To: heedm. .. .Your urban legend is partially correct. It was a Bell but not a model 47. It was a Huey in Vietnam. The crew was pulling maintenance on the helicopter and all of the seats and some of the decking was removed. The mechanic was sitting on a wooden box while running the helicopter. The wire drive on the collective servo broke and the servo went to the high end. The mechanic and his assistant tried laying their full weight on the collective but to no avail. The mechanic tried maintaining directional control but his seat (box) was moving all around. From what I understand he ended shutting off the fuel and the helicopter made a rotating landing damaging the skid shoes but with little other damage.. . . . <small>[ 17 March 2002, 19:39: Message edited by: Lu Zuckerman ]</small>