More Neighborly 'Copters

Major objectives for the helicopter industry in the next 10-15 years will be to make the machines faster and more acceptable in urban surroundings, according to Eurocopter chairman Jean-Francois Bigay. Speed, he believes, will not matter nearly as much as acceptability. "Today, even if you had a tiltrotor for speed, you cannot fly from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Paris because you cannot land in Paris," he said. "The advantage the helicopter has in most environments is not speed, but its vertical capabilities. These are what we must emphasize." To use them, greater acceptability is needed by making helicopters ever quieter.