What Made You Choose Rotor Wing Over Fixed Wing?

[Eric Hunt]

Avbug said:

 

 

That really depends on the airplane. A little broader experience will prove otherwise.

 

Care to elaborate? How broad would you like it? I am not getting into a p***ing contest here.

 

Every machine, unless it has artificial stability, has to be statically stable and then dynamically stable.

 

A plank is designed to be stable in all axes. Of course, stability is the opposite of manoeuvrability. A transport plane is very stable but doesn't throw around easily. So, the autopilot for them is relatively simple to make and cheap to buy. (Obviously more expensive the bigger the bird)

 

A fighter plane is on the edge of controllability, so that it can be flown aggressively. Doesn't take much to go out of the envelope, a prime example being the F-104 Widowmaker. But now the advent of computers has allowed totally unstable aircraft to be controlled by multiple computers, making them amazingly manoeuvrable. Sukhoi leaps to mind.

 

But choppers are statically stable but dynamically unstable in 2 of 3 axes. Make it 3 if the vertical fin is a tiddler. And until the last few years it would cost the same as the airframe to buy an autopilot.

 

My father flew Lancasters and Halifax in WW2 and referred to the primitive autopilot as George, but didn't say how the term arose, probably because it was decades before.

[avbug]

 

Every machine, unless it has artificial stability, has to be statically stable and then dynamically stable.

 

 

 

Certificated aircraft under Parts 23 or 25 do, or are generally supposed to. Not all.

 

The Air Tractor 802 is a good example. It will not stay put when trimmed. In fact, the stick can begin hunting and the airplane can go divergent on its own. Releasing the stick means the airplane will go somewhere, but not where you left it. It's not violent, but it can be. It's far from the only one.

 

Air Tractor came out with a fix a few years ago for the 802; they made available a service kit which is a square trailing edge channel to be blind riveted on the elevator. Current production aircraft come with a square trailing edge. It makes a difference. The aircraft does not exhibit lateral stability, and longitudinal stability varies significantly. It has a wide loading envelope, and the stability is not the same or uniform throughout the envelope.

 

Certification, of course, is no guarantee. Take for example the case of the Piper Tomahawk, which was certified with a completely different wing than that which went into production, and required not one, but two recertifications in the US, plus others in other countries. Even then, the aircraft is subject to elastic deformation in flight under certain conditions, including in a spin, which can make the aircraft unrecoverable.

 

 

A plank is designed to be stable in all axes.

 

 

By "plank," perhaps you mean fixed wing aircraft.

 

Some are. Some are designed to be stable in one or more axes. Some are designed to have instability in one or more axes, possessing negative static or dynamic stability.

 

Some are not.

 

Negative or positive static or dynamic stability are design features used on certain airplanes to accomplish the design and performance aims of that type. Both positive and negative stability, or combinations of positive static and negative dynamic, or negative dynamic and positive static stability can be desirable in a given airplane.

[Turbolag]

I've talked to a few folks that have quite a diversified resume, and from what I've been told the best flying around is helicopters and floatplanes. Hoping to find out about the float flying next summer.

It's cool that you mentioned float planes. I was just watching a video by Flight Chops on YouTube a couple days back and the video was him doing touch and goes in a float plane. That looks like a blast! I would love to try that out!

[avbug]

Flying floats is some of the most fun you can have in an aircraft, outside of aerobatics, while retaining clothing.

[Gomer Pylot]

I didn't decide. Uncle Sam decided for me. I would have preferred to fly fixed-wing, but fixed-wing transitions were near impossible to get, certainly for me. Back then, the demand for helicopter pilots was far, far higher than for fixed-wing. I knew a couple of dual-rated pilots, but not many.

[helonorth]

Flying floats is some of the most fun you can have in an aircraft, outside of aerobatics, while retaining clothing.

Why don't you do it naked? Flying the 747 naked would make for a good story.

[Nearly Retired]

Trust me on this for I speak with confidence and certainty: there is no man, woman, child, chicken or goat that wishes to see Avbug naked, in or out of an airplane. Wait... I take that back...there might be one woman. But Jane Goodall is getting on in years and the horrible sight might just cause her demise. We wish not much of Avbug, for either good or ill except we do desperately wish that he keeps his clothes firmly *on." And for that we thank him in advance.

