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

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

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

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.

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

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

“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

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

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.

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

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.

That helicopter from "Spectre" is an MBB just like the Red Bull-helicopter and it can perform the exact same maneuvers. The only other helicopter to do such maneuvers is the Lynx.

I was there in 1993 during Gothic Serpent while in the US Navy. The movie portrayed exactly how things happened except for two things. 1. The US Navy's and Marines involvement. 2. The protracted acting within the movie to extend the scenes. The crashes were practically on point to what I saw, heard and seen during and after.

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

"It probably would have burned up his legs." She's makin good points 😂

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

I had no idea that most helicopters were incapable of doing inversions. The way she explains it makes a lot of sense just never thought about it that way and you see helicopters doing crazy stuff like that in movies so often you start thinking that's normal. I've got massive respect for all helicopter pilots because you have to fly with both your hands and feet constantly.

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.

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.

That "Red bull helicopter" is an BO 105 it's an old German multi purpose helicopter from the 70s. The linkless rotor design alowes it to be maneuverable enough to fly loopings and barrel roles. In fact it was the first one to be able to, and the only helicopter with an acrobatic lizens! Made in Germany! 👍

My dad was temporarily placed as a medic/observer on a UH-60 in Grenada during the peacekeeping operation after the Invasion, and during the flight, the pilot did a loop flying inverted. It’d sound like a tall tale, but we have a photo my dad took, sitting at the Starboard Gunner/Chief position aiming into the cockpit, and you can see clearly the tree line is upside down.

She is brutally honest. No one is ready to listen realism imposed onto their favourite movies.

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

Just two things... MI scene was as real as it looks- Actual footage. Also, the thing in Spectre, that would only be possible with the RedBull helicopter (BO-105), is real, as actually... in the movie it is the RedBull helicopter, also with his stunt pilot flying it (Chuck Aaron).

One of the best commentators ever featured in these videos.

I like the fact that she calls BS right away for most of the scenes. No wrapping it up and talking about how maybe, possibly, in the right circumstances...She just goes - nope. A helicopter cannot do that. Nobody survives that. We all know most of these things are only doable in movies but it's always nice to have an actual expert on the subject share some thoughts.

We just need more of her. She is a type of person you never get bored of listening, big *respect* .

Interesting pointer about Rambo's "russian" helicopter: since (for obvious Cold War reasons) it was impossible at the time to get a Russian Mi24 Hind for filming, they mocked up an Aerospatiale Puma helicopter with the faux payload wings. The same helicopter had been used a few years earlier for the movie Red Dawn, where it sported also a faux nose sector to make it more similar to the canopy of the actual Hind Model-A, but was removed on the pilot's request because it made the helo's visibility much worse and the helicopter more difficult to maneuver

I saw a special on Tom Cruze and his flying expertise. I understand he not only received a special flying certification for doing the stunt shown, he is one of the few people in the world qualified to do it. From the special I saw he is a very well respected helicopter pilot in the aviation community.

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.

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

What great about truly knowledgeable folks like this is they don’t just say something is right or wrong, they explain why. And it’s usually a very simple explanation. Love these videos.

Ma’am, Thank you for your service, and for all of the support you provided us guys on the ground. I served in both the conventional and SOF spheres, and reliable CAS saved our butts quite a few times. We appreciate you! And for the audience, every time an attack helicopter responds for CAS, they’re taking a huge risk. Even though stuff on the ground usually sucks, we have armored vehicles for cover (usually), we have M2s, MK19s, 240s, etc… As soon as that helicopter shows up, all attention is on them… small arms fire, RPGs, sometimes even SAMs. They endure a lot of hate to knock out the threat we walked into.

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.

10:51 Spectre clip: that is literally Chuck Aaron in his RedBull helicopter (rewrapped for the film) doing the stunt flying.

As a vet CE she did an awesome job explaining things. I love rotary pilots they're the coolest.

First of all, thank you so much for your service. Secondly, I absolutely loved your explanations. So much information packed into your reaction.

Fun fact: Tom Cruise actually piloted that helicopter by himself while operating the camera. He put himself in the spiral and recovered from it.

10/10 would want her back. She is extremely informative and charismatic.

Wow very surprised at the level of understanding she has of the physics behind helicopter flight. Very impressive I hope there are many more pilots like her left in the military!

fantastic review, and the amount of knowledge she has made it very interesting. Love the humour and personality, I love this series!

I was with the 3/5 during Iraqi Freedom. Having Cobras overhead got my platoon out of some bad situations more than a few times. Semper Fi, from a former "Doc"!

