Flying Itself 04-01-2013

[zachariah]

There's those words again. "WHAT CAN GO WRONG?"

Both of them have clearly not learned to know and fear Murphy. Getting the chopper off the ground is tough. I have seen no sign that Sali had the physical coordination needed to control one. Flying one requires you performing contradictory motions with all four limbs at the same time. Patting your head and rubbing your belly while tap dancing is a similar concept.

[Lee M]

Snappy answers to stupid questions dept...
"Who's shooting at us?"
"I dunno, maybe you should go ask them."
"Why is that helicopter flying itself?"
"Maybe it's Sparky's Magic Helicopter?"

[shadowinthelight]

This is all Kath's fault for uttering the phrase first.

[Atomic]

Methinks Atsali lived up to her name (clumsy) and followed the directions to something other than the letter!

(Let's overlook the 2-3 minutes minimum it takes to start a helicopter not attracting their attention before now -- it's the Wapsiverse after all)

[Opus the Poet]

I notice that my predictive powers were spot on as Atsali is going to crash the other chopper (I wanted to put "bird" but thought better of it because, well Atsali and her wings and feet). As I pointed out she could take off and jump away from the chopper when she got high enough and it would crash on its own, particularly if she kicked the stick "accidentally" on the way out of the cockpit. Since she can shape shift into her siren form in the blink of an eye, http://wapsisquare.com/comic/do-the-decoy/ (pa-ting!) she could get away without needing any kind of rescue gear.

[zachariah]

I notice that my predictive powers were spot on as Atsali is going to crash the other chopper (I wanted to put "bird" but thought better of it because, well Atsali and her wings and feet). As I pointed out she could take off and jump away from the chopper when she got high enough and it would crash on its own, particularly if she kicked the stick "accidentally" on the way out of the cockpit. Since she can shape shift into her siren form in the blink of an eye, http://wapsisquare.com/comic/do-the-decoy/ (pa-ting!) she could get away without needing any kind of rescue gear.

As far as I know, and I can be wrong, choppers don't have autopilot. Once she let's go of the controls it starts falling out of the sky or spinning in circles. So she is then supposed to jump out of the chopper, avoid the whirling chop-o-matic blades, duck down and then fly to avoid it as it falls out of the sky. This is Sali we are talking about. The flying girl who doesn't like heights? She just over came that and now we expect her to fly out and dodge the blades at the same time. Okay. Weirder things had happened in the strip so far.

[Stigmartyr762]

What could go wrong?

Those words rank right up there along with;
Hey! Check this out.
Hold my beer.
..and, ya'll ain't gonna believe this shit.

LMFAO!!!!

[KnightDelight]

Ah the best laid plans of sirens and humans. Only the tail rotor huh? Good plan. Minimal damage. Too bad she didn't get a bit of target practice first. Shoot where you look may seem easy, but I'm sure it isn't. Probably needed to start shooting over a bit to the right from the tail rotor (and the copter) then ease it back to the left until she hit the rotor and quit. Not just look at it and fire.

Now she's going to fly it? Can you really get briefed enough to do that so quickly? No idea, and who cares anyway. Makes the thing more fun just to watch at this point.

What could go wrong? I don't know, spinning around out of control while she's trying to jump? That could be lethal even for a bird. And there's the possibility of the out of control machine crashing into the crews on the ground. Or into the pit, creating a fireball, and/or rain of high speed projectiles killing Kath. Much could go wrong. Especially with this zero experience pilot.

[Atomic]

What could go wrong?

Those words rank right up there along with;
Hey! Check this out.
Hold my beer.
..and, ya'll ain't gonna believe this shit.

LMFAO!!!!

You forgot: "Hang on, I want to try something."

[Fairportfan]

Or, conversely, as Isaac Asimov said: "...the true sound of scientific breakthrough as a quiet 'Now, that's funny'..."

[sheik]

Something in the back of my head says this dialogue between Kathrine and Atsali is staged.
As for Atsali getting safely out of the chopper; all she has to do is pull up on the collective and lock it in place with a twist of the wrist.
The helicopter continues to ascend and she bails into the downwash free and clear.
Where the Apache eventually winds up is anybody's guess though.

[illiad]

"um, wassa collective???

"what does this big button do???

"hey this thing feels good love to move it around.. oh, there's lots of buttons!!!

Actually, looking carefully at what atsali said, looks like she tried firing at the rotors, and missed!!!

and the whole team is there, they never noticed atsali????

[Jabberwonky]

"Who's that by the choppers?"
"Eh, just the kid. Let's get these ropes over the side and see what Katherine is doing..."

[ziggy78eog]

Stop speaking the forbidden question!

[The Fansheep]

For one please read this: IF a helicopter loses Main Energy it dosnt means death right away. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autorotation
For the other umm nice shoot xD Al trough you should never rule out bad luck i would assume that somebody really forgot to put up a lock on the weapons and is at least a little bit guilty too

[eee]

Whoa, a lot of questions! One answer: Atsali.

"um, wassa collective???

"what does this big button do???

"hey this thing feels good love to move it around.. oh, there's lots of buttons!!!

Actually, looking carefully at what atsali said, looks like she tried firing at the rotors, and missed!!!

and the whole team is there, they never noticed atsali????

They were probably all grouped around Lily trying to figure out their next step. They're apparently under some sort of deadline and need to move as fast as possible, which requires planning. And while they were focused on that, they weren't watching the birdie...

[Wdot]

Whoa, a lot of questions! One answer: Atsali.

They were probably all grouped around Lily trying to figure out their nex step. They're apparently under some sort of deadline and need to move as fast as possible, which requires planning. And while they were focused on that, they weren't watching the birdie...

The pun jar is watching you...

[My2Cents]

They were probably all grouped around Lily trying to figure out their next step. They're apparently under some sort of deadline and need to move as fast as possible, which requires planning. And while they were focused on that, they weren't watching the birdie...

Or they were setting up camp for the night.

With both choppers totaled and presumably on fire what are the odds that the Pratt's crew has any form of communications (long range radio or sat-phone) that can reach back to civilization?
Will Katherine's great escape plan going to backfired when her sense of responcibility forces her to rescue them and guide them out?

Where is McBride? (And without Pratt, is she 'out to lunch'?)

[kingklash]

Something in the back of my head says this dialogue between Kathrine and Atsali is staged.
As for Atsali getting safely out of the chopper; all she has to do is pull up on the collective and lock it in place with a twist of the wrist.
The helicopter continues to ascend and she bails into the downwash free and clear.
Where the Apache eventually winds up is anybody's guess though.

I think it's sort of two different dialogs going on at once. 'Sali is trying to stick to plan as best she can, and Kath is wondering if this is going the way of the best-laid plans of Mice and Men oft go.

[Yamara]

Why don't more people ask "What could go right?" Might have a blowback effect.

And Happy April 1 out to Nudge.