Ok so I know its been a while, but I'm back! This episode is about the Scorpion Team trying to save a group of lost hikers and getting caught in a wildfire in the process.

http://www.cbs.com/shows/scorpion/video/60C5E5EA-F07C-9BE2-1635-482673FE41E0/scorpion-we-re-going-to-die/

I'll start here, with the falling helicopter. Helicopters fly through the use of propellers. As the propellers are rotated at increasing speeds , the air flowing over them generates lift. Because the the propellers rely on ability to create air flow to maintain this lift, high wind speeds create dangerous flying conditions. There are multiple types of wind that create issues for pilots. Headwind, wind that flows opposite to the path of the helicopter's motion, slams into the helicopter’s nose and slows it down. On the other hand, a tailwind generates force in the same direction raising the helicopter's speed. Just like headwind, crosswinds that blow across the path are also equally dangerous to the helicopter.

Ok, now back to the show:

First of all, I thought he was suppose to aim away from the trees? Anyways, given that helicopters average in weight from 1,000 to 10,000 pounds, lets go on the low end and say this one is 1,000 pounds. If each of the men in the plane average 180 pounds and each woman averages 140 (these are the approximate average weights for adult males and females), that's an extra 1,000 pounds. So that means we have at least 2,000 pounds (~8896.4 N) of weight falling from at least 500 feet, the amount of force this would generate on impact would most likely kill at least one of them, if not all of them. Luckily, the helicopter propellers try to maintain flight as it falls, meaning the helicopter doesn't fall straight down. The angle of the fall reduces the speed at which the helicopter hits the ground- or the trees in this case. I suppose this might be why the tree branches did not break when the helicopter landed on them. The helicopter did eventually fall, a few moments later after the team had barely escaped.

Ok well that's all for now. I might have to make a second post about this episode, since I never got to the wildfire part. Thanks for reading!