1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,840 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:08,799 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: tech Stuff from how stuff dot com. Hello, everyone, welcome 4 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:20,320 Speaker 1: to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette, and I'm 5 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:24,160 Speaker 1: an editor at how stuff works dot com. Sitting sitting 6 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:27,720 Speaker 1: to my right as unusual as senior writer Jonathan Strickland. 7 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:31,440 Speaker 1: The Nelly a cruising y'all swung to her anchor without 8 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:36,400 Speaker 1: a flutter of the sales and was at rest. Okay, yeah, 9 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:39,640 Speaker 1: so um, First of all, if you are wondering why 10 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:42,760 Speaker 1: I am to Chris's right as opposed to across from him, 11 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:46,880 Speaker 1: it's because we have an interesting setup for a different 12 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: kind of podcast which may or may not happen. So 13 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:53,800 Speaker 1: if if it sounds like this podcast is disjointed, as 14 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 1: if we had started one, stopped it, and then picked 15 00:00:56,480 --> 00:01:01,240 Speaker 1: it up later, that's why that's I think that's an mystery. Right, Sure, 16 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: why not? So let's talk about what we're actually covering today, 17 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:06,760 Speaker 1: because has nothing to do with that. No, no, and 18 00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:09,320 Speaker 1: I think we should stop hovering around the topic. We 19 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:13,800 Speaker 1: gotta get through the chop. Yeah, we're gonna talk about 20 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 1: helicopters today. Yes, and it's kind of surprising that we 21 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:19,000 Speaker 1: haven't talked about it before. Yeah. Well, when you start 22 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:23,319 Speaker 1: looking into what is involved in making a helicopter work, 23 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:26,560 Speaker 1: I can see exactly why we haven't done it before. Well, 24 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:28,920 Speaker 1: you know, the helicopter business does have it have its 25 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:31,240 Speaker 1: ups and down. Yeah. Nice, I like how you did that. 26 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:35,679 Speaker 1: Um yeah, So so let's talk about helicopters. So, I'm 27 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:38,399 Speaker 1: sure all of you are familiar with the concept of 28 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 1: a helicopter, But when did these things? How did how 29 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:44,480 Speaker 1: did we come up with this idea? When did this 30 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:49,880 Speaker 1: originally spring to mind? Okay, well, uh, you know, it 31 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 1: is something that has been on my mind since I 32 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 1: was a kid. I've always loved helicopters. So the other day, 33 00:01:57,240 --> 00:01:59,440 Speaker 1: Jonathan sent me a video that I couldn't watch because 34 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:02,800 Speaker 1: my current bandwidth was too low on my internet connection, 35 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 1: and it took me two days to actually watch it. 36 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:10,200 Speaker 1: But it was a video of some very tiny quadricopters. Yeah. 37 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:13,600 Speaker 1: They were called nano quadricopters in the video itself, although 38 00:02:13,639 --> 00:02:17,080 Speaker 1: that is a misnomer since nano typically means one billion 39 00:02:17,880 --> 00:02:20,919 Speaker 1: and they were not that small. The fact they fit 40 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:22,799 Speaker 1: on the palm of someone's hand. Yeah, they're about the 41 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:25,360 Speaker 1: size of the palm of your hand. And uh, I 42 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:29,400 Speaker 1: was thinking about how, uh, how unusual the quadricopter is 43 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:32,079 Speaker 1: because it doesn't have a tail rotor like a traditional 44 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:37,320 Speaker 1: helicopter does. Um. Yeah, they're very very maneuverable. Um and uh. 45 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:39,000 Speaker 1: And I thought, you know, hey, Jonathan, why don't we 46 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:41,960 Speaker 1: talk about helicopters because we never really talked about them before. 47 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: So right, So that's how it came to mind. Yeah, 48 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:46,480 Speaker 1: that's how it came to mind. Now, how how the 49 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:49,640 Speaker 1: idea of a helicopter actually came to mind for human 50 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:54,800 Speaker 1: beings in general? That dates back pretty far in human history, 51 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:58,600 Speaker 1: and it all begins with a toy. Yeah, you know, 52 00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:01,800 Speaker 1: and I think just about everybody who's gone to their 53 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:04,160 Speaker 1: school fair or whatever is one one of these little 54 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:08,320 Speaker 1: you know, uh stick with a propeller on it, and 55 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:09,800 Speaker 1: you spin it in the palm of your hand and 56 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:14,160 Speaker 1: let go and it then crash down to the earth. 57 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:17,119 Speaker 1: But they weren't always made from plastic, no, No, they were. 58 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: The Chinese had a little top that they used where 59 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:26,000 Speaker 1: the top was had feathers on it, yes, and it 60 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:27,880 Speaker 1: did the same sort of thing you would put. They 61 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:30,079 Speaker 1: put the stick between your hands, the feathers will be 62 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:32,320 Speaker 1: at the top. You spin the stick very quickly. The 63 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 1: feathers would spin and it would create some lift and 64 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:36,600 Speaker 1: the stick would fly up in the air and then 65 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:40,560 Speaker 1: come back down. Pretty simple, yep. And as it turns 66 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:44,000 Speaker 1: out to the concept is is pretty simple. Basically, you're 67 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 1: you're creating an air foil. Yes, Um that instead of 68 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:52,680 Speaker 1: like an airplane wing where you're going forward, Um, it's 69 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:56,240 Speaker 1: going straight up simply because um, the the air that 70 00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 1: that moves over the air foil, it creates lift is 71 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:03,720 Speaker 1: taking it, uh right up. So I guess to to 72 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 1: really kind of discuss this, we should probably talk about 73 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:09,400 Speaker 1: a little bit about the parts of a helicopter, so 74 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:13,600 Speaker 1: that way we can explain what these these parts actually 75 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:17,680 Speaker 1: do and how they achieve flight. So the blades that 76 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:21,760 Speaker 1: we talk about, that's a rotor, right, So the rotors 77 00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:25,159 Speaker 1: are affixed to a rotor mast. That's the part that 78 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:29,160 Speaker 1: actually creates the the turning motion that makes the blades 79 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:32,120 Speaker 1: go round in a circle. And the blades themselves are 80 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:36,279 Speaker 1: angled and they can that angle can change depending upon 81 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:39,560 Speaker 1: a control. Um there are different control rods that can 82 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:44,480 Speaker 1: change the the um the attitude of those blades so 83 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:47,920 Speaker 1: you have, uh, two of them. Actually, there's the cyclic controller, 84 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:51,440 Speaker 1: which can control them individually. Yes, that's also known as 85 00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:54,359 Speaker 1: the stick, right, Yeah, that's the that's the stick. And 86 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:56,920 Speaker 1: then there's a was it the collective one, right, yes, 87 00:04:57,279 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 1: the collective pitch lever. What that does is it actually 88 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 1: it changes the attitude of all of the rotors, the 89 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:07,599 Speaker 1: main rotors at the same time. Um and that. Both 90 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:10,360 Speaker 1: of those are important for various maneuvers with the helicopter. 