As a very humble helicopter pilot ( private rotorcraft helicopter rating only, R22, S300C) yet great helicopter enthusiast, I'd like to respond; Firebirds was lame, yes....but have any of you guys tried blinding one eye, strapping a mock-up periscope to your other eye, stole a jeep and careened, unauthorized through a military base? ......it's awesome.......
Oh yeah, it drives me nuts in the movies when they dub a bell 47's sound to a scene with a BK 117, or the standard Bell 206's sound to just about any scene with any helicopter. I'd say that about 95% of the time the sound does not coincide with the scene. It really p*sses me off b/c I love the sound of a nice 4 or 5 bladed rotor system.
The term "chopper" was probably derived by some fixed winger who has a distaste for the rotary. (The rotor blades chop up the air). It seems that the saying, "Helicopters don't fly, they beat the air into submission" is just one of the many derogatory ones that fixed wing guys have used to denigrate that which they do not understand. Over the years I have heard many fixed guys belittle helicopters. I just don't understand. IMO, I think helos (is that OK?) require more raw "skill" to fly. I've also heard many A/P guys say that they could probably hop in a helo and be able to fly it with no training at all. My response is always, " I hope I can be there to watch you ball it up..." Also IMO, I think that helo pilots are more "pilots" than their fixed wing counterparts. Fixed wingers are more system managers.
Now, before anyone gets p*ssed, I'm not saying that flying airplanes requires no skill. I know they do require it. I know how bad a high performance jet (civilian, transport) can bite you if your head is not in the game. My career now is fixed wing jet stuff, which I absolutely love, yet, I think if I had all the $ I needed, I would spend it on enough chopper action to be able to get paid and make a career out of it. (The grass is always greener?) - I am too old for the military.
Now, did I just use the term chopper to be cool? Probably. I need all the help I can get. Honestly, I use that term a fair amount; obviously not derogatorily though. I didn't realize that some chopper pilots took offense to that. I work with EMS helo guys alot and that term doesn't seem to bother them. But maybe I'm just being a typical fixed winger through no fault of my own. I love everything that flies: birds, jets, hangliders, paragliders, gliders, balloons, helicopters, gyroplanes, paper airplanes, airplanes, ultralights, GA, commercial, military, vtol, stol, lahso.malsr.mirl.vasi.papi......etc. Cant we all just get along?
P.S. About the only slang that bothers me is when an A/C is cleared for T/O the read back is "on the roll...." what kind of roll are they on? Kaiser? Poppyseed? Maybe a french roll.
Yet actually sometimes other slang does bother me. But it's not the actual slang that bothers me, it's the person who is saying it and/or how they are saying it. You can tell by how they're acting or by the tone in their voice that they think they are the sh*t- no question about it. I guess that bothers me. When I show someone the airplane I fly, I usually point to it and say "check out this hog..."