Kobe Bryant dead in Helicopter crash

[One Great Matrix]

Are helicopters statistically the most dangerous of forms of transportation?

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by One Great Matrix

Are helicopters statistically the most dangerous of forms of transportation?

No. If you do some research, you will find definite assertions such as this one:


However, comparing helicopters to all aircraft:

Do helicopters really crash more often than planes? Yes. Helicopters crash at a slightly higher rate than aircraft overall, according to data collected by the National Transportation Safety Board. General aircraft—airplanes, helicopters, balloons, blimps, and everything else—average 7.28 crashes for every 100,000 hours of flight time. The crash rate for helicopters alone is 9.84 per 100,000 hours. That means helicopters crash about 35 percent more often per hour in the air than your average aircraft.

Source: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/...-crashing.html

When the author said "slightly higher rate," I'm thinking he had it in mind in relation to the very low 0.07 air passenger deaths per 1 billion passenger miles. I say this because helicopters crashing 35% more than general aircraft is quite significant. That may be the reason for your impression of helicopters being somewhat risky. Read the Slate article for possible reasons why.

[ukhotstove]

I think people presume helicopters are dangerous because when they crash it's usually high profile people in them, so it hits the news more.

[One Great Matrix]

Much fewer people in 'copters...per trip they are more dangerous than cars I think...& planes (public, anyway) are like 1000x safer. They used a decade and a billion miles travelled rather than a billion years & 50 miles travelled.

Yeah, I think it's the 1000 point checks on safety on public transport vs. private "I got this" rides.

...How does 1 crash in 10,000 hours...ahh, forget it?

[rudel.dietrich]

Originally Posted by One Great Matrix

Much fewer people in 'copters...per trip they are more dangerous than cars I think...& planes (public, anyway) are like 1000x safer. They used a decade and a billion miles travelled rather than a billion years & 50 miles travelled.

Yeah, I think it's the 1000 point checks on safety on public transport vs. private "I got this" rides.

...How does 1 crash in 10,000 hours...ahh, forget it?

Can you try this post again, but in English?

[One Great Matrix]

No, Sorry

[Ragnar]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

Can you try this post again, but in English?

I think it had something to do with more crashes per trip.

I was always under the impression choppers were the safest since I rarely hear about them. But I failed to consider how often other modes of transportation is used compared to them.

[Reed]

Spent 20 years in the Air Force. It is my understanding that helicopters were harder to fly unless you are trying to land on an aircraft carrier or some other weird thing.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Reed

Spent 20 years in the Air Force. It is my understanding that helicopters were harder to fly unless you are trying to land on an aircraft carrier or some other weird thing.

Yes, that's what the Slate article that I linked to said:

Helicopters are trickier to handle than airplanes, too—at least for beginners. You have the cyclic control, a joystick used to move the copter forward and backward; the collective control, which lifts you up and down; the anti-torque pedals, which turn the nose horizontally; and the throttle, which controls the amount of power going from the engine. As a result, the rate of accidents during instructional flights, when pilots are just learning, is twice as high for helicopters as for airplanes: 12.69 accidents per 100,000 hours versus 6.08 accidents per 100,000 hours.

[jaxmagicman]

Originally Posted by Reed

Spent 20 years in the Air Force. It is my understanding that helicopters were harder to fly unless you are trying to land on an aircraft carrier or some other weird thing.

Having worked on a DDG, I would say that it is more dangerous to try to land on the back of a destroyer than an airfield. Especially if you are in the middle of the ocean.