Helicopters - The Rotary-Wing Aircraft Originally Thought Up By Leonardo Da Vinci
Ranked #11,450 in Hobbies, Games & Toys, #158,983 overall
Unlike "Fixed-Wing" Aircraft, Helicopters Have a Spinning Set of Blades that Provides Their Lift!
My first personal experiences with helicopters was when my folks took my sister and me to an Armed Forces Day exhibition at the U.S. Army White Sands Missile Range near where we lived in New Mexico. One of the aerial presentations involved a trio of helicopters imitating "trained lions" .... rolling some 50-gallon drums across the runway and setting down on small wooden platforms.... with a "trainer" controller guiding them. Amusing. I'm not sure which helicopters these were, but they could have been Hiller YH-23 or Bell XH-13F models. Later, I recognized these helicopters as those featured as rescue aircraft in the movie M.A.S.H. and the subsequent television series.
A few years later, I acquired a plastic model of the Bell 204 / 205 UH-1 Iroquois (aka AH-1 "Huey" Cobra) . The green plastic model was a full 2-feet long, but was very detailed. And I enjoyed being able to see what the innards looked like--particularly its 850 shaft-horsepower Lycoming T-53 engine.
When we moved from New Mexico to the island of Guam in the Western Pacific, we occasionally saw U.S. Navy LSTs (Landing-Ship Transport) come in to the Navy Base with the Bell Hueys on their decks.
As described by a life-long helicopter pilot:
"A helicopter is an assembly of forty thousand loose pieces, flying more or less in formation"
-- from a life-long helicopter pilot
Helicopters as Decoration? Yup.
Helicopters Are Useful Aircraft for Many Tasks
Unlike most fixed wing aircraft, helicopters can take off and land from streets, building tops, parking lots, football fields, golf courses, and other reasonably flat and unobstructed areas without much trouble. This feature makes them perfect as quick response vehicles for search-and-rescue, police activities, news reporting, medical response, and other uses.
If you live in major metropolitan areas .... with lots of traffic, you probably have seen the TV and radio station helicopters flying overhead while they're doing the rush hour traffic reports. They are also considered "quick response" for fast-breaking news stories that might be less readily accessible by land travel.
Many hospitals keep a medical-response helicopter on their roof or parking area for "Medi-Air-Evac" responses. When time is critical for saving lives, it's hard to beat a helicopter to get in and get out and over to medical facilities.
When hikers get lost or hurt in some of our wilderness parks and other recreational areas, sometimes the only way a rescue team can get up to these folks is by helicopter.
The U.S. Coast Guard uses helicopters to not only patrol our coasts, but also to rescue sick or injured sailors from their ships so they can be quickly transported to medical facilities.
Farmers and ranchers sometimes use helicopters to inspect their fences, fields, crops, and herds. And again, to locate and rescue sick or hurt livestock. During times of bad blizzards or flooding that has stranded livestock away from their regular food source, ranchers will deliver food to the isolated animals by helicopter--they'll toss bales of hay or other food out of the copter to the animals below.
Also, if you go to any tourist attraction areas, you can take Tours by Helicopter -- San Francisco, New York City, Miami, Honolulu/Oahu, Kauai, Maui, Hawaii (Big Island), Las Vegas, Seattle, and the Grand Canyon... all have their own various tour operators offering Helicopter Tours.
Helicopters of All Kinds! Colorful Additions to Your Collection!
Syma S107 R/C Helicopter with Built-in Gyroscope Remote - Yellow
The brand new GYRO S107 3.5CH Mini RTF RC Helicopt more...0 points
New Syma 3 Channel S107 Mini Indoor Co-Axial Metal Body Frame & Built-in Gyroscope RC Remote Controlled Helicopter (Colors may vary)
This Brand New 3 Channel Gyro mini Metal rc helico more...0 points
3 Channel RC Military Gyro Mini Indoor Helicopter
This Brand New 3 Channel Gyro RC helicopter is a t more...0 points
1/60 D/C HH-60J Jayhawk Helicopter
1/60 HH-60J Jayhawk Helicopter display model with more...0 points
1/55 D/C AH-64 Apache Helicopter
Beautifully crafted Great replica in scale. This i more...0 points
AGUSTA EH 101 CANADIAN SEARCH & RESCUE Helicopter Diecast by New Ray
Beautifully crafted Great replica in scale. This i more...0 points
Eurocopter Dauphin HH-65A U.S. Coast Guard Helicopter diecast model 1:48 scale die cast from NewRay - 25647
Beautifully crafted Eurocopter Dauphin HH-65A U.S. more...0 points
Syma S012 Apache AH-64 Mini 3-Channel Infrared RC Helicopter ---NEW!
Amazing Technology in the palm of your hand!!! Thi more...0 points
New Ray Sky Pilot Agusta AW109 Hirundo US Coast Guard Diecast Model 1:43 Scale
Beautifully crafted Agusta A109 Power Elite US Coa more...0 points
BELL 206 JETRANGER LAPD Helicopter Diecast by New Ray
Beautifully crafted Great replica in scale. This i more...0 points
Helicopters by the Bay -- eBay, That Is!
Helicopters in Motion ... On the Big Screen
(Depending on how big your screen is!)
Blue Thunder (Special Edition)
Roy Scheider stars in this intense action thriller more...0 points
You Only Live Twice (Special Edition)
The film boasts the best of the Bond title songs ( more...0 points
M*A*S*H - Martinis and Medicine Complete Collection
Disc 1-3: M*A*S*H Season 1 Disc 4-6: M*A*S*H Season more...0 points
From Russia with Love (Two-Disc Ultimate Edition)
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (ULTIMATE EDITI - DVD Movie0 points
M*A*S*H (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
One of the world's most acclaimed comedies, MASH f more...0 points
Moonraker (Special Edition)
This was the first James Bond adventure produced after more...0 points
The Perfect Storm
It's Halloween, 1991. Near Gloucester, Massachuset more...0 points
Air America (Special Edition)
When Billy Covington (Robert Downey, Jr.) accepts more...0 points
Blue Thunder: The Complete Series
BLUE THUNDER:COMPLETE SERIES - DVD Movie0 points
Don't Spin Out of Here Without Leaving a Note!
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danowrites
Feb 9, 2012 @ 9:01 pm | delete
- like it . my lens is about choppers too but RC choppers
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jimmyworldstar
Dec 11, 2011 @ 10:53 pm | delete
- I wonder how people in Da Vinci's day knew about vertical lift. Helicopters are really useful since they don't need a landing strip and can go in and out easily. Also, they can hover unlike planes which have to keep making passes or land.
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Jereziah
Nov 10, 2011 @ 12:40 pm | delete
- London Helicopters is where you'll find the best service regarding helicopter matters.
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