Is a helicopter harder to fly than an airplane?

Certainly not. Anyone who can ride a unicycle, walk the dog with his yo-yo, and balance a broomstick in the palm of his hand simultaneously should be able to fly one with no problem. After 15-20 years of practice, it begins to come as second nature.

How much does it cost to learn to fly a helicopter?

 All the money you have and all you will ever make.

I've seen "Blue Thunder" and I'm just dying to know. Can a helicopter really do a loop?

A kitchen table can do a loop, if properly piloted. Many helicopters, including the humble Bell 47, have been looped. The secret, as in any loop, is not to pull too many or too few Gs. Negative G going over the top can be particularly disastrous, since it will cause the helicopter to fall through its own rotor system. Not recommended for long life and happy aviating.

Why can't helicopters go any faster?

Anytime a helicopter begins moving forward, at least one of its rotor blades is always heading back the direction the helicopter just came from. In forward flight, the speed of the oncoming wind is added to the rotational speed of the blade moving in the same direction as the helicopter, and subtracted from the speed of the blade going away. This means more lift on the advancing side of the rotor disc than on the retreating side; at some point, depending on the helicopter, the lift on the advancing side will exceed the lift on the retreating side so drastically that the helicopter would roll on its back.

What does the little propeller on the back do?

It's used to offset the torque created by the main rotor, and it works by shooting a fan of wind out to the side. The tail rotor is connected to the helicopter's rudder or anti torque pedals, and are also used to control the helicopter about the yaw axis. Helicopter pilots don't have to input pedal movements in turns, however, since there is no adverse yaw in a spinning rotor system.

What is this"Dead Man's Curve" I keep hearing so much about?

This is merely a cute nickname for something in the helicopter handbook called a Height Velocity Diagram. The diagram is a chart depicting the regions in which a helicopter shouldn't be operated for sustained periods of time because if the engine should fail, the pilot probably won't be able to complete a safe autorotation landing. Example: five feet above the ground and 120 knots; 75 feet above the ground and zero knots. In either case, the manufacturers figure the helicopter would be on the ground before the pilot had time to figure out what happened and take corrective action.

 Do jet helicopters actually use jet thrust for forward speed?

Not strictly speaking. On some helicopters, such as the Huey, there is a certain amount of thrust from the tailpipe. It can cause the helicopter to drift somewhat while hovering, but it doesn't contribute in any significant way to the helicopter's propulsion.

 Are homebuilt helicopters safe?

Nobody has any guarantees, of course, when they get into any aircraft. These helicopters have been flying successfully for some time, and are nifty little machines. Considering anybody can have a "Bad" day, just hope that the builder of the machine you are going to fly had no "Bad" days during the construction of the helicopter. Also, hopefully the builder had no "extra" parts when it was completed!!!!!

 What is "settling with power" ?

Settling with power is what happens when a very slow-flying helicopter begins to sink into the disturbed air directly under its rotor system. Once the rotor blades hit the agitated air, they begin losing lift; the pilots instinctive reaction usually is to add power to try and arrest his sink rate. When he does this, however, he only creates a greater volume of unstable air under himself, which causes the helicopter to sink even faster and faster. There are two ways to fly out of settling with power: One, gain forward airspeed and fly out of the column of disturbed air, and Two, reduce power and allow the helicopter to drop out the bottom of the air column. The latter procedure is not recommended especially at low altitude.

Okay, you've got the fever. You have mortgaged your life and got a commercial airplane license and a add-on commercial helicopter rating . Now, can you get a job?

Good Luck. : ) It's not that it cant be done, but there are several problems. Number one, ex-military pilots as a rule get first crack at most civilian flying jobs. This is because most of them have 500-1000 turbine helicopter hours at a minimum and a instrument rating. Second choice curiously enough, seems to go to the pilots who are relatively low time (300-500 hours), but who learned to fly helicopters from scratch. According to industry sources, A person who learns exclusively in the helicopter, no fixed wing time, has nothing to unlearn . High time fixed wing pilots sometimes lapse into their "Bad" habits at the worst possible time.

Just remember, Helicopters don't fly, they beat the air into submission!!