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Russian Helicopter asks for directions

Ken_gone_flying

"I live vicariously through myself."
pilot
Contributor
Once I was flying around San Antonio and the controller told me to fly towards a building (he called it by name) then make a left and enter a right downwind for the runway. I wasn't from the local area so didn't know what he was talking about. I told him I was from Seattle and unfamiliar. He then told me to fly to the Space Needle looking thing and make a left. Not standard, but very helpful.
 

Python

Well-Known Member
pilot
Contributor
Once I was flying around San Antonio and the controller told me to fly towards a building (he called it by name) then make a left and enter a right downwind for the runway. I wasn't from the local area so didn't know what he was talking about. I told him I was from Seattle and unfamiliar. He then told me to fly to the Space Needle looking thing and make a left. Not standard, but very helpful.

Las Vegas does the same thing using the Stratosphere Hotel.
 

Gatordev

Well-Known Member
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor
We had a crew in Haiti that did something similar. They landed on a mountain top, asked one of the local villagers where town X was, and they pointed towards the next mount top over. Problem solved. It helped having a native speaker as part of the crew.
 

sevenhelmet

Low calorie attack from the Heartland
pilot
Once I was flying around San Antonio and the controller told me to fly towards a building (he called it by name) then make a left and enter a right downwind for the runway. I wasn't from the local area so didn't know what he was talking about. I told him I was from Seattle and unfamiliar. He then told me to fly to the Space Needle looking thing and make a left. Not standard, but very helpful.

That would be Tower of the Americas.

Oddly enough, I was landing in Seattle once during limited vis and got similar directions... "Take the skyline and Seahawks Stadium down your left hand side, the runway should be off your nose for 5 miles..." (Boeing Field)
 

Max the Mad Russian

Hands off Ukraine! Feet too
Look, this is Mi-8MT, it has neither GPS nav nor radar. No wonder it has been lost inside the winter snowstorm over steppes, where all is white all around you, below and above as well. Note that the first truck has Belarussian number plates, accent of the voice of following driver is not KZ, too. Those two Belarussian drivers know the KZ landscape better than the KZ military. BTW, when Ukranian-Russian war for Donbass came to a tank battles in 2014, all Ukranian truck drivers up to 55 years old received an order to conscription. Few obeyed, but the logic behind was clear: good truck driver is "ready to eat" tank driver, with all needed skills for land navigation, possessing SA and tech habits to cope with big diesel-engined vehicles.
 

Max the Mad Russian

Hands off Ukraine! Feet too
Also, this helo has only one radio set, a VHF called R-863, 100-124 MHz, which is not compatible with CB-radio that drivers used. Crew of Mi-8 consists of pilot, co-pilot (both commissioned officers) and a flight engineer, a WO. Evidently he was a man who spoke to driver. I think in a snowstorm you cannot use that Triple C (Climb, Conserve, Communicate) usual for pilots went astray and lost, while piloting helicopter. It is better to come down and see what is happening on the land. Definitely that this crew has done.
 

Max the Mad Russian

Hands off Ukraine! Feet too
The Ka-52 Gators amused people.

This time it is almost the same that had happened on USS Forrestal in 1967. Look at the footage from the targeting sight -

The command on the screen, "Включи главный", does mean "Master is to Arm". Once a gunner switched the Master on and command disappeared, two C-8 rockets went off. Thanks God, no casualties, just three wounded slightly.
 

GroundPounder

Well-Known Member
The Ka-52 Gators amused people.

This time it is almost the same that had happened on USS Forrestal in 1967. Look at the footage from the targeting sight -

The command on the screen, "Включи главный", does mean "Master is to Arm". Once a gunner switched the Master on and command disappeared, two C-8 rockets went off. Thanks God, no casualties, just three wounded slightly.

Saw that today, and wondered if it was real or fake. There are some lucky people walking around somewhere.
 
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