Chopper trivia

[Spin]

I was always of the belief that chopper pilots get hypoxia pulling up to go over powerlines, but it seems they can get up to pretty impressive altitude;

 

The record was apparently set in 1972 when a French SA 315 Llama was flown to an altitude of 40,820 feet. Highest autorotation - pretty much the same, the Llama's turbine flamed out as the pilot began his decent and was unable to be restarted, he landed safely!

 

Courtesy of Aviation's most wanted - Steven A Ruffin

 

 

[Guest basscheffers]

My chopper (R44) flying friend keeps telling me he'd much rather have an engine failure in his chopper than in a fixed wing aircraft. And he has a fair bit of experience with engine failures as he was flying weight shift ultralights before many others were doing it!

 

You don't have the glide ratio, but you make up for that by not needing too much space to land in...

 

 

[Guest davidh10]

He's probably got a good point. Power lines must be easier to miss if you are descending almost vertically, rather than needing to glide in. Also negates the requirement for several hundred metres of reasonably flat ground.