A Utah Police AS350 B2 lands atop an outcrop of rock in Washington County during the rescue of an injured hiker
This landing was perfromed by Utah Police pilot Terry Mercer and herewith are some of his comments relating to the landing:
"I had looked at the pinnacle when I first got there, but decided the SAR team would be "ledged" out and have no access to the victim. As I dropped the rope team up high one of the first team members had hiked to the victim and then explored out to the pinnacle and sort of goat-hopped out to it, showing me that they could get on and off of the pinnacle."
"A quick visual of the pinnacle and I knew that it was safe, doable, and the closest site possible. It immediately changed the entire operation from a 1-1.5 day event to a 2-3 hr operation."
"I shut down on the pinnacle on the first landing to evaluate the footprint. The starts were the worst as the ac sort of shifted weight as the blades began to swing."
"It was on that third landing that I got sloppy and landed about 15 inches back and so when Cory got out the aircraft sort of teetered back on the skids. The U-tube footage is when I started it back up and was positioning it forward again. That's why I was alone and landed about 4-5 times to sort of feel out the footprint and determine where I'd be the most solid."