They’re not. Until they are. I withdrew my flight status after 530 hours after a particularly close-call. Still have nightmares to this day.

Not if it was a mid-air. Helos are always looking for the easiest way to destroy themselves. It’s never pretty.

It’s Marine chucklenuts. It’s a legally recognized TITLE you earn for LIFE. It’s the American knighthood. And if the two birds collided at cruise altitude, they mixed rotors, went into severe-unbalance, twisted the fuselages into metal confettie and all of their necks snapped within .1 seconds of rotor mixup.

I find your lack of empathy disturbing. As a former USMC enlisted aviator, son of a USCG rotary-wing aviator, and grandson of a naval aviator; I’ve known and lost many family friends, NCOs and friends in mishaps. It’s never good. Ever. Children just lost fathers and/or mothers. Parents lost their child, and friends…