Helicopter vs. Plane Ride: What To Expect

Managing flight anxiety

Riding in a helicopter or a plane can be an exhilarating experience. However, they do differ a bit in what you can expect. Let’s breakdown down a helicopter vs. plane ride and what the key differences are! Read below for more…

Introduction

Over time, it has been unanimously agreed that one of the best ways to travel is by air. According to statistics, traveling by air is 19 times safer than traveling by motor vehicle. You want to travel, and you don’t want to go through a long road with numerous twists and turns. You would instead explore the blue yonder on the horizon. The next call is to decide which mode of transport you prefer in traveling by air, a helicopter, or a plane ride? This question is a prevalent one in the flight industry. 

Many people don’t even know the difference between how a helicopter and a plane fly. They assume air travel is the same, either by helicopter or plane. In the days of the advent of aviation, there wasn’t more than one winged transport means to choose from, but with time, we have fixed wings and then helicopters that so many people believe are better to experience adventure while traveling by air. A pilot who has traveled on a plane and a helicopter clearly explain what to expect from both.

Plane Ride

These are the things to expect when you opt for a plane ride;

  1. Affordability

 A plane ride is likened to traveling on a fixed-wing mode of air transport. It is affordable. If you opt for a plane ride, you may get to pay only about half the ticket price for a helicopter.

    2. Endurance, Height, and Speed

Opting for a plane ride means getting to your destination at good timing as it is a faster means of transportation. A plane can fly at a higher altitude and on less fuel. If it is a flight where you want to take in the view at a high altitude and enjoy the blue landscape, you should opt for a plane ride as it is more of an advantage. During flight hours, you have the luxury of seeing more countryside due to the high altitudes planes can fly.

     3. Smoothness

A plane ride is smoother due to its fixed parts, including its wings, while the helicopter has more parts moving, making it vibrate more than a fixed-winged ride.

     4. Linear Motion

You can relate the uniformity of a plane’s flight path to other forms of transportation like driving a motor vehicle if you experience motion sickness while on trips. This puts you at an advantage with plane rides because you get to feel less queasy.

    5. Visibility

On a plane ride, the seats for passengers are configured to always be at the windows, which means you get to visualize as you travel. However, many helicopters have a bench-style sitting arrangement where two passengers would sit in the middle. 

    6. Weight 

If you are familiar with air travel, you would already know that the average passenger’s weight grows with time in transit. The statistics from general aviation have shown that, on average, an adult experiences a weight increase from 77kg to 83kg while on air travel. Helicopters and planes are sensitive to mass distribution across the aircraft. This means the chances of being seated in a helicopter’s front seat are less if you are of average height. On plane rides, those who weigh more are preferred to be seated at the front of the aircraft.

    7. Flight Time

As helicopters have high costs for operation, they often keep their flight times to a minimum. In the case of scenic planes, they offer operating costs at a minimum but offer longer flight times.

Helicopter

These are the things to expect when you opt for a helicopter ride;

  1. Three dimensional

Whether it lands on a glacier or gets to land by a secluded lake located by the mountains, you go hunting or fishing, or you go heli-skiing or heli-biking, helicopters open up new opportunities in adventure tourism by air.

     2. Glamor

If you can afford the luxury of flying in a helicopter-like some celebrities hire for their jobs, you will see how fashionable flying in a helicopter can be.

     3. Turbulence and Weather

A helicopter pilot experiences far less time pressure than a plane when assessing adverse weather situations. As a result, a helicopter’s ability to hover. When it slowly penetrates turbulence, the passengers wouldn’t experience the harshness of the bump. When planes are grounded due to severe weather conditions, a helicopter would still be out flying. 

     4. Visibility

You can’t win an argument from the front row of a helicopter that the visibility isn’t a good one.

    5. Technology

Since the first design of a helicopter by Sikorsky in the late 1930s, the aircraft has seen significant technological advancement. One of the challenges that have been worked on over time is to reduce the excess noise a helicopter generates and the vibration resulting from rotational forces. Thankfully, the initiation of modern-day technology like the AVCS, ‘Active Vibration Control System’ found in some helicopters like the Airbus H130, is making vibration an issue of the past. Premium operators are also offering active Noise Reduction (ANR) headsets to minimize the noise in the background and clarify specific sounds you should hear, like the pilot’s commentary.

    6. How They Fly

The way a Helicopter flies is entirely different from that of a plane. This also creates a difference in the things they can do. A helicopter is more versatile in its abilities, making it so cool and extremely useful. While an airplane would need a long runway for its takeoff, a helicopter can take off by just lifting straight up. A helicopter can go to places a plane can’t go because it can always get out without a long runway. These characteristics make them come in handy in rescue or search missions.

Wrapping Up Helicopter vs Plane Ride

The choice to travel either by plane or a helicopter is yours to make. Now that you are armed with a bit of knowledge on what to expect from both choices, you’ll be able to choose with ease when it’s time to travel. When you decide which mode of transport you want to travel by air, research the operator to ensure they have a 100% safety record. All operators must adhere to civil aviation laws, but it isn’t a guarantee for the standard of their operations. 

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