91 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:12,599 Speaker 1: But we'll get into that in a second. There's also 92 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:16,839 Speaker 1: with the rotors, there's a stabilizer. Because you've got these 93 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:21,239 Speaker 1: long air foils that are extending out from a shaft, 94 00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:23,560 Speaker 1: and they're turning around and around. There's a chance that 95 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:25,600 Speaker 1: they're gonna start, you know, flopping around a little bit, 96 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:28,920 Speaker 1: causing some issues, you know. So the stabilizer is there 97 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:32,479 Speaker 1: to help add some rigidity there so that these blades 98 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 1: will will maintain the right shape so that you can fly. 99 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:39,560 Speaker 1: It's kind of funny too, because apparently it was just 100 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:42,480 Speaker 1: one of those things that someone added to the helicopter 101 00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:46,400 Speaker 1: um uh and uh as As it turns out, it 102 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:49,680 Speaker 1: it made a major improvement in the stability and and 103 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:53,480 Speaker 1: flyability of helicopters. Yeah, the early helicopters when they were flying, 104 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:57,160 Speaker 1: it was a pretty bumpy ride, and it was definitely 105 00:05:57,200 --> 00:05:59,840 Speaker 1: a challenge for a pilot to maintain control because it 106 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:04,080 Speaker 1: just you know, without that stabilizer, it just like you 107 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:07,480 Speaker 1: were saying, it just wasn't as fliable. So it was 108 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:11,000 Speaker 1: definitely a good addition to the parts of a helicopter. 109 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:16,320 Speaker 1: There's a there's a there's two plates that are on 110 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:20,839 Speaker 1: the rotor mast, all right, that that also are a 111 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:24,719 Speaker 1: big part of the helicopter. It's called the upper swash 112 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 1: plate and the lower swash plate. And despite what you 113 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:34,719 Speaker 1: might think, they are not joined by a swash buckle. Instead, 114 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:38,039 Speaker 1: if you imagine that, they imagine two plates to two 115 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:42,520 Speaker 1: round plates, right, and they're both they both have the 116 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:46,039 Speaker 1: The shaft of the motor of the rotor rather goes 117 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:49,880 Speaker 1: straight through these two plates. The lower plate is stationary, 118 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:53,200 Speaker 1: it does not turn. On top of the lower plate 119 00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:56,000 Speaker 1: are ball bearings. And then on top of the ball 120 00:06:56,040 --> 00:06:59,120 Speaker 1: bearings is the upper swash plate, which does turn. The 121 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:02,000 Speaker 1: ball bearings are wattle allow it to turn over. The 122 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:05,359 Speaker 1: lower swashplate. Now the swashplate. The reason that's important is 123 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:08,880 Speaker 1: remember when I was talking about the collective the collective 124 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:12,000 Speaker 1: control that changes the attitude of all the blades at 125 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:14,840 Speaker 1: the same time. Yes, that what that actually does is 126 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:19,160 Speaker 1: it allows that plate to tilt either forward or backward, 127 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:21,880 Speaker 1: or however you need it to, so that you can 128 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:25,760 Speaker 1: make the helicopter veer in the direction you want it 129 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:29,120 Speaker 1: to go. Yeah, because really, up until this point, what 130 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:31,160 Speaker 1: we were doing was going up and down. We weren't 131 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:35,000 Speaker 1: going left or right or over that way or back 132 00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:38,080 Speaker 1: this way. Because if you try, if you have one 133 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 1: of those toys that we were talking about before, with 134 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: the blade on the stick, you point it straight up 135 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:45,240 Speaker 1: and it goes straight up, and then it'll drift off 136 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:46,840 Speaker 1: a little bit to the side, but you don't really 137 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:49,880 Speaker 1: control that. If you pointed it, you know at your friend, 138 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:53,120 Speaker 1: it's going to go in his or her direction. And 139 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:57,280 Speaker 1: that's what the swashplates allow the pilot of the helicopter 140 00:07:57,320 --> 00:07:59,440 Speaker 1: to do it. It helps tilt the blades and and 141 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:02,600 Speaker 1: the Hello copter starts flying in that direction. Yes, because 142 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:05,760 Speaker 1: it adds it adds a second element. Right, you first 143 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:08,440 Speaker 1: have the first element you have is lift. The second 144 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:11,640 Speaker 1: element you would have is thrust. So when you start 145 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:14,480 Speaker 1: to change the attitude of the blades. You have both 146 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:16,640 Speaker 1: lift and thrust. Now, there is a point where if 147 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:20,400 Speaker 1: you were to tilt that beyond a certain threshold, you 148 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:25,080 Speaker 1: would no longer have enough lift to counteract the weight 149 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 1: of the helicopter itself, and it would start to lose altitude. 150 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:30,320 Speaker 1: It might be moving forward, but it's going to be 151 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:34,240 Speaker 1: going lower and lower until you correct that. And that's 152 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:37,640 Speaker 1: one of the reasons why, uh, piloting a helicopter is 153 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:40,760 Speaker 1: so challenging. In fact, when we get into the different controls, 154 00:08:40,800 --> 00:08:42,960 Speaker 1: you'll find out you're using both your legs and both 155 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:46,120 Speaker 1: your arms to try and maneuver a helicopter, and so 156 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:48,880 Speaker 1: it takes a lot of concentration. Yeah. That's also why 157 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:51,559 Speaker 1: you don't see a lot of people flying helicopters and 158 00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:57,800 Speaker 1: loop to loops. Yeah, that's use their air wolf right. Yeah, 159 00:08:57,800 --> 00:08:59,640 Speaker 1: But then no, that is true because once you get 160 00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:02,160 Speaker 1: beyond that certain threshold, you no longer have the lift 161 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:04,800 Speaker 1: necessary to keep you in the air. Uh. Yeah. And 162 00:09:04,800 --> 00:09:08,720 Speaker 1: these blades are connected to that rotor mast through blade grips, 163 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:11,880 Speaker 1: that's the technical term for where the blades fit into 164 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:14,160 Speaker 1: this rotor mast and on the very top of the 165 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:18,280 Speaker 1: rotor mast, you have something that's that's got an interesting name. Yes, 166 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:21,400 Speaker 1: the Jesus Nut. Yes, it really is called that. It's 167 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:24,920 Speaker 1: called the Jesus nut. And uh, there are various theories 168 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:27,000 Speaker 1: as to why it's called that, and I don't know 169 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:28,760 Speaker 1: what any of I don't know the truth of any 170 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:31,000 Speaker 1: of them. Yes, the one that we have an article 171 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:33,160 Speaker 1: on the site. Yes, it's a it's a really good 172 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:36,520 Speaker 1: article too, with lots of really helpful illustrations. So if 173 00:09:36,559 --> 00:09:38,880 Speaker 1: you are interested in helicopters and you really want to 174 00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:40,959 Speaker 1: get a look at what these different parts look like, 175 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:44,160 Speaker 1: I highly recommend you check it out because it's it's 176 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:47,000 Speaker 1: one of the more exhaustive articles on the side. I 177 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:48,920 Speaker 1: would say, yeah, I would. I would agree with that, 178 00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:53,120 Speaker 1: and very very illustrative what you're doing here when you're 179 00:09:53,120 --> 00:09:57,520 Speaker 1: flying a helicopter. Um. So yeah, we were talking about 180 00:09:57,559 --> 00:10:00,480 Speaker 1: the tail roter just a moment ago. Yes, UM, very 181 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:03,720 Speaker 1: important in the in the design of a helicopter. So 182 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:06,800 Speaker 1: here's another thing about helicopters. You've got this blade turning 183 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:08,880 Speaker 1: around and around, this creating lift, and when the lift 184 00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:11,960 Speaker 1: gets strong enough to counteract the weight of the helicopter 185 00:10:12,040 --> 00:10:15,640 Speaker 1: is going to rise in the air without a tail rotor. Yeah, 186 00:10:15,679 --> 00:10:17,920 Speaker 1: if you've ever wondered why that's there. Yeah, Without a 187 00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:21,480 Speaker 1: tail rotor, which is that little, that little smaller propeller 188 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:24,199 Speaker 1: that's on the end of the tail of a helicopter. 