RotorSexual

The classic "old bicycle" we're all thinking of, which looked like this:

Is actually a technological compromise developed in the early 1870s. The very first bicycle was invented in 1817 and it looked like this:

It had no pedals and the rider would push it along with their feet, the same way toddlers learn to ride bikes today.

In about 1864, a mechanic in france came up with the idea of adding pedals to the front wheel, making the first self-propelled bicycle.

This was a great improvement because it's a lot easier to move and a lot more fun than the Fisher Price version above. It was a big thing for about five years, but there were some drawbacks.

First, because the pedals were directly attached to the front wheel, you couldn't go very fast without moving your legs incredibly quickly, which takes a lot of effort. It also is kind of awkward to steer because your legs are in the way of the wheel.

The other issue was bumps. Roads were not very smooth in the 1870s, most of them were unpaved and full of ruts, potholes, and rocks. And at first there were no rubber tires, just wooden wheels with metal rims. Altogether this made for a very bumpy ride.

The big front wheel, which was made possible by the invention of wire spokes and solid rubber tires, solved all of these problems. A big wheel runs over bumps more easily: think of how rough it is to ride roller skates over bumps in a sidewalk that you would hardly notice on a bike. And the bigger the wheel, the faster you can move with one push of the pedals. Having the seat on top of the wheel, instead of behind, also makes steering less cumbersome.

There are of course drawbacks to this design, in particular being so high up makes it very easy to go over the handlebars if you crash, and more likely to hit your head or break your arm.

Two more inventions helped drive this comical beast into extinction and bring back a more balanced, and safer, bicycle.

The first was the pneumatic tire, which contains a cushion of air, and makes for a much softer ride compared to a solid tire or a metal one. The cushion effect eliminates the need for a big wheel to smooth out the bumps in the road.

The second invention was the sprocket and chain drive. This lets you put the pedals anywhere you want on the bike, and with a big gear at the pedals and a small one at the wheel, you can get more speed out of a small wheel.

The first modern bicycle to combine a sprocket and pneumatic tires was built in 1879. It was an instant hit, not just because it was much less dangerous, but because the low drag profile and the smooth pneumatic tires made for a faster ride, and the trendsetters in cycling, then as now, were the racing community. There have been plenty of innovations and modifications in the years since, from ten-speed gears to carbon fiber frames, but these are all variations on a theme. The basic form of the bicycle has not changed.

how measurements work in canada (ie/ badly)

Depends on the issue, but mostly yeah, a plane with an engine issue WHILE IN FLIGHT is a relatively calm affair, on take-off you rely on your training to do what’s right at the right moment almost automatically, but it can be handled well in most cases, on landing its even more forgiving, and when the issue is more of a control one, you still have tools to handle it with relative calm.

On a helicopter, autorotation seems to be a bitch, resonance during take-off can literally destroy a whole helicopter if not dealt with immediately, transmission failure, while rare, will get you back on the ground seconds after occurring whenever you like it or not, and a tail rotor failure can be ride or die depending on how fast you’re going.

If something happens at altitude in an airplane you may have time to pull out the handbook and run emergency checklists or you may not. In a helicopter we never really fly that high in the first place and will never really have time to reference the handbook so we memorize the entire emergency procedures section instead.

Autorotations aren't that bad after you've practice them a lot and are all about energy available. If you dont have that energy then you're not going to be able to glide safely so we plan flights to minimize those moments.

Resonance isn't possible in the helicopters I fly and all it takes to solve is to pick up into a hover.

Transmission failures are very rare like you mentioned and so are mechanical tail rotor failures. You're much more likely to lose tail rotor effectiveness due to wind than something breaking.

Airplane pilots are almost all just focused on getting to the airlines so they can collect the paycheck from sitting IFR in a 737 day in and day out. But who else can say that they are dropping anti-rabies raviolis...

Or placing logs and gravel for fish spawning,

Or hovering over cherry trees to dry them after rain,

Or hunting feral invasive animals,

Or stringing power lines,

Or avalanche control,

Or cattle mustering,

Or tuna fishing,

Or geological surveys,

Or any number of other wild jobs.