Everest Landing - Might Not Have Happened At All.

[Heli Ops]

CAAN refutes chopper landing on Everest summit

 

 

KOL Report

KATHMANDU, June 3 - The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal Thursday said that the landing of the Eurocopter helicopter on the peak of Mt. Everest has not been confirmed.

Earlier, international media had reported that the Eurocopter’s Ecureuil chopper had landed on the top of the Everest creating the world record for the highest altitude landing.

 

CAAN, in a statement yesterday, clarified that the news carried by the international media was false.

 

Eurocopter, issuing a statement on May 24 in Paris, had said its chopper Ecureuil A Star AS 350 B3 piloted by Didier Delsalle, achieved the feat of landing on the top of the world’s highest peak on May 14.

 

The CAAN had formed a committee to investigate of the said landing when it was only permitted to test fly over the Everest region.

 

Upon inquiry, the captain of the flight Didier Delsalle in a written explanation has said that it was impossible to land because of the adverse topography, the CAAN said.

 

“Delsalle had only made emergency landing some 1000 metres below at the South Col due to bad weather and therefore the landing cannot be confirmed,” the statement said.

 

“The helicopter had not demanded permission for landing on the peak,” said the CAAN “and therefore no permit had been given and such imaginary publicity by the Eurocopter is regretted.”

 

The permission for the test flight has been withdrawn in view of the sensitivity from the available information as the conditions of the flight were violated, and the helicopter has been returned to Kathmandu, said the statement. (dds)

[jfk]

I am not that smart. But the video shure didnt look like "Bad Weather" and that toe in didnt look like an emergency landing

 

jfk

[sharkbait]

Perhaps we should all just refain from comment here.

[Skidz]

Looks to me like somebody at CAAN didn't get a big enough "tip"... :down:

[Ryan]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't see a huge difference between 1000 meters when you're talking Everest. To me, the fact that a pilot could make an "emergency landing" 1000 meters from the summit is a better selling point than merely making an nice touchdown at the summit.

 

Either way....way to go Eurocopter! :up:

[Firehawk]

I think we have to read between the lines here the video tells it all, we didnt land on everest ,the times we did it was an emergency."wink,"wink".

At this point who cares, they did it and there is proof, Its been done. It does'nt take any of the glory out of it for the boys, just cant brag about it.

I just hope the goverment hasnt seen the video. Its all pollitics and money.

[407 too]

unless i'm mistaken, pretty much ANY mountain in a canadian national park, thats a lot of mountains !!

[justfly]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't see a huge difference between 1000 meters when you're talking Everest. ...

Huh?! the TOP is the only summit, not 3300 feet lower! There are more than 14 other taller peaks in that 1000 meters (14 8000 meter+). You can't climb most of a mountain and claim you summited. They claim they landed on the summit, not "high on the slopes" of Everest.

 

Either way....way to go Eurocopter! :up:

That I agree with! :up:

[Skidmark]

We are not the only ones debating this topic. There are some real sceptics on this page.

 

 

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=131981

[407 Driver]

Posted on PPrune...Don't know the source? Either way, A landing at 29,000' or 26,000', still an amazing feat of mountain flying and aircraft power !

 

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French aviator didn't land on Everest: Nepal:-

Kathmandu | June 04, 2005 10:41:28 AM IST

 

 

Kathmandu, June 3 : Nepal said Friday a test pilot employed by a French aviation giant had perpetrated a Himalayan fraud by claiming to have landed on Mount Everest.

 

Didier Delsalle, who was flying a Eurocopter, has now admitted to landing 1,000m lower than the 8,848m summit, a Nepalese official said Friday.

 

This would restore the earlier record held by the Indian Air Force. Flying an indigenously manufactured Cheetal helicopter last November, Group Captain A.S. Butola and Squadron Leader S. Sharma landed at Saserkangri in Ladakh at an altitude of 7,070m.

 

Even if Delsalle landed at 7,848m on Everest's South Col, technically it would seem invalid since he did not have permission to land for any purpose other than an emergency.

 

"Delsalle had taken permission only to test-fly his chopper at high altitude but not make any landing," Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) deputy director-general Keshav Raj Khanal said in a statement Friday.

 

"During his flight, the weather deteriorated and the strong winds forced him to turn back. He had to make a u-turn for which he briefly landed on South Col and then headed back. Otheriwse, he would have been forced to stray into China's air space, for which he had no permission," Khanal added.

 

Delsalle claimed to have landed on the 8,848m Everest summit May 14 but this hit the headlines only May 25 after he returned to France. The truth emerged after two written interviews with Nepalese authorities when he admitted to landing 1,000m lower.

 

Dated May 19 and 20, Delsalle's statements say he had to make an emergency landing at the South Col but doesn't make any claims about creating a world record by landing on Mt Everest.

 

According to aviation authorities, Delsalle's chopper was followed by another with soldiers from the Royal Nepalese Army and they had witnessed him making an emergency landing at South Col.

 

CAAN's statement seems to throw egg on Eurocopter's face and upholds the IAF record.

 

Eurocopter is a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS, the worldwide leader in aerospace, defence, and the associated services. The EADS group, that generated a turnover of 31.8 billion euros in 2004, and employed approximately 110,000 people throughout the world, includes aircraft maker Airbus, and the world's second largest missile company, the joint venture MDBA.

 

It is also the major industrial partner for Galileo, the European satellite-based navigation system.

 

A press release from Paris used the supposed high-altitude landing to extoll the Eurocopter's virtues.

 

It said: "After taking off from his base camp Lukla on May 14 at 2,866 m, Didier Delsalle onboard his Ecureuil AS350B3 reached the top of Mount Everest. As required by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI - International Aeronautical Federation), the aircraft remained on ground more than two minutes on the top of the world before flying back to Lukla. This feat was renewed the day after.

 

"Stepping out of his helicopter, Didier Delsalle commented: 'To reach this mythical summit seemed to be a dream; despite the obvious difficulties of the target to be reached, the aircraft demonstrated its capability to cope with the situation."

 

Desperate mountaineers and record seekers are known to make false claims and falsify records.

 

This mountaineering season, there was an earlier controversy about a Korean climber who claimed to have scaled a peak while the mountaineers following him said he did not.

 

(IANS)