Heli video clip from Cape Town

[Spikepretorius]

If you're on Facebook you can take a peek at this video clip

https://www.facebook.com/video/video...61812&comments

Two weeks ago we had a tricky search through the night to find a missing tourist on Table Mountain. Conditions were cold, wet and poor visibility.
Based on the info we got we couldn't find the guy and were still searching at day break when the weather cleared up quite quickly.

Coincidently we had a pre-arranged heli training booked for that morning and got the chopper to take a peek. They found the guy quite quickly, bewildered and hypothermic. Note his shorts and t-shirt when he's lifted into the chopper.

The location where he was found was nowhere near where he described in his sms message so it's no surprise that he was only found at daybreak.

[Scott Brady]

Well done Spike. Thanks for sharing this.

[DarkHelmet]

Cool video. We just got word that our local National Guard unit is getting some of the new UH-72A Lakota (EC145) helicopters with hoists equipped. They are supposed to arrive today. I'm looking forward to working with them.

Here is a clip from a recovery mission we did a couple years ago that I was on.

https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=87475249486

[Spikepretorius]

Here's another clip. We recently had a rescue pilot from Switzerland come out for a week of training and seminars to teach us new techniques. This clip covers a bit of what went down. All footage is on and around Table Mountain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9DVwIBvD38

[02TahoeMD]

that was pretty neat stuff Spike! I would love to get to hang in a hoist like that....gotta be an incredible rush.

[AmericaOverland]

Wow, ummm, I'm sure you have the safety of the missions figured out, but one thing that concerned me was the hoist man clipping out of his protection BEFORE the hoist was attached to him and the pack. Couldn't he have clipped himself in the hoist BEFORE clipping himself OFF the helicopter? That had me backing away from the video subconsciously since I'm scared of heights. He got huevos for being to do that in spite of the possibility of falling out of the helicopter in those few seconds of no protection. Excellent job, though. I just thought you might want to live to tell and show your teenage grandchildren in the decades ahead...

[DarkHelmet]

Here are a couple great videos involving helicopter rescue. One from Parks Canada in Banff and one from the National Park Service on Grand Teton.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7_4n_4Qhu4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvELquPtNIc

- DH