xkcd #2940: Modes of Transportation
Title Text:
My bold criticism might anger the hot air balloon people, which would be a real concern if any of them lived along a very narrow line directly upwind of me.
alt-text:
A chart that categorizes various modes of transportation based on their practicality and danger level:
Zone of Practicality:
- Trains
- Airliners
- Boats
- Walking
- Cars
- Scooters
- Bicycles
Zone of Specialty and Recreational Vehicles:
- Motorcycles
- Helicopters
- Light aircraft
- Go karts
- Skateboards
- Rollerblades
- Skis
- Unicycles
- Sleds
- Bumper cars
?????:
- Hot air balloons
“Hot air balloons are the optimal mode of transportation, if your optimization algorithm has a sign error.”
With helicopters it's more that they're expensive than unsave.
They are also significantly more dangerous than an airplane though. The skill and speed needed to cope with an engine failure is a lot less forgiving and helicopters nearly always spend more time at lower altitude. Also the number of mechanical failures that result in everybody aboard essentially guaranteed dying is higher in a helicopter. Especially vs a small airplane with a parachute (parachute systems on helicopters are extremely rare especially due to altitude requirements)