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someday

Cost-per hour and time to altitude questions..in the BONFIRE

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once again, another question in the bonfire

let me start out by saying, with my 93 jumps and tremendous amount of skill, i'll be buying some aircraft for personal use and i' had some questions regarding cost per load and climbing abilities. (if you believe me, please hit the back button)

in comparison to a twin otter's climbing and cost statistics

does a large helicopter (similar to a chinook) climb faster then a twin otter and does anyone know if the cost per hour is relative?

just questions in my line-twisted-head

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does a large helicopter (similar to a chinook) climb faster then a twin otter and does anyone know if the cost per hour is relative?



1) Helicopters don't climb any faster

and

2) It's worse. Helicopters have lots of life limited components that time out sooner than other life limited parts do on fixed-wing aircraft.

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A helicopter is one of the least efficient vehicles known to man. As a jump ship, they're quite silly and only used in special circumstances and events. I know of no drop zone on the planet that uses one on a regular basis.
quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

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I was watching the 101st team train and the chinook was getting them up in like 8 minutes or something, ask matt cline Im sure he can tell you.
Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone!

I like to start my day off with a little Ray of Soulshine™!!

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I know that with smaller aircraft, a 4 seat training airplane is currently $100/hr at the club I fly at. You can rent a 3 seat helicopter of comparable size (less performance) for $235/hr. So a comparably sized helicopter is about 2-3x the cost of the airplane. Not sure if larger sizes keep the same ratio or not, but Helicopters = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

When any vehicle climbs, it uses power to overcome its drag. Any leftover power turns into gravitational potential energy. So if you have an engine that produces twice the power that the drag does at climb speed, you'll get a climb rate of X ft/min. If you make the power of the engine 3 times the power of the drag at climb speed, you'll have a climb rate of 2X ft/min. IOW, by adding 50% power (and therefore fuel burn) you have doubled your rate of climb. Therefore, unless I'm neglecting some factor I haven't considered, you'll get better and better fuel efficiency in a skydiving operation the more power you have. It goes without saying that less weight and/or less drag will have great benefits as well.

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Use to fly A-Stars. We rented them at $1200/hr.

I believe the CH-54 use to have some type of climb record. Urban legend was they tied it down, pulled max power, and used explosive bolts to release it. No idea if it is true, but they were powerful. And it sounds cool.
Shit happens. And it usually happens because of physics.

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If you want operating costs it would be fuel, pilot plus:

10 years ago we accrued $75 per flight hour to cover maintenance and insurance for the Otter while my brother-in-law was accruing $400 per flight hour for a Long Ranger helicopter. Someone told me recently that they accrue $300 per flight hour for the Skyvan.

Blue skies,

Jim

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I know of no drop zone on the planet that uses one on a regular basis.



I understand that some dropzones in Japan use helicopters only, due to limited airfield space.

Personally, I'd rather jump out of a hot air balloon than a helicopter. Less fuel (I think), quieter, and you can hear yourself yelling "oh shit!" when you accelerate out of the basket :P
Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

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