PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Helicopter Versus Bear
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Old 1st Mar 2017, 20:28
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heliduck
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: On top of the Longline
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The photo of the bear wrapped in a net sitting under the tail makes the hair on the back of neck stand up. The only thing that should be under the tail of a helicopter is your swag(Australian version of a bed roll) so you have something to hang the mosquito net from. I would have had the load out the front of the machine so I could see it & minimises the chance of getting the skids hook on lift off.
Tragic outcome for the bear, hopefully the discussion here will help prevent any of us having a similar incident. I had an Uncommanded release of an empty longline once on a hired machine, the manual release cable wasn't adjusted properly. I hadn't thought to manually move the hook through its range of movement during preflight & ensure the cable didn't activate the mechanism, but I certainly check that regularly now! The machine had been maintained by a eurocopter dealer & had all the required checks signed off. Never trust anyone was my lesson, trust but verify.
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