Do YOU Allow Your Passengers to have their arms and legs swing out of the Helicopter?

YouTube video (Kenny Keller) advising pilots/operators and passengers to keep arms and legs inside helicopters and to be cautious when removing doors (especially on Robinson R44 aircraft). Kenny explains his preflight checks (empty pockets, secure cameras/cables, clean cabin), references a fatal accident tied to doors-off harnessing, and gives operational advice (prefer removing only the right-side door, secure loose items). The video also promotes helicopterground.com offerings: an R44 FAC course, a limited HOGS 12-year sale (20% off memberships until Tuesday the 5th at midnight using code "Hogs 12 years") and provides a contact phone (Heather: 574-767-1797).
Questions this video answers
November 22, 2025
574-767-1797
20% off any memberships available until Tuesday the 5th at midnight
Hogs 12 years
Chapters
Do you allow your passengers to have their arms and legs hanging out the window, putting their phone out the side of the window? You know, it's popular on social media now where everybody's got to have their feet hanging out the side taking their picture over some big city. I've been asked about this before and I never really responded on it because people want my opinion. And I was like, eh, probably gonna upset the apple cart and there'll be all kinds of people going, oh my God. Nothing wrong with that. My opinion, I'll go ahead and say it. I want my passengers to keep their arms and legs in the aircraft. I want you to remain in your proper factory seat belt. I want you to keep your arms and legs inside. I don't mind if you take a picture inside the aircraft looking out the window, but no, I don't want your phone hanging out the side, viewing the tail rotor looking down the ground. I just don't think it's good practice. Hey, I want to do a response to an email I got from another helicopter operator about a video that we did yesterday. And it's about taking doors off on the Robinson helicopter. And you could take this really with any helicopter. So back to the subject. I briefed Jack yesterday before we left. I said, okay, as long as you're cool with me taking the doors off. Do you have anything in your pockets? He was wearing shorts and a T shirt, and he was like, all I got is this. Here, I'll take it out. So whatever he had in his pocket, he removed and left it to hanger so there was no danger of him having anything fly out. And I keep the aircraft nice and clean inside. I don't leave water bottles. I don't leave trash. I make sure I always make people, when you get out, latch your seatbelt back in. I'm big on keeping the aircraft really clean, so I already knew there was nothing in there. But not only did I tech or test Jack, I also checked the aircraft. Everything's latched, seat belts are latched, there's no debris laying around. And we've spent a bunch of time setting up our cameras and getting our cameras, those cameras nice and secure, securing my cables for the camera so I'm confident nothing's gonna fly out. And again, I appreciate this other operator saying, hey, Kenny, you know, it was a personal email. He goes, I saw your video yesterday, and I just hope you think about this, you know? And I'm like, yes, of course. I've been to the Robinson Factory Safety School and I've studied all the Robinson safety tips and notices. I'm a firm believer and that's really, really good stuff that applies to basically any aircraft. Again, put your comments down below. If you're a firm believer that this is safe and that's what you should do, go ahead and argue your side of the case. But personally, since people ask me, I don't really care if I upset the apple cart. I don't think it's a good idea. You know, there's been one particular fatal accident in that I could think of and I was asked about it. It was one of those where they have the doors off and they're letting people put in special harnesses on so they can swing out the halfway out and put their feet out the side. Well, you know, professional photographers do that, that are trained to do that. These are just everyday passengers doing this kind of stuff. And there was a fatal accident where somebody's special harness pulled a fuel valve off and you know, people end up dying and there was a fatal accident over it just so people could swing and put their feet out the side of the aircraft. I just don't think it's a good idea and for me personally it's just not something that I want to be involved in. So what I was saying was if you're going to take off, just one take off the right hand side. Because the idea is if anything flies out of the aircraft, it can go into the tail rotor and of course cause a for real failure. Again, I thank this operator for pointing that out. But yes, I'm well versed in those accidents. I understand. But we took the time to make sure my passenger had nothing that was going to fly out. And I made sure that the inside of the aircraft was clean and there was absolutely no nothing to fly out. So you can imagine of course the speed of this tail rotor spinning object goes into it. You can figure out what happens. So that is a great topic. I'm glad that guy reached out and mentioned that to me. Something you have to think about. Yes, you can legally take them doors off and there are some limitations for speeds and different things. But if you're going to take off a door, just one take off this side. If you're going to take them both off or all four off in the R44 case, just make sure everything's secure, especially knee boards, anything that can go out the window. And I want to mention we are doing flight training in the R44 FAC Final Approach course. That's where you've got everything pretty much kind of put together but you're down to the end and you can't line up examiner, instructor, sign offs and aircraft. And for whatever reason this seems to be a real problem in different places around the country. We have an examiner we've been using for 22 years that's available to give check cry's in the Robinson as we did last year. I'm gonna be careful not to overbook. Reach out to Heather at 574-767-1797. Hogs member concierge. She can answer all your questions or you can just visit helicopterground.com as well. And so we're down to two days left of the hogs 12 years online sale. We're super excited. Two days left and today's special with a private lifetime which is a limited time offer and it's discounted at the moment, you'll get the Hogs Live to Fly Another Day hoodie got the nice helicopterground.com on the sleeve. The first three that sign up for private lifetime or professional pilot will get the Hogs Live to Fly Another Day hoodie. Okay, so there's two days left. Reach out to Hogs member support 574-767-1797 if you have any questions. Something else that's new and fun, ask hogs.com that's Kenny's clone. Was that right? Ask hogs.com Kenny's clone. 12 years of my content loaded into this clone and it can answer better than I can and it speaks better than I do in my own voice. Freaky and cool, but people have really been enjoying it and you'll be amazed at some of the really good technical answers that you can get@askhogz.com so again, two days left on the hogs 12 year sale. Go to helicopterground.com that link somewhere around the video and we have 20% off any memberships available until Tuesday the 5th at midnight and then the sale goes away and it's right on the website. Hogs 12 years is the code, but you can see it when you get there. You don't even have to remember it, just apply the or enter the code, click apply and it shows you the discounted price. So helicopterground.com we're having a blast with R44 last more to come. So subscribe, click like, you know, hit the bell and all that good stuff. We'll see you next video. Peace.
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Okay, I'm ready. God damn it. You got your vape in there? No. Whenever you are. We're recording. Yep. All right. Need, like, longer arms. Do what? You need longer arms. Well, if I didn't have a double chin, I wouldn't be as worried about it. Am I too dark, or am I okay? I was worrying about that when we came around the corner. I'm like, am I too dark now versus chop? I mean, right? We could have. We could have done that with the last one. Yeah. I could have threw a new beginning on it. Yeah. And we were done because I liked it.










