Helicopter Story
Discussion
Right, this is the shortened version of the story I was told last night.
Random stranger lands his helicopter on someone's land (not a farm but a substantial plot of land). Pilot goes to the house and asks if he can park it there as he's low on fuel.
Owner of house / land invites pilot in and let's him stay the night on the (joking) condition that he takes him for a spin in the helicopter.
The next day, the pilot leaves at first light and is not seen again (no note etc).
Question is, is this BS ?
1. How could a pilot land a chopper without it being an emergency? If so, surely the police or Aviation Auth's would have turned up on the scene?
2. How would he have got aviation fuel into the chopper? Presumably Tesco 99 RON isn't going to do.
3. Why that exact spot of land? Seems unlikely that someone would land due to lack of fuel and then calmly stay the night at a complete stranger's house before dissapearing first thing with no explanation.
The explanation given by the chap recounting this is that the pilot had probably stole the chopper.
So, any truth in the above? I know it's a case of "so what" but I'd be interested to know how much of the above is viable.
Random stranger lands his helicopter on someone's land (not a farm but a substantial plot of land). Pilot goes to the house and asks if he can park it there as he's low on fuel.
Owner of house / land invites pilot in and let's him stay the night on the (joking) condition that he takes him for a spin in the helicopter.
The next day, the pilot leaves at first light and is not seen again (no note etc).
Question is, is this BS ?
1. How could a pilot land a chopper without it being an emergency? If so, surely the police or Aviation Auth's would have turned up on the scene?
2. How would he have got aviation fuel into the chopper? Presumably Tesco 99 RON isn't going to do.
3. Why that exact spot of land? Seems unlikely that someone would land due to lack of fuel and then calmly stay the night at a complete stranger's house before dissapearing first thing with no explanation.
The explanation given by the chap recounting this is that the pilot had probably stole the chopper.
So, any truth in the above? I know it's a case of "so what" but I'd be interested to know how much of the above is viable.
Sounds like BS to me. From the technical perspective, even the diminutive Robinson R22 doesn't get very far on a Jerry can of fuel and I can't see anyone lugging any more than that around. It also requires avgas which is hardly freely available outside of airfields. It would run on mogas at a push but it's risking it as avgas is 100LL, (the LL being low lead). The R22 is not able to run on mogas from the factory and we know what happens when you run unleaded through something that needs leaded. It'd survive for sure but would you risk it...?
Factor in the overnight stay (did the pilot call anyone to say he wouldn't be arriving...?) at a complete stranger's place then randomly buggering off the next morning without even a word of thanks. I expect you'd hear the thing take off as well unless it was several hundred yards away behind trees or something.
As I said when I was 8 - Chinny reckon
Factor in the overnight stay (did the pilot call anyone to say he wouldn't be arriving...?) at a complete stranger's place then randomly buggering off the next morning without even a word of thanks. I expect you'd hear the thing take off as well unless it was several hundred yards away behind trees or something.
As I said when I was 8 - Chinny reckon
sebo said:
Right, this is the shortened version of the story I was told last night.
Random stranger lands his helicopter on someone's land (not a farm but a substantial plot of land). Pilot goes to the house and asks if he can park it there as he's low on fuel.
Owner of house / land invites pilot in and let's him stay the night on the (joking) condition that he takes him for a spin in the helicopter.
The next day, the pilot leaves at first light and is not seen again (no note etc).
Question is, is this BS ?
1. How could a pilot land a chopper without it being an emergency? If so, surely the police or Aviation Auth's would have turned up on the scene?
not at all, I used to work in a team that included a Bell Turbo, support truck, etc and there was no need to involve the authorities and we flew all over the place landing in some odd places to refuel or tank up on chemicalsRandom stranger lands his helicopter on someone's land (not a farm but a substantial plot of land). Pilot goes to the house and asks if he can park it there as he's low on fuel.
Owner of house / land invites pilot in and let's him stay the night on the (joking) condition that he takes him for a spin in the helicopter.
The next day, the pilot leaves at first light and is not seen again (no note etc).
Question is, is this BS ?
