Knight Rider vs. Air Wolf

[Sociotard]

In the spirit of the "Enterprise vs. Star Destroyer" post (amusing stuff, really) I've come to ask which uber vehicle from the 80's would dominate: KITT or The Lady? A few stat's I've found to get the party started.

Air Wolf:
Advantages
top speed of above Mach 2 with turbo thrust jet engines. 300 knots with propeller
Standard Armament includes
* 6 Hellfire short range air-to-surface missiles
* 12 Redeye short-range air-to-air missiles
* 6 Copperhead long-range air-to-surface missiles
* 4 Retractable chain-guns (30mm) - 2 on each pod
* 2 Retractable chain-guns (40mm) - 1 on each pod
Non-Standard Armament includes:
* AGM-12 Bullpup ASM (air-to-surface missile)
* AGM-65 Maverick (air-to-surface) missile
* AIM-4 Falcon (radar-guided/IR-seeking missile)
* AGM-45 Shrike (nuclear tipped) missile
* Douglas AIR-2 (nuclear rocket - unguided)
* MB-1 Genie (nuclear rocket - unguided)
* AIM-9 Sidewinder (air-to-air)
The following in-flight systems:
* Digital Engine Electronic Control
* Forward-Looking Infrared Radar
* On Board Oxygen Generation System
* Identify Friend/Foe
* Advanced Self Protection Jammer
* Electronic Surveillance System
* Doppler Velocity Sensors
* Synthetic Aperature Radar
* Target Acquisition and Designation System
In addition to the following defensive systems:
* Infrared Suppressor
* Radar Jammer
* Infrared Jammer
* Chaff Dispensers
* Sunburst (Anti-IR) Dispensers
Disadvantages
Requires a crew of 3 to man

Very impressive, young jedi, but now on to KITT:
Advantages
*Better looking
*nigh indestructable armor
*Automatic Pilot
*Voice analyzer
*Infrared Tracking Scope (Range: 10 miles)
*Pyroclastic Lamination (Maintains cool body temperature in extreme heat)
*Blood Analyzer
*Microwave Jammer
*Interior Oxygenator
*X-Ray
*Flame Thrower
*Rocket Boosters
*Smokescreen
*Trajectory Guidance System (Launches KITT at any angle within 90 degree arc)
*Oil Jets
*Olfactory Detector
*Spectrograph
*Electromagnetic Field Generator
*Microwave Ignition Sensor (Activates other engines)
*Aquatic Synthesizer
*Electronic Field Disrupter
*Ultramagnesium Charges
*Grappling Hook
*Ultraphonic Chemical Analyzer
*Two Wheel Skis
*Graphic Translator (Sketches likenesses from verbal input)
*Anamorphic Equalizer
*Turbo Boost (add 40% speed increase)
*waaaaaaaaay smarter. needs no pilot or crew.
Disadvantages
*Can't fly
*slower( 0-60mph>.2 seconds with power boosters. Standing 1/4 mile > 4.286sec. @300mph)
* obviously under-gunned

So who wins? Smart and armored or fast and heavily armed?

[lemming]

If I was KITT, I'd get myself moved. After all, the armor should be portable and a little work, presto! One incredibly kick ass heliocopter that doesn't need a crew.

[Edsel]

I voted for Air Wolf simply because the chainguns are dumb-fire and can't be jammed. Get a good LOS and Kitt is no more.

Of course it also depends on where the fight is taking place. In the open Air Wolf hands down. In the Holland Tunnel it'd be a different story.:D

[BlackSword]

KITT would win, he could manuvuer himself under the helicopter and then use an ejection seat to launch Hasslehoff into the copter blades causing the chopper to crash as the blades would break on Hasslehof's indestructible hair. The fiery blast would end Hasslehof which would once again be a winning situation for KITT.

[James Gillen]

It's Jan Michael Vincent vs. David Hasselhoff.

I mean, come f***in' ON, here.

JG

[Dog Soldier]

IIRC Air Wolf has an AI on board that is quite capable of some scary things. I suppose I should re-watch some more re-runs. This was hinted at in several episodes.

[misterdeath]

Originally posted by James Gillen
It's Jan Michael Vincent vs. David Hasselhoff.

I mean, come f***in' ON, here.

JG

but, but, David Hasselhoff was Nick Fury.

Jan Michael Vincent was in prison.

Ok, ya got me.

JMV.

D

[Old Man]

IIRC the chick in Airwolf was cuter.

I can't believe I used to watch these shows. Can I have those hours of my life back? Please?

[Herolover]

You know what I hate.
The fact that I know what these two shows are.
The fact I remember watching them in "Prime Time." No reruns.
The fact that at the time I thought they were cool. Of course, I was in jr high, but still...

The fact that I LOVED Airwolf.

[toolgawd]

KITT is and always will be the mack-daddy of talking cars. Unlike that movie....The Wraith i think, at least KITT could talk. I remember seeing re-runs of AIRWOLF though and we also had the R/C Helicopter body used in the show at my hobby shop a month or two ago. 400 bucks though...

JJ

[Space Cadet]

As far as Airwolf's on-board armament goes, I don't have any
argument with the big wing-mounted guns being 30 or 40mm
chainguns, but I seem to remember the twin guns above the
chainguns as being .50-cal. MGs.

Space Cadet :confused:

[AnotherSkip]

Doesnt matter the bullets bounce off of either David hasselhoffs hair or the indestructible armor take your pick.

[tkdguy]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to recall Airwolf having a top speed of Mach 1, not Mach 2. I would have been happy if it had a laser cannon or two.

Anyway, helicopters can't reach that speed. Their rotors would stall, and the crew would be in big trouble.

