Iran's President Missing After Helicopter Crash

[Borderland]

I flew in a helicopter one time. That was in a Bell UH-1 into the Grand Canyon. I was pretty sure the Vietnam vet pilot had a death wish. The aircraft didn't seem to be too stable either. It more or less felt like it was trying to tear itself apart. I'd fly in a Boeing 737 before I flew in another helicopter.

[Coyotesfan97]

For some years, the Bell Jet Ranger had the best safety record of any single engine aircraft, fixed or rotor wing. It is interesting how the auto rotative characteristics of helicopters vary. The MD 500, for example, is like somebody kicked a rock off a ledge where the jet ranger feels like it is almost a powered approach by comparison.

We had MD500s. We practiced autorotation drills but fitting four SWAT guys into the back was problematic. It did feel like a falling rock.

[RoyGBiv]

Childhood friend went to school for his A&P license... First job was helicopter repair in NYC.
Said the worst part of his job were check-rides... he hated them with a passion.
Eventually moved on to work for Aer Lingus before I lost track of him.

[feudist]

I flew in a helicopter one time. That was in a Bell UH-1 into the Grand Canyon. I was pretty sure the Vietnam vet pilot had a death wish. The aircraft didn't seem to be too stable either. It more or less felt like it was trying to tear itself apart. I'd fly in a Boeing 737 before I flew in another helicopter.

Probably had a loose Jesus nut. That's the one that holds the rotor on.
I suppose in Iran's case it'd be the Allah nut. Those definitely need Loctite.

[GJM]

We had MD500s. We practiced autorotation drills but fitting four SWAT guys into the back was problematic. It did feel like a falling rock.

I am hoping they didn't practice emergency procedures with people in the back.

[Coyotesfan97]

I am hoping they didn't practice emergency procedures with people in the back.

We never touched down. They went up high to practice the drop so we and the pilot in training would know what it felt like. We had to get off the skids and get as much of your upper body as you could in the back. They’d go back to normal flight before we got close to the ground. I’m am extremely glad I never had to do it for real.

We and our pilots learned it from Phoenix SAU and their air unit.

[Totem Polar]

From a Layman's perspective those darn things are not very prone to survivable crashes

@Mas

[Borderland]

As seen on another site today:”in a fitting turn of events Raisi was stoned to death with a mountain.”

What goes around comes around.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Last radio message - IRAN out of gas.

Making fun of death bothers me a bit but ... A friend with his wife and kid was on a DC-8 that ran out of gas and came down in the woods. They were in the back and made it. The front folks died.

[Borderland]

Last radio message - IRAN out of gas.

Making fun of death bothers me a bit but ... A friend with his wife and kid was on a DC-8 that ran out of gas and came down in the woods. They were in the back and made it. The front folks died.

Maybe somebody forgot to fill the tank and there wasn't a preflight check off. We ran out of gas in an agency vehicle once. The truck died in a busy intersection. The driver, not me, forgot to top it off the morning of the incident. I had to call for help. Fortunately a WSP was behind us and pushed us out of the intersection. I took some serious ribbing over that. Oh well. I'm still alive and lived to retire, unlike Raisi.