189 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 1: Without it, the body of the helicopter itself would start 190 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:30,920 Speaker 1: to spin in a direction opposite that of the rotors. 191 00:10:31,360 --> 00:10:34,640 Speaker 1: So if the rotors are spinning in a clockwise direction, 192 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:36,720 Speaker 1: then the helicopter will start to spin in a wider 193 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:40,720 Speaker 1: Shan's direction. You just want, yes, I did so badly 194 00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:45,839 Speaker 1: counterclockwise For those of you who do not speak archaic English, Hey, 195 00:10:45,840 --> 00:10:48,680 Speaker 1: where are my Shakespeare home? He's at? So anyway, yes, 196 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:52,600 Speaker 1: the the helicopter would spin. Without any other other force 197 00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:55,000 Speaker 1: to counteract this, the helicopter would start to spin in 198 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:58,680 Speaker 1: the opposite direction, which would probably be an unpleasant experience 199 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:03,600 Speaker 1: for anyone inside that helicopter. Yes, yeah, so the rotor 200 00:11:03,679 --> 00:11:06,280 Speaker 1: What that does is it helps to create thrust to 201 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:10,320 Speaker 1: counteract the spinning motion so that the helicopter stays stationary. 202 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:13,280 Speaker 1: And by controlling the speed of that rotor, you can 203 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:16,760 Speaker 1: actually turn the helicopter to the left or to the right, 204 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:20,120 Speaker 1: not banking it. But actually, if you're if you're hovering 205 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:22,880 Speaker 1: in place, you can change the speed that that rotor 206 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:26,760 Speaker 1: turns and then turn your helicopter so it's facing an 207 00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:29,319 Speaker 1: opposite direction. So if it started facing north, you can 208 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:32,600 Speaker 1: maybe face west, that kind of thing. And of course, 209 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:37,559 Speaker 1: for for this, we have a guy named Igor to 210 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:41,080 Speaker 1: thank for that. Yes, Igor did a great job. Of 211 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:46,160 Speaker 1: all the people who experimented with the idea of being 212 00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:49,400 Speaker 1: able to levitate a person, I mean there were there 213 00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:53,079 Speaker 1: were many, including a our our friend Leo, Yeah, Leonardo 214 00:11:53,160 --> 00:11:56,560 Speaker 1: da Vinci. Ye. He tried to create something that he 215 00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:59,240 Speaker 1: called the air screw, which was a screw shape, and 216 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:03,320 Speaker 1: the idea was that with four people powering this man powered, 217 00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:06,720 Speaker 1: of course back in Leo's day, that if you were 218 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:09,160 Speaker 1: able to turn this air screw fast enough, it would 219 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:11,880 Speaker 1: be able to create enough lift to lift the machine 220 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:15,160 Speaker 1: off the ground. Now, he never got this to work, 221 00:12:15,679 --> 00:12:18,160 Speaker 1: but it was sort of the basis of the idea 222 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:21,440 Speaker 1: of what would eventually become a helicopter, although it changed 223 00:12:21,559 --> 00:12:26,040 Speaker 1: dramatically by the time the helicopter actually appeared. Yep. Now, 224 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:30,520 Speaker 1: Igor Sikorsky, if you've spent any time at all paying 225 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:32,360 Speaker 1: attention to helicopters, that name is going to be very 226 00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:36,200 Speaker 1: familiar to you, Um was a Russian who experimented with 227 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:38,800 Speaker 1: the idea of helicopters and then kind of moved away 228 00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:41,760 Speaker 1: to get into other types of airplane flight and then 229 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:43,920 Speaker 1: sort of came back to it later on. Yeah, his 230 00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:47,760 Speaker 1: early attempts were not met with very much success, so 231 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:51,040 Speaker 1: he decided, hey, you know what, let's just put this 232 00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:52,880 Speaker 1: on the back burner and look at something that I 233 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:57,119 Speaker 1: know will work. And then eventually, once he felt more confident, 234 00:12:57,559 --> 00:13:00,840 Speaker 1: he revisited this idea of the helicopter. Yeah, back in 235 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:03,840 Speaker 1: the around the nineteen thirties, I think is when when 236 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:05,720 Speaker 1: he started really having some luck with it, and he 237 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:08,840 Speaker 1: realized that he was going to need something to prevent 238 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:12,760 Speaker 1: the helicopter body from spinning like that without any kind 239 00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:15,439 Speaker 1: of force. So he decided to mount a tail roader 240 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:20,240 Speaker 1: on his helicopter too. And basically it's it's creating force 241 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:23,360 Speaker 1: in a sideways manner that that is resisting the force 242 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:29,040 Speaker 1: that that would naturally cause the helicopter to turn. So Um, 243 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:32,320 Speaker 1: you know, hats off to Igor And that was a 244 00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:35,480 Speaker 1: brilliant idea. It was the nineteen thirty nine when he 245 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:40,160 Speaker 1: created the VS three hundred, which was based off these 246 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:42,920 Speaker 1: early designs and it actually worked. It lifted him up 247 00:13:42,920 --> 00:13:45,319 Speaker 1: into the air. It was a bit of a bumpy ride. 248 00:13:45,679 --> 00:13:48,400 Speaker 1: But then he ended up trying to uh, you know, 249 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:52,040 Speaker 1: he refined the design of it and then um actually 250 00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:57,000 Speaker 1: had broke a record. On May six ninety one, he 251 00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:01,679 Speaker 1: broke the world helicopter endurance record and stayed in the 252 00:14:01,679 --> 00:14:04,240 Speaker 1: air for one hour, thirty two minutes and twenty six 253 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:09,520 Speaker 1: point one seconds. And yeah, that's that's pretty impressive. I mean, 254 00:14:10,559 --> 00:14:13,040 Speaker 1: for for an invention that people had played with for 255 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:16,000 Speaker 1: centuries really but no one had really cracked it. It 256 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:18,840 Speaker 1: was a big jump. And speaking of jumps, we should 257 00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:22,000 Speaker 1: say that between the time of the the top toy 258 00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:25,160 Speaker 1: that was invented in ancient China and the time that 259 00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:30,440 Speaker 1: Sikorski created the first working helicopter, there were a lot 260 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:33,320 Speaker 1: of other people who were involved in trying to make 261 00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:38,600 Speaker 1: this work, and some of their contributions led into Sikorski's work. Yes, 262 00:14:39,160 --> 00:14:41,320 Speaker 1: but a lot of these early inventions that were created 263 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:45,760 Speaker 1: we call them hoppers because they could they could lift 264 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:49,200 Speaker 1: off the ground briefly, but they couldn't really sustain flight 265 00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:51,280 Speaker 1: for any length of time, and they didn't really have 266 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:54,240 Speaker 1: any way of changing the direction of that flight. It 267 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:57,040 Speaker 1: just would go up and down. I mean, apart from 268 00:14:57,120 --> 00:14:59,480 Speaker 1: being pushed around by whatever wind happened to be in 269 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:03,800 Speaker 1: the area. Yeah, being pushed around by wind, that's not 270 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:07,000 Speaker 1: a problem. But then so he breaks the record. It 271 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:09,080 Speaker 1: turns out that, you know, the helicopters would become really 272 00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:15,040 Speaker 1: important in warfare. That actually became a very uh well, 273 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:18,840 Speaker 1: the United States in particular really dependent upon helicopters in 274 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:25,040 Speaker 1: conflicts in Korea and Vietnam. Heysh yeah, yeah, it starts 275 00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:28,800 Speaker 1: off with one yes through early morning fog I see, 276 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:35,160 Speaker 1: uh yeah, And this was this was a pretty interesting development. 