I scared the cr#p out of myself when

[R0T0R]

I think I’ll agree to disagree on that one. You do you I’ll do I’ll do me and the low timers are welcomed to PM me with any questions. 

[Pool pilot]

On 6/25/2022 at 9:11 PM, Iceman said:

One more I will share, if it saves a life great. May you have fun with it.

Beautiful sunny April day in Squamish. Tasked with taking a couple environmental contractors (a man and a women) to sample water in some creeks at Phantom Lake about 16nm as the crow flies west of Squamish over a couple mountain ranges.

Lift about 9am and sit at Phantom Lake waiting for them while they do their thing. Around noon it started clouding over.

I trudged through the deep snow in my *light hiking shoes and told them to pack it up as there is weather moving in. 30 minutes later they show up and the snow is really starting to come down.

After everyone was seated and comfy I lifted and almost immediately found myself not able to tell how high I was above the ground. With help from the front passenger I moved over to the tree line along the shore. 

By now its foggy and the snow is really coming down, I radio a hydro guy in the valley below and he says there is no cloud just snowing “its pretty clear down here”.

At the south end of the lake there is a 1200 foot drop off to the valley below so I hover taxi over there and start making my way down tree top by tree top. By now I am shitting bricks.

My windshield is useless as its covered in snow and slush so I have to descend parallel to the trees and use my side window for guidance.  What follows is one of the most harrowing experiences of my life. 

Halfway down I cannot see the tree tops below me anymore (I think it was rock cliff) and looking up I can barely see the trees above.

Someone was watching over me that day as I was able to inch my way back up to the mouth of the lake. Vis was almost zero by now and it was almost impossible to land. 

Out of my little open window I saw something that contrasted with the snow. I flew that way and the sweetest little spruce tree was there to Marshall me in.

Ended up having to spend the night up there. It was terrible but thats a story for another time. But a Sunny morning broke and our company  Astar was there first light with Tim Hortens to pick us up.
 

 

 

 

 

 

So very glad I was NOT with you on this flight.

[Iceman]

23 minutes ago, Pool pilot said:

So very glad I was NOT with you on this flight.

As would say anybody. You’re comment is redundant and ignorant. Glad I shared the story though. You had to be there to understand ace. I know many can relate to it.

And because of the likes of you Poolpilot. Admin, Twinstar whatever. Please delete my profile from this toxic forum.

 

[Pool pilot]

28 minutes ago, Iceman said:

As would say anybody. You’re comment is redundant and ignorant. Glad I shared the story though. You had to be there to understand ace. I know many can relate to it.

And because of the likes of you Poolpilot. Admin, Twinstar whatever. Please delete my profile from this toxic forum.

 

Wow.... I did not mean to upset you.

I was glad you made it.

[Trudashian]

Popped in for a quick peek. Same few guys patting themselves on the back and arguing at who has the bigger wiener. Good thing you have more time auto rotating than I have flying maybe you should bore us with some auto rotating stories. Oh the egotistical horror of it all.

[Swissmatt]

On 6/23/2022 at 4:25 PM, sirlandsalot said:

I was long-lining seismic bags in the Amazon jungle on a 220’ line.  Was on a steep slope and the bags kept rolling into a creek as I kept trying to perch them behind a stump before I released.  Lost situational awareness and started moving my tail around.  I heard a strange whooshing noise out my right side (a star door off)  I looked to my right and there was an astar tail rotor diameter tube of green leaves horizontally flying out the right side.  I had stuck my tail in the top of a tree, while hovering deep in the curve.  I released all bags and held my breath as I hovered over to the nearest pad, landed safely, inspected the green tail rotor. It was so green and lush the tabs where not even bent.  Fak me!

And then there’s the time a 3 goes sloth climbed onto my line from a tree……that’s another thread though….

