Everest helicopter landing recanted!

[EagleRJ]

The pilot who claimed to have landed a Eurocopter AS350 on the summit of Mt. Everest has now admitted he never made it to the summit, but rather landed on the South Col, 3500' lower.

Link

What a public relations nightmare for Eurocopter and EADS! They were touting this accomplishment on their websites pretty heavily.

Maybe as usual, the French will blame this on Pilot Error!

 

[Metro752]

Liar Liar Pants on Fire

 

[Immelman]

I was wondering about this. The comments here led me to believe that there was no chance in he!! that they could have landed without significant forward airpseed (transational/translational lift?? -- sorry I cannot spell the exact term).

Anyways, with a steady wind that may be possible, but from what I understsand the physical summit of Everest is not so large. The south col, on the other hand, is a relatively flat spot the size of a football field or so...

 

[avbug]

No matter how you slice it, it's still impressive, summit or not.

It's a shame that the misrepresentations made mar that accomplishment.

 

[Metro752]

He only beat their army by like 400 meters. Come on

 

[avbug]

Of course, you have done better?

Perhaps you can decry the accomplishment when you have the grounds upon which to speak.

 

[Metro752]

So it's ok to lie?

 

[A Squared]

He only beat their army by like 400 meters. Come on

No, he beat them by 778 m, which is a little over 2500', and yes. landing a helicopter (and taking off) at over 25000 ft is a pretty amazing accomplishment. not that any of this excuses or condones lying about landing at the summit

 

[Metro752]

i never said it wasn't an amazing accomplishment, the fireman alluded to that.

Anyway, he's a dirty french liar...................ooooooooo think of that, a French Liar.

 

[gern_blanston]

Yeah, landing a helo at anything over about 20k is pretty impressive, but he's a lyin' sack of cr@p.

 

[A Squared]

OK, so was it recanted or not? That's what was being reported at the time, but Eurocopter is still claiming that the helicopter landed on the sunnit, they claim that they have sent video to FAI to prove the claim. http://www.eurocopterusa.com/Media/Publications/PublicationsDetail.asp?ID=28&ID2=FeatureStory

Also all the online mountaineering publications are discussing it as something which actually happened. So what's the story with the "we did it, no we didn't, yes we did" If the heliopter actually landed atthe summit, why di they say it didn't ? If it didn't land there, why are they now claiming it did?

 

[mar]

Thees ees nut de furst dime, no?

Seems to me Everest attracts these claims.

Sir Hillary was the first. Wait no. It was the other guy, the local, who grew up at 15,000'.

 

[NookyBooky]

Sir Hillary was the first. Wait no. It was the other guy, the local, who grew up at 15,000'.

He was just there to carry Edmund's O2 tanks








Tenzing Norgay=one of the most under rated peeps in history.

 

[Tim47SIP]

As350?

I have a hard time believing that an AS 350 is capable of flying to that altitude. There are several aircraft with greater performance capabilities that can't make it.
It is an amazing feat, none the less.

 

[A Squared]

I have a hard time believing that an AS 350 is capable of flying to that altitude. There are several aircraft with greater performance capabilities that can't make it. It is an amazing feat, none the less.

well, it's not just any 350, it's a B series, which is a little different animal the the lycoming powered 350C (formerly) made for the US market. The Nepal air force flies 350 B2s and has done a number of rescues well above 20,000' with them. The helicopter used for the summit landing was a 350 B3 (847 SHP as opposed to 615 for the 350C)

 

[EagleRJ]

According to Avweb, the Nepalese government is not going to allow the alleged summit landing to stand as a record...

Nepal is determined to have Eurocopter's claim of a record-setting flight to Everest stricken. Nepalese authorities say the company lied about one of its helicopters landing and taking off from the summit of the mountain. They also say Eurocopter has refused to talk about the issue with them...

 

[A Squared]

According to Avweb, the Nepalese government is not going to allow the alleged summit landing to stand as a record...

Hmmm, that's interesting, as the Nepalese government doesn't have much say in the matter. It's the Federation Aeronautique International which decides whether the record stands. As near as I can tell the Nepalese government seems to have some beef about whether the proper permits were obtained, but regardless, the helicopter either did or it didn't land at the summit, and the permitting or lack thereof doesn't change that. Eurocopter has video which they claim shows that the helicopter did land there, and if that can be authenticated, seems like the record should stand.

 

[dane]

Well,

the sherpas name was Tensing Norgay. He carried all the stuff Sir Edmund couldn't.

Regards,

dane

 

[mzaharis]

Isn't the question mostly one of whether the video was a landing on one of Everest's subpeaks (Lhotse, I think), or Everest itself? I think that that's the basis of the Nepalese dispute.

 

[EagleRJ]

The FAI doesn't allow lawbreaking in record attempts. The party attempting the record must secure whatever permission is required of the local authorities in order for the record to be recognized.

The Nepalese government controls this matter, as without their consent, there is no record. They seem to believe that Eurocopter didn't land on the summit, and claim not to have given permission for an attempt, so it appears that Eurocopter did precisely nothing.

 

[Swede]

Have you guys seen pics of Everest's summit? It's a small patch of wind-blasted snow, corniced and overhanging into Tibet. Usually the jet stream is dumping 60+ knot winds up there for months at a time.

Impossible to "land" there. MAYBE a guy could touch the skids to the summit, keeping the power near 100%.

Now the South Col is very possible, but for rescue purposes, most of the altitude-related deaths on Everest are well above the South Col.

There's a famous rescue of a guy in 1996 named Beck Weathers

http://speakerseries.com/spk2001/weathers.htm

but I think it was from around 19,000 feet. The only way to get off the mountain above the South Col is to walk, no one has the strength to drag non-ambulatory climbers from the ridge above the South Col.