277 00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:38,880 Speaker 1: I mean, you see a lot of of the experimental 278 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:44,640 Speaker 1: aircraft from the era just became oddities. Yes, yes, which 279 00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:47,680 Speaker 1: you can still find autogenres. And we should explain what 280 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:50,600 Speaker 1: the difference between an autogyro and a helicopter is. So 281 00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:53,560 Speaker 1: with a helicopter, those rotors were talking about, those are 282 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:57,360 Speaker 1: powered that that rotor mast turns under power. There's an 283 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:00,800 Speaker 1: engine and a transmission. The engine provides powered transmission converts 284 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:03,640 Speaker 1: it over into the mechanical energy that the rotors need 285 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 1: in order to turn, and that is what makes the 286 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:12,200 Speaker 1: the blades turn fast enough to create the lift. Autogyros 287 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:17,920 Speaker 1: have unpowered rotors, so there is a there there is 288 00:16:17,920 --> 00:16:20,320 Speaker 1: a set of rotors on top of an autogyro, so 289 00:16:20,400 --> 00:16:23,480 Speaker 1: in a way it kind of resembles like a miniature helicopter. 290 00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:26,360 Speaker 1: But then there's a propeller that's either in the front 291 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:28,880 Speaker 1: or the back of the autogyro. It all depends on 292 00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:32,440 Speaker 1: the design of a specific autogyro, which what that's what 293 00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:36,920 Speaker 1: provides thrust, and what happens is it generates an air 294 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,360 Speaker 1: flow that is directed up at the rotors that are 295 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:44,440 Speaker 1: above the autogyro, and that that upward flowing amount of 296 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:47,600 Speaker 1: air is what makes the blades start to turn. And 297 00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:50,920 Speaker 1: you just keep increasing the air flow, which again makes 298 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:55,120 Speaker 1: the blades turn faster until that helps counteract the weight 299 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:57,760 Speaker 1: of the autogyro, and that's what allows the autogyro to fly. 300 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:01,440 Speaker 1: But there's no motor turning those blades. It's all just 301 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:04,560 Speaker 1: from the flow of air. Yeah. As a matter of fact, 302 00:17:05,119 --> 00:17:08,879 Speaker 1: some now some of the more modern helicopters also have 303 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:12,040 Speaker 1: a second engine which can help you know, of course 304 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:16,040 Speaker 1: if in the case of the first engine and going out, um, 305 00:17:16,080 --> 00:17:19,399 Speaker 1: but you know, there there's some redundancy there, uh, now 306 00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:23,879 Speaker 1: in the more modern helicopters, especially for military helicopters that 307 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:27,800 Speaker 1: might be affected by enemy fire. Right sure, yeah, if 308 00:17:27,840 --> 00:17:29,800 Speaker 1: you have an engine failure, then you can switch over 309 00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:34,400 Speaker 1: to a second engine and h hopefully prevent catastrophe. So 310 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:37,040 Speaker 1: let's talk a little bit about the controls that are 311 00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:39,719 Speaker 1: inside a helicopter. Of course, you have lots of different 312 00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:44,520 Speaker 1: um uh dials and indicators that give you information about 313 00:17:44,520 --> 00:17:49,760 Speaker 1: the environment and uh information about your helicopter's performance. Those 314 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:53,240 Speaker 1: are all there's they're too numerous to name really, but 315 00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:55,760 Speaker 1: the actual controls when we were talking about using both 316 00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:58,800 Speaker 1: your hands and both your feet, well, one hand is 317 00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:02,040 Speaker 1: gonna be on that psych like pitch lever. So this 318 00:18:02,119 --> 00:18:05,399 Speaker 1: is the lever that controls the angle of each of 319 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:09,639 Speaker 1: the rotor blades individually. And uh this one is used 320 00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:13,280 Speaker 1: mainly to tilt the craft at either side or forward 321 00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:18,760 Speaker 1: and backward. But it's it's done in uh very it's 322 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:21,520 Speaker 1: not it's it's not the one that changes the swashplate. 323 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:24,080 Speaker 1: That's the collective pitch lever. So that's you know, that's 324 00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:26,760 Speaker 1: your second one that you're holding with your other hand. Um. 325 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:29,640 Speaker 1: It's mainly used in things like take off and landing. 326 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:32,440 Speaker 1: It's used to increase or decrease the pitch of all 327 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:36,119 Speaker 1: the rotor blades at the same time, and it's mostly 328 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:40,760 Speaker 1: responsible for up and down movements, not things like forward, backward, left, right. Uh. 329 00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:43,760 Speaker 1: Then you've got your foot pedals and these are what 330 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:49,160 Speaker 1: control the tail rotor, and so using the the tail rotors, 331 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:53,000 Speaker 1: this is how you can turn the the helicopter so 332 00:18:53,080 --> 00:18:56,399 Speaker 1: it faces a different direction. You're not banking it, but 333 00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:58,879 Speaker 1: you're turning it um or you're using it just to 334 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:02,480 Speaker 1: keep it steady. Uh. And and if you're wondering, you know, well, 335 00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:06,080 Speaker 1: what about hovering? Isn't that easy? No, Hovering is actually 336 00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:10,000 Speaker 1: pretty difficult to do because you have to you have 337 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:12,919 Speaker 1: to get everything in a neutral position, and then you 338 00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:16,080 Speaker 1: have to keep making minor adjustments in order to maintain 339 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:18,719 Speaker 1: the position that you're in. In fact, pilots will have 340 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:23,280 Speaker 1: to pick a spot that they can look at and 341 00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:28,000 Speaker 1: try and maintain their attitude and altitude uh by by 342 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:33,760 Speaker 1: referencing where that spot is and making minor adjustments constantly. Yes, yeah, 343 00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:38,280 Speaker 1: it helps to uh to have um uh an experienced 344 00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:41,760 Speaker 1: pilot on board, just because uh, not only is there 345 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:47,320 Speaker 1: the matter of looking at the electronic components in the 346 00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:52,040 Speaker 1: craft itself, but to orient him or herself with the 347 00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:55,960 Speaker 1: land around, just to to give a visual representation of 348 00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:58,000 Speaker 1: what's going on. And that's that's one of those things 349 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:01,080 Speaker 1: that's especially important. UM. But as the wind does blow 350 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:04,840 Speaker 1: helicopters around, you have to take these things into into 351 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:07,600 Speaker 1: account and UM one of the best ways to do 352 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:10,120 Speaker 1: that is to use that visual orientation to make sure 353 00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:14,920 Speaker 1: that you haven't drifted off to some degree. Now, let's 354 00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:17,919 Speaker 1: talk really quickly about what the process is like if 355 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:24,200 Speaker 1: you are taking off helicopter. So there's several steps. First, 356 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:25,639 Speaker 1: what you would have to do is you have to 357 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:28,879 Speaker 1: open up the throttle so that you can speed up 358 00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:30,920 Speaker 1: these rotors so that they start turning out a speed 359 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:33,720 Speaker 1: fast enough to create the amount of lift you need. UM. 360 00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:36,200 Speaker 1: You do this by actually twisting the handle of one 361 