Lukla - Helicopter take-off December 2005

Russian Mil helicopter taking off from Lukla airstrip at 9,000' altitude in the Himalayas

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Lukla
• helicopter

[musicmantrain]

or maybe because of the thin air at that altitude, it may be difficult to takeoff without rolling.

[pgsherpa1]

He just roll for the fun of it. Normally most of the chopper takes off right from there.

[bombardierdude15]

in soviet russia, helicopters suffer from obesity!

[texas9ish]

thats probably the fastest youll ever go in a helicopter while grounded

[BrodeFinePortraiture]

@papaskot

If you load your helicopter up to the brim (Maximum All Up Mass) for that Density Altitude, you probably can't sustain a hover, hence you can't takeoff vertically. Having wheels and a runway is good so you can accelerate to the speed at which ETL (Effective Translational Lift; Main Rotor "works more efficiently due to "clean" air streaming over it) occurs, usually 16-24 Kts, from that speed on you can pull morre collective to initiate a slow climbout.

[papaskot]

@BrodeFinePortraiture

that would make sense if the helicopter had any winglets for lift, but since it doesn't this makes no sense. Wiki says the Mi-8 has a ceiling of ~14k feet, so it's got more than enough power to get off the ground at this airport.

[BrodeFinePortraiture]

@pgsherpa1

Air is way too thin for a heavy bird to just slam a vertical....

[motokid032]

God those russian birds look like dookey..Only a matter of time before it self destructs too.

[wildwindsca]

forward momentum increases lift over the blades therefore more payload versus straight vertical takeoff.

[dav61474]

I know how too paragraph, I speck , look at me, smarter than u

[routhoula]

@pgsherpa1 i think this saves fuel as well

[27adidas]

Short Field Take Off, They are Good!!