Wild deer recovery (video)
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Originally Posted by Agaricus bisporus
No one was being shot at in NZ
Back then a rotary CPL was 50 hours. After all the deer boys "troubles" this was raised to 150 hours. It was an interesting time in our history. On my CPL ground school course there were several ex shooters who were paying for the rotary CPLs from their venison jobs. Some of their stories I doubted until I read The Chopper Boys and I doubted no more. The shooters were crazy, no, insane may be a better word. The ones I knew made the money for what they wanted and then left. Some returned to the venison roundup but by then it was winding down and deer farms had been fairly well populated.
The 300s had a unique method of "lifting" their catch off the mountain. Carcases were dragged to and then down a river until the DA was sufficient to enable the rotors to physically lift the weight attached.
RVDT, were you around Te Anau or was it the Manapouri area during the time a crew reported finding a Moa in the bush? That was real funny though I guess the TV crew bosses weren't that happy at the hoax.
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RVDT
Thanks, obviously I am not good at putting words to print, and you did an excellent job of explaining how things were and are now.
Ag Bis
Yes you are right, I did need to chill, but you know how some days things just have a way of p1ss1ng you off, well I guess that was what happened to me, normally I just chuckle at comments made, but that day I bit back, I didn't have the will or the time to explain how it was, as RVDT did.
Times have changed, I missed out on the live recovery for the most part, but I did get my start as a shooter then onwards as a pilot hunting deer for a number of years, and I am proud to have had the chance to do so, it is the best flying I have ever had the chance to do, there is a movie out called "The Last Great Adventure", and that is exactly what it was, but I had aspirations for bigger machines and differing work so moved away from the hunting life and of coarse I fly a lot differently doing the job I do now, and so do the pilots that used to fly the 500's etc on recovery who now fly the cranes logging or on fires etc.
So sorry for spouting off the other day, prolly wasn't called for, I should have taken some of my own advice!
Thanks, obviously I am not good at putting words to print, and you did an excellent job of explaining how things were and are now.
Ag Bis
Yes you are right, I did need to chill, but you know how some days things just have a way of p1ss1ng you off, well I guess that was what happened to me, normally I just chuckle at comments made, but that day I bit back, I didn't have the will or the time to explain how it was, as RVDT did.
Times have changed, I missed out on the live recovery for the most part, but I did get my start as a shooter then onwards as a pilot hunting deer for a number of years, and I am proud to have had the chance to do so, it is the best flying I have ever had the chance to do, there is a movie out called "The Last Great Adventure", and that is exactly what it was, but I had aspirations for bigger machines and differing work so moved away from the hunting life and of coarse I fly a lot differently doing the job I do now, and so do the pilots that used to fly the 500's etc on recovery who now fly the cranes logging or on fires etc.
So sorry for spouting off the other day, prolly wasn't called for, I should have taken some of my own advice!
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Skids, thanks, that was much appreciated. No hard feelings!
CH. Coal? What the heck has coal to do with it? I worry about you!
CH. Coal? What the heck has coal to do with it? I worry about you!
Last edited by Agaricus bisporus; 23rd Dec 2012 at 10:38.
B78,
In the twilight - is that somebody lighting a cigarette or muzzle flash?
Yes the rounds being supersonic it interacts with the blade pass - quite distinctive and once heard never forgotten!
3 times roughly - twice as a "joke" which is hard to explain here.
In the twilight - is that somebody lighting a cigarette or muzzle flash?
Yes the rounds being supersonic it interacts with the blade pass - quite distinctive and once heard never forgotten!
3 times roughly - twice as a "joke" which is hard to explain here.
Here is a nice video from New Zealand from the very early eighties. It features ZK-HMB, a Hughes 500D operated by Alpine Helicopters Ltd. Doug Maxwell, one of the venison industry's legendary pilots, is flying with Colin Yeates (I think) shooting the net gun. The ship the helicopter departs from at the start is probably the Ranginui, a vessel Sir Tim Wallis purchased to support his helibourne deer recovery operation. The ship had a helideck just big enough to accommodate a pair of 500s and the hold was converted to store the carcasses, and later live deer! The flying in this video is actually quite tame by standard NZ venison recovery standards but the heli is still skilfully flown. The approach and nose-in to the bush at 11:00 is quite nice. The scenery isn't to shabby either.
Airborne | Archives New Zealand | ecast TV
This video should possibly have gone into the "Video Thread" but it has a nice nostalgic feel to it so I thought it might fit in better here.
500 Fan.
Airborne | Archives New Zealand | ecast TV
This video should possibly have gone into the "Video Thread" but it has a nice nostalgic feel to it so I thought it might fit in better here.
500 Fan.
500: Love them or loathe them .. the Kiwis and their deer hunting escapades of the 70's and 80's have written themselves into (let's be generous and say .. ) a fascinating chapter of Hughes history.
I first saw your video clip in the late 80's in Papua New Guinea as part of a set of VHS tapes which had been brought in by a rabble of Kiwi drivers who I happened to be sharing a crew house with. At one point (and for several months) there were only Kiwis to be found at the house .. with not a normal human being in sight!
One of the rituals of the non-domestic rotary-flying Kiwi of the 1980's was that it had to watch and re-watch .. for hours on end .. video footage of Hughes 500's engaged in live deer capture. The flock of Kiwis I was temporarily domiciled with had a collecion of about 8-10 videos which were watched almost every evening with ritualistic fervour once everyone had drained away from the local Aero Club. From there it was back to the house and on with the videos .. beer in hand.
Despite the fact that every one of these Kiwis knew every frame of the video, this did not prevent them from cheering the hunting crews as they pursued their spoor and, as the beer flowed, so their encouragements became the more fevered and, after some time one could be 'treated' to immitation deer noises which, so I was told, were impressively authentic!
The chief protagonist in these tribal antics was a dear chap called 'Rusty' - a lovebale character and a pilot of the first water.
Memorable days indeed!
Rotorwork Hughes 500D P2-AHP at Rotorwork's Mount Hagen base in Papua New Guinea in 1988
Here Rusty is telling Mike to level his cyclic by referencing the tip path plane in relation to the T-tail in order to make sure that the 500's disk was level. Rusty has this 'thing' about drivers who didn't keep the disk level while on the ground and would literally run over and talk to a pilot if he saw the disk at an angle!
Some Kiwi nostalgia ..
Hughes 500D ZK-HNR at Foxton beach en-route Inglewood in New Zealand's North Island in 1985
The late Dennis Eggerton (helmeted) with Dave Kershaw while Alfie Speights loads the 500.
Here is a link to all four parts of the documentary "Deer Wars" from NZ Television, some of which featured earlier in this thread. Lots of great footage of the Bell 47, Hiller UH-12, Hughes 300 and 500. Plenty of NZ humour, too. If you like good health & safety-type aviation operations, or fluffy little deer, then maybe this isn't the video for you.
Deer Wars - Television | NZ On Screen
500 Fan.
Deer Wars - Television | NZ On Screen
500 Fan.
Here are parts one and two of an American documentary on Sir Tim Wallis and his deer capture operation. This video deals with the live capture techniques only. The 17:00 minute mark in video one is interesting, showing a two-man pick-up from a tree top! The second video shows the skid-mounted net-gun in use.
500 Fan.
500 Fan.
