I've been in Bell Jet Rangers, a Huey kind of thing etc. and they all feel like wiggling, wobbling rattle-traps compared with what I think they should be. SCARY! The big one I flew in had some kind of fuel leaking all over the place, stinking like you wouldn't believe, and boy did I have a headache before I got fresh air!
I took my Australian Shepherd/Blue Heeler up in a helicopter once, we both enjoyed that, even though I knew we were flying around in a potato, which has all the flight characteristics of a potato if the engine sputters.
Helicopters are cool, I love them, they are so versatile and irreplaceable, but flying in them puts you on edge if you're not the pilot.
I've done stunts with helicopters involved.
A couple of my friends have crashed them hard. One of them shattered his lower legs. The chopper was on top of a cliff when he took off and flew out over the water to beat an approaching fog bank, then the engine sputtered, and he turned around and tried to get back to the top of the cliff. He hit a thick wire that was hanging from the lights on a boom truck and then crashed in a nose down attitude, then the helicopter fell on its side. The passenger went face down in the JP4 jet fuel, breathing in the fumes for some time before he was pulled out. Some first trip in a helicopter, huh? He won a coin toss to get to take that ride. He died a week later because of the jet fuel he inhaled. I believe it was liver failure.
My friend's legs required 57 pieces of titanium to reassemble. He's a tough man, I never heard him complain about the pain. He healed up and flew again, still does to this day.
Don't forget to friction down the collective!
