Helicopters: are any quiet enough that one can ditch the headset/intercom for verbal communication?

Not to my knowledge. back in the 60s, i gave the nations very first traffic helicopter reports in Nashville. the helicopter we used back then was noisy, just like the ones of today. inside noise reduction is not a major factor in helicopters. to do so, would add a considerable amount of weight and helicopters do not need the weight.

There are no helicopters like that. You can scream, yes, but the best way is to use the comm sets.

There are – in Hollywood. Black Thunder comes to mind.

I like the noise helicopters make,besides something about communicating via the headset makes it look really cool.

I am convinced they do have awfully quite birds in the army or airforce. Years back I was sitting along the Ohio River and I saw what I thought was a UFO. 6 basketball sized green lights floating towards me. These things were coming right at me just silently floating along. As they started to pass me by I looked up and saw the faint glow of a cockpit in what looked like Apache style copters and even saw the pilot looking down right at me no more than 200 feet away and all I could then hear is a soft whoop whoop of the blades and virtually so sound of the engine at all. Freaked me out to see that yet it was beyond cool as I knew our engineers had made some killer shit in our arsenal.

@Cruiser, here’s something similar, FYI.

@kevbo I saw that as I tried to substantiate my observations through a quick search. cool stuff!

I’ll say!

@kevbo I mean 6 helicopters all in a row and I could still hear the water lapping the shore at me feet. I was speechless and in awe by what I saw. Now that I think about it, it was right at the time Blue Thunder Movie came out

Wow. And people think it’s nutty to believe that fictional films reflect reality.

I have been in many helicopters and for tourist helis there is no such thing as a quiet one. Headsets are certainly not a luxury. If you were the pilot, and you flew for a living without a headset, you’d probably lose a significant chunk of hearing over your career. Sometimes I put in earplugs and wear the headset.

@Cruiser That is pretty cool! I wish park rangers and some tour companies would adopt those. They fly into conservation districts all the time here and the noise is a significant impact.

No, I haven’t heard of any. Maybe the one they use for the President might be. They even make headphones for dogs who travel in helicopters or small planes.

I have no idea but this question is hysterical.