What Is and What Should Never Be

We've been watching season 3 of 24 lately on DVD.  I was kind enough to buy the box set for my wife for Christmas since I really wanted to watch it.  I also got her a Brooke Burke calendar and an intake manifold for a 72 Cutlass.  She may have me figured out though.  She gave me a Fendi handbag and a gift certificate to Bath & Body Works.

The episode of 24 we watched last night led to a question I've had about action movies and TV shows for a long time.  Why do people always have to duck down when charging into a running helicopter?  Jack Bauer and the gang did the duck down thing at least 4 times in one episode, and so have the characters in every action movie I've seen since Rambo.

I did a little research [1], and that helicopter rotor is a good 10 feet off the ground.  If you are taller than that, then you can think about ducking down.  Actually, if you are taller than that, you could probably stand to take a little off the top anyway.

Maybe this behavior is an artifact from early poorly-designed helicopters that were only about 5 feet tall.  The pilot would jump out, stand up, and immediately be decapitated.  After 10 years of this, when everyone was finally used to ducking down, and the people that couldn't get used to it were all decapitated, they finally came up with the brilliant idea of taller helicopters.

What is the real answer?   I don't have any idea.  It’s a conundrum. Wrapped in an enigma.  Wrapped in a delicious donut.

[1]  No actual research was done.

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