Madame, I salute you as a badass, as a pilot, as a soldier, and showing up Hollywood for it's unrealistic helicopter scenes. Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down are movies I enjoyed watching with my dad, former Army Ranger and he would explain the tactics used, what works, what doesn't work, realistic or unrealistic. Thank you for covering a piece of Black Hawk Down!

First of all, Thank you for your Service. You are awesome. I am a Pilot (light aircraft/bug smasher) and a JTAC. Your descriptions are brilliant. Your language and voice are just the best. Keep up the great work 'FlyGirl'! Stay safe out there.

I just love her personality so much. Would love to see her come back and do another video. Love how she explains things in a way anyone can understand.

Having the last name “Armour” is kinda badass ngl

Major props to the stunt chopper pilots in these clips! Armour taught all of us some neat stuff about these amazing machines.

Ive always been a huge fan of Helicopters. Thank you for your informative take on these clips.

Black Hawk Down is one of my all time favorite movies. Am I the only one or does everyone else also think that it is a real masterpiece?

I like her. She explains very well in "layman's terms" so those of use that did not study aerodynamics of a helo can understand. And, she's very cool. Not sure how she rolls, but it's irrelevant...I'm kinda crushing on her.

I'd love to see more from her... specially older stuff where practical effects & flying were the only option. Airwolf comes to mind, Fire Birds maybe, the Magnum PI stunts etc.

Several things to unpack here, speaking as a retired USN/civil helo driver. First - yes, MRB are finely tuned and not like buzzsaw blades, BUT, there are documented examples of them chopping into things and still surviving. In Vietnam, LTJG (later CDR) Clyde Lassen chopped down a small tree with his HH-2 on a CSAR, at night but in the wrong LZ when parachute flares from the overhead CAP went out. Despite a heavy 1/per vibration, he elected to make another approach to where the two Navy pilots really were, turning on his lights to accomplish this. Under heavy fire from regular NV soldiers, a crewman ran out, grabbed both men, dragged them aboard, and the helo got airborne again. Clyde got the Medal of Honor, CP got the Navy Cross and both crewmen got the Silver Star. /// Second - the helo doing the barrel roll is one and the same as the Red Bull aircraft - a BO-105.. Very definitely could do that./// Third - helo-to-helo ACM is a thing. The USMC developed training for this and I personally practiced 1-v-1 maneuvers, with high AOB. So, it's possible. /// Fourth - the crash in Black Hawk Down is a little unrealistic, for the reasons you stated, but in general it's OK. I heard Mike Durant speak at his booksigning ceremony years later, and he told us that it was spinning so violently that his copilot was pinned against the left door and couldn't even reach the overhead PCLs to pull them back.

“We were soldiers” and “Apocalypse now” should have been in this.

Ms. Armour was a great host for this. She was knowledgeable, well-spoken, and did a great job explaining complex things in simpler terms. I'd love to see more from her in the future. However, it would be nice to see some quality control from the editors. The helicopter and weapons at 6:46 are Russian. The Apache at 12:06 is in Indian markings. Showing a helicopter that belongs to a different country doesn't line up too well with, "Here in America."

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

I once had the pleasure of listening to a talk by Mike Durant at Embry Riddle, the pilot from the Blackhawk Down helicopter crash scene. The helicopter did indeed get hit in the tail rotor, so it wasn't done for dramatic effect. And going down it was rotating FAR faster than it did in the movie (Durant described it as just a whirling blur), the movie actually has the drama dialed back a little bit. Also, as for the Tom Cruise crash scene, she seems very certain the helicopter would have disintegrated, however there are lots of crashes of similar nature where the occupants survived... so I think she shouldn't be so certain in her assumptions. Also... others have already addressed the acrobatic capabilities of lots of other helicopters. I'm sure she was a great attack helicopter pilot, but she seems to not know where the edge of her knowledge exists.

The James Bond scene was a BO-105, which actually can perform Loopings and Barrel Rolls (The same helicopter as the Redbull one) it was actually in Service with the German army as an Anti-Tank Aircraft for quite a long time

You mean to tell me Hobbs and Shaw isn’t realistic? Devastated!

As a helicpoter enthusiast myself i appreciate all this breakdown and very merciless rating. So much fake scenes can be easly recognised and questioned by pure logic,but with experience comes even more to say. Naturally heli scene in "Jumanji" is helluva unrealistic but on the other hand they told us from the beginning that they have been transferred into virtual reality (where many physical rules don't take place). Then come "Expendables II" with opening scene with taking down helicopter by crashing motorcycle into it.

Nicely done one of the best aircraft reviews I’ve seen

Loved this video, although Black Hawk Down was like the only movie that wasn’t a action fantasy type movie, I wish they’d given her more movies that are made to show more realistic military situations

As an old Army helicopter structural mechanic, a lot of those scenes hurt my soul.

