Most memorable passenger, or passengers you've carried..

[BigMike]

On a more light hearted note, who was the most memorable passenger, or passengers you have flown. A pilot I worked with in Central Australia once flew 2 naked girls in the company's R44. He had made the comment to them the night before in the bar that naked chicks go for free. Next morning they were at the helipad. Quick call to head office which gave approval, providing pictures were taken as proof. I think the photos are still on the office wall at the Rock.

Cheers BigMike

[hihover]

One of my most memorable passengers was King Abdullah of Jordan's bodyguard who - facing the then Prince of Jordan - puked all over him.

We landed in a field and the bodyguard got out for some air then we continued. I never did hear what happened to him when they got back home.

[FLI]

Took two naked ladies to Battersea Heliport once.

They started at Goodwood as nicely dressed young ladies but arrived at Battersea as naked young ladies.

Must have been my flying!

The male passengers then 'mooned' at the other helicopter's passengers before disappearing in a limo.

[Hughesy]

Hayley Marie, NZ's Penthouse pet. :D
Not naked though :O

Hughesy

[TheFlyingSquirrel]

I remember a couple of Irish guys telling me how they took Elton John into a UK gig. He had specific instructions. No one was to touch him, talk to him or look at him. Well hey knuckle head ! Listening to you is pain enough !!!

[Hidden Agenda]

Of the celebrity variety I can’t decide if it was Michael Jackson or Dame Edna Everage!

Of the gutsy type it was ‘Harry the Hook’ who was based in a small town in the county of Herefordshire in the west of England and I first encountered one dark night when I picked him off the side of ‘the Jebel’ down by the border.

Of the adventurous type it must be the late Sir Wilfred Thesiger. He brought a lot of sand into the helicopter.

Of the beautiful type it was the wife of a very English stockbroker living out in one of the colonies. The most beautiful and charming creature I have ever met. Only met her once but twenty years later I am still smitten.

[KENNYR]

Michael Heseltine, Alvin Stardust, Sir Rex Hunt.....to name but a few.

[Corax]

Pope John Paul II

Duke and Duchess of York as young newlyweds, before children and the ensuing divorce.

As for you buggers flying nekid girls around why not post the piccies or email them to me. :)

[BigMike]

Bono, and Jean Reno, both very friendly.
Most memorable was the very atractive girl from a Contiki tour, who was sitting beside me in the 500 while flying a scenic over Kings Canyon in Oz. She grabbed my thigh everytime we turned. There are alot of turns on a 15 minute scenic around the Canyon...

Cheers BigMike

[on21]

Corax

Thats a hell of a passenger, they don't come much bigger than The Pontiff. It would be like having God as a co-pilot:D

[diginagain]

Michael Heseltine, ............., Sir Rex Hunt.....to name but a few.

Bu66er, I was going to mention them! I didn't fly as a crewman with you, did I?

[rotorpol]

I flew with Michael Douglas in Mallorca Island, while doing a video for local goverment to promote local natural areas, he is a good hiker and fixed wing private pilot.

[BlenderPilot]

My 3 year old son in the copilot seat! Does that count?

[vaqueroaero]

Probably the 90 year old lady who went up for a birthday treat. She had never flown in anything before. She loved it and was not quiet for 1 second during the whole time. (She asked for my phone number when we landed.........)

[overpitched]

My most memorable is still the grumpy plick that sat there with his arms folded and a bored look on his face for an hour and a half in an r22 then signed off on my commercial ticket. I coulda kissed him.

[international hog driver]

Paul, Linda & the kids. (and her voice was not better after a few!)

Kylie Minogue.... but hey who hasn'tt flown her! (Big Kahuna where are you??)

Quite a few Bilionaires.... but you never know their name, just the fact they control just about everything on the planet.

Pollies dont count!:ok:

:E :E

[tinpis]

The 100 year old birthday boy in Sweden in the soviet antique.
Who gonna own up to that one? :E

[Gus T Breeze]

Flew King Abdullah of Jordan when he was Prince Abdullah back in the early 80's. Took him down the Inner German Border on a sightseeing tour before the iron curtain came down.

Also flew the musician Mike Oldfield - picked him up from a football stadium in Essen, which was one of his gig venues during a tour of Germany. He was a real gent!

[SASless]

A 13 year old girl from Mexico who had been dragged beneath a drunk drivers car for almost a half mile and her Father who was bringing his daughter to the hospital for specialized treatment.

Their strength of character was humbling.

[Stringfellow Dork]

SASless - if ever there was something helicopters were designed to do, jobs like that would have to be it. I hope one day to be able to do such work.

