Probably a stupid question by a non helicopter pilot
Hey guys I'm a GA pilot and no practically nothing about helicopters. However last week I saw these strangest thing and I'm trying to figure out what I was seeing.
I was driving up a relatively steep hill in a heavily forested area and was very surprised as I topped the hill to see a helicopter about a half mile ahead at a very low altitude.. less than 200 feet.
My immediate thought was we got a chopper in trouble and there's tons of forest here and he must be looking around the road for a parking lot to put it down...
Instead he continued to follow the road about 50 mph. A little faster than traffic, and swerving a little bit left and right and making a few turns that I would call uncoordinated if it was fixed wing.
After a couple of miles he banked away from the road, again it didn't look pretty.
I don't know much about helicopters but I'm pretty sure it was one of the Robinson line because it had the very tall post for the rotor. If so, I know they are often used for training but I'm trying to imagine why anyone would be training at a very low altitude in a place with so little options for emergency landings.
I was concerned enough that I actually checked the news later but thankfully nothing happened..
So any ideas what I might have been watching? I'm pretty good with heights. He was very low and there is no way I would ever repeat his show in a 172.