Is a helicopter safer than a plane?

Question

My friend is afraid of planes, but likes helicopters because she thinks they're safer. I say planes are safer because if something goes wrong, you can make a controlled landing. If a tail rotor or something fails in a helicopter, it's almost uncontrollable freefall right? What is actually safer?

Additional Details

Which is more survivable in a crash?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

Barring a catastrophic failure of the wing structure, there is a reasonable chance of surviving almost any other situation in an airplane. Examples of heavy jets "gliding" to a safe landing with no power, aircraft with large portions of the fuselage missing, etc...

A helicopter on the other hand, can quickly become uncontrollable with nothing more than a couple of bolts dislodging. I know this first hand, I watched, and listened as 4 shipmates of mine died in a CH-46 in 1991. After setting a world record (still in Guinness I believe in 17k ft ) for deep water salvage, the problem was found to be a small bearing that had seized up, causing one of the two rotors to fail. Relative to a twin engine plane, where the failed engine would be shut down, and a safe landing executed, this caused and massive control failure and subsequent crash into the Pacific with the loss of all on board.

Flying a helicopter is akin to a balancing act, where a very narrow margin for error is called for. I believe flying one is more art than science. To watch some of the maneuvers in the hand of a experienced pilot is amazing!

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

Thanks, it was hard to choose but I like your answer the best. Sorry to hear about your shipmates.

Answer 2

I believe planes are the safer form of transportation, because wings are just more robust than rotors, and like you mention, planes don't require power to make a survivable landing.

Answer 3

No is not safer

Answer 4

It depends on the type of helicopter and the type of plane. Most aircraft crashes are light airplanes, like single engine Cessna type aircraft. It is usually due to bad weather and an inexperienced pilot, like the Kennedy character that flew into bad weather and ended up dying. Helicopters have a controlled descent if something fails, but it is different. When an engine fails or the helicopter is no longer "airworthy" it performs something called an auto rotation. If you have ever been in the country and played with those Little seeds that spin when they fall, I can't think of the name of them but they kind of float down and spin. That is what is happening with a helicopter, the blades spin and the air flows upward and it acts like a glider in that fashion. How fast it falls depends on its weight. A light news helicopter Will be pretty controllable and you have a good amount of time to pick your spots to land. A heavy transport helicopter will fall more like a rock and you get little time or range to work with and you better hope your reaction time is good. As for which is safer, they are both safer than driving on the highway, but from the least experienced pilot to the most experienced it is always safer in the day with good weather. By the time you are paying someone they have had plenty of training to know what they are doing. I would fly in either and take a nap and not worry about it.

Source(s):

Navy flight school

Answer 5

Fixed wing pilots (those who do NOT fly helicopters) have a popular saying about rotor-craft, "they are a quarter million moving parts looking for a crash site." I can only speak for myself and my own experience, having nearly 500 hours as a "crew chief, non-pilot" in helicopters. I feel quite safe in them, but it is true, if you loose a tail rotor bad things will happen. But if you loose a rudder in a plane bad things will happen as well. I think the single most bothersome thing about helicopters is "auto-rotation" or how you land a helicopter without an engine. Energy is stored in the spinning blades of a helicopter, so if the engine quits the pilot quickly "flattens" the blades so they no longer produce lift which robs the blades of their energy. They will continue to spin but will slowly bleed of their stored energy, so if the helicopter is flying low enough, it is a very simple matter of looking out the glass for a patch of grass to land on, and simply land as normal. But at very high altitudes, too much energy is bled off the blades to effect a safe landing. But fear not, ALL helicopter pilots practice these auto-rotations and are quite proficient (they must prove that to get a license). And on top of that, the helicopter itself is regularly inspected and grounded at the slightest sign of an unsafe issue (as are fixed wing aircraft). That being said, I would still MUCH RATHER be in a fixed wing aircraft than a helicopter if the engine quits. Try looking at the NTSB web site for statistics.

Answer 6

Depends...helicopter's not the best for highest altitudes like planes are. Helicopters are as prone as planes. Its like saying which is better a ship on an ocean or a boat near the shore!

