Crazy Helicopter Ride Stories

In reply to David S. Wallens :

I had one of those!! It was the coolest toy. I had so much fun with it. 

My Dad would occasionally ride in a helicopter to inspect the electric power lines. Sounded like the 90 degree corners were the fun part, sideways with G-forces.

My wife got picked up from high school by her father in a small helicopter once. She was mortified, yet thought it was pretty cool.

I realized a long time ago I am too - something, probably reckless - to be a surviving pilot, even though I've known a bunch (inc. family) and flown with several. Jumping out of planes is fun, though!

Old friend of mine flies Seahawks for the Navy. He has more and better stories involving vomit than any other 8 people I know.

In reply to David S. Wallens :

I had the VertiBird that was part of a styrofoam Coast Guard ship. Tons of fun!

I flew or got rides in a lot of interesting planes during my 20 aviation career, but I've never gone up in a helicopter. I keep hoping one of the UH-1 Hueys that travel around giving rides will pass through here so I can get a ride.

VolvoHeretic said:

The Washington DC plane crash made me think about two helicopter rides I got back in my younger days. When I was in grade school back in the 60s, our state fair had an independent vendor that was selling rides on a M.A.S.H. style whirlybird helicopter which my dad let my older brother and I ride on. What a thrill ride! 

My one and only helicopter ride was also in one of these, that had been turned into a crop duster, at the local fair. From the moment he throttled up it felt like it was going to shake its self to pieces, and I was 100% confident I wasn't going to make it out alive. 

Our old hospital has one amazing air ambulance pilot and I have watched him land 5 stories up on top of the roof many times and in unbelievable winds. Except for the time he hit his tail rotor on the catch fencing on the edge of the helipad and they had to crane it down to the street.

Our airbase also uses and practices on the hospital roof using Huey helicopters. Evidently, they can't place their full weight on the pad and have to hover somewhat.

You can see the gnawed off tail rotor tips below in photos provided by local news channels.

jharry3 said:

   I worked in the Gulf of America 

adam525i said:

Patiently waiting for AAZCD-Jon to show up!

I was copilot for one of the more experienced guys doing climbs and descents for the Sport Parachute Club up to 12,000. After all of the jumpers were away and clear Ed said, "Watch this." Smooth as silk he pulled the nose up as he rolled right. We went completely inverted, but still kept what felt like normal g-force into the seat. We came out of the roll, then held a 30 degree bank and dive the rest of the way down. In a front seat with access to controls it felt pretty good. Not sure I'd be as comfortable strapped into the back. *I'll give another one later. Just got called for a flight.

Edit... I had another story partially typed in and was called for another flight, a car wreck. We got the patient to the hospital just before the ceiling dropped below our minimum for night. (Meaning that clouds formed quickly at an altitude lower than what we are allowed to fly with). I'm now posting this update from an Uber as my medical crew and I ride back to our home base. Hopefully the day pilot will be able to fly it back before I come to work tomorrow.

If TC dropping the Island Hoppers Hughes 500 down on the deck during the intro for Magnum  P.I. didn't make you want to fly choppers, well nothing short of Air Wolf would.

Went on a Grand Canyon helicopter tour. Thoroughly enjoyed. Would recommend. 

@Oshkosh Air venture they fly 10 of those MASH bubble helicopters on constant tours.

So, my helicopter story. 

A few years back, I went to Goodwood with Subaru. To bypass the traffic, we went to the track via helicopter. I know, very bougie. It was two rows with four, I think, across in the back seat. 

I’m not a fan of heights, tight confines and stuffy places. I was happy to land. Very.

On the way back, I sat up front. That was better. A little. 

For a treat, we got to go for a helicopter ride–and a Spitfire (not the car) was going to fly alongside.

Did I want to go?

Um, I guess?

I made sure to pee before getting on board. That was probably my smartest decision of the day. 

Hey, my favorite three things once again: heights, tight spaces, stuffiness.

This time we sat across from each other with our knees interlocked. I lucked into a window seat. Somehow I got out my phone and took some video. The person across from me said I looked like crap. I know he was right. Anyway, that video:

clutchsmoke said:

Went on a Grand Canyon helicopter tour. Thoroughly enjoyed. Would recommend. 

@Oshkosh Air venture they fly 10 of those MASH bubble helicopters on constant tours.

I was hiking in the Na Pali coast of Kauai and this tour helicopter came in loud and low. A freshly scrubbed couple gave a happy wave to which I replied with my best two-handed bird. Helicopters can be fun, and they can also be really annoying. 

I was a passenger on an H-53 as we flew under the San Francisco Bay Bridge in 1989. My brain knew  there was enough space, but it sure didn't look that way the closer we got. We were delivering an external load to Treasure Island and were not allowed to fly over the bridge.

