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- Apr 9, 2010
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Llewtrah
I did. And I also read the online report they did: https://www.qcnews.com/news/investi...ordered-out-of-lake-lure-under-arrest-threat/I have to wonder if you actually listened to the guys story and watched the video. If you did, you weren’t paying very good attention, and / or you don’t understand helicopter operations.
It’s clear the son was a useful, perhaps necessary, crew member for that particular mission.
The “copilot” son is a Junior in High School. No mention anywhere of him having any flight experience or being a licensed pilot. I don’t think the R-44 requires a “copilot” anyway - certainly not one without a helicopter license. Yeah, extra eyes are useful but the pilot ultimately flew the woman off by himself without the “copilot”.
The helicopter is a 4-seater but he chose to only fly with one passenger - because he deemed the driveway to be too unstable to take on more weight. I’d be surprised if that didn’t come up in his explanation to the leader of the First Responders who’s getting trashed here (I’m sure the pilot would have explained why three trips were needed). Seems pretty reasonable to me for him not to be comfortable with some pilot he knows nothing about flying back to pick up the husband, especially in a non-emergency situation with an unstable landing spot - I know I wouldn’t be. An unstable landing spot could be a setup for a disaster he would then need to deal with.
The story we have seems a bit embellished (with the “copilot” stuff for sure) and one-sided.