Fill her up!
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 5,197
Likes: 1
From: UK
Fill her up!
Associated Press
Helicopters Swarm Gas Station in Norway
OSLO
OSLO
- Erling Boland didn't know what to think when a swarm of six helicopters noisily swooped down on his gas station.
"It was surrealistic. I thought this must be the latest sequence for a James Bond film," Boland told The Associated Press by telephone on Friday. "Or maybe it was al-Qaida up to something."
It turned out one of the two-man helicopters, all being flown by German tourists, was running low on fuel so they all decided to land and tank up.
Boland, 58, was inside the gas station-convenience store he has owned for the past 25 years when he heard the first helicopter overhead on Thursday.
"I went out to look because I thought maybe it was an ambulance helicopter and that there had been an accident," he said of the incident in remote Hatlestrand, some 175 miles west of Oslo.
"I saw a helicopter, but knew it was too small to be an ambulance helicopter. I also thought it was making an awful lot of noise for one small helicopter," he said.
Then he saw the other five coming for a landing. When they had landed, he talked to the pilots and learned they were German helicopter enthusiasts touring Norway by air, two to a chopper.
The Germans efficiently folded up the rotors on their helicopters, put small wheels on the skids and rolled them up to the gas pumps to the amusement of a quickly growing crowd.
They bought about 65 gallons of 95 octane fuel and a bottle of lead fuel additive, which wasn't exactly a huge sale for Boland.
"But I will be telling this story at dinner parties for the rest of my life," said Boland.
"It was surrealistic. I thought this must be the latest sequence for a James Bond film," Boland told The Associated Press by telephone on Friday. "Or maybe it was al-Qaida up to something."
It turned out one of the two-man helicopters, all being flown by German tourists, was running low on fuel so they all decided to land and tank up.
Boland, 58, was inside the gas station-convenience store he has owned for the past 25 years when he heard the first helicopter overhead on Thursday.
"I went out to look because I thought maybe it was an ambulance helicopter and that there had been an accident," he said of the incident in remote Hatlestrand, some 175 miles west of Oslo.
"I saw a helicopter, but knew it was too small to be an ambulance helicopter. I also thought it was making an awful lot of noise for one small helicopter," he said.
Then he saw the other five coming for a landing. When they had landed, he talked to the pilots and learned they were German helicopter enthusiasts touring Norway by air, two to a chopper.
The Germans efficiently folded up the rotors on their helicopters, put small wheels on the skids and rolled them up to the gas pumps to the amusement of a quickly growing crowd.
They bought about 65 gallons of 95 octane fuel and a bottle of lead fuel additive, which wasn't exactly a huge sale for Boland.
"But I will be telling this story at dinner parties for the rest of my life," said Boland.
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 40
Likes: 0
From: Northen Europe
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 506
Likes: 1
From: Europe
Sorry heliport, my mistake
The question was, what kind of fuel needs a robbo normally at the moment? Or better, is it approved to use car gas? Thought they need 100LL, strong leaded. My last R-22 hours are 10 years ago. I believe at that time it wasn't allowed to use other fuel on uncle Franks toys. But on a Bell 47 it was allowed. In a robbo i wouldn't easy mishandle an engine.
The question was, what kind of fuel needs a robbo normally at the moment? Or better, is it approved to use car gas? Thought they need 100LL, strong leaded. My last R-22 hours are 10 years ago. I believe at that time it wasn't allowed to use other fuel on uncle Franks toys. But on a Bell 47 it was allowed. In a robbo i wouldn't easy mishandle an engine.
Last edited by tecpilot; 13th June 2004 at 20:56.
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 764
Likes: 0
From: 48 Deg South
Imagine trying to do that in downtown London or Los Angeles, place would be crawling with cops, swat, doomsayers saying they were scared !!!!eless because they thought terrorists had hijacked helicopters to bomb them 
and lawyers (no offence Flying Lawyer).
Ned
and lawyers (no offence Flying Lawyer).Ned