00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:39,440 Speaker 1: of the levers you're holding in your hands and twisting 362 00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:41,680 Speaker 1: it one way opens the throttle and twisting it the 363 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:44,480 Speaker 1: other way closes the throttle. So that's you know, that's 364 00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:47,520 Speaker 1: essentially like sitting stepping on the accelerator of a of 365 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:51,399 Speaker 1: an automobile. UM. So the next what you would do, 366 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:55,720 Speaker 1: once you've got the the rotors moving at the right speed, 367 00:20:56,080 --> 00:21:00,280 Speaker 1: you'd start to pull back on the collective control and 368 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:04,680 Speaker 1: that's what's going to raise the swashplate assembly, and that's 369 00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:07,000 Speaker 1: going to change the pitch of the rotor blades, and 370 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:10,240 Speaker 1: then that's what's going to let you direct that lift 371 00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:13,840 Speaker 1: in the right direction so that you can actually get 372 00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:19,119 Speaker 1: off the ground. Then you would start to press down 373 00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:23,400 Speaker 1: on the left foot pedal because you would need to 374 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:26,960 Speaker 1: get the tail rotor spinning so that you could counteract 375 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:29,920 Speaker 1: that torque we were talking about the the the tendency 376 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:32,679 Speaker 1: for the chassis to spend in the opposite direction of 377 00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:34,960 Speaker 1: the rotors. Right as soon as you're lifting off the ground, 378 00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:37,240 Speaker 1: you're going to be it's going to be much easier 379 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:39,760 Speaker 1: for the rotors to start to spin the body of 380 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:42,280 Speaker 1: the helicopter, the fuselage. Yes, so if you weren't, if 381 00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:45,440 Speaker 1: you were not making that rotor tail rotor spin, you 382 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:48,480 Speaker 1: would start to go on a little spinny spinny ride yourself, 383 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:53,000 Speaker 1: which would most likely end in disaster. So yeah, you 384 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:58,720 Speaker 1: you then would start to actually add a counteractive thrust 385 00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:02,960 Speaker 1: through the tail road or by pressing down that left pedal. Now, 386 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:04,320 Speaker 1: if you got to a point where you needed to 387 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:06,880 Speaker 1: turn or you need to slow that down. You could 388 00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:10,440 Speaker 1: stop pressing down the left pedal and start pressing down 389 00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:14,119 Speaker 1: the right pedal, and that's what would counteract that. UM. 390 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:17,600 Speaker 1: Then you keep pulling back on that collective control while 391 00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:20,760 Speaker 1: holding down the left foot pedal, and once the correct 392 00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:24,800 Speaker 1: amount of lift is created, your helicopter will leave the 393 00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:28,880 Speaker 1: ground and you'll be flying over the air and delivering 394 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:36,880 Speaker 1: traffic reports like nobody's business. Yeah it's um, it's pretty interesting. Uh. 395 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:40,840 Speaker 1: And there's even other challenges to flying a helicopter, right, 396 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:43,280 Speaker 1: I mean, not only is it requiring a lot of coordination, 397 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:47,720 Speaker 1: but even just the way that the air flight works. 398 00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:51,119 Speaker 1: When you start traveling, say forward, you're moving forward at 399 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:55,520 Speaker 1: around UM fifteen to twenty knots of airspeed, you have 400 00:22:55,600 --> 00:22:59,399 Speaker 1: to end up transitioning, transitioning from hovering, which is more 401 00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:04,400 Speaker 1: or less staying fairly stationary, to moving at a full 402 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:08,680 Speaker 1: forward flight phase. And there's that's where you have the 403 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:14,000 Speaker 1: effective translational lift or et L. And at that point, 404 00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:16,840 Speaker 1: the pilot would start to ease up on that left 405 00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:20,399 Speaker 1: foot pedal and move closer to a neutral setting, and 406 00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:23,560 Speaker 1: there's gonna be a shutter that you feel through the 407 00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:27,840 Speaker 1: rotor system. Because you are going to fly out of 408 00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:31,320 Speaker 1: what is called rotor wash. And rotor wash is not 409 00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:35,159 Speaker 1: where you go to a place where people start pouring 410 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:37,720 Speaker 1: sud sea water all over your rotor blades and then 411 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:40,320 Speaker 1: squirt them down. It's not that's not a rotor wash. 412 00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:44,040 Speaker 1: Rotor wash is actually turbulence which is created by these 413 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:47,640 Speaker 1: rotor blades turning so quickly, and you fly through your 414 00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:50,919 Speaker 1: own turbulence. Then once you get to a certain angle, 415 00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:54,720 Speaker 1: that turbulence is not no longer directed in your flight path, 416 00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:59,720 Speaker 1: and you end up having this much more smooth experience. 417 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:02,920 Speaker 1: So before you hit that that flying in that helicopter 418 00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:06,320 Speaker 1: might feel a little well, pardon the pun, but choppy, 419 00:24:06,359 --> 00:24:10,320 Speaker 1: because you just you know, you're actually flying through turbulence 420 00:24:10,359 --> 00:24:14,360 Speaker 1: that you have created through the helicopter itself. Um. By 421 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:16,600 Speaker 1: the way, I don't know if you've ever heard this, 422 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:18,679 Speaker 1: but I have friends who were in the Marines, and 423 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:21,520 Speaker 1: they said that the way the Marines would explain helicopters, 424 00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:25,800 Speaker 1: as they say, helicopters fly by beating the air into submission, 425 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:31,560 Speaker 1: which is a very Marines kind of thing, simper five. 426 00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:36,879 Speaker 1: So the yeah, it's a it's a pretty interesting method 427 00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:40,200 Speaker 1: of flight. It's amazing to me even seeing them now. 428 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:42,919 Speaker 1: I mean you can see them helicopters outside the windows 429 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:45,040 Speaker 1: of our office fairly frequently. We're in a part of 430 00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:50,520 Speaker 1: Atlanta where we'll see traffic helicopters or news helicopters fly overhead. Um. 431 00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:52,919 Speaker 1: And in fact, when the article was being written for 432 00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:56,200 Speaker 1: the site, Marshall Brain, the founder of How Stuff Works, 433 00:24:56,200 --> 00:25:00,399 Speaker 1: had contacted a company in Atlanta that did helicopter tours 434 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:03,320 Speaker 1: and helicopter pilots worked for him and managed to get 435 00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:06,119 Speaker 1: the president of the company to agree to fly a 436 00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:09,120 Speaker 1: helicopter so that we could get some video, which led 437 00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:11,800 Speaker 1: to one of the more famous incidents and How Stuff Works, 438 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:17,639 Speaker 1: where this helicopter pilot uh flew relatively close to the 439 00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:22,000 Speaker 1: building and anyone who was on our floor knew what 440 00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:25,560 Speaker 1: was going on, well not even everyone here. Most of 441 00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:28,159 Speaker 1: the people knew what was going on, but anyone on 442 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:30,680 Speaker 1: any other floor had no idea. And I'm pretty sure 443 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:35,000 Speaker 1: we terrified half of an office building. Sorry about that, 444 00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:38,400 Speaker 1: but it was Marshall Brain who did that, um, so 445 00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:42,280 Speaker 1: not us, not us, But yeah, we've got some pretty 446 00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:45,000 Speaker 1: cool footage from those videos. I mean, how could you 447 00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:47,880 Speaker 1: not We have some pretty cool footage from those videos 448 00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:49,439 Speaker 1: that are part of this article. So if you want 449 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:51,720 Speaker 1: to see what I'm talking about in action, go to 450 00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:54,480 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com look up how helicopters work. 451 00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:57,840 Speaker 1: And we have other articles about helicopters as well, including 452 00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:01,040 Speaker 1: specific ones like how the Apache helicopter works, which goes 453 00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:04,359 Speaker 1: into more detail about other systems besides the flight control system. 454 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:08,120 Speaker 1: It's also got weapons systems and its role in military applications, 455 00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:10,800 Speaker 1: where of course just really focusing on the basics of 456 00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:14,159 Speaker 1: helicopter flight. But let's also talk now, do you have 457 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:16,359 Speaker 1: anything else you want to talk about specifically about helicopters 458 00:26:16,359 --> 00:26:19,840 Speaker 1: before I move on to quadrocopters. Um, no, go ahead, Okay, 459 00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:23,600 Speaker 1: So quadricopters, Now, if you haven't seen one of these, 460 00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:27,960 Speaker 1: these tend to be these little uh unmanned aerial vehicles 461 00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:30,919 Speaker 1: that have four rotor systems on them. Yeah. The ones 462 00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:35,640 Speaker 1: I've seen have been primarily for models for entertainment purposes. Yeah, 463 00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:38,760 Speaker 1: our C controlled ones or sometimes that you can control 464 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:42,240 Speaker 1: them through a smartphone. In our RC episode we talked 465 00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:43,760 Speaker 1: a little bit about them. What what are you when 466 00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:45,320 Speaker 1: are you grinning out? Someone's going to write in about 467 00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:49,560 Speaker 1: RC controlled I'm sorry control can stop by over my 468 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:51,720 Speaker 1: a t M machine with my PIN number. And I've 469 00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:54,560 Speaker 1: got an r C controlled helicopter. How about that? How 470 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:59,200 Speaker 1: about them apples? Anyway? Yes, I okay, so anyway, Yes, 471 00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:01,760 Speaker 1: there's all the ones that you can control your smartphone. 472 00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:04,680 Speaker 1: The parrot a r drone which was at c E 473 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:07,600 Speaker 1: S the first time I think was maybe three or 474 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:10,520 Speaker 1: four years ago, and that was very impressive to see. 475 00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:12,520 Speaker 1: That was the first time I had ever seen a 476 00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:18,440 Speaker 1: four rotor copter, a quadricopter. And uh, you might wonder, well, 477 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:20,560 Speaker 1: how did these things work? They don't have a tail rotor. 478 00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:24,280 Speaker 1: There's no tail rotors, so how do they counteract that 479 00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:29,320 Speaker 1: torque we were talking about. It's actually pretty clever. Two 480 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:32,880 Speaker 1: of the rotors on a quadricopter turn in one direction 481 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:35,680 Speaker 1: and the other turn to turn in the other direction, 482 00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:39,600 Speaker 1: and they cancel each other out, yes, the opposite. They 483 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:44,760 Speaker 1: both produce enough torque so that you can keep the 484 00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:48,920 Speaker 1: quadricopter from turning in place, either one way or the other. 485 00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:51,119 Speaker 1: And when I say you, I don't really mean you, 486 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:56,119 Speaker 1: because most of these have some pretty sophisticated microprocessors on 487 00:27:56,160 --> 00:28:01,520 Speaker 1: board that really register measure the amount of torque and 488 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:04,159 Speaker 1: all the other elements here so that they can make 489 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:07,359 Speaker 1: adjustments to the speed of each of those rotors in 490 00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:11,400 Speaker 1: order to maintain the proper attitude and altitude of that device. 491 00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:14,560 Speaker 1: So all you have to do is say I want 492 00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:17,320 Speaker 1: you to go over there, and then all these other 493 00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:21,320 Speaker 1: microprocessors do everything that they can to make that happen 494 00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:25,240 Speaker 1: while keeping it nice and safe, which is pretty cool. 495 00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:26,760 Speaker 1: I mean you you know, you think about all the 496 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:28,320 Speaker 1: work that they have to do in order for that 497 00:28:28,359 --> 00:28:32,080 Speaker 1: to to turn out that way. Well, there are lots 498 00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:34,240 Speaker 1: of different kinds of quadricopters, and if you do want 499 00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:35,920 Speaker 1: to make it turn like if you want to make 500 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:39,320 Speaker 1: it bank one way or the other. Again, what happens 501 00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:43,240 Speaker 1: is it the quadricopter adjust the speed at which certain 502 00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:48,800 Speaker 1: rotors are spinning, so the lift changes exactly, Yes, the 503 00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:51,520 Speaker 1: lift changes and the torque changes, so the two together 504 00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:54,760 Speaker 1: can make you straight feit to the left or to 505 00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:57,160 Speaker 1: the right, or forward or backward. I've even seen, I 506 00:28:57,160 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 1: mean we've seen some that can do flips, because what 507 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:02,480 Speaker 1: will do is they'll is one side will spend very 508 00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:05,600 Speaker 1: very quickly while the other side stopped spinning. It'll lift 509 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:08,880 Speaker 1: up into the air and then they'll switch the directions 510 00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:11,600 Speaker 1: of the rotors so that it flips it in mid 511 00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:15,440 Speaker 1: air and lands back, you know, right side up, with 512 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:19,239 Speaker 1: all rotors going, so it goes back into flying. And 513 00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:21,120 Speaker 1: the video that we were talking about at the very 514 00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:25,800 Speaker 1: top of this podcast, it was a little unnerving really 515 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:30,760 Speaker 1: because we were seeing groups of these quadricopters that were 516 00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:34,880 Speaker 1: all following the same program, and you could have them 517 00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:40,400 Speaker 1: grouped into individual little squadrons, like squadrons of four quadricopters, 518 00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:43,120 Speaker 1: and I think there was something like, uh, they were 519 00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:45,680 Speaker 1: using twelve and all. So they had three groups of 520 00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:47,720 Speaker 1: four and they would send the three groups of four 521 00:29:47,840 --> 00:29:50,320 Speaker 1: through and through an obstacle course and they would maneuver 522 00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:53,160 Speaker 1: past each other, but they would all the four quadrocopters 523 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:58,120 Speaker 1: would move as a single unit, which was kind of creepy, 524 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:02,040 Speaker 1: you know, to see something move like several small things 525 00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:05,160 Speaker 1: all moving together as one like that was a little odd. 526 00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:07,440 Speaker 1: And they can make a move through things like windows, 527 00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:11,800 Speaker 1: which was way griefier. Yeah, I got I gotta these 528 00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:17,800 Speaker 1: images of of drones coming into your house. Hello, Mr Smith, Yeah, 529 00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:23,360 Speaker 1: we have something we'd like to say to you. Oh skynet, Yeah, no, 530 00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:27,240 Speaker 1: it's a Yeah. The video, So the video we're talking 531 00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:30,000 Speaker 1: about specifically, and I'll try and link to this when 532 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:33,680 Speaker 1: we do some show notes. Is called Precise Aggressive Maneuvers 533 00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:39,360 Speaker 1: for Autonomous quad quad Rotors quator. I was gonna say 534 00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:42,840 Speaker 1: quadrocopters but spelled quadrotors