My aeroplane pilot father says that helicopters fly because they're so ugly that the ground repels them.

And he still does this.

I live near an army base, the state police HQ, and a hospital with an emergency chopper and I can tell which one it is just by the sound of the rotors.

My favorite are the Chinooks that go wumpa wumpa wumpa.

me if it's a cop helicopter: 😡
me if it's any other helicopter: 🤩

(disclaimer not a guy but helicopter cool)

Helicopters are the bumblebees of the mechanical world; with so many forces working against one another just to keep them aloft and being aerodynamically inefficient for flight (no wingspan for glide etc..) its a miracle each time one doesn't crash.

With the fires across Europe on the news i repeatedly see videos Chinooks. They were invented before i was born, but when I see one I still think that the future is now.

I'm technically a man and I can't stand helicopters. They ruin the the natural soundscape, especially police helicopters. I draw the line of my disdain at medical helicopters however, those can do what they need to do.

When I was a kid, there used to be a military airfield near where we lived, that had normal helicopters and tandem-rotor helicopters that they flew by with daily. The noise was quite distinct.

Now we have ambulance helicopters and police helicopters flying directly overhead from twice a week to twice daily. I stopped looking years ago until I one day heard a different sound, yet oddly familiar somehow, that sounded like something was punching the air aggressively with fists. I had to go out and saw that ancient dark green monstrosity of a tandem-rotor helicopter again. And then another. Last year they seemed to have daily exercises for a week with them during defense training operations. Didn’t want to complain about them online since it would be inappropriate to share pinpoint locations and times, but was very grateful when they stopped.

I used to want to build one,or at least the mechanism for coaxial counter rotation

They be watching us

looks at helicopter Helicopter repair man: "there goes my entire week"

I'm an engineer. I've studied aerodynamics. I know how helicopters work. I know the blade is a wing that generates lift. I can even explain it all in detail.

Yet if we came across some alien antigravity technology and we started making antigravity aircraft, I'm sure that would make more sense to me than helicopters because what the hell. My brain just refuses to believe they can fly.

I've been told I'm wrong and being irrational, but I kind of hate helicopters and am low-key terrified of flying in one.

My logic is this: planes turn into gliders when the engines go out. A helicopter is just like a falling stone.

Now I've been told that I'm wrong and that apparently that horrifying death spin they often do on the way down will slow the descent.

Which is cold comfort lol