Concern over Indian pilot's 'airdrop' ( Love in the air,eat your hearts out ladies, c'est amore

BBC ^ | 7.17.02

[swarthyguy]

A military helicopter is reported to have flown at roof-top level over a residential area in India so the pilot could drop a birthday present to his girlfriend. Hundreds of people are reported to have witnessed the low flight, which initially caused panic in the Rajasthan town of Jaisalmer.

Just as we were beginning to panic, we saw the young pilot drop a big box gift-wrapped in yellow on the roof of the hotel

Shaitan Singh, hotel guest As the helicopter hovered overhead, witnesses reported seeing a large package in yellow gift-wrapping descend to the roof of a hotel.

The helicopter is reported to have taken off from Jaisalmer airbase after filling up with fuel after it came from Jodhpur.

The pilot is said to have used a French-built Alouette chopper to shower his girlfriend with the gift.

French news agency AFP quotes a senior defence ministry source as saying: "The chap took off from Jaisalmer and dropped height over a house or a hotel to send down something, probably a gift to impress his girlfriend.

"We will be talking to him about his love pangs."

Jaisalmer is a strategic town in India less than 100 kilometres from the militarily sensitive border with Pakistan. Jaisalmer is a strategic town for India

The agency quotes Shaitan Singh, who was staying at the Nachna Hotel in Jaisalmer.

He said guests were taken by surprise when they saw the noisy Alouette lose height and clatter to its drop zone.

"The air force helicopter hovered over the hotel and swooped down giving us quite a fright," he said.

"Just as we were beginning to panic we saw the young pilot drop a big box gift-wrapped in yellow on the roof of the hotel.

"The hotel staff discovered it was a birthday present for the pilot's lady-love staying at the Nachna Hotel."

[Catspaw]

"Honey, here's that set of crystal goblets you wanted!"

[Chemist_Geek]

French news agency AFP quotes a senior defence ministry source as saying: "The chap took off from Jaisalmer and dropped height over a house or a hotel to send down something, probably a gift to impress his girlfriend.

"We will be talking to him about his love pangs."

Bwahaha! What do they call that over here, wall-to-wall counseling?

[TADSLOS]

The pilot is said to have used a French-built Alouette chopper to shower his girlfriend with the gift.

Haven't most helicopter pilots done something similar at one point? :~)

[swarthyguy]

"Haven't most helicopter pilots done something similar at one point? :~)"

Some military expertise and corroboration required here, s'il vous plait.

[guitfiddlist]

He must have been inspired by that stunt by Apu and Homer.

[fourdeuce82d]

Seem to remember reading about some army guys getting in trouble for landing at a mcdonalds in Germany during the 80's...

[TADSLOS]

I've heard lots of stories. Some funny, some tragic.

[PsyOp]

I spent four years in Army Aviation. What this guy did was nothing. One time, in Germany, we practically landed in some ladies backyard (in a UH-1, bigger than an Alouette) so we could go to the gasthuas down the street and have lunch.

The old lady was dressed just like some German peasant from a hundred years ago and stood frozen (in mid hoe - as she was doing a bit of gardening at the time), and stared at us like we'd just landed in a spaceship from Mars. We waved. Said hello, and politely asked for directions to the eatery (she just pointed as she was still speachless), as we locked up the chopper and tied down the blades.

Then there was the time the pilots got lost and hovered in the middle of the road, between the trees that lined each side so they could get close enough to read the sign that gave the name of the village (all those German villages look alike from the air). The PIC had me hang my head out the door so I could check for cars that might run up behind us and warn the him in time to pull pitch. Nasty thing to rear end a tail-rotor.

Those were the days...

[NativeSon]

Those were the days...

I'll bet you got stories that would go great with beer and BBQ.

My father use to entertain us with his 101 Airborn shenanigans.

[PsyOp]

"I'll bet you got stories that would go great with beer and BBQ"

I've got my share. You could get away with a lot back in the good ol' days of the Cold War. If the pilots had done that in Germany in the 90's (I was there 80-83), I shudder to thinks of the consequences in our all-PC Army of None. The final straw was when they decided to have everyone where black berets. Don't ask, don't tell, and make sure nobody feels left out. BARF.

