Ugghhh. Every day I am on the Realflight RC simulator trying to learn how to fly whirlybirds. Helicopters don’t fly - they suck lifting force out of the cosmic aether via black magic in it’s rawest, most unstable and unusable form… and channel it through a dubious, overly complicated and unreliable rotor head that somehow forces physics to combine centrifugal forces with angular momentum and precession to move precariously through the sky.
But… after a couple months… I’m finally, slowly beginning to get it. What I find curious is that RC helicopters today are so sophisticated that they now have on board PID controllers that are so sophisticated, that they mostly fly themselves. If the pilot loses control of it - ya flip a switch on the radio and these things will turn around, return and land themselves. You can literally give one to a five year old and he’ll be flying it in 15 minutes. For some reason I prefer the old school way of doing things.
And… despite myself… I am actually beginning to like it.
I was always fascinated by the gyrocopters myself.
ReplyDeleteMy brother was a chopper mechanic in the Coast Guard. He said that choppers are several thousand parts flying in formation, and that they fly by beating the air into submission.
ReplyDeleteThe U.S. Coast Guard provides a very good incentive for the mechanics to do a good job. The mechanic on the ground is the NAVIGATOR in the air. YOU YOUR in YOUR BIRD!
Honestly, the contraption can't see carrying warm blooded units in is the QUAD COPTER. Lose one motor and it's good night Margaret! Of course, the Chinook is about the same. No auto-rotation there either...
Helicopters do NOT fly! They beat the atmosphere into submission.
ReplyDeleteIn flight school we were taught to call it a "rotating wing". One of my instructors said: "They are just two baseball bats that beat the air into submission"
ReplyDeleteHelicopters don't fly... They are so ugly the ground shoves them away.
ReplyDeletea most interesting idea!
ReplyDeleteI shall look into the hobby.
Flying a helicopter is like scratching a scab. You know you shouldnt but you cant help yourself.
ReplyDelete