What's safer? the helicopter or the plane?

Answer 1

Ok, I'll be the contrarian here.

Helicopter.

No matter what, unless you're able to glide a plane to an airport, and time things exactly right, you are going to hit the ground with forward airspeed; sometimes a LOT of airspeed.
The helicopter can be brought to a stop and set down gently.
Of course, there are faillures that get rather dramatic in a helicopter (slung blades, transmissions, gearboxes), and they are vastly more complicated,

but they are a lot more fun to fly.

The primary reason for more helicopter accidents over plane accidents is that helicopters actually work for a living, as opposed to those point-to-point airplane things. We live dangerously, because that's how life is supposed to be lived.

Answer 2

The plane is always safer - even in big planes, there is a glide ratio - the distance the plane can glide when all the power has been cut off. It gives the pilot some room to maneuver in case of a major emergency.

A helicopter has the glide ratio of a rock.

In addition, the spinning rotor tends to move the body of the chopper around the stem, so when the crash happens (a downward movement) the body is also moving horizontally, increasing the damage and likelihood of death or serious injury.

Answer 3

It relies upon on the kind of helicopter and the kind of plane. maximum plane crashes are mild airplanes, like single engine Cessna type plane. it extremely is often because of undesirable climate and an green pilot, like the Kennedy character that flew into undesirable climate and ended up dying. Helicopters have a controlled descent if something fails, in spite of the undeniable fact that it extremely is distinctive. whilst an engine fails or the helicopter isn't any longer "airworthy" it performs something referred to as an vehicle rotation. in case you have ever been interior the rustic and performed with those Little seeds that spin whilst they fall, i can not think of of the call of them yet they sort of drift down and spin. that's what's occurring with a helicopter, the blades spin and the air flows upward and it acts like a glider in that vogue. how briskly it falls relies upon on its weight. a mild information helicopter would be fantastically controllable and you have a solid quantity of time to p.c.. your spots to land. A heavy transport helicopter will fall greater like a rock and you get little time or selection to artwork with and you greater useful wish your reaction time is powerful. As for it extremely is safer, they're the two safer than using on the line, yet from the least experienced pilot to the main experienced it extremely is often safer interior the day with solid climate. by the time you're paying somebody they have had quite a few coaching to comprehend what they're doing. i might fly in the two and take a snooze and not hardship approximately it.

Answer 4

As tattoo would say The Plane, The Plane boss.
Helicopters are not that good when the motor stops.
At least with a plane, you have a chance of gliding it in. A helicopter will drop like a rock.

Answer 5

Fixed wing are safer.

Sure a helicopter can autorotate, but only if it has had a simple failure. If it's a more interesting failure then it's still going to turn into a collection of spare parts on impact. Helicopters are much more complex, so they have more 'interesting' failures per flight hour than fixed wing.

Single engines are worse too, only partially because of the single engine, the other part is that single engined aircraft have a greater new pilot quotient than multi engined types.

Answer 6

Planes are safer, all helicopters are unstable and requires a skilled pilot to fly it. It'll spin out of control if an rookie without training even puts to full throttle without even taking off...

Answer 7

Not only are helicopters much more complicated mechanically but pilots must also use both feet and both hands just to fly the things, making pilot error easier too.
Any significant crash in either one and you're probably pretty screwed. The plane just gives you more options and the nature of the failures are usually less severe.

Answer 8

Planes are much safer than helicopters. They also require much less maintenance to remain safe.

Answer 9

Statistically, there are more helicopter accidents per flight hour than fixed-wing aircraft accidents.
But they're both pretty darn safe...especially compared to automobiles :)
You're about 200 times more likely to be injured while driving or riding in a car than in a helicopter -- and more than 300 times more than in an airplane.

Answer 10

The airplane is much safer... Look at the war in Iraq, there has been one airplane crash and I would guess about 10 helicopter crashes... thats evidence right there...
engine trouble in airplane = ride it out, you may live
engine trouble in helo= jump, you've got a better chance...