Bahaa, that’s where you got the title of slowest long liner ever

[ScottyDont]

On 6/27/2022 at 8:35 PM, Trudashian said:

Popped in for a quick peek. Same few guys patting themselves on the back and arguing at who has the bigger wiener. Good thing you have more time auto rotating than I have flying maybe you should bore us with some auto rotating stories. Oh the egotistical horror of it all.

Even if they start arguing about TFWs and unions, along with whos ballbag is bigger, the sloth story was 100% worth  this thread being started.

I also cant imagine any autorotation story would be boring?

At the start of my career I remember looking at my fuel gauges in R44 seeing they were both at 0... swiftly swooped down onto a pipeline right of way thinking I was on fumes... turns out cycling the breaker brought back the gauges. Since then have had many gauges fail... Trust your lights not your gauges! 

[Diaper_Pin]

On 6/30/2022 at 12:47 PM, ScottyDont said:

Even if they start arguing about TFWs and unions, along with whos ballbag is bigger, the sloth story was 100% worth  this thread being started.

I also cant imagine any autorotation story would be boring?

At the start of my career I remember looking at my fuel gauges in R44 seeing they were both at 0... swiftly swooped down onto a pipeline right of way thinking I was on fumes... turns out cycling the breaker brought back the gauges. Since then have had many gauges fail... Trust your lights not your gauges! 

& Cross ref with your friend the timer. It all gets real when the "low Fuel" light comes on.

[deanne78]

useful information

[DGP]

On 6/24/2022 at 3:23 PM, gwk said:

OK, I'll Bite.

 In 1984 I was working my 4th year in the industry, and was with a small operator out of Buffalo Narrows, called Western Helicopters. The company and owner are no longer with us, so I don't mind naming names in this case.

 It was my second season with them, flying a FH1100, for those of you who don't know, the FH1100 was the third aircraft submitted to the US military for the LOH ( light observation heli. ) contract, won by the Hughes 500.

Sask. was burning, and we were flying very long days, up at 6:00, lifting off at 6:30, flying down to Isle La Cross, to pick up the Fire Boss, out to the fire, and then dropping off crews in the morning. All day I was flying gear, lunches, gas, you all know the drill, then late afternoon picking up crews and dropping them in their camps, and finally after everyone is back, pick up the fire boss, fly around the fire, back to Isle la Cross, and home to Buffalo Narrows, landing at dusk.

 I just checked my log book, and we started flying these fires June 09, and flew every day, sometimes up to 13 hours, until Sept 01, non stop, no days off. Who ever wishes for the old days might want to watch what they wish for.

 Any way, back to the story, it was mid Aug., dead tired, and I was picking crews up from the fire and bringing them back to their camp on a small island. They had cleared a small pad, cutting down small trees about 3-4 inches from the ground, and dragged them away. I had landed with a group, and was trying to hustle up, as there was still  lot's to do, but I stopped myself, and waited for the guys to grab their gear, and clear the arc of the blades before I pulled collective. I vividly remember checking myself mentally, and saying to myself, wait for them, we are not in that much of a hurry, and boy am I glad I did. I pulled collective, and over she went, I managed to slam the collective down in time to save a roll over, but the main blade caromed off a knocked down tree that was about 18 inches off the ground, and bent the blade tip in an upswept look, and who knows what else damage .I am positive to this day, had I not waited, I would have killed at least one firefighter, maybe more had I not waited for them to clear the arc of the blades.

 What had happened, is when I landed, a small tree stump, about the size of my thumb, slipped in one of the holes in the aluminum bearpaw, and when I pulled collective, the machine must of slipped sideways a bit and trapped the small stump in the hole, pinning that bearpaw to the ground, and dynamic rollover almost flipped me over. 

 The moral, quite obvious, take your time, have a good look around, and only when it's safe, pull pitch. 

Did the same thing in 1989...fires around Norway House...they started around July1 and went into Sept....after about a week when I woke up I was shaking so bad I couldn't drink a cup of java without spilling it all over me...