft. I've landed in impossible places and tossed rocks off needle-thin spires that no human has ever climbed, and I've put my aircraft's belly into the water to save some poor soul who jumped from a bridge, and I could have done none of these things in an airplane!

I think in 100 years all the flying will be done with microchips and precise little servos that move the stick. By then, the Joseph Conrad of our age will emerge and he or she will tell tales about the helicopter folks who kept the greasy side down during hot insertions, and who brought out the wounded, or pulled crews off the rigs when the hurricane had started to make white froth, or who winched up scared sailors from crippled freighters, or who landed beside icy highways to whisk injured kids to surgery in minutes.

I'd sigh if I had to walk into a terminal with a Jepp case, climb into a big aluminum bus and drive down highway Victor boring. If you can't earn a living doing what you enjoy, you're already dead.

Nick Lappos HeliOps Magazine, Spring 2007

[Shawn Coyle]

Heli+
The article is one of a series I'm doing about the differences between FW (particularly airline) operations and RW flying.
One of the reasons is to show the challenges of making helicopters as safe as FW.
PM me if you have comments or suggestions.

[Heli+]

This forum definitely is a good ressource!
Those two articles are interesting but both not what I want to find.

At least I can rule out Vertical now since I went through their online issues.
The one article I'm looking for is just a one page thing at the very end of the magazine in question. It's one issues' topic in the regular column at the end of the magazine. It's more "serious" than the Vertical ending-column.

The author also discussed the business side and said something like helicopters only survive in a small market niche. They are more expensive and are of course only used if fixed wing can't or don't want to do the job.

I thought it was a really great short text to make fixed-wing pilots understand our business a bit better without blatantly taking their heroism away ;-)

[Phil77]

hm...
if not Vertical, then what else?

- Rotor & Wing has their "Law Enforcement Notes" at the very end.
- Rotor and Rotorcraft Professional (:oh:) have their advertiser index in the back.
- Heliops used to have a personal profile on the last page.

I probably have forgotten a publication, but at least in the US market you are running out of options!

[Floppy Link]

Heliops rings a bell...I can remember thinking about having a rant at what was written. (I fly both f/w and rotary, I love both)

[ShyTorque]

In a previous life I worked as a search and rescue helicopter pilot at a unit also equipped with fixed wing SAR aircraft. A very experienced, ex-RAF A1 QFI there once said to me:

"You know, an aeroplane pilots's job really ends once he reaches the destination. A helicopter pilot's job is just beginning at the destination".

Very true.

[Ned-Air2Air]

We used to have a colum on the last page called The Last Word. Will go back through some of the issues and see if I can find what you might be looking for.

Ned

[Ned-Air2Air]

Found one written by Nick some time ago and first para is:

Let's decode the differences between helicopter aviation and airline operations, so that we can compare the accident rates".

If thats the one let me know and will scan the page in and post it here.

Ned

[topendtorque]

The Last Word.


not guilty

[Heli+]

Hi Ned,

yes that could be it. What issue was it in? If you can post it here that would be really great!

Thanks a lot!

[Ned-Air2Air]

Topendtorque - you are guilty of a lot of $hit :E

Heli+ - see if this is it.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g100/KiwiNed/EPSON003.jpg

[Heli+]

Thank you very much, this was the one I had been looking for!

--
I give that landing a 9 . . . on the Richter scale