The thing is, helicopters are different from planes.
An airplane by its nature wants to fly, and if not interfered with too strongly by unusual events or by a deliberately incompetent pilot, it will fly.
A helicopter does not want to fly.
It is maintained in the air by a variety of forces and controls working in opposition to each other, and if there is any disturbance in this delicate balance the helicopter stops flying, immediately and disastrously.
There is no such thing as a gliding helicopter.
This is why being a helicopter pilot is so different from being an airplane pilot, and why, in general, airplane pilots are open, clear-eyed, bouyant extroverts, and helicopter pilots are brooders, introspective anticipatiors of trouble. They knowif something bad has not happened, it is about to.
Story was published in the July 1977 issue of The MAC Flyer