Thread: Public land deer - 53 years ago.

Originally Posted by Trout

In the mid-late70s my younger cousin from Timaru was one of the youngest pilots to get his commercial chopper licence(18yrs old).He and his shooting partner brought a R22 for deer recovery.All going well till they got it serviced while on the West Coast.After the service,in the evening they were taking a few containers of fuel up a valley for the next days hunting.They never got half way up the valley.None commercial bolt was a replacement in the tail blade holder.R22 was shaken out of the sky on top of the fuel containers under neath.You can amagine the rest.Bloody waste of good lifes.

Ouch. Not good.

Originally Posted by Trout

In the mid-late70s my younger cousin from Timaru was one of the youngest pilots to get his commercial chopper licence(18yrs old).He and his shooting partner brought a R22 for deer recovery.All going well till they got it serviced while on the West Coast.After the service,in the evening they were taking a few containers of fuel up a valley for the next days hunting.They never got half way up the valley.None commercial bolt was a replacement in the tail blade holder.R22 was shaken out of the sky on top of the fuel containers under neath.You can amagine the rest.Bloody waste of good lifes.

I didn't think any r22's were present in NZ until at least the eighties.

Young cousine,saved every cent he earned.Worked his school holidays,left school at 15.Worked the freezing works in the summers and did possums skins down south in the winters.Never owned a car,lived on nothing.Got his flying licences and half deposit for buying chopper buy the time he was 18-19 years old.

Hmm was about 1978 the accident.I always thort it was R22?.Any how it fell out of the sky.

Originally Posted by Trout

Hmm was about 1978 the accident.I always thort it was R22?.Any how it fell out of the sky.

Probably a 300. The white 300 I used to shoot out of got mistaken a few times by angry farmers for a white r22. Quite handy having the police looking to ID a white 22 when we had a 300! Anyhow tragic story. There was a similar accident Opotiki way in the 90's involving a r22 caused by tail rotor issues, I think the engineer ended up sharing a cell with Bubba.

Originally Posted by Puddleduk

Probably a 300. The white 300 I used to shoot out of got mistaken a few times by angry farmers for a white r22. Quite handy having the police looking to ID a white 22 when we had a 300! Anyhow tragic story. There was a similar accident Opotiki way in the 90's involving a r22 caused by tail rotor issues, I think the engineer ended up sharing a cell with Bubba.

yes- bogus tail rotor parts - I believe done in Singapore - just freshly painted used parts sold as new - I think it was the owner went away - flew with him a few times in a 300

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

yes- bogus tail rotor parts - I believe done in Singapore - just freshly painted used parts sold as new - I think it was the owner went away - flew with him a few times in a 300

Think it was an outfit called Cherry Air in the states that was responsible for a lot of timed out bogus parts etc. There was quite a few parts from that guy around NZ at the time. I know of another nasty tail rotor incident due to the same sourced parts back then.

Yes it was white,i had a couple of rides in it.Great little machine for around small valleys and bush lines.No much protection around you tho.Long dragged out court case over none commercial bolts fitted tho.Cant remember the results.

Mate of mine was besotted with becoming a chopper pilot. Went from swinging spanners on Massey Fergusons to swinging on rotory wings...saved up and did his licences and got into it just as live recovery was swinging in. Only lasted 6 months: took off in a 300 in thick cloud on the west coast...straight up into 220kva lines.

Those suppliers should be left hanging off 220kva lines.