Going through things, I find this old magazine.I always thought the concept of this Feb 1951 "Popular Mechanics" cover was ridiculous. The home helicopter. One in every garage. This was the "Hiller Hornet", version of which were actually used by the military.
What is so wrong with this idea? The first thing that comes to mind is drunken pilots. Right now, if you are sitting at home, you are reasonably safe from drunk driver. Not any more in the "helicopter in every garage" era. Might as well hide in a storm shelter late Saturday night, when the drunks fly out of the bar heliport and careen and wobble through the sky, smashing into each other, and your house.
What experience do you have with helicopters? Or second hand experience? Mine is not the best. A sightseeing chopper I once rode in (which was piloted kind of wrecklessly) crashed and burned, killing everyone aboard a few years after I rode it. My brother relates how a rich buddy had a helicopter, and he was always playing Airwolf with it. Hot dogging, flying under powerlines, lighting on top edges of billboards like a dragonfly, not safe.
10 comments:
Must say I never thought of the danger of crashing helicopters in crowded suburbia. Free rides were being given when a new shopping center opened during my childhood, but my mother nixed the notion. No rides for us. Now I wouldn't want to go in one. Too noisy.
I have an Uncle that Built his Own Air Plane. It was so Cool, yet he couldn't Sell it and it even has to be Destroyed when he Dies because of Liability Issues. So Sad. Oh well. It was Fun while it Lasted.
It is Nice Dropping by to Talk about something other then Politics. Thanks Again.
I have never been in a helicopter. I was in a small private plane once, and due to some problem our pilot decided that we wouldn't do much more than circle the airport. I think that he's planning to sell the plane to buy a place to set up telescopes.
PJ. Yes, very very noisy. And you don't think of helicopters crashing in crowded suburbia, because hardly anyone has one.
Lista: That sounds very cool. Did anyone get photos?
Laughing: Too bad you didn't get to the the observatory or whatever place too.
Well, yeh. Of course they have Photos. I don't have them, though. I have a Number of Uncles who Flew Private Air Planes. Those are Cool too. My Brother Knew someone who Flew such a Plan on Occasion and a Group of his Friends Rented One and Took Dates Out to the Middle of the Desert to Have Dinner at a Restaurant at a Private Airport. I didn't Go, but I always thought that such a Date would be really Sweet.
I've always thought that building your own car would be safer than, say, an airplane. If the car breaks down, there is a good chance you will survive.
Lista, I have a book about the history of the airship you might find interesting. At one point 100 years ago, people were building then in their garages. There are photos of someone with a personal one (perhaps pedaled like a bicycle?) zipping around the air over Paris.
I've never been in a helicopter and given my fear of heights (which is less pronounced in a great big plane) I'm not sure I want to.
One of my old active duty assignments involved frequent trips on one of those old 'flying banana'
CH-21 choppers. A veritable
vibration machine that reeked of av gas. Must have had a lot of hours on it, for the year I left the service, it went down
killing all 11 servicemen
on board.
I never wanted a personal helicopter... my mind was set on a jet pack. Yeah!
At least with a jetpack, a saturday night drunk could conceivably fly through your house, with only two broken windows to pay for. Much worse with a helicopter.
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