Has anyone had a bad issue with pilots , trips and bookings or arrived at hut, to find others there or have booked a block that was suppose to be free
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Has anyone had a bad issue with pilots , trips and bookings or arrived at hut, to find others there or have booked a block that was suppose to be free
haven't been picked up before... always leave a reminder for my wife to ring them if I'm a day late... and then there was the empty gas cylinder at the hut once... pilot had forgotten to drop one off. He did bring one in a few days by which time we definitely appreciated it!
...and to be fair, most of the time chopper pilots have been awesome - full loads, smelly dogs, smelly hunters - but the times I have really appreciated them are their skills when the weather turns dodgy - and having been in some mechanical emergencies when you know your life is in their hands... I can forgive all the scheduling errors as long as they can fly when it matters!
Have had one trip.where on the way in the pilot said. "Ill see you tomorrow when i come in to pick up the guys i dropped in last week". Probably would have apreciated that infonearlier and would have gone somewhere else. Besides that though the experie ces have been very good and usually find them.very obliging
have had a door fly open mid flight and out stuff started to vibrate toward the open door. Lucky the pilot dropped us into a river bed to fix the problem.
Most experienced 'bush' pilots are very good and should be prepared for most things that can go wrong (Im a pilot myself) All the trips Ive done over the years have been pretty good, a couple of pilots stand out for their local knowledge regarding the spots they are dropping you off in.
I promised the pilot never to speak of it again
You'll be right, as long as the 747 pilot that scared the shit out of me, doesn't have a copter licence! Saw one crash years ago, they certainly self destruct:thumbsup:
I've heard of it happening in the Ureweras. But, in the Kawekas, DoC keep a spreadsheet which the helicopter companies check on to make sure it doesn't. I think there is a similar system in the Ruahines. Sometimes it can be frustrating not getting to your preferred block. In the end its a free country; anyone can go anywhere especially by foot. It's in the chopper companies' interests to keep it organised and keep the customers satisfied, specially the established long term operators'.
All my chopper flights have been on too or off boats. a bad trip would really have ripped my undies but going out in a 500 is still much better than a robby
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leaking some anti freeze much!!
Flying out of Fland jammed into the front of a 500 next to baldbob.
Jesus he stunk !
To be fair i did as well but it was eye watering stuff, on the drive home we had to have the windows down the whole way:D
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VIDEO: Helicopter crash landing - Story - NZ News - 3 News
This one wasn't one of the best trips.
Could say what we pilots have had bad experiences with passengers...arriving late putting us behind, knowingly having too much gear then getting upset when we drop gear out, not listening to safety briefs, throwing gear not passing it. Leaving loose gear on or near helipad, saying "the last pilot did could do it", blaming us when the weather is shit. I could go on :thumbsup: ;)
Crashed helisika helicopters {Google]
We had a beauty the first time we had a serious roar trip and first helicopter trip. We were booked to fly in with the Saxton's so went to their head quarters in Haast and got all weighed up and got the directions to the farm for pick up. Headed down and didn't realise James Scott operated from the same area so pulled up at the first chopper we saw (which didn't have stuff all signage on it in our defence) the pilot wandered over (James) and asked the block we were hunting, had a look on the map said jump in and away we went. Once we arrived on the block and started unloading the gear one of the boys noticed we had got in the wrong chopper. We talked to James and explained the situation, asked if he could get Morgan on the radio and explain the situation, which he said was fine. He asked if we wanted him to pick us up, and we assumed Morgan was likely to be a bit pissed at the turn of events so agreed James should pick us up.
After setting up base camp on a large clearing we headed out for a quick hunt, couple of hours later we hear a chopper coming up the valley and low and behold it was Morgan. He landed and came over for a chat, explained that since we had signed in at the HQ and then not turned up at the chopper site, he had spent the last hour flying the road worried we had crashed off of it (James obviously failed to get in touch). All things considered he was bloody good about the whole thing. We explained that we thought he would be pissed off so James was going to pick us up and away he went.
After a fruitless few days hunting we were all packed up waiting for the pickup when low and behold (again) Morgan comes flying up the valley and lands next to us, he explains that James' chopper had broken down and he had parties left out all over the hills, so would we like Morgan to take us out? Of course we said yes, once we land at the chopper site we see James unloading a party from his obviously fully operational chopper, so we had to then sidle up to James and explain that in actual fact we no longer needed a lift off the hill.
We ended up paying each company half the fee, acknowledged we had made some dumb mistakes, and then left them to their chopper wars.
