7. What is the most unusual aspect of Airwolf compared to other helicopters?
From Quiz 'Airwolf' - Pilot
Answer:
It could fly faster than sound
Airwolf was borderline sci-fi. Many of the things Airwolf could do, a regular helicopter cannot do, even 20+ years after airing on TV. Even if one somehow mounted jet engines on a helicopter today, the drag would tear the rotors off. Dr. Moffit had apparently solved this problem by establishing a rotor disengage before engaging the turbine booster engines. Even if the main rotor free wheeled, it would probably still tear off. But this is TV. Going with turbos involved a very complex series of steps from standard rotary wing flight to "turbo" fixed wing flight. This was later downgraded to a few simple steps in the early episodes to the simple act of String hitting the turbo switch on the cyclic. It should also be noted in the season one episodes that after String called for "Dom, turbos", Dom would move the turbo levers up, String would hit the switch on the cyclic and then String and Dom would (fakely) hit the back of their seats as the G forces increased. Seasons two and three eliminated that. Don't talk to me about season four with Barry van Dyke. It would be nice if one could make a helicopter not be heard, ala "whisper mode" on "Blue Thunder" or by engaging the mufflers like they did on "Chopper 1". Unfortunately, much of the noise from helicopters is from the displacement of the air created by the main rotor (that whop-whop-whop noise). Of course Airwolf had its own noise, I don't know what to call it. Kind of a cross between a wolf growl and war whoop.