Since this thread is still alive, I have a friend who has been a bush pilot all his career. He was up at Fort McMurray during the fires and they gave him a crash course in water buckets. He was assigned an area of town but could see his house was about to go up in flames so he started watering his house and those around it. About four houses survived as a result. His neighbors were rather ungrateful because they got no insurance payout and had to live in a burned out town for several years. 

A couple years later he was filling a bucket for another fire and he failed to apply enough countersteer and crashed into the lake. A fisherman pulled him out. 

Lost my uncle in one also:

https://www.faa.gov/lessons_learned/rotorcraft/accidents/N748P

Vietnam vet, 2 distinguished flying crosses. Flew for Aramco, Medivacs, oil field etc. after the Army. 

He had some stories.

There is a little more to this than that news report.

Appleseed said:

If TC dropping the Island Hoppers Hughes 500 down on the deck during the intro for Magnum  P.I. didn't make you want to fly choppers, well nothing short of Air Wolf would.

Those Hughes 500s must be the Miata of helicopters.

As a new Army second lieutenant in 1984, I was on a field exercise within a week of hitting my first duty post. My CO arranged for an OH-58 to take me on a flight to “visually inspect our position”. Right. The doors were off, and I was riding “shotgun”, with the CO and the company XO in back. As soon as we got off the ground, the pilot honked it over in a tight right-hand turn, so I could get a GOOD look at the ground. He kept doing that, along with making some low fast passes. I think they wanted me to freak or puke. No joy for them that day: I kept it together, and enjoyed the ride.

I had already ridden in Chinooks (not much of a view, even out the back) and even rappelled out of a Huey in ROTC.  The OH-58 was more fun.

Fellow GRMer and my BFF KNB13 went down in Lake Texoma during an aerial survey for the ACOE. The descent and landing on the water was relatively gentle and controlled, the blades hitting the water were not, and then he was concerned about having to swim up through them. 

I completed flight training in Blackhawks right when Desert Storm ended and was assigned to the 101st Airborne. Most of the pilots in my unit who had deployed were very confident in their abilities and had flown the Blackhawks beyond the limitations in the book. I learned a lot from them as we did 'stupid helicopter tricks' and pushed the limits. "How close can you fly to chalk one? No, you're too far. Watch this and stay on the controls. If you're about to collide, bank hard into where he is now, he won't still be there." "Stop the aircraft right here. No, not a standard decel, Throw it sideways like a barn door." "If you keep your speed up, and bank about 30 degrees, you can fit between those trees." Their confidence and bravado transferred to me as I became a pilot in command.  ...When this happened, I knew EXACTLY which tree they hit:

This happened and the perspective of how inches and seconds can be the difference between life and death started to sink in. Even with that, one of my favorite things to do was orientation flights for infantry units. We would take them for a ride through our restricted airspace and show them what a Blackhawk could do: Close formation flight, hard banks from one side to the other, NOE on the trees and through gaps at 120+ knots, a hard climb and arc to zero G. We did it regularly and it was a 'canned' routine for most of us. I felt that we had mitigation and controls in place along with practice that kept it reasonably safe among our crews. When other people crashed we ( I ) carefully analyzed what they did wrong for self-assurance that we were doing it right.

People died doing training every year in the 101st Airborne. Walking past this wreckage in the hangar every day for three months was a little uncomfortable.

My last years in the Army I was in a staff position and didn't fly much. I remember that I was in a war gaming exercise when we heard that a Blackhawk piloted by one of my friends was missing during an orientation flight for infantry. They were the trail aircraft of a flight of three and nobody was sure when they dropped out. After a few hours of searching two survivors were found near the smoking wreckage. I don't do stupid helicopter tricks anymore.

ShawnG said:

Appleseed said:

If TC dropping the Island Hoppers Hughes 500 down on the deck during the intro for Magnum  P.I. didn't make you want to fly choppers, well nothing short of Air Wolf would.

Those Hughes 500s must be the Miata of helicopters.

We grew up with the Whirlybirds.  And what kid didn't dream of their very own 2 seater kit helicopter from the back of Popular Mechanics?

Don't forget to check out the Mach Loop.

When I was a wee apprentoid in aviation, there was an eccentric old dude that used to come hang out in the shop and talk with the owner and shop foreman a lot.

Old guy had an early Ford Econoline and a Fiat 2000 that he was always tinkering with and building stuff for. Came up with all kinds of cool stuff.

I asked the boss who he was and was told "He used to have a job designing gearboxes for a little company called Sikorsky".

He's probably dead now, wish I had taken the opportunity to get to know him better.

In reply to NermalSnert (Forum Supporter) :

PHI.... now there's a blast from the past. A friend / mentor of mine was a pilot for PHI. This was in 1979-1981, does then name Don Gilliam ring a bell with you?