Jump to content

Highest Longline Rescue - 22,800 Ft


Recommended Posts

Guest plumber
This once again proves that the Swiss are the best at Longlining. Hat off to the Pilot with such skill to pull this off. I wish I could do that.....

 

Let me guess ummm your swiss. :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This once again proves that the Swiss are the best at Longlining. Hat off to the Pilot with such skill to pull this off. I wish I could do that.....

 

I would hope so........I just finished 2 more pilots that came over for mountain and vertical reference training. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some more helo info from Everest:

http://www.peakfreaks.com/everestnews2010.htm

( look under May 3rd )

 

May 3, 2010: EVEREST UP SCALE!... Things are really changing on Everest this year, and that's not just glacier melt !

Yesterday we announced the first day of cell coverage and today Tim tells me there has been too much activity with helicopters flying overhead.

As a result a meeting was called today among leaders at the HRA -Everest ER tent to engage in talks about what to do about it.

The idea of bringing these helicopters into Nepal for high mountain tours and rescues comes with the potential for accidents.

Tim says, " It's not like we have air traffic controllers up here ".

Fish Tail Air, a Swiss owned company has brought a second AS 350 B3 to Nepal, a multi-million dollar helicopter. One of them recently performed a long line rescue of a climber at 7000m on Annapurna.

In order to afford these high tech machines they need an ongoing revenue stream.

As a result, they have positioned themselves at Everest Base Camp this spring looking for climbers with deep pockets who can afford the luxury of a ride out to Kathmandu, check into a 5-Star hotel, oxygenate and fly back up for their summit push.

I don't have the price yet but we are looking into it. You can be sure it will be well over the 10k mark.

Right now a helicopter lift out of Pheriche for sick climbers and trekkers is 6k one way and about 8k one-way out of EBC.

 

The consequences of this luxury is causing some concern in air safety. Today the leaders talked about building a second landing pad for civilians further back from the glacier keeping the air space clear from the HRA-Everest ER heli-pad location that is prepared each season as the glacier moves.

It is closest to the teams and icefall. Right now both helicopters are sharing this space, noisy, dangerous and debris getting tossed around.

Don't be surprised if there will be fly in tours offered in the future complete with oxygen bottles for when you arrive, because you will need them!!!... and then what would you do if weather or mechanical issues came into play ?

Be prepared to sleep on oxygen all night at a price of $400US per hour plus shipping till things clear- yikes!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well... geeesh. there are longline pilots... then there are precision longline pilots.. then there are production longline pilots.(which are a totaly different animal) then there are so called self professed longline pilots. Dont forget the wannabe longline piolts. Ya he is the best swiss longline pilot in his own mind.. maybe a little crazy.. show me what ya got.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...