Such a simple question but I cannot find an answer, any help would be much appreciated. How long would it take a helicopter to fly approximately 35.5km That's it! Simple, you would think ... Thanks xx
Assuming the helicopter goes 160 km/h, which seems to be average speed based on what I found online, it would take 35.5 / 160 = 0.22 hours, or about 13.2 minutes.
FAB! Thanks. I think I just looked on the same site as you but it took me three days to find it! I had to convert the km to nautical miles which gave me 19.168 and then the speed to knots which I put as 120 as the helicopter in question has a top speed of 140 knots but I took off twenty to allow for weather and possibly not flying in a directly straight line (plus some of the journey is over water and I don't know how that would affect the flying speed). The website I used came up with 9min 35seconds so if I go for somewhere in between your answer and mine, I could be spot on!
@thirdwind... glad you pipped me to the post. I was converting from knots and I suck at math. I concur. My poor strained brain thanks you.
Good point, as the answer informs one of the assumptions - rate of speed. Since R(ate)=D(istance)/T(ime), and you know D, you need to know R in order to solve for T. And the type of helicopter will determine what value you can use for R.
possibly a Bell 412S Summer's evening, little or no breeze. Flying over land, suburban and town and approx. 5km water, seawater but not open sea. Two pilots, three other passengers. Flying East-south-east.
top speed says 140 knots but I'm not sure what (if anything) to allow for the total weight of passengers (5 men in all) and whether or not speed will be affected when flying over water. I can't see it would but I'm not a pilot. Or a physicist. And sometimes, no matter what you type into your browser, you just keep missing the right word or technical term to get you to the answer!
Can't you just say that the added weight of five grown men wouldn't allow for the chopper to reach top speeds; it would take about 15 minutes?
I think you're thinking too much about this. I doubt any reader is going to care about whether you got the calculation exactly right or not. Just say the ride took 15 minutes (like Garball said) or 20 minutes or something reasonable. That should suffice.
It's not so much that I will be saying the flight took fifteen minutes, the reason I want some kind of approximation is because of the following: .. the conversation that goes on between three of the passengers during the flight. .. the place/movement of the setting sun throughout the flight. .. how the flight impacts on the overall timeline of the scene in which the journey takes place and how it impacts on other things going on in other places at the same time. .. the effect of the apprehension on the characters. It's very important that they get to their destination as fast as possible so as time ticks away, the apprehension of what's waiting for them, grows. Obviously, they would be a lot more apprehensive if the flight was 35 minutes whereas a flight of fifteen minutes with the conversation involved would raise their apprehension/worry but not by as much as taking a half hour flight of silence. I very much appreciate all your help with this - thanks x
It depends upon the helicopter & the pilot. But for normal copters it'll take near about: 15 - 20 Minutes Maximum!
