How Bond shot the helicopter

[lelelewomanwomanwoman]

In the most recent James Bond movie. He shot down a helicopter from a reasonably large distance with a pistol. How did he do it, realistically? Without "6) it's a movie" no this is not acceptable

1) Lifetime of firearms experience
2) Si/Te, knowledge of engines and internal makeup of the helicopter
3) Luck, while it's not a huge factor compared to the other 3, he needs a lot of luck
4) Confidence, never questions how he performs near superhuman feats
5) Unusually powerful handgun/ammunition, works for secret service

When I first saw it, it looked dumb. Like really ridiculous. But it was the last scene of the movie and the closer needed to be "cool". So he did something ultra impressive, but not flashy. This is his style.
This is actually a pretty good scene I'd like to see more of. Maybe with different people and types. Or with him in a movie with "badasses" of a different variety... Which they have... but not like this:

Bond is a very talented individual, obviously. But he is even MORE experienced than talented. He is the epitome of the classic combination of skillful perfection.
Whilst, outside of the same media, Kirito from Sword Art Online, is not experienced, but rather ludicrously, if even realistically, talented. To the point where it would "raise some eyebrows".

This is an interesting mix that I feel has not been implemented enough. On the peer-peer feeling level. We see the "talented" person working for a "experienced" group but almost never 2 groups of similar levels of ability at odds with one another,

This is a good comparison, because they are the same, but have different ends to the same ability. Universes aside.

[Capitalist Pig]

I would have to see the scene to have a better understanding of how to answer your question. In war zones, helicopters have been brought down by small arms fire from common "battle rifles." For example, at least one United States Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter was downed in the course of the 2003 invasion of Iraq in the attack on Karbala, allegedly by a farmer with an old German bolt-action 7.62mm rifle. The pilots were captured and shown on Iraqi TV alongside the downed bird. It's not totally unheard of, and so it's definitely within the realm of possibility. But again, the devil's in the details...

[Adam Strange]

I’ve seen helicopters being repaired at a repair facility, and they are basically nothing more than a very light weight (read, no shielding) turbine engine driving some very high speed gears to the rotor, surrounded by a very thin shell of aluminum foil that passes for a body. You could punch holes in the body with a pencil, so I imagine that the key to helicopter survival is to hope for a poor aim and not get hit in the engine or transmission.

I heard that Helicopter gunners in Vietnam would sit on their helmets because the helmet provided better protection against ground fire than the floor.

[Capitalist Pig]

I’ve seen helicopters being repaired at a repair facility, and they are basically nothing more than a very light weight (read, no shielding) turbine engine driving some very high speed gears to the rotor, surrounded by a very thin shell of aluminum foil that passes for a body. You could punch holes in the body with a pencil, so I imagine that the key to helicopter survival is to hope for a poor aim and not get hit in the engine or transmission.

I heard that Helicopter gunners in Vietnam would sit on their helmets because the helmet provided better protection against ground fire than the floor.

Military helicopters generally have a bit more shielding and most of the important stuff is on top of the airframe anyway so difficult to hit with ground fire unless you're weaving through mountains and buildings. Medium and heavy machine guns manned by a competent gunner are a big threat to low-flying helicopters, but as noted above small arms fire can also be deadly if the pilot(s) aren't careful. A pistol seems like a very long stretch at being able to take down a helicopter, especially because their range is so limited. It's probably not impossible, but extremely improbable. Your best bet would be trying to hit the flight crew during a vulnerable phase of flight (very low stationary hover, or the initial moments of takeoff or landing) and having a heavy enough round to punch through the windscreen. Even if you could shoot critical components reliably with a pistol (engines, rotor assemblies, etc) it may damage the aircraft but not critically enough to where the pilot(s) are unable to safely land or get the heck out of there. A small hydraulic, oil, or fuel leak isn't immediately fatal to any aircraft's operation; fixed- or rotary-wing.

[Capitalist Pig]

Found the scene in question.

https://youtu.be/jpjPv0kq3zQ?t=133

Yeah, this is pure Hollywood lol. Nobody can shoot a pistol that far. That's like launching nukes at the sun.

Also, that pilot fucking sucks at autorotating. There's no reason the landing should have been that hard, and why he didn't deploy his gear the second he knew he was making an emergency landing I have no idea. Also, things don't explode like that.

But hey, I'm sure it's a very fun popcorn flick like most Bond films are.

[Capitalist Pig]

What an actual low level autorotation looks like: