... and, once again, I seem to be at odds with the general sentiments around an incident. There seems to be an overwhelming feeling of sadness and admiration regarding the Leicester chairman which, in one sense, is fair enough. He was admired, and applauded, by the Leicester fans and others for the way he'd sweep onto and off the pitch in his helicopter. I thought at the time, and still do, that it was arrogant, unnecessary and likely to put the lives of innocent people at risk for no good reason. The cause was put down to mechanical failure but it was also noted that the stresses would be affected by the enclosed landing space and vortexes caused by that. Whatever the case I think it's irresponsible to bring a helicopter into a city centre and a football ground with 30,000+ people under the flightpath. The stadium is quite central and there's a nearby university, concert hall, etc. Should never have been allowed imo but I've never seen any mention at the investigations so perhaps I'm wrong. please log in to view this image https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8pn0l8z56o
Helicopters are inherently dangerous things and seem to crash rather a lot. Wouldn't get on board one for a kings ransom.
I think the problem is that they can't be controlled or landed once they've had a mechanical failure ... ... not renowned for their gliding capabilities.
Nothing wrong with helicopters as long as they’re maintained properly. I’ve flown in them many times and still here to tell the tale. My son also works on helicopters as well maintaining and repairing the electronic side of things.
Helicopters have a slightly higher crash rate to planes mainly because of the altitude they fly at. They can be brought down by birds which was my initial thought when I saw the Leicester crash. Every stadium has roosting birds or flying pigeons, look at all the seagulls at the SOL. It just seems idiotic to fly into such a congested area with endless masts, tall buildings, wires, etc.
I've been in loads of helicopters, Wessex, Puma, Sea Kings. I've also flown in several Chinook's when I was in the Gulf War. The Chinook is an amazing flying machine. The Wessex was the first helicopter I ever flew in (1977) when I was a young soldier in training. We went up several thousand feet and suddenly started dropping like a stone! I thought we were all dead, but then we started to fly again. The pilot thought it would be very funny to simulate a loss of power. Needless to say, I needed a change of underwear when we landed!
I've often imagined a conversation with the inventors of the helicopter and the first ever passenger. 'We have this machine that can fly but could hit a flock of birds and crash to the ground.' 'Has that ever happened?' 'Errr, no ... not so far'
If they are so dangerous why are police forces routinely flying them over heavily populated areas? Or air ambulances even?
I didn’t say they were particularly dangerous but there is an obvious danger of mechanical failure, pilot error/stroke, etc. Because of that risk I don’t believe they should be used in crowded areas for no good reason, there were still spectators, stewards and various other people in the stadium on take off. It was simply good fortune that the helicopter crash landed on an area where there were no people close enough to be killed. Use by the emergency services has to be authorised and risk assessed. Their flight paths are planned and constantly monitored to avoid buildings, roads and people wherever possible. I don’t believe these flights, by the Leicester owners, were necessary or justified considering the amount of people who could’ve been killed.
