Why aren’t helicopters used to rescue hikers and remove bodies from Mt. Everest?
In: Physics
Helicopters do run the rescue operations on Everest, not from the peak itself but from the base camps up to 2/3 way up, where there are good landing spots.
It’s hard to fly a helicopter at those altitudes because thinner air means it was way less lift than normal, also strong winds are pretty common. Without a good landing spot at the peak, the risks for such rescue are too high, although it’s not impossible to fly and land a helicopter there.
Helicopters need to be able to collect enough air for their engines to burn fuel while standing still. They top out on that at 10-20,000ft. Everest is 30k or so. This is less of a problem for planes because they can fly at high speed through the thin air and scoop it up into their engines.
The air in too thin and they can’t fly that high up. They create lift by pushing air downwards. The higher up you go, the less air pressure you have, the less downward force a helicopter can make to fight gravity.
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