Ask Goodwin

Dear Colin, Have you ever had any interest in flying helicopters? Zed

Dear Zed,

I’ve had a go a couple of times. Fascinating things and extremely challenging. A couple of problems though: firstly, they’re horrendously expensive to run. I do about 75 hours a year in my plane and I reckon that if I spent the same running a Robinson R44, it’d be about 20 hours. Second, they don’t have enough range. Third, they’re not fast enough. An R44 will cruise at about 110 knots (127mph) whereas my aeroplane cruises at around 160. As far as range goes, I can reach Cannes in one hit from my plane’s home near Maidenhead. I think I’d fly helicopters if I were really rich as they are undoubtedly cool, especially with turbine engines.