PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - What was your scariest moment in a helicopter?
Old 30th Oct 2006, 11:02
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uncle ian
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: suffolk uk
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As already said its afterwards you get really scared, no time for it during the emergency unless..........some one has a gun to your head for a while. 1988, flying from Stansted to Leicester except my passenger decided he wanted to land at a high security prison en route to get his mates "out of jail". I literally had a gun to my head for 15 minutes or so. Even then, and despite threats of "one in the leg if you don't do as your told", the brain is working so hard to find a way out that fear takes a back seat.

After they'd gone and I tried to call the police my mouth was so dry I couldn't talk straight away.

I've had loads of other scares in 35 years of this game but I think believing I was about to be shot as soon as landed takes the biscuit. My only strategy was to continue flying for as long as possible until a way out presented itself thus prolonging the pain. And, of course, the flow of adrenalin slows time down to a crawl............I promise you that 15 minutes felt like hours.
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