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Comment by 1024core | Hacker News Reader

> Black Hawk helicopters often fly these routes as a pair, doubling the number of eyes scanning the sky for a safe passage. But that night, there was only one. Its two pilots worked together to navigate ...

So how many WERE there?!? Two, as in the first and third sentences, or just one, as in the second sentence?

Who writes this drivel and does not even proofread it??

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Two helicopters with two pilots = 8 eyes. One helicopter with two pilots = 4 eyes.

I had no trouble understanding, but perhaps it could be made slightly less ambiguous, like:

> But that night, there was only one helicopter, and its pilot and co-pilot worked together to navigate...

The sentence you highlighted holds the answer.

I think everyone here could be confused, here's my understanding. There were three people in the helicopter that night, two pilots and one crew member. They usually fly with two crew members for a total of 4 people in the helicopter. The two crew members usually sit one on each side of the helicopter, with the task of looking out the windows to enhance situational awareness.

The minimum crew is 3, two pilots and one crew member. While not ideal, this is a regular occurrence for operational reasons, so it's part of regular training.

This is incorrect. The sibling comments posted earlier are correct.

I had to read it twice, it could have used the addition of the word helicopter after the phrase "only one" to make it absolutely clear what was meant.

1 copter with 2 pilots

The helicopters fly as pair = 2 helicopters.

One helicopter has 2 pilots

One helicopter with two pilots, as compared to two helicopters. Perhaps try checking yourself before yelling at others.

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