Everest Landing - Might Not Have Happened At All.

[Firehawk]

This is crazy, Is the video a different peak then it was all a spoof? The champayne celebration at the end of the video. Why the **** would they do this? It's still fishy.

To many questions to ask.

 

QUOTE:

"TECHNICALLY if he did land there it would be invalid because he didnt have permission."

What the **** kind of a comment is that. Even if he did do it, he still holds the record technical or not.

What video evidence would'nt count,

[Ryan]

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 !

 

This is what I meant to say in the previous post.

[VERTICAL REF]

I hear Bell has there 407 permitted and licensed, proper "tips" in place, ready to go for this friday's everest toe in! sounds like they will be the first...

[407 Driver]

VR, you're still stirring ! :up:

 

As a Bell supporter, I have to say...the only Bell that I see landing on Everest in the near future is the 214. Them big blades would bite into that thin air ! The 407 managed to land at 22,000 (24,900 DA) this spring, but I bet that cockpit still smells like S%$t :shock:

 

go big or go home !

[amodao]

From Eurocopters Website.

 

The aircraft was flying in the area for over a month. Which flight did these officals see?

 

 

 

Press releases & news 2005

World Première: A Eurocopter single-engine serial Ecureuil/AStar AS350 B3 lands on the TOP of the world.

 

05/24/2005

 

 

 

 

author : Jean-Louis ESPES

 

 

On May 14th, 2005 at 7h08 (local time), a serial Ecureuil/AStar AS 350 B3 piloted by the EUROCOPTER X-test pilot Didier Delsalle, landed at 8,850 meters (29,035ft) on the top of the Mount Everest (Kingdom of Nepal).

 

 

 

This tremendous achievement breaks the World Record for the highest altitude landing and take-off ever, which sets an ultimate milestone in the History of Aviation.

 

 

 

 

Fabrice Brégier, President and CEO of the EUROCOPTER Group, world leading helicopter manufacturer, immediately congratulated the pilot and his team for this extraordinary feat.

 

 

 

 

 

After taking off from its base camp Lukla on May 14th, 2005 at 2,866 meters (9,403ft) 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 landed on ground more than 2 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 definitively 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 (…), sublimated by the magic of the place”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Achieved with a serial helicopter, this absolute World Record once more contributes to underline the unique qualities of the Ecureuil/AStar AS350 B3 as a multipurpose, reliable, quick and comfortable helicopter which emerges as the most performing aircraft in the world in the most extreme conditions.

 

 

 

During the trial period, Didier Delsalle and his Ecureuil/AStar AS350 B3 flew some rescue missions on behalf of the Nepalese authorities demonstrating the operational capabilities of the aircraft used to set the altitude landing and take-off World Record.

 

 

 

This feat has been achieved further to various flight tests begun one year ago with the Ecureuil/AStar AS350 B3 among which:

 

 

 

- Experimental flight up to 8,992 meters (29,500 ft) in April 2004 in Istres (France),

 

 

 

- “Time to climb” records to the heights of 3,000, 6,000 and 9,000 meters performed on April 14th, 2005 in respectively 2 minutes 21 seconds, 5 minutes 6 seconds and 9 minutes 26 seconds. These records smash the previous ones held by an Ecureuil/AStar AS350 B1 with respectively 2 minutes 59 seconds, 6 minutes 55 seconds and 13 minutes 52 seconds,

 

 

 

- Experimental flight up to 10.211 meters (33.500 ft) on April 14, 2005,

 

 

 

- Landing at the South Pass of Mount Everest at 7,925 meters (26,000 ft) on May 12th, 2005, establishing a new altitude landing and take-off record, previously held by a Cheetah helicopter - variant of the Lama - at 7,670 meters (25,150 ft).

 

 

 

 

With this landing on the top of the world, EUROCOPTER demonstrates that its technological innovations provide its products a length - height - ahead, set at the disposal of its worldwide customers.

 

 

 

To date, 3,670 Ecureuil/AStar have been sold worldwide and logged 15 million flight hours.

 

Since its introduction on the market, the Ecureuil/AStar/Twinstar family has been benefiting of successive improvements among which its most powerful version is the Ecureuil/AStar AS350 B3. This aircraft is serial equipped with modern systems such as dual channel FADEC, Vehicule and Engine Monitoring Display, integrated GPS, etc….

 

424 Ecureuil/AStar AS350 B3 are currently in operation worldwide, mainly used for missions requiring high performances, such as aerial work (cargo sling capacity: 1,400kg) in very high and hot conditions.

 

 

 

EUROCOPTER is thankful to the Nepalese government and all its departments for their help and friendly support throughout this mission.

 

 

 

These world records are currently submitted to the official approval of the FAI.

 

 

 

Eurocopter is a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS. The worldwide leader in aerospace, defense, and the associated services, EADS generated a turnover of 31.8 billion euros in 2004, and employed approximately 110,000 people throughout the world. The EADS Group includes the aircraft maker Airbus, the world’s leading helicopter manufacturer Eurocopter, and the world’s second largest missile company, the joint venture MDBA. EADS is also the biggest partner in the Eurofighter consortium and the lead contractor for the Ariane launcher. The Group is also developing the A400M military transport aircraft, and is the major industrial partner for Galileo, the European satellite-based navigation system.

