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Posted: 1/4/2007 6:05:16 AM EDT
[#1]
I don't fly (well, I did get like 5 minutes of stick time on a Cessna, once), but from what I know fixed wing is much easier. |
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Posted: 1/4/2007 6:06:13 AM EDT
[#2]
Fixed wing is easier to learn.
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Posted: 1/4/2007 6:07:04 AM EDT
[#3]
Which is easier to learn to drive: a car or a motorcycle? I know several ex-military helicopter pilots who never flew a fixed-wing aircraft until they got out of the military.
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Posted: 1/4/2007 6:08:57 AM EDT
[#4]
the answer is car.. you cannot drive a motorcycle you ride it.. 
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Posted: 1/4/2007 6:09:32 AM EDT
[#5]
Fixed wing
 I'm single engine land rated . W/O too many hrs , I'm sure some some high time military jocks could be more helpful . A trimed out plane should fly with little input from the pilot . I'm not sure you can ever really relax in rotory wing stuff . |
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Posted: 1/4/2007 6:10:18 AM EDT
[#6]
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Posted: 1/4/2007 6:10:29 AM EDT
[#7]
Fixed wing is easier and a f-ton cheaper.
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Posted: 1/4/2007 6:11:45 AM EDT
[#8]
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Posted: 1/4/2007 6:12:08 AM EDT
[#9]
I don't think you can, either. Constant concentration required to balance on your rotors and maintain proper rotor speed with the collective. |
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Posted: 1/4/2007 6:13:02 AM EDT
[#10]
Fixed wing... Definitely!!!! In fact, the best way to learn rotary wing is to go FIXED FIRST, and then transition Due to the cost of helicopter time (helicopters being horrendously fuel inefficient and complex to maintain), the price is about the same, as you only need 20hrs of (EXPENSIVE) helicopter time instead of 40... Those 20 hours of helicopter time you 'save' are expensive enough to pay for your fixed wing training. And an ASS-LOAD of the stuff you need to learn is the same between both 'Airplane, Single Engine, Land' and 'Helicopter' Weather, navigation, commo, airspace (eg 'How not to get a bunch of pissed off fighter pilots (hey, that F-16 driver had to throw away a royal flush because your dumb ass decided to buzz the White House  ) for flying buddies'), and so on...
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Posted: 1/4/2007 6:29:17 AM EDT
[#11]
Fixed wing |
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Posted: 1/4/2007 6:50:13 AM EDT
[#12]
Traditionally, a fixed wing is "easier" to learn to fly. Fixed-wing trainers, such as the Cessna 172 fly straight and level hands-and-feet-off with very minimal trim or adjustments to the controls. Generally speaking, helicopters tend to require more constant manipulation of all four limbs---much more so than a fixed wing at least. If you are a motorcycle rider, the twist throttle on helicopters almost always are opposite of the the twist on motorcycles, so bikers tend to have difficulty adjusting to that... This adds to the "difficulty" of learning to fly a helicopter versus a fixed wing for bikers. Also, it's generally considered "easier" for a helicopter-only pilot to jump into a fixed-wing and fly it than it is for a fixed-wing-only pilot to jump into a helicopter and fly it... The average Joe-off-the-street can more-easily comprehend the control and aerodynamics of a fixed-wing aircraft than the control and aerodynmaics of a helicopter. A one-armed person could fly a fixed wing aircraft with virtually no difficulty---not the case for a helicopter...!  Hope this helps! 
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Posted: 1/4/2007 6:55:32 AM EDT
[#13]
Fixed wing, definitely... That helicopter stuff is just pure voodoo... No way those things should be able to fly! That being said, if I had the $$ I'd get an add on. For now, I'll keep my soon to be T-Rex.. it's (somewhat?!) cheaper than the full sized thing... I would also say, even after you get a helicopter rating, renting one would be near impossible due to insurance requirements and the actual cost of the helicopter. Even an R22 is hundreds of bucks an hour, IIRC |
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Posted: 1/4/2007 7:00:03 AM EDT
[#14]
Flying a helicopter is like balancing on a beach ball, patting your head with one hand while rubbing your belly with the other.
It is far easier to TEACH a complete noob to fly in a helicopter than to transition from a fixed to rotary winged aircraft. But that is for the military. In civie world where hours of experience are from your pocket, building a base of hours in a C150/PA38 cannot be beat. |
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Posted: 1/4/2007 7:23:35 AM EDT
[#15]
What is a high time military jock, like 1500 hours and a fresh ATP? I keed! I keed! |
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Posted: 1/4/2007 7:26:23 AM EDT
[#16]
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Posted: 1/4/2007 10:09:50 AM EDT
[#17]
Which is the safer helo; a Huey/Bell 412 or one of the Hughes(?) helos, don't know the model name/number; it's the military Little Bird or Loach model?
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Posted: 1/4/2007 10:17:45 AM EDT
[#18]
From my experience, I would say Helos are easier to fly.
They don't go very far, so you get to spend most of your nights at home, instead of some flea bitten hotel in parts of Alabama that you didn't know existed. They don't carry much gas, so you won't have to try to figure out how to get all of that water you drank, back into the bottle in flight. They can't make it across the oceans, so you don't have to worry about trying to understand some English-challenged controller in Bangkok. If your dispatcher failed to put an alternate airport on your release...and the gas to go with it, and your airport weathers in while in flight...in a helicopter, you just land. In an airplane, this is good cause for a panic attack. And one last reason....Helos don't carry flight attendants! - Anarki |
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Posted: 1/4/2007 10:21:21 AM EDT
[#19]
This is talking completely out of my ass, but I'd put my money on the twin engine 412 over the single engine OH-6 |
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Posted: 1/4/2007 10:53:43 AM EDT
[#20]
fixed wing. Im a student at UND, one of the best flight schools in the US, and they make you take fixed before you can go into helicopters
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Posted: 1/4/2007 10:56:02 AM EDT
[#21]
I didn't know UND did rotary wing training as well. Interesting. |
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Posted: 1/4/2007 10:57:10 AM EDT
[#22]
FM, don't get $80k in debt to do helo training.
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Posted: 1/4/2007 11:10:13 AM EDT
[#23]
Maybe I'm not qualified to answer because I have never flown a helichopter.
However, the basics of learning to fly a fixed wing aircraft are quite easy. Pull back on the stick, you go up. Pull back on the stick some more, you go down. Seriously, the difficulty comes in with higher performance stuff and flying in extreme weather conditions. (ie. F-16, carrier deck, nightime thunderstorm. Unless you're REALLY good, you got problems). The most amount of sweat I ever generated while flying was due more from navigating into controlled airspace and communicating on the radio than the physical act of flying the airplane. (don't forget the #1 rule, though: FLY THE AIRPLANE). I have been told that learning to fly a helicopter is significantly more difficult. |
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