Can You Believe?

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Originally Posted by Ratel10mm

Dauphine I think, & yes they're very nice looking. Them & The old Bell Triple 2 (the heli in Airwolf) are the best looking civi heli's imo.

If the situation put forward by PhilipA is correct, it's extremely sad, but yeah, I don't see how they could have saved them without the gear due to the down draft. I'm presuming Palmer's heli was rescuing people from roof tops or islands where the down draft wouldn't be such an issue?

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Wasn't Airwolf a Gazelle or am I thinking Blue Thunder?

Too long ago.... :(

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Originally Posted by hook

TV crew couldn't save them, they had to make the news.

Clive Plamer was able to do it in his helo.
Clive Palmer uses chopper to rescue 60 Local Gold Coast News | goldcoast.com.au | Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

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Doesn't say how that was actually achieved? He'd be lucky to fit three or four people in the average light or mid helo...and yet he saved 60. I suspect he had a fair bit of time up his sleeve and a fair bit of space.

Did they all hang off the skids?

Either way....not the same as a rescue from a car roof in rain and a raging torrent.

Some of you guys never cease to amaze me.

Making comments on what some bloke should or shouldn't have done.

The chopper pilot made a call based on what he saw in a highly stressfull situation, and a big part of it would of been his confidence in himself to do something, based on his flying experience. He is not thinking about wash or whatever. He is asking himself, can I get down there and do something or not. All in a split second.

He made a call and has to live with that forever. Maybe some chopper pilot with mustering skills COULD have pulled off some miraculous rescue, but it comes down to making decisions in a split second under intense pressure.

Unless you have ever been in a life or death situation, both yours and someone elses, you will never understand. It is a very hard thing to have someone's life depending upon your actions, and it never goes away.

Haven't seen much of that happen behind a keyboard.

CC

The dark one doing the beach survailance could be one of the southern ones, possibly an Aero-Spattle Gazelle, were a sleak looking bit of kit from memory, probably looking for looters ;) in that case they need a shooter with a hypo gun :bat:

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Originally Posted by UncleHo

The dark one doing the beach survailance could be one of the southern ones, possibly an Aero-Spattle Gazelle, were a sleak looking bit of kit from memory, probably looking for looters ;) in that case they need a shooter with a hypo gun :bat:

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No more Aero Spat UncleHo....got swallowed a long time ago....Eurocopter now, who are owned by EADS, who own just about all the Euro aviation companies....MBB, Airbus, CASA (Of Spain), etc.....

Gazelle is probably too old now....but maybe, didn't see it..... :)

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Originally Posted by Col.Coleman

Some of you guys never cease to amaze me.

Making comments on what some bloke should or shouldn't have done.

The chopper pilot made a call based on what he saw in a highly stressfull situation, and a big part of it would of been his confidence in himself to do something, based on his flying experience. He is not thinking about wash or whatever. He is asking himself, can I get down there and do something or not. All in a split second.

He made a call and has to live with that forever. Maybe some chopper pilot with mustering skills COULD have pulled off some miraculous rescue, but it comes down to making decisions in a split second under intense pressure.

Unless you have ever been in a life or death situation, both yours and someone elses, you will never understand. It is a very hard thing to have someone's life depending upon your actions, and it never goes away.

Haven't seen much of that happen behind a keyboard.

CC

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Good point, there is a thread on this forum which states the pilot has blamed himself for what happened, and is a mess.It will take him a long time to recover, and he will always remember.Lets hope he has good support from his organization to help him thru it. Bob

Putting a helicopter down to pick up from that area would have involved a hover entry, if the pilot didn't have a very experienced crewman the chances are that those on the roof of the car may have bought the machine down as well with a panicked entry.

A hovering helicopter has many times been described as a bubble floating in the air, making a hover entry has to be done very carefully not to upset the aircraft balance. The smaller the machine the bigger the problem.

The would have been a significant problem with rotor wash that could also have potentially blown them off the car into the water.




Martyn

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Originally Posted by Celtoid

We're certainly on the TV all over the world.

I've been getting calls from friends in the US and Scotland.

Dauphine?...maybe. Did it have a fan instead of a tail rotor?

Augusta 109 and Sikorsky S76s look pretty similar too....unless you are familiar with them.

I know there are a few of those in Oz.

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Saw it again at the dump, tail rotor, looks very much like the aircraft the military leased till they got ones that worked[ think they were gazelles] had the A.B.C, logo on the side. They sound good, look good, Bob.

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Originally Posted by bob10

Saw it again at the dump, tail rotor, looks very much like the aircraft the military leased till they got ones that worked[ think they were gazelles] had the A.B.C, logo on the side. They sound good, look good, Bob.

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Hey Bob,

If they are the same as the Military leased jobs they were Augusta 109s.

Cheers,

Kev.

Hind sight is a wonderful thing, its all to easy to judge people when you havent been in that situation.