Stopping a helicopter

Until one considers the old adage of: "Those who can't do! Teach!"

But maybe you're not dealing with the US education system.

But that completely overlooks the adage, "Those who can't teach, piss and moan about those who can."

The clutch is designed to disengage well above any reasonable idle. The rotors will spin down on their own with the clutch disengaged, or as suggested by others, you can palm the center disc to avoid the prolonged wait. Commonsense should tell you not to try this unless it's already spinning down, but maybe it's worthwhile to mention. You can kill the engine any way you like once you have the rotors stopped; they can't hurt you unless they're spinning. Whichever way you do it, keep a firm grasp on the rotor head.

There's a lot of reading available online and in books. Ray's Helicopter book is still, I think, the canonical work. There's a lot that's new and different from what you might already know about flying.

I have a fuel line shutoff glued to the side of my heli,the kind that you squeeze together and it locks in place over the tubing. If I cannot shut my heli off for any unforseen reason at all it would only be a matter of prodding the shutoff clip with anything long enough to pass safely under the rotors. Dennis

Tossing anything onto the blades when they are spinning at full tilt would be extremely foolish..

IMO in almost all situations an out of control heli should be left to either run out of fuel or fall over and self distruct.

I'm sure that went a long way in giving a positive outlook on your hobby, and yourself. Lighten up. My pride & joy is to have others (especially young people) fascinated with my flying. I don't let them fly, of course, but watching, albeit safely, is always encouraged.

Ricky