Brought down to Earth

[Guy Profumo]

Olivier Dassault has died in a helicopter crash
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56313271

[anton pulisov]

Remind me never to commute by helicopter if I become super rich.

[Guy Profumo]

Especially not at night / dusk

[Lang Spoon]

The helicopter ride to and from the rigs was the most dangerous part of my Dad's job. They ended up making them fly from Aberdeen to Shetland to then take the chopper rather than a longer chopper ride from Aberdeen to the rig to try and mitigate the risk a little.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

If helicopters are so inherently dangerous why do you suppose they let William, heir to the throne, train as a pilot of one? They could have just had him on the bridge of a nice safe battleship, smiling at people and shaking hands with other captains.

[Etienne]

Is visiting your holiday home allowed under current French lockdown rules?

[anton pulisov]

The helicopter ride to and from the rigs was the most dangerous part of my Dad's job. They ended up making them fly from Aberdeen to Shetland to then take the chopper rather than a longer chopper ride from Aberdeen to the rig to try and mitigate the risk a little.

probably cheaper as well

[Jah Womble]

I've only once flown in a helicopter - down into the Grand Canyon about twenty-five years ago. It was amazing. (The way these things operate, we had to travel with an older couple, the female partner of whom I thought was going to have a seizure, she was so terrified.)

The company was Papillon, who've had at least two high-profile - and fatal - crashes since.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-46440871

[Balderdasha]

I've never flown in a helicopter and plan to maintain that status. Ditto small planes / gliders. I can just about handle medium to large passenger planes, but I still have to use breathing and distraction techniques to stay calm.

[Gangster Octopus]

I've done sightseeing trips in a helicopter; once over the Grand Canyon and once over the Great Barrier Reef. I only sightsee things with superlatives in them...

[Benjm]

I once had a team hospitality day at the Tour de France that included a helicopter ride. Taking off was a bit disconcerting but it wasn't too bad after that.

[Southport Zeb]

I've done sightseeing trips in a helicopter; once over the Grand Canyon and once over the Great Barrier Reef. I only sightsee things with superlatives in them...

Have you done Great Yarmouth yet?

[Amor de Cosmos]

There's a regular helicopter service from St Mary's in the Scillies to Penzance, (or used to be) I took it a couple of times. Take off and landing was always a real rush.

[steviecowden]

I've never flown in a helicopter and plan to maintain that status. Ditto small planes / gliders. I can just about handle medium to large passenger planes, but I still have to use breathing and distraction techniques to stay calm.

never been in a 'copter,i quite fancy it
been in a 2 man plane that i thought was going to crash,was absolutely shiteing myself

[WOM]

Weird thing is, unless you run into something (hillside, wires, etc), helicopters can safely be landed even if the engine fails completely.

I've been in two; once over Alcatraz and once around downtown Toronto when the cops here were thinking of buying a helicopter. They're pretty neat.

[Jah Womble]

never been in a 'copter,i quite fancy it
been in a 2 man plane that i thought was going to crash,was absolutely shiteing myself

I was also passenger in a four-man island-hopper aircraft in Grenada a while ago. The thing shook like a fifty-year-old washing machine.

The pilot was reading a newspaper as he flew us.

[WOM]

My mate flies little Cessna 150s. The experience feels and sounds much like being in an old VW Beetle on a hilly country road.

[Janik]

Never been in a helicopter, but I have been in a small plane (4-seater, I think) to fly over and view the Nazca lines. Which gained a reputation for dodgy safety standards around a decade ago, which was about 5 years after my sightseeing experience. I think there were already some issues coming out before we went... but we went up anyway. It was great, in a slightly edgy does-this-window-that-is-suddenly-directly-underneath-me-as-we-bank-sharply-really-have-to-be-open kind of way?

[Fussbudget]

Is visiting your holiday home allowed under current French lockdown rules?

Yes as long as you travel outside of curfew hours (6pm to 6am)

Weird thing is, unless you run into something (hillside, wires, etc), helicopters can safely be landed even if the engine fails completely.

...Glasgow pubs

[Balderdasha]

Never been in a helicopter, but I have been in a small plane (4-seater, I think) to fly over and view the Nazca lines. Which gained a reputation for dodgy safety standards around a decade ago, which was about 5 years after my sightseeing experience. I think there were already some issues coming out before we went... but we went up anyway. It was great, in a slightly edgy does-this-window-that-is-suddenly-directly-underneath-me-as-we-bank-sharply-really-have-to-be-open kind of way?

I bailed out of a Nazca lines flight. I climbed up a tower instead and just saw the ones that were visible from there. Still pretty cool, and still quite scary as the tower was a bit rickety.

[Sporting]

I've done sightseeing trips in a helicopter; once over the Grand Canyon and once over the Great Barrier Reef. I only sightsee things with superlatives in them...

Point of order, Neither great nor grand is a superlative.

[San Bernardhinault]

I've taken one short helicopter flight. It was terrifying and felt completely unnatural - I think the pilot was showing off a bit. The couple of times I've been in four-seater planes they've felt rackety and shaky as hell like all the rivets and bolts are going to shake loose, but once they're in the air they're fine - you feel the air pockets and turbulence much more, but that's mostly fun rather than scary.

[Janik]

I bailed out of a Nazca lines flight. I climbed up a tower instead and just saw the ones that were visible from there. Still pretty cool, and still quite scary as the tower was a bit rickety.

Nice ambiguous choice of phrase at the start there. Deliberate?

[The Mighty Trin]

There's a regular helicopter service from St Mary's in the Scillies to Penzance, (or used to be) I took it a couple of times. Take off and landing was always a real rush.

I did that helicopter flight on a day trip with my parents about 15 years ago. My Dad claps when he lands and considers every flight a test flight. He did not thank the pilot for the spin around St Michael's Mount on the way back.

If you want a proper plane landing I can heartily recommend Glasgow to Barra. I was just laughing at the absurdity of it as we landed on the beach. One of the best things I've ever done.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

The helicopter ride to and from the rigs was the most dangerous part of my Dad's job. They ended up making them fly from Aberdeen to Shetland to then take the chopper rather than a longer chopper ride from Aberdeen to the rig to try and mitigate the risk a little.

It would likely have been garcia's dad retrieving his body parts from the sea bed if it went wrong. Now that's the job that puts you off helicopters!

Balders, the big thing to remember about flying in passenger jets, is that you are statistically safer on the plane than you are at literally any other point in your life. A lot of engineering and money and time has gone into making it super safe