goaround7
4th Nov 2004, 13:02
November 4, 2004
By Barbara Cole
Nothing was going to stop Sally Ingram-Brown marrying Craig Bricknell yesterday, not even a terrifying helicopter crash on the way to the wedding.
And the traumatised, battered and bruised bride finally married her groom after he and priest had to be rescued from the top of a mountain. It all could have ended in tragedy.
The couple, from Durban, wanted a wedding that would make them feel on top of the world and had chosen a romantic spot on Devil's Peak in the Drakensberg.
The small wedding party booked into the Alpine Heath resort where the bridal dinner was to be held. A helicopter based at another resort was chartered to take the priest, the bride's mother, Judy Stead, and the groom's mother, Yvonne Bricknell, up to the wedding venue.
Then the pilot returned to collect the bride, who was decked out in a beautiful wedding dress, her sister Robyn Lambert, who was also her bridesmaid, and her husband Mike, who runs uShaka Marine World, and a photographer, Chris Hearne.
About a dozen people, including tourists, turned out to wave them on their way.
But then they watched in horror as the helicopter lifted, banked right and headed down the valley and straight into a cable (used as a foofy slide) strung between two hills.
As the cable smashed into the glass dome of the helicopter, it sounded like a gunshot, Mike Lambert recalled last night.
The glass shattered and imploded. The cable snapped and then wrapped around one of the four rotor blades. The helicopter began spinning and careered straight down the gorge at high speed.
The bride and bridesmaid were screaming and Lambert was shouting to the pilot to bank to the right. But the pilot, who was desperately trying to stabilise the machine, had lost his headphones and could not hear.
"I honestly thought that my life was about to end. I thought of my wife and children," said Lambert.
The bride said: "It was terrifying. It was the closest I've come to death."
Then, through some absolute miracle they spotted a piece of flat land at the bottom of the gorge and the pilot managed to lift the helicopter almost horizontally to crash land it in the field.
At first the occupants could not get out of the buckled helicopter as the doors were jammed. Then Lambert forced a door open and everyone piled out.
"The rotors were still spinning wildly and we were worried about being decapitated as we crawled away," said Lambert.
Their ordeal had lasted about a minute and left them in a state of total shock . "We couldn't believe it. We weren't even crying."
The pilot said he believed they had been hit by a bird, but Lambert showed him a gash in the helicopter were the cable left its mark.
The onlookers raced to the rescue and a vehicle was sent to return them to Alpine Heath where they were given some strong drinks. The bride had lost her flowers in the crash, her dress was slightly dirty and her make-up had run.
Meanwhile, the groom, the priest and the two mothers were waiting and waiting at the top of the mountain.
The women were becoming distraught as they realised that there must have been an accident.
With no other helicopter in the Drakensberg, Lambert chartered a helicopter from Durban to go and collect them from the mountain and, some four hours later, the worried group was flown back down to the hotel.
Once everyone was assembled, the wedding went ahead but in the Alpine Heath chapel.
"The bride wasn't too keen to get back in a helicopter," said Lambert.
The two Durban helicopter pilots inspected the crashed helicopter and declared it a write-off. "And they told us that if it hadn't been a Eurocopter, which is the safest in the world, we would have died."
SAFEST IF YOU DON'T FLY IT INO A WIRE MAYBE ? ANY SUBSTANCE TO THAT CLAIM AT THE END OR JUST JOURNO GETTING CARRIED AWAY AGAIN ? COME ON BELL PILOTS....!
By Barbara Cole
Nothing was going to stop Sally Ingram-Brown marrying Craig Bricknell yesterday, not even a terrifying helicopter crash on the way to the wedding.
And the traumatised, battered and bruised bride finally married her groom after he and priest had to be rescued from the top of a mountain. It all could have ended in tragedy.
The couple, from Durban, wanted a wedding that would make them feel on top of the world and had chosen a romantic spot on Devil's Peak in the Drakensberg.
The small wedding party booked into the Alpine Heath resort where the bridal dinner was to be held. A helicopter based at another resort was chartered to take the priest, the bride's mother, Judy Stead, and the groom's mother, Yvonne Bricknell, up to the wedding venue.
Then the pilot returned to collect the bride, who was decked out in a beautiful wedding dress, her sister Robyn Lambert, who was also her bridesmaid, and her husband Mike, who runs uShaka Marine World, and a photographer, Chris Hearne.
About a dozen people, including tourists, turned out to wave them on their way.
But then they watched in horror as the helicopter lifted, banked right and headed down the valley and straight into a cable (used as a foofy slide) strung between two hills.
As the cable smashed into the glass dome of the helicopter, it sounded like a gunshot, Mike Lambert recalled last night.
The glass shattered and imploded. The cable snapped and then wrapped around one of the four rotor blades. The helicopter began spinning and careered straight down the gorge at high speed.
The bride and bridesmaid were screaming and Lambert was shouting to the pilot to bank to the right. But the pilot, who was desperately trying to stabilise the machine, had lost his headphones and could not hear.
"I honestly thought that my life was about to end. I thought of my wife and children," said Lambert.
The bride said: "It was terrifying. It was the closest I've come to death."
Then, through some absolute miracle they spotted a piece of flat land at the bottom of the gorge and the pilot managed to lift the helicopter almost horizontally to crash land it in the field.
At first the occupants could not get out of the buckled helicopter as the doors were jammed. Then Lambert forced a door open and everyone piled out.
"The rotors were still spinning wildly and we were worried about being decapitated as we crawled away," said Lambert.
Their ordeal had lasted about a minute and left them in a state of total shock . "We couldn't believe it. We weren't even crying."
The pilot said he believed they had been hit by a bird, but Lambert showed him a gash in the helicopter were the cable left its mark.
The onlookers raced to the rescue and a vehicle was sent to return them to Alpine Heath where they were given some strong drinks. The bride had lost her flowers in the crash, her dress was slightly dirty and her make-up had run.
Meanwhile, the groom, the priest and the two mothers were waiting and waiting at the top of the mountain.
The women were becoming distraught as they realised that there must have been an accident.
With no other helicopter in the Drakensberg, Lambert chartered a helicopter from Durban to go and collect them from the mountain and, some four hours later, the worried group was flown back down to the hotel.
Once everyone was assembled, the wedding went ahead but in the Alpine Heath chapel.
"The bride wasn't too keen to get back in a helicopter," said Lambert.
The two Durban helicopter pilots inspected the crashed helicopter and declared it a write-off. "And they told us that if it hadn't been a Eurocopter, which is the safest in the world, we would have died."
SAFEST IF YOU DON'T FLY IT INO A WIRE MAYBE ? ANY SUBSTANCE TO THAT CLAIM AT THE END OR JUST JOURNO GETTING CARRIED AWAY AGAIN ? COME ON BELL PILOTS....!