1. How could a pilot land a chopper without it being an emergency? If so, surely the police or Aviation Auth's would have turned up on the scene?
sebo said:
2. How would he have got aviation fuel into the chopper? Presumably Tesco 99 RON isn't going to do.
depends on the engine and depends on what support he had, we used a hand pump from 10 gal drums for both the gas turbine and IC enginesebo said:
3. Why that exact spot of land? Seems unlikely that someone would land due to lack of fuel and then calmly stay the night at a complete stranger's house before dissapearing first thing with no explanation.
odd admittedlysebo said:
The explanation given by the chap recounting this is that the pilot had probably stole the chopper.
So, any truth in the above? I know it's a case of "so what" but I'd be interested to know how much of the above is viable.
odd story but unlikely to have been stolen.....allthough ours didn't have immobilisers and you could have started them with a rusty screwdriver So, any truth in the above? I know it's a case of "so what" but I'd be interested to know how much of the above is viable.
The story does sound implausible, but not impossible.
The great thing about helicopters is you can land almost anywhere - and in double quick time if you have an emergency. The CAA would only be interested if there was a notifiable incident.
Low fuel is bad flight management, unless you have sprung a leak. Normal procedure would be to land in a field close to an access road.
Of course, the fuel warning light could have come on and the pilot landed, but when he checked the next morning, it could have been a false alarm with plenty of juice still in the tanks.
Or, he could have been flying illegally - ie outside of his licence privileges (VMC in IMC or at night) and made up the fuel story. Either way, he should have told someone where he was or the emergency services would have been notified that he hadn't arrived at his destination.
Helicopters rarely get stolen - certainly not in this country - more often in the movies.
The great thing about helicopters is you can land almost anywhere - and in double quick time if you have an emergency. The CAA would only be interested if there was a notifiable incident.
Low fuel is bad flight management, unless you have sprung a leak. Normal procedure would be to land in a field close to an access road.
Of course, the fuel warning light could have come on and the pilot landed, but when he checked the next morning, it could have been a false alarm with plenty of juice still in the tanks.
Or, he could have been flying illegally - ie outside of his licence privileges (VMC in IMC or at night) and made up the fuel story. Either way, he should have told someone where he was or the emergency services would have been notified that he hadn't arrived at his destination.
Helicopters rarely get stolen - certainly not in this country - more often in the movies.
Edited by Geneve on Friday 16th October 13:23
There's nothing illegal about doing this and infact I'd suggest that the pilot was very sensible to do so. One of the big killers in light aviation is "gethomeitis" where you carry on despite the fact that it is far more sensibe to just make a precautionary landing and sort it out on the ground.
I've picked up aircraft from when people have put them down on beaches or fields. All you need to do is turn up with 2 or 3 jerry cans of avgas and away you go. 20 or 30 litre of fuel is easy to carry and will get you to somewhere you can get fuel normally.
I don't smell BS at all. It's perfectly plausible.
[quote]1. How could a pilot land a chopper without it being an emergency? If so, surely the police or Aviation Auth's would have turned up on the scene?
2. How would he have got aviation fuel into the chopper? Presumably Tesco 99 RON isn't going to do.
3. Why that exact spot of land? Seems unlikely that someone would land due to lack of fuel and then calmly stay the night at a complete stranger's house before dissapearing first thing with no explanation.
[/quote]
1. It isn't an emergency or anything that the Police or CAA need to get involved in.
2. With a jerry can and a funnel.
3. I'd land a helicopter near to someones house. It's less likely to get torched by some wee scrote. That has happened a couple of times recently when people have had to put the aircraft into a field.
I've picked up aircraft from when people have put them down on beaches or fields. All you need to do is turn up with 2 or 3 jerry cans of avgas and away you go. 20 or 30 litre of fuel is easy to carry and will get you to somewhere you can get fuel normally.
I don't smell BS at all. It's perfectly plausible.
[quote]1. How could a pilot land a chopper without it being an emergency? If so, surely the police or Aviation Auth's would have turned up on the scene?
2. How would he have got aviation fuel into the chopper? Presumably Tesco 99 RON isn't going to do.
3. Why that exact spot of land? Seems unlikely that someone would land due to lack of fuel and then calmly stay the night at a complete stranger's house before dissapearing first thing with no explanation.
[/quote]
1. It isn't an emergency or anything that the Police or CAA need to get involved in.
2. With a jerry can and a funnel.
3. I'd land a helicopter near to someones house. It's less likely to get torched by some wee scrote. That has happened a couple of times recently when people have had to put the aircraft into a field.
Edited by IforB on Friday 16th October 18:34
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