[PsyOp]

P.S. When I rotated back from Germany I was assigned to the 101st, 5th Trans. Bn. We did all the high-end maintenance on the divisions choppers.

[fourdeuce82d]

From your home page: "An eleven year Veteren of the United States Army who worked his way up from buck private to 1st Lt...."

Shouldn't that be "down"? *grin*

General

Leaps tall buildings with a single bound
Is more powerful than a locomotive
Is faster than a speeding bullet
Gives policy to God

First lieutenant
Runs into buildings
Recognizes locomotives two out of three times
Is not issued ammunition
Can stay afloat if properly instructed in the use of a Mae West
Talks to walls

Actually I have to admit- 2d lt. is probably the hardest job in the army- snot nosed 22 yr old trying to ride herd on people that have been doing their job since before you were in college. Tough row to hoe.

Kind of makes me feel bad we lit ours on fire that time...

[PsyOp]

LOL! I have to agree with you. Most 2LTs deserve to be set on fire. I had the good fortune to make my way to E-5 before going back to school and getting my bars.

I did OK and my troops seemed to like and respect me (which is as much as any officer can ask). Whenever I wasn't sure how to handle something all I had to do is remember how the 2LTs I had served under did it. Then I'd do the opposite. Seemed to work pretty well.

P.S. I hope you gave your LT a fire extinguisher after lighting him up. I'm that whatever he did, he simply didn't know any better...

[archy]

"Haven't most helicopter pilots done something similar at one point? :~)"

Some military expertise and corroboration required here, s'il vous plait.

The skycrane crew who swiped the post commander's wife's Volkswagen at Ft Knox and deposited it atop a three-story barracks roof comes to mind....That backfired when the next day, a Saturday when training schedules were relaxed and most folks were free on the afternoon, only one unit was capable of getting the thing off the roof: the guys with the Skycranes....I expect a Blackhawk *might* get that job done now, but I wouldn't bet on it [the CH47s were grounded worldwide at the time]

One of the neater bits of rotorhead expertise I recall was the short-lived Army LOH demonstration in which an OH-6 pilot played yo-yo with a cable spool beneath his loach. The budget cutbacks of the 1970s killed that display, but for a couple of years, it was a real crowd-pleaser around the airshow circuit. And you know how the Golden Knights hate to have anyone steal their thunder....

...further witness better sayeth not.... -

[archy]

Those were the days...

I'll bet you got stories that would go great with beer and BBQ

I recall a H13 Sioux [Bell 47H *bubblenose*, like the evac birds on the old MASH TV series] in Germany tasked with delivering a replacement tank battalion commander to his troops in the field. Upon spotting the M577 command track of the battalion TOC, the LTC directed the pilot to land *as close as he could* to it, which happened to be directly on top of the thing. When asked if he had mistaken the tracked armoured vehicle for an aircraft carrier, the pilot cheerfully replied that he didn't want to see the Colonel get his shiny boots all mussed up...nor his own skids, I reckon.

During less friendly times there was an instance of a LOH pilot who served as a Forward Air Controller against a reinforced NVA tank platoon that included PT76 amphibious tanks after the 02 Mixmaster sent to do the job took a few too many hits in his fuel bladder. Having expended all of his smoke rockets and even the smoke grenades carried aboard, the LOH driver was horrified to find that one vehicle had found concealment beneath a tree and missed out on the treatment shared by his brethern. Getting as close to the enemy vehicle as the nearby tree would allow, one of the vehicle's crewmen opened the vehicle's turret's hatch, either to see what all the racket was or to man the 12,7mm heavy machinegun mounted topside. Whereupon the LOH pilot shot the guy twice in the chest and dropped the thermite grenades carried aboard for destruction of the chopper's radios down the open hatch.

The Special Forces recon team on the ground watching wrote him up for a Medal of Honor. The guy's squadron commander downgraded it to a Silver Star, on the grounds that that was the expected routine performance expected of all scout helo pilots in their squadron.