Answer 7

It would make sense to think that airplanes are safer than helicopters, since helicopters have many more moving parts and, therefore, have a greater chance of something going wrong, but accident statistics don't necessarily reflect that. The accident rate per hours flown for fixed wing and rotary wing tend to be somewhat similar, depending on the study that you look at. Drewpie's response below is a good example. For one thing, it doesn't answer your question- he is quoting a speech stating that helicopter OPERATIONS are higher risk than fixed wing OPERATIONS (and the quote only concerns Part 91 operations in 1994). That's generally true, since helicopters tend to operate closer to obstacles like trees, wires, towers, etc, but that doesn't mean that the helicopter design is more dangerous than the airplane design. Besides, you can find other reports that indicate helicopters are safer. The USMC's accident statistics for the past 10 years, for example, indicate a higher accident rate for fixed wing vs. rotary wing.

Helicopters have a significant advantage over fixed wing in one area, though- landing after an engine failure. Most helicopters auto rotate very well and can touch down with little or no damage just about anywhere. An airplane has to touch down with a significant amount of airspeed, which can be a problem if you don't have a flat, smooth surface to land on.

Auto rotation can also be used (sometimes its your only option) to land after a tail rotor failure, although that can be a pretty difficult maneuver and is not always successful.

Personally, I'm a lot more comfortable in a helicopter because I can set it down just about anywhere if I have a problem, but it's not necessarily safer than an airplane.

Source(s):

I've been a military helicopter pilot and crewchief for 19 years.

Report to Congress: Military Aviation Safety, Christopher Bolkcom,16 SEP 02.

Answer 8

Depends on who's flying it :-)

Answer 9

no planes r safer

Answer 10

Enough BS/supposition:
"We know that helicopter operations present a higher risk than fixed-wing operations because of the nature of the service they provide. For example, in 1994, in Part 91 operations, rotorcraft had an accident rate of 9.47 per 100,000 aircraft hours flown, vs. 8.38 for fixed wing aircraft, and a fatal accident rate of 2.14 vs. 1.70 for fixed wing planes." Jim Hall from 2007 http://www.ntsb.gov/speeches/former/hall…

The fatality rate is about 10x that of fixed wing in the private sector only.

The physics involved in controlled flight of a helo is just mind boggling. Everything is more complicated than fixed wing. More complicated but still capable in good hands. Engine-out, tail rotor failures, etc. are all survivable with a good pilot. Just hope the Jesus nut doesn't come loose (only on small helos BTW).

Source(s):

Grew up in the 500 building
http://www.ntsb.gov/speeches/former/hall…

Answer 11

The FAA allows helicopters to fly lower over populated areas.
They are in a position to know the most about safety and they
seem to be convinced that helicopters are reliable enough
to give them that lower altitude requirement A mechanical
failure will probably require autorotation which results in a
vertical speed comparable to a parachute. Total failure with
absolutely no control seems like an impossibility. However,
my opinion is that airplanes are safer because there are
fewer moving parts therefore a lesser likelihood of mech-
anical failure.

Answer 12

The answer is simple. Helicopters are aerodynamically unstable versus fixed wing aircraft which are naturally stable. WIthout spending pages on an aerodynamics lesson here is an example in a nutshell: to let go of the controls of an airplane you dont really lose control in normal circumstances. You just keep flying straight ahead. WIth a helicopter however, when you let go you can lose control easily. It doesnt make any difference what altitude your at, the number of parts one or the other has or the accident statistics. Put a poor pilot in anything and its unsafe, but aerodynamically this is fact, and helicopters tend to be a tad more risky than airplanes.

Source(s):

Im a pilot

Answer 13

Do a search on the Bell 206 model helicopter. You will find articles that will tell you this particular helicopter is in fact the safest "AIRCRAFT" in the US. Given it's total number of hours flown and it's accident rate the statitics will not lie.

I am dual rated and fly professionally. The autorotation that everyone mentions is easier than trying to find a long enough space to land a 60 kt airplane without an engine. I have had engine failures in both. I lost an engine at 500' in a helicopter, entered autorotation and landed it in a very small food plot designed for deer. The airplane engine failure was also a non-event because I luckily had a highway to land on. If that highway would not have been there I would have had to make a runway out of tree tops..

Granted, when you lose an engine in a helicopter you have only seconds to determine your landing. But that decision making speed comes with your training.

I fly both and think the helicopter is the lesser of the two evils.

Source(s):

Dual rated commercial pilot