Talk:Sudden Death

Can a helicopter crash like that?

I was utterly astounded at the crash of Foss' JetRanger. As described in the main page the thing tilts back and goes vertically down into the stadium with its tail straight down, nose up. With the rotors still spinning it shouldn't go down, should it? As I understand it since they provide lift, upon going nose-up the JetRanger should've just spun out of control backwards due to the force of the rotor wash now pushing horizontally instead of vertically. In addition, the rate of descent is ridiculously slow - a full 58 seconds from when it first starts descending to when its tail first hits the ice. If I accept that a helicopter could crash in the manner depicted, I can't accept it taking nearly a full minute to hit the ground! - Kooshmeister

In short, it wouldn't crash like that. As soon as it tilts to a certain angle the rotors would lose lift almost completely meaning it would also lose control. You wouldn't be able to keep the nose up as it would tend to roll to one side sending the helicopter into a complete unrecoverable spin, especially at that height. And I agree with you, if it did somehow manage to get into that position it would drop much quicker. Bthebest - IMPDb Administrator 09:17, 25 March 2011 (MDT)