Video: NASA Drops A Helicopter From Midair to Test New Anti-Crash Tech

KH

They can easily manufacture the kevlar cushions into the body of the aircraft. All one needs to do is wrap thin, aircraft-quality aluminum around it and it'll be aerodynamic. It might increase the overall dimensions of the aircraft, but at least it'll be safer should your engines die or rotors are shot off a la Black Hawk Down.

NASA doesn't deal with trees very often, does it? But what are the odds of that happening?

- Scott Thourson
(Mechanical Engineering)

this would be a great thing to see on all helicopters, and i wonder why people never thought of this before...

How about shrinking the honeycombs and made them inflatable or replace them with some sort of airbags.

Those dummies are always crashing things!

What this could mean for aircraft safety could be a topic of speculation.

this is all great news...as long as you plan to land flat on your butt. what about if the tail breaks and you land on your side? for down drafts this system would be a help, but not even close to an all-around solution.

locutus,

I personally value my butt so any butt protection is welcome whether it protects my head or not. Not that I do not value my head.

TX77092,

in that case this is the system for you. as the rest of you may be lost, your butt will remain intact. please be aware that the identification process may require your loved ones to provide embarrassing personal mementoes so that authorities may prove that it is indeed your butt that was salvaged.

if your a good pilot you dont need this

Inflatable Airbags needed

Yes,why not airbags? They would not disturb the aerodynamics of the copter before being deployed.The only advantage of the honeycomb cushion is that it is permanently deployed.Some sort of deployment mechanism would have to be designed for an airbag system.

It fell a 33 mph right? But what would happen if you fell at say 50 or 60 mph or more. For instance if the chopper fell from 5,000 feet and hit a downdraft and impacted at 100 or 150 mph, then what would happen? What if it hit trees or buildings? Obviously the chopper would be destroyed. Most likely all aboard would be killed. The idea isn't bad, but improvements should be made before they strap that thing to a chopper with real people in it.

I am not an engineer, but maybe a flat metal plate jointing the 4 legs of the helicopter at the bottom, and then let the legs run into the helicopter, with liquid and spring shock absorber, maybe better ?

Looks like the system works well for crashes with forward momentum (2 forward 1 down approx.). What % of chopper crashes have that much forward momentum? My guess would be the crashes where auto-rotation was used - engine failure?
This protection would be ineffective in most other scenarios.

that aint a anti crash system its not supposed to do that its supposed to keep the helicopter from crashing

@mjbeverly - you can be the best pilot in the world, but if something catastrophic happens to the hardware there's not much even seasoned veterans can do. Any step in making aviation safer is a positive step!

Wow that test is amazing, technology these days amazes me. Keith - www.3kmobile.com