I don’t even like having my car windows open past 40 mph, but helicopters go way faster. Isn’t that an assault on the senses (ears, eyes especially)?
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A: You don’t leave them open. Even filming, is nowadays done with external cameras. Way better quality of life and more stabilized than a had held camera.
B: If you have to fly a special mission, and you need an open door, you open it while hovering, not at speed, then close it before getting fast again.
C: Sometimes is even safer to remove the door before the flight or to lock it open before flight, as on some helicopters, opening in flight is very very dangerous as the air can flip the door, rip it off, or slam it open so fast that the operator may fall or get injured. About this, for example, on heli I worked on there was one with the tendency to slam the door closed, one time the open lock failed and the door slammed closed breaking the operator’s arm, let’s be honest, it could have killed him, there was a serious review of the incident and a new inspection program was issued for that lock since then. On another type of heli, opening the door was to be done only below a certain speed; above it, the wind will slam the door open so hard that the door rails would fail and the door plummets down to the ground.
In all the scenarios, people is strapped to the seats the entire flight, and operators that have to stand are secured with a body harness with two ropes linked to the fuselage, not one, two, to be really sure they can’t fall. In military they take more risks but it’s pretty similar.
About your quality of life, well you have to wear an headset anyway, due to the helicopter being very loud inside. If you plan to fly door open you will wear also some wind protection, as a good jacket and possible some cover on the neck and even cover the face. Which also mitigates impacts with debris. An insect hitting your throat at 250kmh is not nice.
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