Helicopter Lands on summit of Mt Everest

[JohnL]

Never thought I'd see this happen.

JohnL

 

[grouseking]

cool but....

Its really cool that the helicopter landed, but I think it takes some danger of climbing the highest peak in the world. Or at least people will think that. Hopefully that doesnt lead to more people trying to summit the peak who aren't prepared. I don't know much about what it takes to climb Everest but I know that I couldn't do it at this point. I'll stick with New Hampshire and the surrounding area!

 

[DougPaul]

An adverstising stunt. Rescue capability was not demonstrated (eg weight limits). But still quite an accomplishment.

Already heavily discussed--see previous thread "Hope for High Alt. Rescue..." http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=6718&highlight=helicopter

 

[beverly]

Maybe or Maybe Not

There was a thread already on this, which had the video.

link

But the plot thickens. Did they or didn't they? The flight occurred on May 14th. The Civilian Aviation Authority of Nepal says it didn't happen:

“Delsalle had only made emergency landing some 1000 metres below at the South Col due to bad weather and therefore the landing cannot be confirmed,” the statement said.
“The helicopter had not demanded permission for landing on the peak,” said the CAAN “and therefore no permit had been given and such imaginary publicity by the Eurocopter is regretted.”

full story

So, Nepal says it didn't happen, because they didn't give them a permit.

Another news story says the mystery is because they had to get out of Nepal before they could claim it, because of the lack of permission.

“The pilot wrote to us saying he did not land on the summit while they went around claiming they had made the highest landing, how can they give two different statements?” asks Keshab Raj Khanal, of CAAN's Air Transportation Directorate.

Indeed, why is Delsalle making contradictory statements? Khanal said regulations didn't allow him to show us the statement. There are other questions: did Delsalle have permission to even land on the South Col? Given Nepal's current political setup could the flights have taken place without a green light from the Royal Nepali Army, which operates its own fleet of Ecureuils? Eurocopter is a subsidiary of the EADS group which also owns Airbus and its website has now posted definitive photographs and videos of the summit landing (w ww.eurocopter.com/everest/). It turns out Delsalle landed first on the South Col on 12 May for practice, then on 14 and 15 May on the summit. The video taken by a fuselage camera shows the skids on top for three minutes and 50 seconds which is nearly two minutes longer than required by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) the body that needs to recognise the record.

Nepali Times

The mysterious chopper, its dubious landing and the secrecy surrounding the whole expedition set off wild speculation on mountaineering chatsites about the legitimacy of the claim which were only laid to rest when the photos and videos were posted on the site last week.

So I guess it's denial until they submit the proof for a record to the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the body that needs to recognize the record.

 

[Lawn Sale]

How

How could this be possible. Is there enough air up there for the helicopter's turbine to operate?

Just curious.

 

[DougPaul]

How could this be possible. Is there enough air up there for the helicopter's turbine to operate?

Must have been. I think the loss of rotor lift is more likely to be the limit than the turbine (engine).

IIRC, the helicopter has made it up to 10000m. (A helicopter can fly (with forward motion) higher than it can land or hover.)

The "landing" was a hover in ground contact with the pilot on the controls for the entire time. Check out the other thread and the movie for details.

Doug

 

[bruno]

i call bull@#!&! this is crap. and if it IS true, it's NOT a good thing. not a good thing at all.

 

[Maddy]

The video was pretty incredible. I especially liked the part where the chopper"s nose was pointing straight down off the peak flying back.
My big question is....HOW SOON CAN WE BOOK A RIDE???
What an awesome Christmas/ birthday gift!
One could be wed on the summit of the world.
How's about an observatory and gift shop? Maybe even a high hut or two!
Lots of potential here.