Regular helicopters: I have very limited mobility Red Bull helicopter: I have no such weakness

Vernice armor, I know this video is little old I want to thank you for your time and service in the army helicopter core and your deployment but I really really impressed that you paid homage to those before us by wearing a Tuskegee airmen flight jacket kudos to to them and You..

Of note - though the maneuvers may not have been reasonable - the flying in mission impossible was all done practically, and the flight seen in camera is very real - incredibly impressive flying by Tom and their stunt pilot crew.

She’s awesome. A little disappointed they didn’t give her Airwolf to tear to pieces.

She is awesome, knowledgeable and funny! It's really hard to suspend disbelief in some of these flicks.

There have been instances of rotors being used to clear vegetation. Sometimes, Australian UH-1 pilots in Vietnam did it in order to expand a clearing for landing. It was strictly unofficial, and no one spoke for either the quality of the ride back to Vung Tau or Nui Dat, or the subsequent usability of the rotor. I'd imagine that, regardless of the apparent condition of the rotor, they'd replace it anyway - just in case.

Black Hawk Down is an incredible movie and the true story behind it of what our soldiers went through in Mogadishu is unbelievable. Those guys are true heroes. I read Michael Durant's book about his experiences from the crash to being a prisoner and absolutely could not put it down. Highly recommend.

"Something has gone drastically wrong" accurately describes helicopter dogfights. It also describes the A-Team movie.

Love how ‘No BS’ her approach is. Really good explanations too. 10/10.

This was really good. I’m a little surprised that she didn’t know much about black hawk down as it was a crucial helicopter based tragedy. I also can’t believe she doesn’t know what a hind is.

Since many are commenting, that only a "specially modified Red Bull helicopter" can do that stuff (rolls, loops): the BO-105 without any modifications can do rolls and loops. Long before Red Bull, German Army captain Karl "Charly" Zimmermann regularly flew those maneuvers with a "standard" army BO-105. Aerobatics with the BO-105 were essentially developed by three Army pilots: Kollman, said Zimmermann and Fuchs. The first looping with a BO-105 (and first looping with any helicopter) was flown in 1972. So, don't give credit to Red Bull, but to the MBB engineers (rotor head, rigid blade design) and those army officers. Red Bull is just "standing on the shoulders of giants".

Check out the after-action report on the Mogadishu raid, the militia where targeting tail rotors that day (they modified their RPG-7s with metal elbows so the back blast could vent parell to the ground in a vertical shooting position). They did not show that in the movie because it was more dramatic, it was real. Unlike the movie (read the book it's so much better) 6 aircraft where hit and suffered damage that day. The only Blackhawk hit in the main rotor was the "Super 68" (the medic bird), it was hit squarely on the cover of the main shaft from above while inserting medics into Durant's crash site. It did an emergency landing at the port. Additionally, the Brits have been barreling rolling and looping their Lynx at airshows for years. It has a crazy amount of power. I saw one do it once way back in the late cold war when I was on active duty. Stay safe and thanks for your service. AATW!

The fact that Tom Cruise did that stunt himself is amazing. Not taking away credit from his other stunts. And they actually had to perform the corkscrew in that terrain in real life😂

Fun fact for you the red bull helicopter is the one from the James bond clip. They reskinned it for the film and overlaid it onto the background.

Fun Fact, the majority of the helicopter scenes in Mission Impossible were actually flown and actually flown by Tom Cruise himself

The reason at the 10:13 mark she's talking about is because, in that 'historic reenactment', the Somalis were taught to hit the tail rotors by Chechens who, in turn, were trained by Afghani fighters who learned that tactic when the Soviets fought in their Afghanistan war. Side note; the Department of Defense was highly supportive of the making of Black Hawk Down. All of the aviators were from 160th SOAR, and some of them were veterans of the actual operation.

The Redbull helicopter is the same model as in Spectre. A MBB Bo-105 is fully aerobatic, except for negative g maneuvers. It has a linkless rotorhead.

The Bo-105 can actually do the maneuver they showed in Spectre. Personally saw it at an airshow, it was the same Bo-105 actually.

I love when GQ interviews Military personnel, they're all so cool and give extremely educational content.

Damn, it was really great to listen to this woman explaining such complex things in this easy way. Great content!

