Helicopter -> chopper ?

[Vicar]

Another ignorant question? Sorry...

But...

When do you use the word "chopper" and when do you use the word "helicopter"?

What's the difference between them?

How do i know if i'm looking at a chopper or a helicopter?



Thanks

pardon me

Vicar

 

[bart]

Simple

Helicopter refers to a rotary wing aircraft, chopper refers to a customized motrcycle with long front forks. In old times chopper was also used to describe lumbermen and teeth as well. Hope this helps.

 

[PilotoHalcon]

I agree, I never liked the name of "chopper" when refering to a helicopter.
j

 

[Typhoon1244]

People who say "chopper" are generally people outside the industry. I've never heard a helicopter pilot refer to his craft as a "chopper"...and thanks to the Army, I've known a lot of helicopter guys.

I agree, I never liked the name of "chopper" when refering to a helicopter.

I tend to dislike inane nicknames and "cute" talk in aviation in general. Next time you hear somebody say "Mad Dog," "Three-holer," "Barbie jet," "Jungle jet," "Lead sled," "on the hold," or "pos and hold" slap them around a little.

 

[PilotoHalcon]

Zeek, I Agree. "Firebirds" was THE worst flying movie pereod. I left hiding my face when I left the theater. I saw "Blue Thunder"when I was a W1 in Korea (83) and it was fun back then to pick apart. And I wish the movie "gurus" would get the sounds right when the show a "chopper" in the movie. And we "shot" down may a jet jock during Red Flag with our H60's.
j

 

[jenga]

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..."

 

[Typhoon1244]

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.

I tried it, and I think a lot of it depends on the equipment. At the time I had about 400 hours in high-wing Cessnas and one Piper Twin Commanche. Since I was hoping to go into Army flight training, I bought one hour in a Robinson R22 just to get a feel for rotory-winged flight.

What did I learn? I learned that (in my judgement as a fixed-wing pilot) the control collumn in the R22 isn't really connected to anything. Every single control input I made was either ineffective or way too effective!

Then about a year later, I had the privilidge of flying a UH-60A around the pattern at an Army airfield. This was nothing like the R22. The Blackhawk responded crisply and instantly to every move I made with the controls. After about forty knots, it was no different from flying Aztec or a Seminole. With absolutely no guidance from the WO3 in the right seat, I lifted into a reasonably stable hover, accelerated down the runway, flew a normal pattern, and finished with a half-as_ed "quick-stop" to a hover and landing.

Thanks God for SAS! (Stability Augmentation System)

My point is that I think Jenga's right about a fixed-wing guy jumping into a Bell 47 or a Robinson. But I think given a couple nights' book study, most airplane pilots could get into a Chinook, Apache or Blackhawk and fly away at least without killing themselves.

For those of you who haven't flown a helo, try it! You can't guess how much fun it is!

 

[PilotoHalcon]

Hey Typhoon1244, were you ever TF160th?
j

 

[Vicar]

Hi guys...

Thanks for all the replys...interesting

But add on to the vocab of helicopter and chopper, how about "helo" ?


Vicar

 

[PilotoHalcon]

I will use helo
j

 

[flywithastick]

Re: Simple

chopper refers to a customized motrcycle with long front forks

LMAO! That's good...

Typhoon -

F-84 or F-105, these were the Lead Sleds. sometimes pretty tricky getting these off the ground loaded, according to stories my uncle tells.

 

[LR25]

What do you call a helicopter?

............1000 parts flying in close formation.

Had to throw it in.

Can you call helicopters grinders? I know a guy who used to fly his own Hughs 300 and Brantley that called it that.

 

[Typhoon1244]

Originally posted by PilotoHalcon
Hey Typhoon1244, were you ever TF160th?

Negative. 62nd Med. BN...the as_-end of Army Aviation. I arrived just in time to be the only UH-60 avionics technician for a unit that was converting from Hueys to '60's.

Remember, my point is not that flying helos is easy. It's not. My point is that any pilot with some education and coordination can fly the latest generation of helicopters, where there're computers between the cyclic and rotors instead of cables and chains. The same applies to fixed-wing: I'll bet I could put a student pilot in an A320 and he or she'd do reasonably well. The same wouldn't be true in a Ford Tri-Motor.

(Someone once said that Orville and Wilbur would have a much easier time flying our airplanes than we would have flying theirs!)

Originally posted by flywithastick
F-84 or F-105, these were the Lead Sleds. sometimes pretty tricky getting these off the ground loaded, according to stories my uncle tells.

A 727 with the older model JT8D's (-7?) was also a "Lead Sled."

I can forgive certain military nicknames because they were honestly created by the men who flew them. For example, the F-105 will probably always be the "Thud." Even "B.U.F.F." isn't too bad.

What I dislike are nicknames stuck on aircraft by the media and other outsiders. The F-117 is a good example. As far as the Defense Department is concerned, it's the "Nighthawk." Only British aviation publishers call it a "Black Jet."

(The same applies to General Schwarzkopf, "The Bear." Only tools called him "Stormin' Norman.")

 

[PilotoHalcon]

Hey Typhoon, reason I asked is when I was there in TF I let my CE fly. I thought maybe you were him.
j

 

[Vicar]

televisions, actionpack movies - either dealing with air force, miliary or police forces all used choppers???
Noticed only in kids programme do the use the word helicopter...

 

[PilotoHalcon]

You do not find actual helicopter pilots using "choppers". But this phenomena is not just a problem with flying. Check out a ""medical" show such a "ER" and do it with real Docs, nurses and Paramedics. Or a lawyer show with Lawyers and watch them pick it apart. It is just literary license to make a show more exciting to an uneducated public. Do us a favor, call them "helicopters". You will not sound like a moron that way.
j

 

[EOpilot]

Nah, the JT8D-7 powered 727s aren't lead sleds, you just can't climb above FL290 if you want to go .80 or better on a warm day. Still pretty danged fast.

I once flew with a guy who was an ex-Braniff Captain (he was an over 60 FE at our company) who told me about the first time he had flown a helocopter. He was hired as a ground instructor at the local AAF for the Hughes. He had never flown any helos, but he knew the general principles. Well they were short on flight instructors, so the powers that be tapped him to get familliar with the Hughes. When he told them he had never flown one of those before, (he meant helocopters, the CO thought he just meant the Hughes) he was told to take one up and get used to it.

So he did. Nobody with him. He told me his reasoning was if he could get the thing going forward, then he could just fly it like an airplane. He was right, but of course easier said than done.

There's another story about him practicing hovers over the rifle range, but I guess that's another post.

 

[Vicar]

Thanks everyone for clearing this up lots more other info/stories

Consider it done PilotoHalcon

Phew! I'm glad that i asked...i was afraid to use the word chopper as i thgt it might meant or refered to certain/specific types of helicopters and by now if i had, it would have become a habit. Sure would have sounded like a moron. PHew!

Thanks alot guys.
Thanks alot...


Vicar