 

For more information, please contact:

 

Jean Louis ESPES Christina GOTZHEIN

 

Tel : + 33 (0)4 42 85 95 55 Tel : + 49 (0) 89 6000 8

 

Fax :+ 33 (0)4 42 85 95 64 Fax :+ 49 (0) 89 6000 44 37

 

jean-louis.espes@eurocopter.com christina.gotzhein@eurocopter.com

 

Eurocopter Eurocopter Deutschland GmbH

 

 

 

Eduardo CONSEJO

 

Tel: + 34 91 511 04 70

 

Fax : + 34 91 511 04 69

 

eduardo.consejo@eurocopter.es

 

Eurocopter España, S.A

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[justfly]

Posted on PPrune...Don't know the source?...

 

That appears to be a story put out by the Indo-Asian News Service recently (hence the "(IANS)"). Seems a little biased, nationalistic (jingoistic even), and defensive of the IAF's recent high altitude helicopter efforts.

 

I think this whole issue is a confusion of languages, both linguistic and aviator/non-aviator, what constitutes a "landing", the nature of the terrain and environment at the summit of Everest, and what Mr. Delsalle did and didn't do.

 

Many seemed to take the "Stepping out of his helicopter" line in the original press release to mean that was at the summit, and wanted to see the pictures of that. At the least it seems most won't accept anything less than skids full-down, even engine off, to be a "landing". To know the nature of helicopter flight and extreme high altitude and the summit of Everest is to know this is absurd. I'll be surprised to ever see anyone do more than the single skid toe-in Mr. Delsalle did. I won't be surprised to see many tragedies trying to do otherwise.

 

Bravo to Didier Delsalle and the rest of the Eurocopter team for their accomplishment, and doing it safely. They have stated that was mostly to show the high altitude capabilities of their production machine, and the potential for high altitude rescues.

[Heli Ops]

Mount Everest landing and take-off : Eurocopter statement

Marignane, June 7, 2005

 

Further to the Civil Aviation Authorities of Nepal (CAAN) statement released from Katmandou on June 3rd, 2005, Eurocopter does confirm that its serial Ecureuil AS 350B3 did achieve the World Record performance of high altitude landing and take-off on Mount Everest (8850m) on May 14th and 15th 2005 as per FAI (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale) standards.

 

Eurocopter regrets the misunderstanding with the CAAN.

 

Indeed the permission given by the CAAN to the Eurocopter team was very clear and did concern “Everest High Altitude Heli Flight Test”, including landings and take-offs” as per Eurocopter flight test programme given to CAAN in March 2005.

 

This Mount Everest landing and take-off feat has been performed under control of a FAI Official Observer and according to the FAI rules, i.e. “the touch down/take-off ensure that the rotorcraft maintains contact with the ground at least 2mn”.

 

This World Record is currently under validation.

 

As shown in the video on our Eurocopter website (www.eurocopter.com/everest ) this was the case as the Ecureuil AS350B3 remained landed 3mn 50 on May 14th and over 4mn on the next day.

[justfly]

Everest Mystery Chopper - it's the summit alright! <----link

 

...mountaineering historian Jochen Hemmleb, co-author of "Ghosts of Everest: The Search for Mallory and Irvine"; and "Detectives on Everest: The 2001 Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition"...

 

...Landing without permit

 

This past weekend, Jochen found reason to check in with ExplorersWeb again. This time - over the disputed Everest summit by the Mystery chopper.

 

The dispute came as a surprise to those of us who have been up there - it sure looked like the summit to us. Turns out that the chopper didn't have Nepal's permit to do the landing, and thus didn't admit to it until after arrival back in France - hence the long time before the press release.

 

Checking the video

 

To be sure though, Jochen investigated the summit video. Here are his results:

 

"Now that the Everest Helicopter Summit has been disputed, I was curious to see what the Eurocopter video actually shows and whether it can be matched with Everest summit views. The attached images were extracted in chronological order and appear in the same succession as in the video."

 

"The identification of certain landmarks in those images is in fact almost self-explanatory: Several landmarks, in particular the distinctive summit of Changzheng Peak (situated between the Main and East Rongbuk Valleys), remain visible throughout each depicted stage of the flight, i.e. the approach, landing and take-off."

 

Classic summit view

 

"Some of the images taken from near the summit during the last stages of the approach match the classic summit view to the North and Northeast, from the Main Rongbuk Valley to the summit of Khartaphu."

 

"Also visible in the last stages of the approach and in the summit images is a red object, the exact nature of which (a Poisk bottle?) might be verified by climbers' summit pictures taken this spring."

 

"As the helicopter takes off from the summit, the view opens to the North Col and the ENE-Ridge of Changtse (overlooking the East Rongbuk ABC), again matching the classic summit view to the Northeast. Also visible is the West Shoulder, matching photographs by Edmund Hillary and Hornbein & Unsoeld."

 

"So does the video show the summit of Everest and did the helicopter land on it? Without any doubt."

 

Jochen...

[Steve76]

Righto... I'm off then to walk up and check for skid prints. Call you lot in a month and let you know the skinny. We'll get to the bottom of this!

[Elvis]

 

 

:shock: :shock: