Not true!
Here's the truth of helos. The only thing that is unrecoverable in a helo is a rotor head departing the transmission or a transmission seizure. Which basically means no more Rotor head or Rotor can't spin...
Out side of those two extremely rare events I'd rather ditch in a helo (thanks for not saying chopper
) than a fixed wing aircraft any day of the week. Sure you can parachute out of a plane. But ridding it in in a helo is just as safe if not safer.
Bottom line, the autorotation is so effective that even at low alltitudes it can help you and the bird survive.. Even if the tail rotor fails you can still auto rotate to a spot of your choice nice and easy. Even a dual engine failure can still be autorotated out of...
In all seriousness. In nine years of flying. I've seen only 4 crashes (Navy) where a crew member was killed... And only two where none survived. One was lost at sea, Pilot error. The other flew into the side of a mountain, Crew and Tower combined error.
Helos have hit full on power lines at 200' and survived with all crew walking away. Try that with a plane...
Sorry for the disertation.