and that totally threw me off. 535 00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:46,640 Speaker 1: But this was done through the GRASP Lab g r 536 00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:49,560 Speaker 1: a s P at the University of Pennsylvania. Yeah, that's 537 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:53,720 Speaker 1: a general robotics Automation Sensing and Perception. Yeah, so this 538 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:58,960 Speaker 1: particular video shows these uh, these tiny quadrocopters moving through 539 00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:01,959 Speaker 1: various manu overs. What's interesting here is that the one 540 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:05,440 Speaker 1: I'm looking at right now, like it's this is one 541 00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:07,719 Speaker 1: of those videos that just got really popular all of 542 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:11,160 Speaker 1: a sudden, right like that. Several of our listeners are 543 00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:15,160 Speaker 1: watching listeners um are have seen it. Yeah, but the 544 00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:18,960 Speaker 1: video that I'm looking at right now was uploaded so 545 00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:21,920 Speaker 1: two years ago and we're just now starting to catch 546 00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:23,680 Speaker 1: on it. Sometimes the Internet is a little slow to 547 00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:26,160 Speaker 1: catch on the memes, That's what I'm saying. But yeah, 548 00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:27,800 Speaker 1: this was something that started to make it make the 549 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:31,200 Speaker 1: rounds and uh and on Google Plus and on Facebook 550 00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:34,840 Speaker 1: recently and Twitter as well, and uh, just one of 551 00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:36,960 Speaker 1: those cool things that it turns out it's been in 552 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:39,040 Speaker 1: the works for a few years, but we just started 553 00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:42,960 Speaker 1: to get the attension of the world in general. But 554 00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:48,400 Speaker 1: it shows a really interesting approach to programming these quadricopters 555 00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:51,320 Speaker 1: and showing their capabilities and what they might be used for. 556 00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:54,480 Speaker 1: And you might think, okay, well, you know, you put 557 00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:56,640 Speaker 1: a camera on these and then suddenly you've got a 558 00:31:56,680 --> 00:31:59,320 Speaker 1: spy plane. But you could also have it for something 559 00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:02,520 Speaker 1: like first responders. So there's a let's say there's an 560 00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:05,600 Speaker 1: accident and you send some of these in, uh that 561 00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:08,320 Speaker 1: to in order to to scan the scene and make 562 00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:10,800 Speaker 1: sure that one it's safe enough to send in an 563 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:14,480 Speaker 1: emergency response teams, and to whether or not it's even 564 00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:17,920 Speaker 1: necessary to start send an emergency response teams. You may 565 00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:20,600 Speaker 1: send in Let's say there's a building that's that's on fire, 566 00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:22,800 Speaker 1: and you send some of these over to look because 567 00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:25,920 Speaker 1: I mean, these things, relatively to a human life, are cheap. 568 00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:28,720 Speaker 1: They're nothing, So you can make as many of these 569 00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:30,280 Speaker 1: as you like. They're gonna be. They might be a 570 00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:33,640 Speaker 1: little expensive, but it's less expensive than losing a human life. 571 00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:36,240 Speaker 1: So you send these things in and take a look around. 572 00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:38,000 Speaker 1: It may turn out that well, you know, that building 573 00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:40,040 Speaker 1: was completely abandoned, there was no one in there, so 574 00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:42,960 Speaker 1: we don't need to risk the lives of any emergency responders. 575 00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:45,640 Speaker 1: We can just use the firefighters to try and put 576 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:48,880 Speaker 1: this fire out. So that's the kind of idea that 577 00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:52,160 Speaker 1: we'd be looking at from that point forward. And there's 578 00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:55,600 Speaker 1: a lot of other possibilities, Um, besides that. I mean, 579 00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:59,240 Speaker 1: that's traffic, you know, having them look at traffic things 580 00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:02,680 Speaker 1: like that. That's these are all possibilities. No, granted, you 581 00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:04,880 Speaker 1: have to figure out how to supply the power to 582 00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:07,640 Speaker 1: these things. Most of them are battery operated, and the 583 00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:09,920 Speaker 1: battery will only last so long. So it's not like 584 00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:12,160 Speaker 1: if you would send out you know, wake up, punch 585 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:16,680 Speaker 1: the clock, send out fifty quadricopters to cover the city 586 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:18,240 Speaker 1: and then at the end of the day they all 587 00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:21,120 Speaker 1: come back. Uh. So you know, it's not like it's 588 00:33:21,160 --> 00:33:24,479 Speaker 1: a it's a it's not like you can solve all 589 00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:27,800 Speaker 1: the problems just by sitting out quatricopters. But it's a 590 00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:31,400 Speaker 1: cool idea, and the videos are pretty awesome. Also, the 591 00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:35,120 Speaker 1: the the parrot videos, those are really cool too because 592 00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:40,080 Speaker 1: those have incorporated smartphone applications. Yes, and you can see 593 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:42,360 Speaker 1: through the camera. You can see. Yes, you can use 594 00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:44,600 Speaker 1: it as you can use as a surveillance tool. Although 595 00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:48,960 Speaker 1: it is it's whisperer quiet. I've used that. I've used 596 00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:51,800 Speaker 1: that phrase like eight times on tech stuff recently. But yeah, 597 00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:54,400 Speaker 1: it's it's not like it's subtle. It's you'll hear a 598 00:33:55,600 --> 00:33:58,040 Speaker 1: when you're playing with one of these things. But you 599 00:33:58,080 --> 00:33:59,880 Speaker 1: can use it to look through the camera. And they've 600 00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:05,120 Speaker 1: been incorporated games into the drones so that you can 601 00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:07,400 Speaker 1: if you have one and your friend has one, you're 602 00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:10,160 Speaker 1: both controlling them with your smartphones. You can play a 603 00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:12,600 Speaker 1: game where you're essentially kind of like laser tag but 604 00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:16,000 Speaker 1: with drones. How awesome is that? And then they also 605 00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:20,120 Speaker 1: have other games where, uh, they'll have targets show up 606 00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:22,640 Speaker 1: on your screen. They're not they don't actually exist in 607 00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:26,280 Speaker 1: real life. It's an augmented reality program where the targets 608 00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:28,439 Speaker 1: appear on your screen and your job is to fly 609 00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:31,640 Speaker 1: your drone so that you can use a little imaginary 610 00:34:31,719 --> 00:34:35,040 Speaker 1: laser to shoot down these targets. It's neat stuff like that, 611 00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:39,400 Speaker 1: and it really, i mean, beyond the fact that a 612 00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:43,319 Speaker 1: quadricopter is pretty darn cool by itself. Yeah, yeah, Yeah, 613 00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:45,320 Speaker 1: as a matter of fact, that one in particular also 614 00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:49,280 Speaker 1: has some bumpers that it's sort of be a shield 615 00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:51,799 Speaker 1: for the for the rotors. Yes, yes, so that you 616 00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:54,760 Speaker 1: can fly at indoors. A lot of the UM model 617 00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:58,200 Speaker 1: helicopters I've seen are are more traditional and do not 618 00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:00,800 Speaker 1: have that kind of protection for the rotors, so you 619 00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:02,839 Speaker 1: you wouldn't want to necessarily fly it around your house, 620 00:35:02,880 --> 00:35:06,120 Speaker 1: even bang into a lamp or something. Yeah, even I've 621 00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:07,879 Speaker 1: seen some of the small ones that are pumped sort 622 00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:10,680 Speaker 1: of palm sized. Um. But yeah, I mean