I was once tasked to carry a medium girder bridge for the army in W. Germany, during an exercise. For a Puma it was rigged as five loads, three netted and two palletted (or vice versa, it's been a long time since). The loads were categorised as stable because they consisted of long aluminium box sections, which were later built together into the bridge shape by sliding long steel pins through welded on lugs. These box sections were stacked in alternate criss-cross layers, so they made a solid cube in the net.
During a transit with one of the netted loads, accelerating through about 50 kts, there was a sudden jolt through the entire airframe - how we helicopter pilots hate those sudden jolts. At the same time, the crewman made some sort of expletive. Before I could say anything, the so-called "stable" load appeared alongside my window; it was definitely no longer cube shaped! I instinctively flew away from it. The next few seconds were very interesting, with the load flying us, to some extent. But I managed to keep it on the hook until we could put it down again. The load had collapsed inside the net and formed itself into a curved wall, which was very unstable.
That afternoon was to be even more eventful. On a return leg we observed a soldier in a field, madly waving his arms at us. To cut a long story short, we landed alongside; his colleague had collapsed in the heat and his heart wasn't beating properly. We CASEVAC'd him to the nearest hospital, with him lying in the recovery position on the floor. Thankfully, the vibrations from the aircraft helped keep him ticking until we got him there.
Another USL person lift....now what about the tale of the "Santa's little helper on the Christmas tree" up in Scotland, a few years ago?
A certain pilot couldn't understand how the same bloke was at both the pickup and drop off points.....he'd got caught up in the rigging and unfazed, just decided to carry on with the job on arrival!
