Hiller incident
Hello:
I was trading stories with another pilot just yesterday and I related to him an incident I read about in Reader’s Digest about 20 years ago in the Northwestern U.S. about a Hiller that had lost collective control.
From my memory, the pilot was able to turn in his seat and see what had happened, then convinced a passenger, if that’s the right term for asking someone to climb out onto a side basket of a climbing out of control helicopter, thousands of feet above the ground, to pin the control tube back together with what I assume was the non-rotating swashplate. The passenger did it with some tool, which allowed the pilot to gain collective control and get them to the ground. By chance, I met this pilot about 12 years ago in Moses Lake Washington and he fleshed out this fascinating story.
My friend and I are interested to know if anyone has something in print or just memories related to this incident. The Reader’s Digests are long gone from my home.
Thanks, Ron