Bears Vs. Helicopters

[Iceman72]

A few years back I know of a pilot and eng-r.heading north out of High Level where they landed in a clearing to refuel the 47 the pilot asked the eng-r to do a shut down after the 2min cool down so that he could have a dump back in the bushes. After a few min the pilot heard the engine shut down and within what seemed like seconds heard the eng-r scream BEAR. As the pilot came running out of the bush trying to pull his pants up only to see the Black bear on hind legs in front of the bubble and the eng-r sitting on top of the main rotor head. After a lot of screaming and stick swinging the bear departed.

The eng-r could not remember how he got up there as quick as he did.

[WTF_was_that]

Once had a bear try to eat an ELT. The bear peeled open the chin bubble window (removable type) from a Jetranger, and took a swat at the ELT, enough to remove part of the metallic sticker and leave three nice claw marks on the ELT. The ELT didn't go off, and the chin bubble window was perfectly re-useable. The window rubber seal had a small tear in it, so I decided to change the rubber. Other than that there was no damage. When the pilot phoned me up and and was trying to explain to me how a bear had tried to eat his ELT, I decided I had had enough of pilot stories and 'mysterious problems' so I called BS on him. I never would've believed it had I not gone out to the site to put the bubble window back in and inspect the ELT.

 

Another time I was replacing a gauge in the instrument panel of a Jetranger with the pilot chit-chatting beside me. He hopped out to untie the blades for a ground run, and promptly hopped back in cursing and swearing, having found a bear sniffing at the stinger. It was a hot day, and I had my leg dangling out to prop the door open for a breeze. Given a few more minutes, the bear might've been sniffing at my leg. Apparently the bear was just as scared of the pilot as the pilot was of it, and the bear turned around and ran off.

 

 

I remember that engineer not believing me. Apparently a precision strike on an ELT is out of the norm... Thankfully my pilot bravery, scared the beast away...

 

oh and i have pictures, just in case this ever came up.

 

The beast

 

 

 

The precision strike

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Iceman72]

Not a bear but just as bad, on heliskiing in the 70's with a 212 one of the guides had put the leftovers from a lunch in one of the avionic compartments on the left hand side of the A/C and didn't say anything. The next morning found out how a Wolverine opens doors, hinge first.

[Amphibious]

all this thread does is keep reminding me that I'll miss this year's spring bear hunt.

 

you guys are mean

[kube]

all this thread does is keep reminding me that I'll miss this year's spring bear hunt.

 

you guys are mean

I heard a story of a bear corpse being long lined out of a camp and the pilot creating a dancing bear balet on his way to dump it in the swamp.

 

 

[DGP]

I have taken yogie skydiving many times

[helidriver68]

yup me too , boo boo has done the high dive atleast 20 plus times , i think 5 times just on one fire , too bad not really there fault , there home was just toasted ,

 

[YTS Jockey]

Flew a staker dude a while back, his claim to fame, well not a claim but a true story, was that he killed a black bear with one swing of his axe, after the bear had grabbed him by the balls. Think IIRC he ended up on Oprah or some such show, but was politely stopped from dropping his pants to show off said wound.......You out there Mookie.

 

 

I've been flying Mookie around now for 5-6 years. As far as I can tell the story is true. He never talks about it. I heard it from his brother and the others on his crew. Swung his Ox Head axe at the fast approaching bear, had the timing right and got the bear square in the head. I know these guys have sharp axes but you still need a lot of power to kill a bear. Not a guy I'd mess with. I've had the privilege of having a few pints with this guy on numerous occasions and he wouldn't hurt a soul. Thanks for bringing up some old memories Newfieboy!

 

Cheers

 

YTS

[newfieboy]

YTS, your;e ,welcome.I too have had the pleasure of a few "drinking sessions" with Mookie. I agree, one of the nicest, kindest guys I have met, would definately not want to piss him off though, and yep never talks about it, I also heard from brother and crew.

 

Cheers, Newfieboy.