The Godzilla vs. Apache problem:
(from the note) "Helicopters fly forwards faster than they can climb, due to the added push from the forward momentum. Climbing not only taxes the engine more, but it bleeds off your forward momentum and slows you down. If you are trying to climb straight up, from a stationary position, the ascent is slower still. Bottom line, if you have a 300-foot mutated iguana chasing you at 200 mph, moving forward is the fastest way to put distance between you and him/her (or whatever they determined that thing was)."
AH-64 has maximum rate of climb (at sea level, on an average-temperature day) 3,200 ft/min (the dynamic one, i.e. when simultaneously accelerating forward) and 2,460 ft/min vertical (i.e. straight-up, not also accelerating forward) respectively. Given the fact that Godzilla is apparently capable to exceed Apache's maximum level speed of 160 kts, an attempt to gain height (especially while also accelerating forward) would be looking like a completely reasonable survival strategy for the helicopter pilots.
In my opinion, stressing the fact that while climbing the helicopter loses some of the forward momentum seems like somewhat missing one's sense of scale, as the helicopters here needed to gain only some fifteen to thirty feet more to be completely safe from the land-bound Godzilla, as they're initially - rather conveniently - flying at about its jaws level; and ignoring the fact that AH-64s in the film do not "put some distance between a 300 foot monster and themselves." They're caught and destroyed after about one minute of chase - instead of evading completely out of the reach of Zilla in few seconds. (In the film, at least one of the pilots was zig-zagging sideways, for some time, which slows his aircraft down too, but it did not remove the helicopter from the Zilla's reach.) Difficult to imagine any straighter example of an acrophobic bird.
The chase also takes place at night - flying up above the level of buildings, towards the open sky, would be probably less navigationally demanding than an mid-New York Aerial Canyon Chase (manoeuvring mid streets in low-visibility condition can also slow down the level speed - perhaps a very marginal case of Fridge Brilliance on parts of the filmmakers?) shown. The Rule of Cool and Rule of Drama apparently reigned supreme - while air enthusiasts wept.
The Godzilla vs. Apache problem: (from the note) "Helicopters fly forwards faster than they can climb, due to the added push from the forward momentum. Climbing not only taxes the engine more, but it bleeds off your forward momentum and slows you down. If you are trying to climb straight up, from a stationary position, the ascent is slower still. Bottom line, if you have a 300-foot mutated iguana chasing you at 200 mph, moving forward is the fastest way to put distance between you and him/her (or whatever they determined that thing was)."
AH-64 has maximum rate of climb (at sea level, on an average-temperature day) 3,200 ft/min (the dynamic one, i.e. when simultaneously accelerating forward) and 2,460 ft/min vertical (i.e. straight-up, not also accelerating forward) respectively. Given the fact that Godzilla is apparently capable to exceed Apache's maximum level speed of 160 kts, an attempt to gain height (especially while also accelerating forward) would be looking like a completely reasonable survival strategy for the helicopter pilots.
In my opinion, stressing the fact that while climbing the helicopter loses some of the forward momentum seems like somewhat missing one's sense of scale, as the helicopters here needed to gain only some fifteen to thirty feet more to be completely safe from the land-bound Godzilla, as they're initially - rather conveniently - flying at about its jaws level; and ignoring the fact that AH-64s in the film do not "put some distance between a 300 foot monster and themselves." They're caught and destroyed after about one minute of chase - instead of evading completely out of the reach of Zilla in few seconds. (In the film, at least one of the pilots was zig-zagging sideways, for some time, which slows his aircraft down too, but it did not remove the helicopter from the Zilla's reach.) Difficult to imagine any straighter example of an acrophobic bird.
The chase also takes place at night - flying up above the level of buildings, towards the open sky, would be probably less navigationally demanding than an mid-New York Aerial Canyon Chase (manoeuvring mid streets in low-visibility condition can also slow down the level speed - perhaps a very marginal case of Fridge Brilliance on parts of the filmmakers?) shown. The Rule of Cool and Rule of Drama apparently reigned supreme - while air enthusiasts wept.
Edited by 87.249.145.69 —