re: Anyone been on a helicopter that lost power and auto-rotated down?

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From my limited knowledge...


Aircraft loses power.

Uses forward momentum and downward travel to keep the rotor blades spinning.

At the right time just above the ground, the pilot will pitch the spinning blades to create momentary lift.

Hopefully the timing is good and the momentary lift will allow them to may a survivable controlled landing.

I was helicoptering with my junk over this girl one-time after drinking all day, lost balance, and kind of spun down on her. Otherwise no.

My father was a door gunner/mechanic of a Huey.

He was involved in a crash when a inexperienced pilot set the aircraft down HARD after seeing a master alarm.

My dad was holding an M16 at the time of the crash. The barrel of the rifle penetrated under his chin and exited out of his cheek.

The alarm was found to be nothing serious and the crash was ruled pilot error.

Also had a shipmate in the navy involved in a crash while in the Med. Twenty years later he is still dealing with back pain and PTSD from being the only survivor.

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The barrel of the rifle penetrated under his chin and exited out of his cheek.

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Ow.

Those Sikorskys sure are pretty.

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My Dad has (he was a helicopter pilot in Korea and Vietnam).

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I get tired of all the alpha male bullshite spewed here but those guys were real men.

Thankfully it hasn't happened yet. If it does happen, it's just a bad day considering that both of the engines failed. It's a maneuver that we practice on a regular basis and are pretty comfortable doing.

Worked w someone who had recently been certified to be a certified helicopter pilot; he got pissed when I asked him about the scene in San Andreas where Dwayne Johnson's character "auto rotates down," saying that's not a real thing and total BS.

I look forward to sending him a link to this video and this thread.

No you don't