Airplanes or Helicopters:Which is Easier to Fly?

Is it More Difficult to Learn to Fly Aeroplanes or Helicopters?

Feb 10, 2009

Many people would like to learn to fly helicopters, but think that they would be far harder to fly than airplanes. A flying instructor takes a look at the differences.

Helicopters have a reputation as being extremely difficult to fly. Many people think that helicopter pilots must be supermen and women, with incredible co-ordination and powers of concentration. They are sure that learning to fly an airplane would be much easier.

Helicopters – Hovering is Difficult

Learning to pilot a helicopter in the air is not that hard. It requires about the same amount of co-ordination as driving a car, so anyone who can drive should easily be able to fly a helicopter after training.

Hovering, on the other hand, is difficult. It takes a great deal of practice, and much of the helicopter private pilot’s course is taken up with learning this skill. However, given enough time, application, and practice, almost anyone can do it in the end.

Airplanes – Landing is the Hard Part

Airplanes too are relatively easy to fly in the air. Again, the amount of co-ordination needed is about the same as that required for driving a car. Taking off is also not too hard. But in an aeroplane, landing is the difficult part. It is this which tends to take some students many hours, although some do pick it up quite quickly.

Crosswind landings in particular take a great deal of practice, and many people who fly both airplanes and helicopters feel that these are more difficult than any manoeuvre in a helicopter. In contrast, landing in a helicopter is quite easy, since the pilot can slow down first and point the aircraft into wind.

Emergency Manoeuvres in Airplanes and Helicopters

Simulated emergencies are practiced extensively when one is learning to fly. The student will learn to do practice forced landings at quite an early stage, and go over them until he or she reacts automatically. In an airplane, there is a relatively long time in which to react to an engine failure, by lowering the nose of the aircraft and entering a glide.

The difficult part is finding a large enough area on which to land. In a helicopter, on the other hand, the pilot needs to react instantly if the engine fails, by lowering the collective and entering auto-rotation. But once this is done, things are not all that difficult, since a helicopter can land in an extremely small area, so all the pilot needs to do is look for somewhere flat.

It is therefore best to learn to fly the type of aircraft which one likes best. Both PPL courses, helicopter and airplane, tend to take approximately the same length of time, the precise length depending on the individual flying student. Both courses have parts which are difficult, and parts which are relatively easy. One is not more difficult than the other; they are simply different. So go out there and learn to fly the type of aircraft which most attract you, and be assured that you can do it!

The copyright of the article Airplanes or Helicopters:Which is Easier to Fly? in Aviation is owned by Helen Krasner. Permission to republish Airplanes or Helicopters:Which is Easier to Fly? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.