Notice my screen name. I served with the 20th Aircraft Maintenance Unit, 834th Aircraft Generation Squadron, 1st Special Operations Wing, 2nd Air Division, 9th Air Force, Military Airlift Command, Hurlburt Fld AFB. I worked on one of the USAF's variations of the H-53 Super Jolly Green Giant, the MH-53H Pavelow III. In tech school, we are shown actual test flight footage of an "A" model '53 performing two consecutive FULL loops, then going directly into two consecutive barrel-rolls. The H-53 is one of the 2 largest, most powerful helicopters in the U.S. military, used by (currently) the Navy & Marine Corps (the USAF retired all of theirs around 2007/2008 in favor of the CV-22 Osprey). It is FAR bigger than the chopper shown in the movie Spectre, so that maneuver is NOT "totally unrealistic". It simply depends on the aircraft and the pilot. Don't believe me? Look it up. BTW, how do I sign up to critique some of this movie magic? Not only am I a former mechanic on military, heavy-lift helicopters, I also performed maintenance on commercial jetliner and cargo planes, SPECIFICALLY the 747 used in the movie Die Hard 2.

can't put my finger on it, but i love this woman for some reason. she's funny, has a cool vibe and is sharp! there's gotta be a word for it. i'd love to buy her a beer

Vernice Armour was apart of our knowledge we had to memorize in Marine Corps boot camp. Finally seeing her and hearing her breakdown makes me all the more impressed.

14:20 There was quite a lot helicopter vs helicopter combat during the Iran-Iraq war, where most famously the Iraqi Soviet-built Mil Mi-24 attack/light transport helicopters squared-off against the Iranian US-built AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters with the end tally being 6 Mi-24s lost vs 10 AH-1s. Both sides' helicopters engaged and downed other opposing helicopter types too.

Thanks for the pilot explaining how real fight happen. I love these comparisons

14:20 C’mon…This is the “A Team” we’re talking about! Not only CAN crazy chopper pilot Murdoch re-start a jet turbine and get the rotor upto flight speed in just 1000 feet…..but Hannibal and Face can steer a falling MBT using the recoil from its main gun. Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together 😁

She is amazing! Explains things so eloquently and with such confidence. She must be an amazing pilot! Plus seems to be quite empathic person. Really positive energy :)

Jumanji gets a pass on this, it’s a movie set around a video game, it makes sense that the rotors wouldn’t snap because it’s a video game.

When assessing overhead flying, a narrowing to the models that the expert knows becomes clear. The RedBull helicopter is a Bo105, the same type as in the clip. Only a few machines have official certification for this, but the Bo105 is suitable for aerobatics and not just with an advertising livery.

I loved her analysis it was so insightful and fascinating to learn about combat helicopters ( had no idea they were so vulnerable )

"If you get hit in the main rotor you just explode and fall out the sky. Which one is more exciting?" Definitely got a point there

Very impressed with her analysis and experience. Bravo!

Blackhawk down was one of my favorite movies so im glad it got rated so high

11:35 that is why the BO-105 was used in Spectre which CAN do barrel rolls, loops etc...

Would have been worth noting that the reason the helo scenes in Black Hawk Down were so accurate is because they had the actual 160th SOAR flying for them. :-)

She was super congenial. Proud of her accomplishment also. The content was also good as well; cool that she mentioned the red bull heli. Cheers thanks.

I would have like to see her review "Airwolf" or "Blue Thunder"

This is the most I've ever learned about helicopters! What a treat! Bring her back for more, please!

Absolutely loved your intelligent commentary. I missed the 'pleasure' of the Vietnam War, but both older brothers, twins, served. One was a year as an FO on the ground early in the war, and then another year after fixed wing FS as an FO in the air. The other was 18 months as a Huey pilot. He was awarded 2 DFC's, one for being shot down (as you say, an RPG in the rotor will get you every time), but he managed to find a sand bar and put it down on the skids UPRIGHT. The helo was shithooked out the next day and repaired. Not...one...injury. The other was for gallantry and air support above and beyond the call. Basically disobeying his flight operations officer to go up in blinding rain and wind and provide flares to light up a firefight in which a large body of grunts was pinned down and getting cut to ribbons. They wanted to see to be able to direct artillery fire. So then he was flying back and forth through the dropping shells. Even went back to refuel once and went back out. I was just a kid of 13 or 14 when I read his citation, and I asked him, why did you do it? I'm sure you know his answer; you probably feel the same way every time you go up. "Cause if I was out there on the ground, I'd have wanted somebody to do the same thing for me." One thing to report/disagree with. They did use the rotors on the Hueys to trim banana trees in Vietnam when they needed a bigger LZ. Robert Mason reports that in his book Chickenhawk, and my brother confirms it. Great book for anyone wanting to experience the chopper pilot's war. A guy with 2 DFC's recommended it to me. The viewers might like knowing that Rambo is not actually firing missiles when he is pulling that switch with his index finger. I believe that's the radio switch, isn't it? Thanks again for the great video.