Helicopters

The other night, there was this...noise...outside my house -- like an airplane flying really low overhead. I went out to see what the heck it was, and it was a helicopter. They were indeed flying low, and circling really close to the house, with search lights over the ocean. I assumed it was a rescue chopper, but then after a few minutes they flew off. It was really off-putting, though, as low as they were flying.

Any time a guest on Dave Letterman's show talks about a helicopter, Dave gets all excited about how dangerous they are -- an engine goes out, and that sucker's all of a sudden just a hunk of lead ready to fall out of the sky. There's no coasting to recover from a stall like the buffer of safety you can get in a fixed-wing aricraft. Because of this, helicopters scare me quite a bit.

This website for a helicopter accident attorney outlines a bunch of facts about helicopter safety and crash statistics. It looks like the site not only provides info on helicopter crashes, but also links to local aviation lawyers. Silly me, I never even knew there was a specialty in aviation accident law...but I guess accidents are becoming common enough to create a niche. And judging by the news links on the HelicopterAccidentAttorney.com website, they happen far too often for my comfort. Thank goodness there's a service out there to provide some relief to the victims and/or their families.