I don't remember KITT ever having a flame thrower. Didn't it have Code Against Killing?

And the actress in the original Airwolf later had a recurring role in Magnum PI, which may be adapted to the big screen. Be afraid. Be very afraid!

[Sociotard]

Originally posted by tkdguy
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to recall Airwolf having a top speed of Mach 1, not Mach 2. I would have been happy if it had a laser cannon or two.

Anyway, helicopters can't reach that speed. Their rotors would stall, and the crew would be in big trouble.

That was ,the whole point behind Air Wolf. It did around 300 knots with the rotors. After that, the rotors stoped and the jet engines kicked in. Now, Air Wolf didn't have much in the way of wings, but as the F-16 proved, a brick with a sufficiently large jet attached will fly.:D

KITT had a code to protect human life, so he mainly used A-team style violence. I think he could use extreme force to protect innocent life. If not, michael could, and he had the ability to completely take over. KITT did have a rear-mounted Flamethrower. A few things I didn't mention:
-Lazer. Only used it once IIRC. If used more than twice it completely drained the cars battery.
-Grappling Hook
-Lazer restraint system (nobody in the car needs a seat belt, really. One of the more "yeah, right" technologies in the car)

[Dr. Anomaly]

Originally posted by Sociotard
-Lazer. Only used it once IIRC. If used more than twice it completely drained the cars battery.

That was against K.A.R.R., wasn't it?

[Space Cadet]

A slight clarification here with regards to Airwolf's supersonic
flight capability: when "the Lady" makes the transition from
subsonic to supersonic flight, the main rotor doesn't stop. It
continues to turn in order to provide lift to the 'copter, since
it (Airwolf) has no wings to do so (in fact, the only wing-like
structures on the craft are the stabilizer fins on the tail boom). If you take a good look at the scenes in the series in
which Airwolf is going supersonic (especially when it's flying
in NOE evasion mode), you can clearly see the rotor turning.

As far as Airwolf having laser armament goes, there was an
episode of the USA Network version of the series in which
it was shown to have a laser cannon.

Space Cadet :cool:

[Dr. Anomaly]

Don't they mention *disengaging* the main rotor? I was under the impression this was to let the rotor turn freely. That would still provide lift, but (maybe) avoid the problems of trying to make it turn connected to a powered shaft while at supersonic speeds.

[Space Cadet]

I believe you're right about the rotor being disengaged for super-
sonic flight, Doc. IIRC, it was a variation of the autorotation tech-
nique, in which a helicopter's main rotor is allowed to freewheel to create more lift.

Space Cadet :cool:

[Dr. Anomaly]

Originally posted by Space Cadet
I believe you're right about the rotor being disengaged for super-
sonic flight, Doc. IIRC, it was a variation of the autorotation tech-
nique, in which a helicopter's main rotor is allowed to freewheel to create more lift.

Space Cadet :cool: Hmmm...as I recall, autorotation with a helicopter isn't used to generate more lift, per se, but as an emergancy landing technique. (Assuming engine failure but all other systems operational, most helicopters can autorotate to a rough but survivable landing from any height at which they could normally fly, if the rotor is free to turn and is intact.)

Could you be thinking of an autogyro? That was a type of small aircraft tried out in the late 30s / early 40s -- it was basically a small monoplane with an unpowered helicopter rotor on top. When the plane moved forward (standard propeller-driven monoplane style) the unpowered rotor overhead would turn, generating more lift. This had the advantage of making the autogyro a *very* short take-off and landing aircraft (the world's *first* VSTOL?) and like a helicopter, could make a safe landing from nearly any height in the case of engine failure.

As I recall, autogyros were being tested out as an airplane that could fly from building to building within a major metro area, but they never managed to get the take-off and landing space short enough to be practical for a building roof. Then, of course, along comes a Russian immigrant who builds the United State's first workable helicopter, and the autogyro fell out of fashion.

[Wolf]

Not to be even more of a geek, however I feel I must point out that despite what "rubber sience" they wanted to use for explaining fast movement, the special effects of the day (ahh 80's tech) to film a chopper in the air they needed to still have the roters attached and turning no matter how fast they sped the film up. Thus that's how it can move so fast and have the blades spinning.
oh ya... I vote airwolf, though I think KITT is more kewl. And I like that bit about Hasselhof being thrown into the roters of a chopper.
-Wolf

[Toadmaster]

You can put me down as another "I can't believe I'm admiting to know what you're talking about".

First it is possible to have a helicopter work like they said in Airwolf, there were some real tests with the military using jet powered helicopters, at a certain speed the jet engines went from providing power to the rotor to providing thrust, the rotors blades locked in place providing wings (in an X position iirc). I'm assuming it wasn't practical since I haven't heard of any recent tests. As mentioned in the show the rotors had to keep spinning since the Bell 222 used did not actually have the abilities of "Airwolf" and would have fallen from the sky (Yea!!!! :D ) good for the TV audience (we could have had our minds back) bad for the stunt pilot.

Who would win depends,
Is it an episode of Knight rider or Airwolf?

Now I must find a bag to hide my face before I'm recognized by anybody.

[Space Cadet]

I think there was an actual helicopter that was designed specifically
to test the "x-wing" stopped-rotor flight concept (the Sikorsky S-76,
IIRC). The pictures I've seen of this particular 'copter make it look like
an autogyro on steroids (airplane wings and jet engines on a helicopter,
if you can believe that combo).

Space Cadet :cool:

[Vondy]

airwolf

an outdater sportscar with an annoying british accent versus a mach 1+ attack chopper...

was this a question?