R-22 Rescues Model P-51 from Trees

[Ag-Rotor]

You've only had one ??.... I don't need to be to told that gravity sucks and the ground is hard.

[chopjock]

crab

I suggest you try actually having a crash in a helicopter (I have)

You actually tried to have a crash ?

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Doh! yes, poor syntax

[Thomas coupling]

Nigeh - haven't dissappointed you

I was offered good advice when I started flying:

If you're about to do something "out of the ordinary" with your aircraft, either:
(a) don't get caught, or
(b) have a good defence when the authorities/lawyers come after you.

Apply these to this incident.......................

These 'rules' never let me down.

We live in a world of litigation/H and S/moral and ethical blackmail.

[Agaricus bisporus]

Thomas, it's a shame we don't live in a world of Professionalism, Common Sense or Airmanship. If we did your last line would be both meaningless and redundant...

[Thomas coupling]

Agri...whatever your name is (is it some kind of bacterium?)

There was a time when I would denigrate an operator for doing this. Of course it smacks of poor professionalism, poor airmanship, la di dah...

But there was also a time when some lightweight helicopters were built for this purpose of wazzing close to the ground, dodging trees, water skiing behind them, doing aerobatics for the fun of it...

He got away with it - therefore he's (for some readers) a good guy. Next time, he'll clip the rotors and die - and for the rest of the readers he'll be a bad guy.

I think the reason I don't denigrate him (this time) is because he comes across as someone who "appears" to talk the talk and "appears" to handle the job in an orderly fashion with consideration for the surroundings.....I get the gut feeling he's an old and bold, been it done it and comes from that era where helo's were treated like expensive toys.

He's simply out of sync with the modern world's current way of thinking. And for that reason, he shouldn't have done this in public [or at the very least, not recorded the damn thing by sticking a camera in his damn cockpit???].
And he most certainly shouldn't have done it with a passenger on board...but doing what he actually did (hovering close to the top of a tree to pick something off it......no big deal edmondo)

[joecub]

after reading most posts, it occured to me that those pilots that approve of the video probably actually fly helicopters for a living, and those opposed teach.

[Aucky]

I think the divide is more related to whether he should due doing this, in this manor, whilst teaching. I'm not sure many pilots, instructors or otherwise, would give a rats if it were two pilots both knowledgeable enough to understand and accept the potential consequences, and go about it with careful consideration (the question being whether it was gone about in the best way in an instructional environment, which they clearly are in). Most instructors probably spend more time in the 'avoid curve' to fulfil the syllabus requirements than commercial pilots flying CAT...

[[email protected]]

after reading most posts, it occured to me that those pilots that approve of the video probably actually fly helicopters for a living, and those opposed teach.

joe - I do both and I am often required to put a helicopter in far more dangerous positions than the guy in the video - sometimes to save lives, sometimes to train other pilots to save lives.

The point is that no-one says you can't do things like that in a helicopter - but shouldyou be doing things like that unless there is a very good reason.

I could drive at 120 mph on the motorway because speed is fun - I don't because it is also dangerous (not only to me but to others) - if I had to in order to save a life then I would approach it with some application of forethought and consideration of the risks involved.

Our friend in the video did neither.