[Whirley]

MY DAD!!! I hope he was proud.

[tottigol]

A 13 year old girl from Mexico who had been dragged beneath a drunk drivers car for almost a half mile and her Father who was bringing his daughter to the hospital for specialized treatment. SASLESS, many, many of those in the last five years.

And in a previous life King Carlos of Spain, Prince Karim Aga Khan (both at the same time) and Italy's Prime Minister Berlusconi (before he entered politics).

[imabell]

aah, the beautiful anika when we were making treasure hunt, the nights, the moet. anika come back. pleeease.



http://www.bluetonguehelicopters.com.au/pprune/anika.jpg

:{

[Revolutionary]

I flew a dead guy once, out over the ocean. He was stuffed in an urn and released by his wife, scattering in the wind and over the water. When I came back I discovered most of him stuck to the tailboom. "Excuse me ma'am, why don't you exit the helicopter on this side please"...

[407 Driver]

Pierre E Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada (from 1968 to 1984). Took he and his 3 sons for a flight in 1984.

[John Eacott]

Imabell,

What went wrong with your Treasure Hunt? Our's got much clearer pictures ;) :cool: :p

http://www.helicopterservice.com.au/photos/Suzie%20Treasure%20Hunt%2002.jpg

A pilot I worked with in Central Australia once flew 2 naked girls in the company\'s R44

I think the photos are still on the office wall at the Rock

And on PPRuNe :p ;)

http://www.helicopterservice.com.au/photos/pprune/R44%20take%202.jpg

[Ascend Charlie]

Governor General of Oz, Vice-Prez Chaney of You Essay, Archbishop of Canterbury, Tom Cruise and several accompanying females, Russell Crowe minus the telephone, Nicole Kidman, Elle Macpherson (had hairy knees), Prince Harry, Princess Anne, millionaires, billionaires and squillionaires.

And as Hoggy said, pollies don't count, even though we took their money to carry their worthless hides. Same for sporting,TV, and showbiz "personalities". But usually it is not because they DON'T count, it's because they CAN'T count.

[diginagain]

Hey, John, that's the 'doctored' photo. Where's the one with both birds on it, or didn't you want to inflict that on us!:E

[Bravo73]

Yawn. Didn't we go through this a couple of months ago...? :yuk:

[Gerhardt]

Bravo, no need to be a jerk. I'm thoroughly enjoying this thread! I'm with whily, though, that the most memorable one is the first time you take one of your parents up.

[Stringfellow Dork]

Nice a:mad:se in the Suzi Perry shot. She's not bad either! :D

[Capt Hollywood]

The prince and princess of Lichtenstein. Nice chap, CPL back home apparently, the missus was a bit of a dragon though. Kept complaining about the hot weather. January's possibly not the best time to visit Central Australia if you're not in the mood for high temps!

Clinton's Secret Service team.

The wife of the co-founder of Microsoft (or is that stretching it a bit!) The security check for that flight seemed far more severe than the Secret Service team!

We fly a few kids from the Starlight and Make-A-Wish Foundations, they're not famous flyers but they're definitely the most rewarding flights.

Hollywood :cool:

[Bravo73]

Here you go, Gerhardt. The previous thread (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=147068). Enjoy away.

But then you probably weren't around the last time this came up.


Regards,

jerk


PS There're all SLF to me. No matter the sex, colour or size of wallet. Some are just nicer than others.

[Gerhardt]

Excellent sense of humor, Bravo. Sorry about calling you a jerk. I'm a little quick on the defense trigger but will work on that characteristic of mine. Maybe I'm just pissed my helo training flight got cancelled today.


Hope the thread continues on a positive note.

[13snoopy]

My 79 year old mother. She'd never been further off the ground than a step ladder. I think she held her breath the entire time.

[ec135driver]

Today?

A thirteen year old girl, with multiple injuries, cut from the back seat of a car, after a head-on crash in which her father (the driver) was killed.

She did everything she could to co-operate with the paramedics, even though she had a mangled left foot, broken lower leg, broken pelvis, broken right arm and a head injury.

Sorry guys, but celebs, politicians and the rich don't even come close.

[HeliMark]

Several years ago I was taking Santa to a shopping center. As I was putting Santa in, my boss came up with a 7 year old girl who was cute as a button, and asked if I would fly her with Santa in his sled. She had cancer and the treatments were not going well. I jumped at the chance and the look on that girls face will stay with me the rest of my life.

I had to leave quickly after dropping them off as I was loosing my composure, she looked like my daughter at that age.