if if 623 00:35:10,680 --> 00:35:14,480 Speaker 1: it actually touches something, it could uh damage it or 624 00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:16,880 Speaker 1: the copter or both, and that that would be you 625 00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:20,400 Speaker 1: could bang into someone. So but yeah, the a r 626 00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:23,560 Speaker 1: drone when the little bumpers you're talking about, they look 627 00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:28,439 Speaker 1: like little discs that fit around like hollow disks. So yeah, 628 00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:30,520 Speaker 1: they fit right around where the rotors are. And so 629 00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:34,400 Speaker 1: it kind of makes this a safer device, so that 630 00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:35,920 Speaker 1: if it were to bump into something, you would just 631 00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:38,960 Speaker 1: get bumped, you wouldn't get cut. Yeah, Still you wouldn't 632 00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:42,080 Speaker 1: want to get it around people or or pets certainly, 633 00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:45,480 Speaker 1: so yeah, but it makes it a little safer. Yeah, 634 00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:48,240 Speaker 1: it's kind of neat, and then uh, I've also heard 635 00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:54,040 Speaker 1: from enthusiasts, people who really enjoy flying r C helicopters 636 00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:57,239 Speaker 1: and r C quadricopters that if you're interested in this, 637 00:35:57,280 --> 00:36:00,400 Speaker 1: a quadricopter in general tends to be a lot easier 638 00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:04,360 Speaker 1: to fly because those microprocessors I was talking about do 639 00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:07,640 Speaker 1: a lot of the fine tuning for you. So all 640 00:36:07,719 --> 00:36:09,239 Speaker 1: you do is you tell it I want you to 641 00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:12,040 Speaker 1: go up, and it takes care of the controls that 642 00:36:12,160 --> 00:36:14,160 Speaker 1: needs to to make those different rotors spin at the 643 00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:16,719 Speaker 1: right speeds and makes it go up or turn left 644 00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:20,759 Speaker 1: or turn right or straight or whatever. So it's it 645 00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:22,480 Speaker 1: can be a lot of fun and it can get 646 00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:26,319 Speaker 1: people into the hobby and it's not incredibly challenging. On 647 00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:30,319 Speaker 1: the other hand, flying a remote control helicopter requires a 648 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:33,799 Speaker 1: lot of finesse. Not quite the same sort of thing 649 00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:36,600 Speaker 1: you would need if you were flying a life size helicopter, 650 00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:39,560 Speaker 1: but still it does require that you control things like 651 00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:43,200 Speaker 1: the tail rotor and that you're very methodical with the 652 00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:47,840 Speaker 1: way that you try and turn the helicopter, maneuver it 653 00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:51,640 Speaker 1: take off and landings. It's it's actually, from what I understand, 654 00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:55,720 Speaker 1: one of the more challenging r C vehicles to control, 655 00:36:57,080 --> 00:36:59,240 Speaker 1: because there's just so much you have to keep in mind. However, 656 00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:02,239 Speaker 1: that being said, even though it's really challenging, I also 657 00:37:02,280 --> 00:37:05,320 Speaker 1: hear it's one of the most enjoyable experiences, very rewarding 658 00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:07,640 Speaker 1: because once you master that, you know, you really have 659 00:37:07,680 --> 00:37:11,080 Speaker 1: a sense of accomplishment. So if you are interested in 660 00:37:11,160 --> 00:37:13,560 Speaker 1: that kind of hobby, I recommend you go ahead and 661 00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:15,759 Speaker 1: you know, check it out. See what, See what it 662 00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:17,800 Speaker 1: would look. How much it would cost to get into it, 663 00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:22,520 Speaker 1: because these these devices can be fairly expensive. Sometimes sometimes 664 00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:25,480 Speaker 1: a few hundred dollars is on the low end of 665 00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:28,640 Speaker 1: some of these devices. But it is something that if 666 00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:31,760 Speaker 1: you're interested in learning more about flight, if you're interested 667 00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:34,799 Speaker 1: in just kind of getting a new skill, it's kind 668 00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:37,640 Speaker 1: of a cool thing to get into. And uh, you know, 669 00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:40,320 Speaker 1: you know what, I've never actually written in a helicopter, 670 00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:44,319 Speaker 1: have you No, that's one of my goals I really 671 00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:45,920 Speaker 1: want to do. I want to do a hellic just 672 00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:50,440 Speaker 1: a simple helicopter tour. Nothing, nothing terribly you know, exciting. 673 00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:53,720 Speaker 1: I was thinking about actually doing one in Hawaii because 674 00:37:53,719 --> 00:37:56,640 Speaker 1: I thought, well, heck, that would be amazing. You know, 675 00:37:56,719 --> 00:38:01,360 Speaker 1: the landscape and everything, But I happen to be married 676 00:38:01,400 --> 00:38:05,200 Speaker 1: to someone who finds air travel to be the uh 677 00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:08,799 Speaker 1: not the most relaxing experience, and so I didn't do that. 678 00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:12,120 Speaker 1: I did go parasailing, though interesting. Yeah, totally not at 679 00:38:12,120 --> 00:38:15,680 Speaker 1: all like flying in a helicopter would. Yeah, I don't 680 00:38:15,719 --> 00:38:17,520 Speaker 1: even know why I brought it up, all right, So 681 00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:20,719 Speaker 1: let's let's wrap this up, guys. This was fun. I'm 682 00:38:20,719 --> 00:38:23,480 Speaker 1: glad we did this because, you know, we like to 683 00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:25,680 Speaker 1: try and tackle lots of different kinds of topics here 684 00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:28,239 Speaker 1: at Tech Stuff. We like to talk about the things 685 00:38:28,280 --> 00:38:32,000 Speaker 1: that are a big social phenomena, you know, things like 686 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:36,279 Speaker 1: like social networking sites and how technology affects us personally 687 00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:39,400 Speaker 1: or as a society. And we like to talk about companies, 688 00:38:39,440 --> 00:38:41,480 Speaker 1: and we like to talk about innovators. But once in 689 00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:43,680 Speaker 1: a while, it's fun to take a specific type of 690 00:38:43,680 --> 00:38:46,960 Speaker 1: technology and really deconstruct it and talk about the various 691 00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:49,960 Speaker 1: parts and what makes it go tick or fly in 692 00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:52,480 Speaker 1: this case. So if you guys have any suggestions for 693 00:38:52,520 --> 00:38:55,279 Speaker 1: future topics, no matter which category they may be, and 694 00:38:55,320 --> 00:38:57,800 Speaker 1: we'll even open it up a little bit. We're hoping 695 00:38:57,840 --> 00:39:00,560 Speaker 1: this year, and I'm saying hoping because there's guarantee it's 696 00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:02,640 Speaker 1: ever gonna work out, but we're hoping that we can 697 00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:05,080 Speaker 1: maybe get a few guests on the show in the future. 698 00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:08,400 Speaker 1: So if you have any specific guests in technology that 699 00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:10,880 Speaker 1: you think would be an interesting interview for tech Stuff, 700 00:39:11,320 --> 00:39:13,879 Speaker 1: let us know and we will try our best to 701 00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:16,200 Speaker 1: see if we can arrange something. Now, keep in mind 702 00:39:16,239 --> 00:39:19,920 Speaker 1: that requires the scheduling of not just the two tech 703 00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:23,400 Speaker 1: Stuff host you've come to know and love, but whatever 704 00:39:23,760 --> 00:39:26,719 Speaker 1: amazing person you have come up with. So we'll do 705 00:39:26,760 --> 00:39:29,480 Speaker 1: our best, but we can't make any promises, but let 706 00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:31,359 Speaker 1: us know. Send us a message. You can tell us 707 00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:34,320 Speaker 1: on Facebook or Twitter. Are handled, there is tech Stuff 708 00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:37,080 Speaker 1: hs W or send us an email. That address is 709 00:39:37,160 --> 00:39:39,880 Speaker 1: tech Stuff at Discovery dot com and Chris and I 710 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:44,160 Speaker 1: will talk to you again really soon. Be sure to 711 00:39:44,239 --> 00:39:47,000 Speaker 1: check out our new video podcast, Stuff from the Future. 712 00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:49,680 Speaker 1: Join how Stuff Work staff as we explore the most 713 00:39:49,680 --> 00:39:54,480 Speaker 1: promising and perplexing possibilities of tomorrow the house Stuff Works. 714 00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:57,760 Speaker 1: I Find app has arrived down at it today on iTunes, 715 00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:05,040 Speaker 1: brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camry. 716 00:40:05,239 --> 00:40:06,399 Speaker 1: It's ready, are you