It’s Too Hot to Fly Helicopters and That’s Killing People
It’s Too Hot to Fly Helicopters and That’s Killing People
Extreme temperatures across the United States are grounding emergency helicopters.
Six motorcyclists rode into Death Valley National Park on July 6. Only five came out alive. With temperatures reaching 128 degrees Fahrenheit in California, the cyclists faced extreme heat exposure that killed one and sent another to a local hospital, according to the National Park Service.
When there’s a medical emergency like this, helicopters are typically dispatched to get people to a hospital. However, the extreme heat made it impossible for the helicopters to fly.
The next day, an emergency helicopter pilot in Stanford, California had to cancel a flight because the tarmac near a patient was too hot for him to land. As reported by The Washington Post on Wednesday, the pilot said he’d never seen temperatures this bad in his 27-year career.
Extreme heat, as many across the U.S. are experiencing this summer, can cause computer and mechanical systems on board helicopters to overheat and malfunction. But it’s not just a mechanical issue as air pressure is also a factor. Air expands when it’s hot and contracts when it’s cold. As it gets hotter outside, air pressure plummets. The air literally gets thin which means that spinning helicopter blades have less air to cut through and it’s harder for them to achieve lift. That makes it dangerous, and sometimes impossible, to fly.
People need to start changing their behavior about this heat. I know this sounds like victim blaming. I know people shouldn't have to change their behavior because we saw global warning coming for 30 years and should have prevented this from happening. But it's happening. You can't go into Death Valley in the summer anymore. You just can't. Please don't put yourself in this position.
It's a tragedy that this death happened. We absolutely need to adapt our emergency services to this heat to try to prevent something like this from happening again. But we also need to change our behaviors so we don't end up in that position in the first place.
I know people shouldn’t have to change their behavior
The whole reason we're in this situation is because we refuse to change our behavior.
No, we're in this position because of a failure of leadership. Leaders can unite people behind doing things they don't want to do. It's how rationing was tolerated for years in WWII. But we have an entire political party built around telling people what they want to hear while working against their interests for the wealthy's short term gains. We could have conquered this from the top-down with a good plan and charismatic leaders supporting it.
Man, it's almost like it's called Death Valley for a reason or something
You can still ride safely in Mild Bummer Valley.
Yeah but judging by the success of Liquid Death water, there is a certain group of people who are attracted to things with morbid names.
And behaviour includes food, agriculture, luxuries (like hobbies), etc.
But not gamers, we are doing all the right things already.
I know people shouldn’t have to change their behavior because we saw global warning coming for 30 years and should have prevented this from happening.
no we quite literally do, if we want global warming to not kill our asses faster than our lack of intelligence in a fleeting moment where it mattered, we absolutely do need to change our behaviors.
I never knew that was a thing - crazy.
I don't understand why anyone would think taking a motorcycle ride through 130F temps is a good idea.
It doesn't even sound like a fun idea!
But I hate the heat.It's a terrible idea, having been a biker in socal. You'd think ventilated fabric, even a regular t-shirt with air moving on you from your forward motion would cool you..
It doesn't. You're actually adding heat (thermal energy) to your body faster than it can be removed by your sweat glands, the glands cannot output water fast enough to match the thermal energy being injected into you as the hot air passes over your body. You actually need to insulate yourself with a wind blocking jacket, at which point fuck that, stop riding, and wait a few hours.
It's a very odd sensation, but you understand it almost without explanation if you've tried it... So what were these guys thinking, ignoring their body's alarm bells?
Six motorcyclists rode into Death Valley National Park on July 6. Only five came out alive. With temperatures reaching 128 degrees Fahrenheit in California, the cyclists...
The shorter word for motorcyclists is "bikers." "Cyclists" is a term for people that actually pedal.
“Six motorcyclists rode into Death Valley National Park on July 6. Only five came out alive.”
ffs gizmodo, five out of the six survived. That a bit over 83% as a survival rate.
It's because "all but one survived" would melt their readers' brains
You're right about the wording, but I'd say that a four out of five survival rate when it comes to a group of motorcyclists and heat death isn't really great odds.
My friends and I don't consider a ride successful unless at least all six of us die
Sounds like the beginning of a riddle.
Same as Russian roulette...
why are people riding motorcycles into death valley? Aren't you like, advised to not even step out of your car, or like, stop moving. I'm pretty sure there are recommendations on riding motorcycles out there also.
I'd consider it a form of elaborate suicide pact.
yeah no that seems like a fair assessment to me.
Yeah, why would you do sports in death valley?
It’s quite a nice place for that sort of thing … in the spring when the highs are 80 or maybe 90 at the very worst…
and climate change deniers are probably still at it.
No probably about it.
Oh no, what a tragedy, are they saying golfers in the Death Valley have to travel by car like plebs?!
It's only to get to their private jets in an airfield immediately next to it, but the humanity!!
(Not the Devils Golf Course, thats just named that, the actual thing is in the lowermost point, in 'Furnace creek')
Death Valley is not going to be the only place where this is an issue. It could even be an issue where you live at the height of summer.
The climate change & weather models didn't change all that much in the last 70 years, they just became way more precise & can predict changes very locally (more input data and better computers).
Insurance companies use grids of a few 100km.My region is getting periods of more serve precipitation (with hailstorm increase) & more severe droughts (as in 3 to 4 weeks at a time), bcs of that some areas could become more prone to land/mudslides.
Temperature wise both summer and winter extremes are gonna get higher, but being and more importantly straying between fronts/systems should help ease things, a bit.
But most importantly, I do not have a habit of traveling by helicopters, tho medical transports will suffer, yes.