 

"Okay, you try one now. Take the stick. We'll do a glassy-water landing this time."

 

"Ahhhh, no thanks Avbug, I'm just gonna sit here and stare out this side window and imagine I'm in my happy place. Serenity now!"

[Turbolag]

I didn't decide. Uncle Sam decided for me. I would have preferred to fly fixed-wing, but fixed-wing transitions were near impossible to get, certainly for me. Back then, the demand for helicopter pilots was far, far higher than for fixed-wing. I knew a couple of dual-rated pilots, but not many.

 

How did you get into flying? Was it in the military? If you don't mind me asking.

[rockapotomus]

I never had an active interest in aviation until a year ago. I had the privilege to fly for two days in AS350B3's with some incredible pilots in Northern Kenya. I can't think of ever having been in a helicopter before that.

 

The flying blew my mind and the freedom of where we went blew my mind. It felt very akin to how I feel when I'm surfing, actually. But, most of all, it was the pilots; they were so damn cool. One of them in particular was such an inspiration to me. He was shot down by poachers in Tanzania in January, RIP. I never did get to tell him that he inspired me to fly.

 

My PPL check ride is scheduled for the end of next week. I can't wait. It's been such an incredible journey so far.

[tradford]

Doing the check ride - that's cool! Took me almost a year from initial flight to check ride for my PPL. I swore that was it for me when it comes to ratings, but two years later (last month) I passed my CPL check ride. Great fun for as long as the rental money holds out. I figured that flying tours would take away some of the expense of renting R44s.

[Gomer Pylot]

@Turbalag - yes, military, lo those many decades ago.

[SBuzzkill]

My lack of a college education chose for me. Thank God, because I love flying helicopters.

[KChristian]

I'm a fixed wing pilot currently training for my Commercial rotorcraft. It's gonna sound really lame, but I'm switching because I really like to be able to look down and see whats going on below. You can do that in a Cessna 172 but the further along you get in fixed wing flying, the higher and faster you go. Kinda defeats the purpose of flying in my opinion.

 

When I finished my fixed wing private about 7 years ago, I told my wife, 'That's fun but i bet helicopters would be way better.' She rolled her eyes but I was right.

[avbug]

You can do that in a Cessna 172 but the further along you get in fixed wing flying, the higher and faster you go.

 

 

That depends what you do. My first job after high school was 2' AGL. Generally the higher and the faster you go, however, the better your pay, though that's not always true. One generally can't see the curvature of the earth from a helicopter, however, and you're unlikely to see Hong Kong at the start of the flight and Anchorage at the finish, in rotor wing. It really depends on what you want to see.

 

I think one of the primary visceral appeals in the helicopter is that it's a very hands-on endeavor, and there are fewer and fewer opportunities as one's career progresses in fixed wing to have a hand in the flying. It becomes more about management, though certainly not always. With a helicopter, when hand flying, which is much of the time in most aircraft, there's complete immersion in the process. One might say that there's less freedom to look down and study what's below, because one is more involved in flying the aircraft.

 

A lot of my flying has been at low altitudes, regardless of what I've flown at the time, most of it in mountainous terrain, and much of it looking up at powerlines. The world does tend to go by a lot quicker in fixed wing, and it's not like one can stop.

 

It sounds like your decision really comes down to personal satisfaction in one's job, and that may be among the most important criteria. It's said that if one does a job one likes, one will never work a day in one's life. It beats a cubicle any day.

[Guest pokey]

 

 

My first job after high school was 2' AGL.

 

 

mom kept my safety rail up so that i wouldn't fall out during those really steep banks.

[r22butters]

It's said that if one does a job one likes, one will never work a day in one's life

Find what you love to do so much that you want to do it all the time,...I've always envied those who know what that is?

 

Edited July 5, 2016 by r22butters

[Wally]

I didn't decide. Uncle Sam decided for me. I would have preferred to fly fixed-wing, but fixed-wing transitions were near impossible to get, certainly for me. Back then, the demand for helicopter pilots was far, far higher than for fixed-wing. I knew a couple of dual-rated pilots, but not many.

And besides which, I thought the war would be over before I could get there. I've flow airplanes since, the only ones I like were sail planes.