Thrill-Seeking Helicopter Pilot Required
 

Hi all.

AIRBORNE PROBLEM SOLVER REQUIRED. REWARD OFFERED :O

Call me mad (I am - hence the name Aero Mad), but I have a problem requiring a helicopter pilot + helicopter that can lift more than two tonnes.

The reason is that I have a Land Rover stuck in a lake. Very stuck:

Photo here

The anonymous person (:)) who got it there was trying to see if this former lake (now marshland, semi dry but not all, as shown above) was capable of being mown.

Sadly, he found out it wasn't. Our tractor will not tow it (the rope comes close to snapping AND the tractor's wheels spin), and the Land Rover is somehow stuck, meaning that it has bellied out and the soil touches the chassis. The wheels have nothing to spin on.

Our crane accessory only lifts 1.3 tonnes, so a helicopter is needed as dragging doesn't work. It is in the grounds of a registered helipad (see Hammerwood Helipad - Home ) in East Sussex and a historic house ( Hammerwood Park, near East Grinstead, historic houses to visit and stay convenient when flying to or from UK Gatwick Airport London. England UK. English Heritage & Preservation. Historic Houses Association and Stately Homes open to the public in the ) - old website but you get the idea.

It is quite near trees - will send you more pictures if anyone's interested. Nearest fuel at Redhill (14 miles). Experience required.

Here's the good news - first person to give it a try gets a cuppa :} Any successes meet with a free meal for two at a nearby country inn.

Anyone? Or perhaps it's the next piece for the Tate Modern ;)

May I suggest local 4x4 club, more often than not they will have kit such as kerr rope , winches, ground anchors and experience at this sort of thing, the roof is visable so all is not lost :)

I hope you are offering sugar and a biscuit with that cuppa!

Of course! War and Peace show tomorrow so will ask around as well.

The Trabant must be really stuck. Can't see it for that bloody great Discovery that's also apparently stuck!;):p

Don't worry I am sure someone will bite soon, just keep plugging away......

A moderator with too much of a sense of humour changed my post of LR to Trabant... you wouldn't tell the difference in terms of getting itself out of a hole :)

Stuck?
 

I think Xraydice and Big Tudor have the right of it and if you are serious, the only wokka that's going to shift a seriously stuck Disco is a Chinook. You have no idea how much mud can suck. :eek:

Google the Surrey Land Rover club or the Kent Off Road Club. They would probably use it as a winching exercise, without the risk of a very expensive faux pas. :ok: You will usually find the Land Rover fraternity to be helpful, friendly and possessed of a sense of humour. :) PM me if you want me to post the problem on the LRUK forum. :)

Roger.

Yes - would be a good idea. Anything to at least unstick it would be welcome! Being the Rotorhead forum I'm sure I can declare that the sacrifice of the Cessna 152 in favour of a Disco might not go amise :} jks

A mate of mine got a LR stuck in the falklands, trouble was it was the CO's that be had 'borrowed' for a bit of souvaneer hunting, got it back ok for the cost of a case of scotch:)

(all you have to do is find the right guy to give the scotch to, helps if he has access to a wokka though)

a second hand Disco that need "minor" repair is worth maybe >$5000....which equals what, starting the Chinook + 10-15min of flight time?

its much cheaper to use this tool is and take it out piece by piece
http://product-image.tradeindia.com/...Heavy-Duty.jpg:E

A few problems here!

Looks very close to those trees. How close and how high are they?

It looks like it will also need a long strop (100 ft?). Also, if it's embedded in the mud, who is going to burrow under it to rig the load?

Not many civvy helicopters are capable of doing this job for you; not many even have underslung load hook equipment. Your best bet is to ask the RAF at Odiham if they can do it as a training exercise.

But I reckon it is best left there as an artificial reef... :p

Some time since I landed on the back lawn there at Hammerwood! :ok:

Try the Bomb Disposal Team; then you can have a pool as well.... or you could try one of those whooly great tractors with the cat tracks;
or ,you could try the TopGear crowd at Dunsfold,
or, just invite a Ladies mud-wrestling team,and on open invitation.....

I am assuming (and hoping) that this is just a bit of trolling or a wind-up, but just in case here is a little clue as to why you probably wont find anyone
just tipping up for a bit of a giggle to give it a bash and have a cuppa!



Ok - I guess I took a bite!

at this distance and from the small size of the picture doesn't seem so difficult as one of these....:8



cameltrophy

:D

Hire a bigger crane then. :hmm:

RAF
 

We had the Army Air Corps (656 squadron) at Hammerwood in 1988 to put lead on the roof, with Westland Lynx in tow ;)



Could try getting them to come back, perhaps without Blue Peter this time :ok:

You could try, please don't let me talk you out of it, but I have a certain amount of first hand experience with the Lynx, and I am not sure too many would be keen on trying to lift a stuck Disco out of a mud-hole - but by all means give them a call, you never know - errrr....
Sorry, I shouldn't be so negative.

Yeah it probably is too close to trees (about 50ft - will upload a few more pics tomorrow, but a long and thick rope - we already have a 3 inch one - would do the trick) but just wanted to get the general concensus on a partly tongue-in-cheek idea.

The Disco now sits slightly more vertically and the front wheels have been dug out. Will probably try lifting it with a 5 ton digger on catapillar tracks, of which a lighter variant was due to be hired anyway this week for some cement work on an agricultural building.

Chances of you getting a chopper capable of lifting that are zero. Suggest you either pull it out, or get a heavy duty winch (such as a tirfor) and winch it out.

Either way, I wouldn't trust the kn0bber who put it in there with the keys again.