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Old 29th Jul 2020, 21:52
  #17 (permalink)  
ShyTorque

Avoid imitations
 
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Wandering the FIR and cyberspace often at highly unsociable times
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I saw similar to this in NZ. We were on holiday and had just parked on a corner of the public car park at an airfield (my young sons wanted to look at the aircraft; it was a wet and windy day so we stayed in the car). As we stopped, a single Squirrel landed ten metres from us on the airport grass, adjacent to an unlocked gate in the one metre high fence. The pilot put the rotors to idle then to my increasing surprise got out, unloaded luggage and his two passengers and then all three of them went out of the airfield through the gate into the car park, with the pilot carrying the luggage. They went into an adjacent building and he was gone for quite some time (well over ten minutes), leaving the aircraft running, completely unattended. Anyone could have approached it through the gate, or even got in (I felt like I should get in and chop the engine for him). Because it was a gusty day I soon became concerned that the rotors might flap and strike the tail boom, or worse. I reversed my car away to put a bit more space between us. The pilot eventually walked back out to the helicopter, strapped in, flung the throttle forwards, lifted off very rapidly and swung to his left around the tail, right into the path of another helicopter passing behind him, causing both to take avoiding action. Totally ignorant, amateurish behaviour.
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