[SASless]

ec135driver....aren't the kids the best patients.....they serve as an example to all of us I think.

Gave a flight to a youngster with Leukemia one time....he passed three days later.

Called the boss to get his permission...to be told...in short order never to call with such a request again.




Also was told to fly as long as I wanted...go anywhere the kids desired....take the family along...do as many flights as I thought right.....and make sure the little ones enjoyed the day....and to pick up the expenses on the company card.:ok:

[chester2005]

EC 135
RESPECT !!!!!!!!!!!!!! As much as i would like to do your job when i get my CPL, times like you have described there must make the job quite harrowing.
If we ever meet i will gladly buy you a drink.(or anyone who does that sort of job)

SASLESS
nic gap in your text, for a second i thought your boss was a complete w**ker, obviously not:O :ok:


Sorry all if this brings a little sombre note to the thread but i couldn't help myself.
Credit where credit is due !!!!!

chester

[Nigerian Expat Outlaw]

Just to sort of cheer things back up, I flew Princess Di in Hong Kong in the late 80's and she was absolutely radiant, beautiful and charming.

She asked me my name (I told her in normal military parlance and she said "No, your NAME"), no airs and graces, just lovely.

Gave me a warm feeling, but nothing near some of the posts here.

NEO.

[ShyTorque]

There's a little chinese boy out there somewhere with the same christian name as me.

In the early hours of the morning his mother was in labour and having severe complications so we were called in to casevac her from a small island. He was born in the cabin of the helicopter as we taxied in and shut down. His exhausted but happy mother said she wanted to call him after the crew and asked our names. If she did so he has one chinese name after the crewman and one western name after me. Personally very touchng; I felt the same strong emotions as when my own children were born. Must have had the same effect on the crewman and the ambulance man too as there wasn't a dry eye in the house. :O

[md 600 driver]

the children with cancer[and the familys that support them ] we take flyng every year at sherburn

some of them pass on shortly after, some dont even make it to the airfield but the resolve and determination of these children and the smiles they leave with is price less

steve

[SASless]

Do we see a trend here....the ones that touch us the most are not the famous ones...or the rich ones...or those with power... but rather the ones that show us what courage in the face of adversity is all about. When it comes to flying the young ones particularly.....I am the one that benefits more....knowing I have done something "good" that makes someone else a bit happier at a difficult time in their lives.

If you have not done so....find a way to get involved....you will not regret it. I know I would spend the Bossfellah broke doing it if I could.

[havick]

as for the naked girls it was at ayers rock mid winter, sunrise flight and there were 6 of them (meaning 2 R44 flights). Have the piccies on my laptop if anyone's interested.

[alouette]

Paul McCartney...very nice fella:ok:

[Bronx]

Course we're interested Havick.
Always good to see pics from round the world.

[nutcracker43]

Has to be Heinrich Harrer about 30 years ago-he signed my copy of 'Seven years in Tibet'.

[Gaseous]

I took an old guy for a trip for his 92nd birthday. His bladder was weak and I needed fuel so decided to call in at my old school at Blackpool. When we landed he got out and relieved himself against the fence at the side of the apron in full view. His eyesight wasnt too good and he hadn' t seen all the people he was facing in the supermarket car park next to the school.

He came alive during the flight and told me all about his one previous flight in a WW2 glider to the battle at Pegasus Bridge! A great old chap, now sadly gone.

[Hughes500]

Two people come to mind, a ww2 Lancaster bomber pilot I gave a trial lesson to for his 80th birthday, only discovered after the lesson that was the first time he had flown since being shot down over Germany, much respect !
On a lighter note flying Angelia Jolie over the Cerne Abbas Man with a comment does one liked a man with a big dick !

[Geoffersincornwall]

The little old lady who had a tour of London for her 90th birthday and was completely thrilled by the views, as she stepped out of the front seat of my 206 I helped her down and she said "Young man, that was much better than real flying". :confused: I guessed she meant fixed wing - we all know she was right there :E

Not so happy memories....

The arab sheik who downed a half bottle of scotch as we flew over Northolt and then proceeded to slide open the window and chuck the bottle out! :{

Least understandable....

Eddie, the Glaswegian Police sergeant whose first mission with me was a magical mystery tour as I could not understand a word he said.

Most fun passenger .....

Ged Hughes, famous for his Egyptian potatoes.

Most gentlemanly gentleman....

