Combat-Helicopter Pilot Rates 8 Helicopter Scenes In Movies And TV | How Real Is It? | Insider

Former combat-helicopter pilot Vernice "FlyGirl" Armour rates eight helicopter scenes in movies and television shows, such as "Black Hawk Down," for realism. Armour was America's first Black female combat helicopter pilot and served two tours of Iraq.
Armour discusses the accuracy of helicopter scenes in "Mission: Impossible — Fallout" (2018), starring Tom Cruise; "Spectre" (2015), starring Daniel Craig; and "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" S1E1 (2021). She also comments on "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" (2017), starring Dwayne Johnson; "Hobbs & Shaw" (2019); and "Black Hawk Down" (2001). Armour analyzes the reality of air-to-air combat in "Rambo: First Blood Part II" (1985) and "The A-Team" (2010).

You can learn more about Vernice "FlyGirl" Armour here:

Animations for this video were created by Andrea Schmitz.

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Combat-Helicopter Pilot Rates 8 Helicopter Scenes In Movies And TV | How Real Is It?

[brendancripps]

"If there is a helicopter helicopter dogfight, something has gone DRASTICALLY wrong."" Classic!

[Holsonbacked]

I was in a documentary with Vernice and met her at the Pentagon (when we were both still on active duty). She is the most motivational person I have ever met, and I feel enriched from having met her.

[Dietz]

In every helicopter scene I'm amazed at how quiet the helicopters are and how the passengers can have a conversation without having to yell.

[umka]

What a professional pilot! No bullshit, clear explanation. Awesome!

[whitehonda]

Moral of the story: it can’t be realistic if Dwayne Johnson is in the movie

[vladimirpinera]

This lady is so charismatic, I'm sure the helicopter she flies generates lift by pure respect for her alone.

[jdg]

I like the way she explains everything so clear and simple, easy to understand even the Physics behind flying a helicopter. Please bring her back for more videos like this.

[WarInHD]

Black Hawk Down is as real as it gets for helicopter scenes. Those were actual pilots from the 160th SOAR flying and real Rangers from 3/75. She was right about how slow it shows them spinning, in reality it was a lot faster. Mike Durant said they started spinning instantly and so hard that they couldn’t even reach up to shut the engines off to eliminate the torque. The ground and sky just blurred together from how many G’s they were pulling… Highly recommend watching his interview on Jocko’s podcast

[jedroberts]

She’s very charismatic. Has a lot of personality. I really enjoyed it

[cjsykes]

Woooow, I’ve served her at 2 different restaurants in Atlanta. She has this same energy in person, a pleasure to be around. Never even knew what she did until this video.

[Bagledog]

The Somali militia were actually trained to aim for the tail rotors on the Black Hawks. They also modified their RPGs so that the back blast wouldn't severely injure/kill them as it would have most likely killed the guy at 8:32, as well as anybody standing around him. "Black Hawk Down" is a good book to read if you want more info about that particular battle in Somalia.
This lady is awesome, bring her back.

[crownsoutreach]

Man. NOTHING escapes her attention! That analysis is great stuff. Wow. Much respect. Total respect.

[scottspy]

I bet it would be impossible not to smile and have a good time around her, she seems so positive and cool!

[bassett_green]

“Sometimes we couldn’t carry a full load of fuel because of a all the rockets and missiles” is one of the coolest things anyone has ever said

[Loyal_Lion]

"It probably would have burned up his legs."

She's makin good points 😂

[Borzoi]

Thanks, Marine, for saluting the Tuskegee Airmen with your jacket in this video. Great heroes all!

[adwaitmanjalkar]

The Redbull helicopter was indeed used for shooting that scene in Spectre.

[moderategiantx]

I love everything about her. Her knowledge and expertise, her personality, her smile. She's the mvp.

[BMF]

Thank you for your service. I served 21 years in the Marine Corps as an infantry officer with 3 yeas in combat. Along the way, I did get my private pilot license with commercial and instrument ratings and I did take basic, intermediate, and advanced aerobatic instructions.

I have to tell you that in Vietnam, I was in a helicopter crash (very hard landing) and it was a very unpleasant experience being in the back.

I was also in a auto rotation hard crash in Latin America when the host nation Army helicopter I was in was shot down. I spent two years in Latin America supporting a host nation's Army and Navy in counter insurgency operations.

So in combat, I was involved in two serious helicopter crashes and survived, but I've had major back problems every since.

I also have to tell you that because of being in helicopters in Vietnam and Latin America under fire, and shot down; I absolutely hated riding in helicopters. To me they seemed to be machines trying to commit mechanical suicide with all of us on board.

I'm sure they are safer today, but 50 years ago, I assure you they weren't.

Again thank you for your service and God bless you for being a helicopter pilot. In my opinion, you beat the odds.

[batuhancokmar]

Engineer here. A few corrections here For the james bond scene, there are two wrong points. 1- you dont HAVE to load the rotor unless its a semi-rigid rotor. She's flying a Super Cobra and what she said applies 100% to that as mast bump is a pretty a quick way to go down. But on a fully articulated rotor (like on AH-64) or a rigid rotor system (like BO-105) CAN handle zero or even negative G loads no problem.. 2- While most helicopters CAN unload the rotor, its a bad idea from controllability perspective anyway, without any net lift from the rotor, a helicopter (with a single rotor) has no roll and pitch controllability. That is why helicopters do BARREL roll. You can't do normal roll on any helicopter because helicopter with a single rotor has no means of directing lift asymetrically same way a fixed-wing aircraft does.. But *every* helicopter, even semi-rigid ones can theoratically do barrel roll with different risk factors involved. Stupidity of the plot aside, barrel roll with a BO-105 is not only 10/10 realistic, its so easy and they probably did without any CGI effects with the same helicopter they've already rented.

Also at 6:22, those are LAU-61 rocket pods. They don't carry 26 rockets, they carry 19.

For Rambo, they've modded a Puma helicopter to look like an early variant of Mi-24.. Because it was 1980s they couldn't just rent a Mi-24 from Soviets.. After Jumanji, IMHO this scene was the most unrealistic one in whole series. If a Mi-24 took-off with intent to hunt a UH-1, it can carry up to 4 R-60 air to air missiles or depending on variant, 4 or 8 Igla-V air-to-air missiles. and since UH-1 in the movie don't carry flare dispensers, chase would end before it begins. Even with the shown loadout, a Mi-24 will have 4-barrel Gattling gun with 1400+ rounds at its disposal. Puma in the scene don't have gun, or lets assume gun is out of the question... AT-2 missiles at wingtip pylons are SACLOS guided so can be used againist helicopters. Even if for some reason, Mi-24 pilot wants to use rockets, in the movie he carries 4xUB-32 rocket launchers. So he has 128 57mm rockets under his wings. He wouldn't fire one every 10-15 seconds... He would just spray those rockets onto the UH-1 without getting too close, watching those rockets fly and adjust his aim. Think about it; firing 2 rockets every half-a-second, he has more than a minute worth of firepower... Scene is very cool and amazing to watch because it was shot with real helicopters with zero CGI, but how real? Its still 1/10.