UH-1 Huey helicopter
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Black Hawk crew
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Quonset From The Air
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Rhode Island From The Air
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Rhode Island From The Air
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Rhode Island From The Air
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Rhode Island From The Air
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Rhode Island from a Black Hawk
Today I have a special treat for you. I received a rare opportunity to go up in Black Hawk helicopter today, during the Army National Guard’s Family day in Quonset, RI. My brother is a cadet in the Army National Guard Reserve, so I qualified as family. So, I have a number of aerial photographs and a video of Rhode Island from the air to share with you today. I apologize for the low resolution, as I received conflicting information concerning the use of photographic equipment, so these photos and video were all taken on a cell phone camera which I happened to have handy. The photos are a 1 megapixel, and video is also at a low resolution of 176×144, show you will not be able to resolve much detail if you open it up in a window more than a few inches wide.
Riding in a Black Hawk was absolutely incredible, I wish I could ride one to work everyday instead of dealing having to deal with traffic. Unlike on an airplane when most of the time the sense of movement is lost due to the phenomenon of velocitation (I attempted to look up velocitation to confirm I had the right word, but cannot find it. Basically is what velocitation is when you do not sense your speed, and a big thing they tell you to watch out for in drivers ed.) This is because the body does not sense speed in itself, but rather speed relative to other objects and the forced created by the speed. So when you are in a helicopter you and they go in low to the ground or perform a banking maneuver or two you really get a lot more of that sense of speed. Also when they pop up, for lack of a better word, you feel that zero Gs sensation in which your stomach sinks, like you would at the top of a roller coaster.
Now that I have had a taste of it I would be out there flying around in a helicopter everyday, as I said, if I was not for three major downsides to helicopter travel; #1 being so much so that it is a no starter for my helicopter travel.
The three major downsides to helicopter travel is number one the cost; not only is the entry level cost barrier great, but the fuel costs for a gas turbine engine, which the more nimble helicopters use, very expensive to say the least. Number two is the ability to operate in adverse weather conditions. Third, is large amount of noise generated by helicopters. Fortunately for the Army and those with deep pockets the last two can be mitigated to very acceptable levels. For example, the Army can equip pilots with night vision goggles and heads up displays while providing the helicopter with multiple redundancies. Also, the Army has even been working on designs to reduce the decibel level of the props, to reduce detectable. They also are able to effectively communicate using headsets and hand signals when necessary. For a civilian helicopter I imagine sound proofing could probably get the noise levels down to even better levels. Despite, all these wonderful things in the way of helicopter development, I still do not know how you get beyond that barrier of cost unless you are a CEO or NASCAR driver. As, Henry Ford found a way using the assembly line for automobiles, I just wish there was a way to similarly over come the barriers that block helicopter travel from the public today.
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Tags: army, black hawk, blackhawk, helicopter, huey, national guard, rhode island, sikorshy, uh-60