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From This is True for 9 February 2008 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: W. J. Wagtendonk List Price: $24.95 Amazon Price: $16.47 Editorial Review: Recently updated, this comprehensive handbook explains the aerodynamics of helicopter flight, as well as how to perform typical helicopter maneuvers, unlike many aviation training manuals which are strictly how-to guides. Beginning with the basics of aerodynamics, each step of the process is fully illustrated and thoroughly explained—from the physics of helicopter flying and advanced operations to helicopter design and performance—providing helicopter pilots with a sound technical foundation on which to base their in-flight decisions. Containing discussions on the NOTAR (no tail rotor) system, strakes, and frequently misunderstood principles of airspeed and high-altitude operations, this revised edition also includes the latest procedures and regulations from the Federal Aviation Administration.  By: Jim Fay List Price: $5.95 Amazon Price: $5.95 Editorial Review: Parenting Styles and the Messages They Sendwritten and told by Jim FayParenting expert and humorous storyteller, Jim Fay, helps you identify your parenting style, then shares practical, stress-free techniques for becoming a consultant parent. Enjoy being a parent again!  List Price: $16.95 Amazon Price: $11.53 Editorial Review: This series of textbooks and supplements for pilots, student pilots, aviation instructors, and aviation specialists provides information on every topic needed to qualify for and excel in the field of aviation. Most FAA Knowledge Exams' questions are taken directly from the information presented in these texts. Written for applicants preparing for the private, commercial, or flight instructor certificate with a helicopter or gyroplane class rating, this guide covers both aeronautical knowledge and skill for operating rotorcraft vehicles. It is also a valuable tool for flight instructors as a teaching aid. This is the Basic Helicopter Handbook (Advisory Circular 61-13B) updated and renamed. This is FAA handbook FAA-H-8083-21.  By: Robert Mason List Price: $16.00 Amazon Price: $10.88 Editorial Review: More than half a million copies of Chickenhawk have been sold since it was first published in 1983. Now with a new afterword by the author and photographs taken by him during the conflict, this straight-from-the-shoulder account tells the electrifying truth about the helicopter war in Vietnam. This is Robert Mason’s astounding personal story of men at war. A veteran of more than one thousand combat missions, Mason gives staggering descriptions that cut to the heart of the combat experience: the fear and belligerence, the quiet insights and raging madness, the lasting friendships and sudden death—the extreme emotions of a “chickenhawk” in constant danger.  By: Michael J. DurantSteven Hartov List Price: $25.95 Amazon Price: $6.99 Editorial Review: From the authors of the bestselling In the Company of Heroes come the thrilling, never-before-heard stories of the Army's elite aviation unit, the most daring and professional helicopter crews in the world. In his first book, Michael Durant told his harrowing tale of being shot down in his Blackhawk over Mogadishu and held captive by a Somali warlord. It was a remarkable account, particularly because Special Operations pilots are notoriously reticent-they don't talk about their missions, at least not to anyone outside their small community. But now, with the publication of The Night Stalkers, Durant and Steven Hartov shed a fascinating light on these mysterious super commandos and take readers into a world they have only imagined. From Iran to Grenada to Iraq, the 160th SOAR (A) has been at the point of the spear and in the thick of combat, delivering and supporting Delta operators, Rangers, and SEAL teams to any target, at any point on the globe, in all weather-night or day. Simply put, they are the best of the best, and here for the first time are their hair-raising true stories of battle, capture, victory, and loss. |
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An inventor, in the 1940s Piasecki and some friends from his mechanical engineering classes at the University of Pennsylvania formed the PV Engineering Forum to build helicopters. Their company name didn't include the word "helicopter" because, he said, "people would have laughed." But he had good ideas, and Piasecki became "one of the three primary progenitors of the American helicopter industry," said Roger Connor, curator of vertical flight at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. "One is Igor Sikorsky, who developed the modern helicopter and placed it in mass production. Another is Arthur Young, who built the first commercially sold helicopter. And the third was Piasecki." He not only invented the PV-2, an early helicopter, but also invented the tandem-rotor helicopter. The dual rotors gave the XHRP-X transport helicopter, or "Flying Banana", extraordinary lifting capability. The XHRP-X, which first flew in 1945, evolved into the Chinook, which can carry 30,000 pounds of cargo. Piasecki also invented the Helistat: an extra-large blimp and four helicopters all bolted to a large frame that could lift 25 tons -- the largest aircraft in the world (shown in photo). The prototype crashed in 1986 in Lakehurst, N.J., just a half-mile from where the Hindenburg crashed in 1937. He died at home on February 11 from a heart attack. He was 88.