Tell us about your chopper

So, there I was browsing around the Bell showroom looking for an upgrade for my now ageing 412SP.



Anyhoo, the thought occurred to me "I wonder which country has the most commercial helicopters per capita". So I turned to Google and the results were surprising...

"New Zealand is said to have more helicopters per capita than any other country in the world"

"Brazil is rumored to have more privately owned helicopters per capita "

"THE SWISS ARE FOND OF SAYING they use more helicopters per capita than any other nation"

Hmmm, not exactly conclusive but certainly the results were leaning towards the Kiwis. I even read somewhere that Ireland has more helicopters per capita than any other country in the world. Can anyone shed any more light on this?

Now, back to trying to decide between the 210 so I can pretend to re-enact my Nam days or the sleeker 430 with whisper mode for that Airwolf vibe.

Whisper mode may impress the ladies but nothing says "Thats's my parking space" like minigunning the asphalt in to emmentaler before touching down.

No one calls them "choppers" anymore, Keydeck. That's so passe! Choppers are bikes. Helos are helocopters. Sheesh.

I was gonna buy a helicopter - but realised that KTM don't make one yet in orange.

So... who did Charlie leave all his helicopters to then, if not Keydeck?

My little choppers, 'course they are. Bertie, get in here Bertie.

The SEXIEST of them all...the Apache Longbow.

Not surprised to see NZ up there, theres no public transport outside the buses in the larger cities, and you are only allowed to drive at up to 100 kmph on the roads. Very useful for getting your groceries to your high country sheep station from the nearest supermarket which could be up to a couple of hundred km away. Plus its pretty cheap and easy to get a pilots license there, at least for fixed wing, but they let my old flatmate Jimmy fly a rotary wing then they must be pretty easy to get too. Actually fixed wings seem even more popular, be interesting to see that stats on that.