Ufo....?

You have me hooked. Rotary craft are way up on my list of passion. Although oddly my first thoughts when thinking about helicopters isn't for pleasant reasons. My first thoughts are of Chernobyl, Piper Alpha, and Vietnam.

Sadly I have only been up in two, an R22 in which I stupidly asked "what happens if the engine cuts out" The reply after a short call to the control tower was "This" The pilot then shut it off and did an auto rotation landing. I'll keep my mouth shut next time! Also after continued pestering on my part, I got to go up in this lovely Lama, which next to the Dauphin is my favourite helicopter. Sadly bureaucrats are trying to scrap the Lama in favour of twin engined craft for mountain rescue, which according to a doctor friend who uses the Lama, isn't going to work. He says that the downdraught is too great to make them a safe option for their long line rescue in snow conditions. Whether this is true or not, it will be a shame if the Lama goes.

I can remember that it must have taken several minutes for my stomach to catch up with the rest of my body when I went up!!! :D

‪SA 315B Lama extreme flying - Bex 07‬‏ - YouTube


And this is one of my favourite youtube clips of all time. I would so love this guys job.

Enjoy the ride.

http://youtu.be/-SfNgIT9BCU

At the other extreme.. This pilot must have a screw loose!

http://youtu.be/n9ZUXNeBoHo


I have just remembered that I see an old Whirlwind on an almost daily basis. There is one about a mile or so away from me at the local army camp.

 

It`s not a UFO hanging onto that chopper it`s me.
A different time and country then the UFO Picture.
This is Malaysia and 110 Sqdr Whirlwind.

 

Oh my God!!! :gaagh: I would drop immediately in the same circumstances...

 

Yes. I do think so. It was Sikorsky S-55 that started life in USA.

 

It is indeed a strange sensation. I can remember being well below the chopper on the wire and looking up
thinking.. OK. I`m hanging on to this chopper with this wire, but whats holding the chopper up.??

 

Same here.

In fact seeing how ridiculous some of the 'evidence' and testimony is, it sometimes crosses my mind that there is a bit of disinformation going on.

The classic case is the Roswell incident. If a few yokels see military aircraft training over supposedly empty desert during the cold war, and start telling everyone what they saw, especially if something crashed, then the best cover up would be to spread so many conflicting rumours and ridiculous 'evidence' that people get bored and stop listening. That way the Russians, who would of course have been trying to keep an eye on America at the time, will just think some crazy yokels had drank too much moonshine one night.

 

With twelve years service and time spent in the Far East and many atations visited and loads of hours flown I can honestly say that only once did I see any UFO.?
It was at RAF Wyton near Huntingdon. It was bright silver and moved very slowly. It did not appear to be right for the bright sunny day that it was.
We contacted ATC and Radar and of course they could not see a thing. A while later they came back and told us it was one of the planets putting on a show during the day.
I have aften wondered if this was the case.????

 

"Nice picture of you, Capney, doing a dangle from a Helo!!! We used to get the chance to ride "shotgun" in the Helo's in Aden over the harbours on security patrol, harnessed in with our feet dangling over the side. Looking down into the water you could see the dark shadows of huge rays on the bottom plus the black shapes of the sharks gliding along in shoals, not a place to go swimming. "


More memories.
Of the day I went with the craw of a 52 Squadron Valetta on a search mission over the malaysian jungle. Rear side doors romoved... safety kit on with legs hanging out the door while the aircraft banked in step circles so we could look down into the tree coverage. Never did find the crashed A/C. but it was a fun trip.