A newbie question. Compared with fixed wing, how safe is helicopter flying? (serious)

[pamelama]

I understand that helos are more prone to crashes but no one ever says how much more. Is it 2x? 3x? or fraction of that? No disrespect meant by this question, I am truly curious. Edit: is there any statistics kept on this type of information?

uno online

[rotornut]

Helicopters do tend to crash more. I always figured that as a flying machine flown correctly a helicopter should crash less than a fixed wing. You can after all land just about anywhere if you encounter a problem. Have a chip light or a malfunctioning indicator, just land and check things out maybe wait for help if needed. Weather starting to deteriorate? Land and wait for it to clear. Fuel running out due to headwinds etc.? Land and wait for a solution. 

All this being said helicopters do crash and the reason tends to be poor decisions by the humans involved. Helicopters and the people around them suffer greatly when poor decisions are made. Poor decisions can be made by regulators, management, dispatcher, maintenance personnel etc. but the final decision normally rests with the PIC. Fly safe, make good decisions and you will have a great career no matter what route you take.