Niki Papadakis, director of AMH and all round good egg. :)

Best looking....

apart from my wife of course - the Playboy Bunny who had legs all the way up to her..... and sat next to me all the way from Battersea to Brands Hatch where she proceeded to remove her attire and sit on a horse in front of a knight in shining armour along with 4 other naked beauties whilst promoting the BMW County Race Championships. ;)

Most heart rending ....

The wee baby who had been caught in a flash fire and cried all the way to the burns centre at Plymouth. Even ATC said afterwards that the sound during radio calls was moving to say the least.

G.

[zlocko2002]

Prime Minister, he behaved as a prick and now he is in jail :E

[DennisK]

Can I join the Celeb pax club ... but where to start. About 1973 I picked up the delightful young lady, Maggy Philbin who I thought has just been decorating, but the boiler suit was fashion I later discovered, and a little later the infamous Nastasi who played quite well at Wimbledon I'm told ... my business taught Mark Thatcher to fly in early 1980s and he was great company once airborne. Visiting his home near Eastbourne, I collected Sir Hartley Shawcross, he of Nuremburg fame of course, a real nicety was the ex of George Best, and a Miss World (Mary Stavin) who fell asleep on my shoulder as we transitted ex-Beauleigh to Battersea, and of course his Lordship himself. In the actress department there was the gorgeous French lady, Juliette Binoche, then Marion 'd'Arbo of 007 fame when I flew her to a superb bash at St George's Hill, near Weybridge. Quite a few race drivers, Barry Sheene, God bless him, when we taught him to fly an Enstrom ... ditto the rally drivers, Ari Vatenan, Tony Pond and the great Aussie F1 driver, Alan Jones who won the US 1986 Grand Prix which was held in the car park of Ceasars Palace! The wonderfull race car designer Colin Chapman who bought an Enstrom from us. Hard to believe that in the late 1970s, I flew HRH Charles who was judging at the UK heli championships at Epsom Racecourse, and while on the royalty bit, I picked up Captain Mark Phillips from his home in Gloucester and flew him to a Hickstead meeting. I gave out a good earful when the 'something of the night' Michael Howard was giving a talk up at Manchester ... with a captive audience almost two hours telling him why we small businessmen were having a hard time due to his politics. Like the others there's too many names to list all, but I remember the chrooner Val Doonican at Booker, Brian Rix who sponsored the disadvantaged kids in 'Sky High and Peter Sissons the political commentator and news presenter. I was once tasked to pick up the classy Peter Stringfellow and fly him to the Isle of Wight for a very special party. When Dennis Thatcher was a director of the motor firm (1983), I flew him to a business meeting. Quite recently the really nice Peter Andre who didn't want to go above 500 feet and of course his effervescent wife (then) the voluptuous Katie Price, who certainly had the right touch to make a sound rotary pilot. Out of a 1978 Farnborough display, I was asked by Robin Blake to fly to Highclere to meet a certain Andrew Lloyd-Webber who I initially thought was a racing driver, but later in the evening, I was so privileged to walk down to the church in his own grounds where he played the church organ with just me as an audience. Flattered I was. Flying Barry Sheene back from a Silverstone truck racing event, he spotted the mansion a mile north east of Henley .. "That's George Harrison's place Den, let's land there." So it was I met the great Beatle. The kitchen of Friary Park had the signature on the walls of just about any celeb or 'name' you could think of. In his multi million pound recording studio, GH played us his forthcoming release entitled "Somewhere in England" but I've never seen it actually released. Many years later when Lord March asked me to display at Goodwood House for the Barry Sheene commorative dinner, I met Harrison's son Dani, who was about five when we first met at Henley, now a handsome six footer. In the music department, there was Cosy Powell of White Snake who played his 1812piece on drums at the 'Monsters of Rock' concert at Castledon. The B206 was rigged up to flash lights from 500 feet and in time to his drum beat. Elaine Page at a party for the opening of Evita and Mike Read where we flew in to a 'Roundabout' broadcast. Tony Blackburn asked us to fly him to Cirencester for a Christmas business party he was hosting. On one glorious occasion, I was asked to fly in to Selsdon park Hotel with Sam Torrance for a pro/amateur round of golf. Sam shot 68 ... I shot a miserable 99 but he did sign my cap and score card. I mustn't foget the rascally Arthur Scargill who I punted around several mines prior to a big strike. (there's even a couple of mines in Kent! - one was called Betteshangar or something like that) Around the mid 1990s I collected Lester Piggott and Frankie Dettori ex Goodwood circa 18.00 and flew them to the Windsor course where Piggott raced in the 19.00 evening race. That got the punters thinking! I think I need to sign off myself now although there's surely as many more names to come as the ones mentioned and all I can say is in almost every case I enjoyed every minute flying with the great and mostly good. So to the wannabee rotary career pilots ... if you like 'names' the air taxi pilot job takes some beating. Bye for now and safe flying to all. Dennis Kenyon.

[Lantern10]

Some lovely touching stories here guys.
Many thanks.

[heliboy999]

I had an elderly lady passenger who flew with me and she was clutching an old book as she got into the helicopter. Upon landing she asked me if she could sign it for her as it was her first helicopter flight. As I looked back through the pages I saw various signitures of 747 captains and the like as she had travelled the world and I thought it was a nice momeneto but the book was ancient. As I looked further back I decided to go right the way to the front and there was a photo tucked inside the front cover of a beautiful girl standing next to a Mosquito. She had been a female delivery pilot during the war and the list of aircraft she had flown was amazing! I wish I could have sat and talked to her abaout her flying but it was not to be. I thought about her yesterday at the Cenotaph for Rememberance Parade.

I flew Terry Pratchett Around when he was doing his tour of England talking on behalf of The Alzheimer's Society. Was amazing talking to him about his life and some of the characters he has written and who they were based on. He just finds the humour in everything.

[Evanelpus]

Quite recently the really nice Peter Andre who didn't want to go above 500 feet and of course his effervescent wife (then) the voluptuous Katie Price

Probably best, above that height, her t:mad::mad:s might have exploded!

Nice read this thread, thanks for all your memories.

[hihover]

It looks like you've flown more names than the rest of us added together. I'm sure you've forgotten as many as you remembered.

I think one of my most memorable passengers has to be the King of Jordan's bodyguard. On a flight from Battersea to Hereford, my boss who was also in the back asked me if I could land because someone felt sick. As I landed, the bodyguard ran away into the bushes, to finish what he started by puking on the king. Poor guy, probably beheaded when he got home......I'm joking....maybe just 20 lashes.

Tam

[estepo]

There's a place in Surrey where I land if I'm seeing family in the village we used to live. It's a large house with wonderful woodland surrounding it. Last December, I noticed a Variety bus leaving with children on ventilators as I went to pick up the helicopter.

Every year at Christmas time, the owners pack a sleigh with amazing presents, attach 2 reindeers (which have been at the property as long as I can remember) and their gardener dresses up as Santa. He drives the sleigh through the woodland and the owners two lovely daughters dress up as elves and leap around the trees.

The children are absolutely gobsmacked when they spot Santa with the reindeer.

They do this selflessly for around 40 terminally ill children every year.

Tragically, it's often one of the last things they get to see.

[Machismo]

My most memorable was and old Vietnam pilot. I didn't know he was a pilot when he got in. About 10 minuets into the ride I looked over and he had tears running down his cheeks. I tried not to look, but he started to tell me how he flew OH-6s in Vietnam in 1968. The last mission he flew he was shot through the leg and his Co-Pilot was shot in the head. He told me the whole story from start to finish. I was out 30 minuets past our flight time just so I could hear it all. He was crying he said because he hadn't flown in a helicopter since that day and saw us and knew he had to.

I felt honored to fly this man, and I think he cleaned out some skeleton's that day too. I hope he remembers me, because I will forever remember him.

[wallism]

I took an old boy, my 85 year old neighbour Alf, for a local. We lifted from the field adjoining his property and went over the old Hatfield Aerodrome where DeHavilland used to make planes. He told me he was a cabinetmaker and used to work there making aero engines out of timber! He also made Concorde parts from wood as a pattern maker, later they were formed from aluminium by aero workers. He also went for a trial lesson in a Cessna from RAF Henlow nearby when he was 80.

[topendtorque]

In the tourist joy flight area you do enjoy a lot of as above. Although I didn't meet him one of our drivers told me of one of his annual regulars and very nice old fella, the late 'Rumpole." Another told me of an old fella that had climbed Mt Sonder as a lad and just had to bring his old cronies back to enjoy it as the sun set over a splendid clear sky desert, complete with champers and the sound of the William Tell overture I think it was. poor pilot had lumped all this stereo stuff up there but of course enjoyed the result.
My personal favourite was the late Robert Holmes a Court, a very humorous man. As pilot you get to act as quasi sales agent often, so whilst waiting for the rest and at a cattle yard I summed up my spiel by turning to his son and saying, 'Young fella, cattle are a good investment cos while you're sleeping their growing'. Without a second to think ol'mate turned and said, "Yes ---- that's why our company opened an office in New York, Our company never sleeps."

I did get to fly a couple of nudies but not by design. Turned out they needed extracating from a contract yard builders site as they had demanded out. Yard builder had somehow pressganged them (a couple of reasonably well built tourists) into his employ. When they got there they discovered it was nude rules. OK but in November, very bloody hot days handling railway iron? All they had on that side of a flooded river when I arrived was a pair of gloves. Their car was near our headquarters. A half hour flight and I dropped them off at their car and was able to extend our hospitality for an overnight, good clean shower etc. I understood completely when as we left they threw their gloves on the ground.

Most notable pax of late was a twelve foot rock python. We had been having our usual late arvo tot when Mrs Tet, in excitable voice says, there's a snake between your legs. Casually as possible I glanced down and locked eye to eye with this very large headed snake. So as close to Chips Rafferty as possible I says, "G'day ol' fella, how're yer going?" Whereupon he quickly back tracked, but of course he had to be caught and shifted 'somewhere' quite a ways away didn't he? Which I did in an old mail bag and from the seat while perched on a bank of a large dam flung the mail bag outwards. Only problem was the end flapped over and ol'mate ended up nearly under the flying machine immediately contemplating it as, 'good cover'. This I observed as, "not good" and quickly buggered orf, whilst checking that he hadn't managed to get on board to check out such interesting things as the engine cooling fan.

[Capetonian]

Quite recently .......... the voluptuous Katie Price

I hope you thanked her for the mammaries.

[smudge07]

I flew Berlusconi from Prestwick to Gleneagles for the G8 in 2005. He was waring more makeup than most of the women I know.

My sister in-law is Italian - when she found out I had flown him and had not euthanized myself for the sake of her country - she said she would never forgive me. Thank goodness he resigned on Sat I might get a Christmas card this year:hmm:

One of my colleagues at the time flew Putin and his entourage. The route from Prestwick was up the coast and then down the Clyde. When he got near Gare Loch he thought it would be funny to point out a military asset and told them 'on the left you can see in the distance Faslane our nuclear submarine base' to which one of the Putin's associates calmly replied 'Yes we know'.......

[ronan mcmahon]

Yesterdays flight was a lovely lady in her early fifties from Dublin to the most northern tip of Donegal who was unable to travel by road due to terminal cancer. Flying her through the Donegal mountains was particularly poignant as she described how she used to climb them regularly.Her husband informed me that he had beaten the disease four years previously and now had to watch his wifes illness take its toll.

So I for one got one more lesson on the fact that health is indeed priority.

[BlenderPilot]

Just Yesterday . . . and Antonio Banderas was with her . . . .

http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PPRUNETWO/OscarSalmaFB.jpg*

Then before that last week, Lula Da Silva and before that Bill Gates, George Bush, Julia Roberts, Julio Iglesias, and my 5 year old son . . . ;-)

[fijdor]

Next time she comes back, try to mention my name... please.

JD

[rancid]

stink workers to an from southeast asia sea oilrigs :ugh:

[ShyTorque]

The most memorable pax is the one I'm flying today. He owns the aircraft and pays my salary.

[rotorfossil]

Noisiest - Jon Bon Jovi and team to a gig. Then had to spend hours in a Winnebago behind the sound stage. Put headset on in the end!

Most affected me - an old guy for a joyride. It turned out that the last time he had been in an aeroplane was 1918 in a Sopwith Camel over the Western Front.

Nicest senior officer - Air Chief Marshal Sir Andrew Humphrey for some helicopter training, a really nice guy.

[Benet]

Definitely my mum. She'd never flown before.

http://www.hovercam.com/P1020225-3.jpg

Moreover, I'd never carried a passenger before - this was right after my PPL, and I had only ever carried my instructor!

She was very excited for the entire five minutes while I wobbled over the valleys of Cumbria in an R22 - a big whoop as the ground fell away and a big hug after we landed.

Better still, someone was on hand with a video camera. What more could I want?

[EN48]

No one famous, but a memorable experience nevertheless. When I moved to a beautiful Vermont village a couple of years ago, some of the locals found out I am a helicopter pilot and asked if I would give them a ride. One spectacular October day I showed up with the helicopter to give rides to about 10 interested folks. On one flight, the ages ranged from 10 years old to 87, and all on this flight were relatives. We did a 30 minute senic tour during which the 87 year old, the unofficial matriarch of the village with family going back several generations, asked if we could fly over her house, which we did. Of all the passengers we carried that day, she had the biggest smile at the end of the flight. On the following Sunday in church, the minister asked members of the congregation what they had learned in the past week. This old gal said, "I learned that I could fly in a helicopter and live to tell about it." Sadly, two months later her house burned to the ground and she survived only because a local volunteer fireman decided to go straight to the fire rather than going to the firehouse first. After a long recovery, she is doing fine and wants to go flying again.

[Genghis the Engineer]

Just hijacking the thread ever so slightly: this year for the first time I volunteered to help with Project Propeller (http://www.projectpropeller.co.uk/) for the first time.

Frank, the late WW2 navigator I flew to Wickenby and back was a gentleman, and the stories from he and numerous others I met on the day were magnificent.

Okay, I flew there and back in a plank-wing. Needs must! However, I've little doubt that the project would be delighted to hear from any UK based rotary pilots who fancied volunteering.

G

[WOP]

smudge07, your sister-in-law isn't the only one who will never forgive you for that. Nevermind Berlusconi resigning last saturday, it's a matter of principles: when you have such opportunities, you shouldn't waste them.

By any chance, was Putin's associate wearing a military uniform? Might have been Lt. Danskiovich... "Yes, we know that..."

[Sven Sixtoo]

I flew the Queen Mum's hats from Castle of Mey to Aberdeen, in pursuit of the grand old Lady with a fishbone in her throat (in Lossie's other SAR cab).

The biggest problem was stopping a certain very old and senior Master from rummaging her luggage. Given the view from the cockpit of a Sea King to the cabin, I have no idea of the extent to which my orders were obeyed.

Sven

[rotorrookie]

Is the question the most memorable passenger or the most famous one? there is a big difference and often are the most famous ones, or should I rather say the "wanna be famous" are the most boring pricks ever flown with, especially wannabe rich and famous newly rich bankers and business men that thought they could buy the whole world, but that was more a "2007" thing and many of them vapourised in the crisis :cool:
of the famous one I have recently met in my job, Liv Tyler, Ridley Scott, Paul Allen, Mr Napster, Yann Arthus Bertrand, Claudia Schiffer, Clint Eastwood and then few others that Im forgetting
One of the most memorable of all was an elderly lady in a wheelchair that decided to show up unexpected to her granddaughters wedding that was held two hours flight time away in the country site, never forget the looks one her family when we landed right next to the church's parking spot .

[Fareastdriver]

I have posted this before on a similar thread about two years ago.

Borneo mid sixties. Operating with a Whirlwind HC1 (S55 with a jet engine to you Americans) on the border with Indonesia. I was flying solo, no crewman, shuttling Ghurkhas rotating from an FOB called Pensiangan to our main base at Sepulot. Loading was simple: Hold up four fingers when you land and four Ghurkhas run in with their kit. One thumps your leg when they are ready and off you go. They tend to collect things so they would carry other packs apart from their army kit so allowing 220lbs each for a Ghurkha base transfer was about right.

I picked up the last stick, only three of them. They had a lot of stuff but weight wasn’t a problem so off I went. I had just settled in the cruise when this gibbon climbed up through the left hand footwell. He climbed onto the seat and looked at me. Not liking what he saw he turned and started to launch out through the port window. Just as he was going out he looked down and realised that he was a thousand feet above the trees so he grabbed the cyclic and pulled himself back in again. Now both of us were looking UP at the trees.

He was now terrified so he jumped for comfort to the nearest human, i.e.me. In a flash he was wrapped round my shoulders and head and trying to strangle me. I got him off and as I pushed him back to the other side two sets of brown hands poked through the floor to recover him. One hand got hold of a leg but little gibbon wasn’t interested. There are lots of things to grab hold of if you don’t want to go out through the floor. Cyclics, collectives, speed select levers, HP cocks and he was having a go at most of them.

There was nothing I could do. I had clamped the collective so I had a hand free to fend off his attentions to the switches and cocks on the centre console. He wasn’t interested in going down and his keeper couldn’t get him down. The only thing I could do was put it on the ground and sort it out then.

There was a clearing with a sandy river bank ahead that I had used before so I set up the descent. As be passed through two hundred the gibbon started to take an interest in the scenery and fortunately the blokes downstairs did too so things calmed down a bit.

It was quite peaceful until we touched down and then the gibbon shook himself free and bolted through the port window. There was a screech as he passed the jet pipe but then he disappeared on all fours into the trees at ten o’clock. Two nanoseconds later a Ghurkha rocketed after him with his Armalite and disappeared into the same trees. I was now stuck. I couldn’t shut down as in Borneo a river can go from zero to twenty feet of water in five minutes and I didn’t have enough fuel to wait very long. After a minute or so I managed to get the attention of one of the other passengers and got him to climb up the side of the aircraft so I could shout at him.

He didn’t speak English so I pointed in the last known position of his mate and held out my hands in a query fashion. He gave me a thumbs up, spun a finger and pointed upwards. I repeated his sign language and he nodded and gave another thumbs up. With that he climbed back into the cabin and thumped my leg to show that they were ready. Not a lot I could do so I took off and flew to Sepulot.

We were living in the Ghurkha officer’s basher so I collared OC HQ Coy and told him what had happened. I described where I had left him but he wasn’t concerned. “He’ll be back tomorrow,” and he was. Complete with gibbon..

[ShyTorque]

Crikey to begin with I thought you were referring to a Ghurka as a gibbon!

Strewth, the most racist post ever seen on PPRuNe, I said to myself. :eek:

[mickjoebill]

I flew the Queen Mum's hats

Anything mentioning the royals is a good title for your bio!


Mickjoebill

[MightyGem]

I've flown Prince Charles's baggage.

[heliski22]

As with some of the earlier posts, most memorable doesn't have to be most famous and, while there were a few "names" along the way, two flights involving quite ordinary people stand out clearly in my memory.

One involved a lad of about 7, terminally ill, who was taken on a trip with his mother in 1996. Of course, there were a couple of adult hangers on came as well! So, I picked up the 206 into the hover and the little lad, seated in the middle between his mum and his aunt, got quite excited by it all as I manoeuvred around the ramp and taxied out for take-off. However, as we got airborne he couldn't see anything out of the windows and lost interest. As we got overhead where he lived, it turned into an adults-only enjoying the view trip while he concentrated on eating some sweets he had. So, on a hunch, I cut it short and went back to hangar.

However, instead of landing straight on, I went to the open grass area adjoining the ramp from where the lad could still see all the buildings and the hangars and proceeeded to do spot turns, sidewards and backwards and 360 turns while taxiing slowy along. With the adults now reduced to holding on to their seats, the little lad was thrilled and whooped with delight until I set it down.

He passed away a few weeks later.

The other involved a seriously ill woman who couldn't travel by road to her daughter's wedding in September, 1997. Doctors agreed to the helicopter transfer which would take about an hour and a half with a stop en route. We got to the hotel and landed on a thru'penny bit of clear area out front to be greeted by over a hundred assembled family members and other guests who cheered loudly and applauded as we took her out of the aircraft. The heli was used to bring her to a neighbouring vilage for the wedding the next day and then back to the hospital. To my embarrassment, I was treated like some kind of conquering hero and invited to all the festivities the following day.

She died a few days after getting back to the hospital.

All very sad, of course, but they stand out in memory and reminders, if they were needed, that we are all invariably far better off than we think we are and our troubles few compared to what they could be.

22

[bolkow]

MightyGem has flown Prince Charles baggage? What was Camilla like, did she speak to you?

[rotor67]

After taking my brothers, Step-Mom, Aunt, Uncle on a quick 10 min. flight each I landed where everyone was standing. My Dad gets in the 22, mind you he's deathly afraid of heights. I asked him if he wanted to fly with me to the parking area, and he said NO, I want to go up with you too. I flew for 15 min. with him, and he wasn't nervous at all. My greatest flying moment! Today's his 68th birthday!

[Jumpj]

In the Bahamas - Nichlas Cage and Lisa Marie Presley. 50 Miles out to sea we got a yellow tranny light. (109 MKII) I turned to head back to base. He was completely cool. She turned into a #$%^& nightmare and at one point thought about dropping her off on a san bar. When I was there I flew tons of the who's who. Also flew Travolta once and he tipped us $500 each.

[griffothefog]

Frankie Dettori... Jumped in and out just like he does on his rides and was a total scream throughout..... What a star :D

[chopabeefer]

Colin Powell. En route to tell the president of ***** he WAS going to use his country as a staging post for Gulf War II. He told his advisors, on intercom, how he was going to 'slam dunk the fu**ing as**ole of a president' if he dared refuse. He did not twig that the whole crew could hear him - we flew in silence, listening to a VERY secret conversation, for 25 minutes. SO interesting.

Sorry, better go - there's someone at the doo.....

[drivereight]

Hugh Grant and Liz Hurley (she was a b$%@, he was a nice guy), Sir George Martin, Tom Petty, the guys from Coldplay, Mark Walhberg, Danny Glover, Ned Beatty, Vanessa Williams, Sharlto Copley and some others I can't remember.
The best is still anyone who has never been in a helicopter though!:)