[Chainmail]

Helicopters are friggin' dangerous, period. In the year I was assigned to a helicopter training squadron in 1968-9, we lost 11 dead in one month while Boeing-Vertol was trying to fix the rear ends of the helicopter falling off at the 410 joint (410 inches back from the datum point at the nose of the aircraft). The saying we had at the time was that "a helicopter is 10,000 parts flying in close formation, looking for a chance to crash".

During my time in the Marine Corps, I was there in the vicinity for over a dozen helicopter accidents/shot down. Helicopter crashes are almost always fatal to everyone riding in them.

[V_TWIN]

My dad told me a story once about a night flight he was on in Vietnam.

The Bell UH-1 Iroquois (Huey) he was on developed engine failure.

The pilot told everyone to strap in he was going to perform the Autorotation maneuver to land.

Quickly locating an empty soccer field, dad said the pilot set down just as pretty as you please.

After landing my dad said the pilot acted as if he had just done nothing more than pulled a car into a parking space.

Those guys really do have ice water in their veins. 😏