Saturday, February 19, 2011



Australia's Helicopter Cowboys. Pretty breathtaking - I'd be scared to do this in a video game, let alone real life. They lose an average of ten (TEN!) helicopters per year to crashes, and unfortunately not all the pilots walk away either. I wonder if they can even get insurance?

6 comments:

Paul Tomblin said...

At least if they crash they're not crashing from very high up.

Steve at the Pub said...

The nature of that documentary, & the terminology used is of a "Gee Whiz" nature, designed to impress & wow an audience of urban foreigners.

Ten crashes a year? Never counted, could be right. Crashes are not unavoidable, & most pilots never have one.

The height is actually one of the nastier things about crashes. Tree/animal strike DOES occur, as does losing track of wind direction. An engine failure at that height & attitude means the pilot has no options for safe landing.
They are operating in a high density altitude, in hot conditions. Dusty too, which can hamper visibility.

ALL those machines are insured. Insurance for them is expensive.

The white helicopter in that clip recently crashed, The pilot did not survive.

Anonymous said...

The clip is taken from a BBC documentary series called Human Planet, this episode only aired last Thursday. You should see the bit where the Tanzanian farmers literally blow up trees with TNT to kill the birds that eat their crops.

Unknown said...

Wow! That is nuts!

Daniel said...

They can get insurance, but it's REALLY expensive:

"It's the highest risk factor that you can get yourself insured for in the world. I insure myself for $2.5m and it costs me $42,000 a year"

From http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12408888

BlogFront said...

Hi Sulako,

BlogFront.org is committed to uphold the quality standards of blogging. We strive to maintain and promote only the most credible blogs in their respective fields.

Spam blogs or "splogs" has been a problem for some time now and people are getting confused about which blog to trust.

We would like to thank you for maintaining such a reputable blog. We know that it takes time, effort and commitment to keep such a blog and as such, we have added your blog as one of the top Aviation blogs.

You can see your blog listed here: http://blogfront.org/aviation

You can also claim your BlogFront Top Blogs badge at http://blogfront.org/badges/aviation

Thank you for keeping your blog credible. Let's keep the blog revolution alive!

Maria Blanchard
BlogFront.org
Blog Revolucion