Hennie
Doing "way leaving" out in the Karoo for ESCOM....For those who are not
familiar, that is doing visits to land owners to get right of way
rights to cross their lands with high voltage transmission lines with
the state owned power company, and the Karoo is the desert area that
starts from the south end of the Kalahari desert. It is very much like
the high desert areas of west Texas.
I had a head survey guy who was very savvy on helicopters and always
went everyplace at a trot. The new guy was a Portuguese surveyor who
had just left Mozambique a step ahead of the Frelimo. There was a point
on top of a mountain that was used for a control point and we had to
land there for the sightings to some lower ground points. The control
point had been established by ground people who had to be mountain
goats! It must have been something like 8000'msl. The only reasonable
place for landing was on the side of the cliff near the top but there
were boulders that had to be tossed over the side to clear a space big
enough to land on. So, I maneuvered the JetRanger in close enough on
the left side to get a skid firmly on the ground while the two guys got
out. Then I backed off and waited while they cleared an area to land. I
set it down while they went on with their surveyor stuff. In
retrospect, I wonder if shutting down was correct as any problems would
have been REAL problems had I not been able to restart it up there!
Anyway, I layed in the sun while they did their numbers thing. Then I
took them back down to the valley floor to put down some survey flags
that were on 8' poles. I watched as Tony, the Portuguese guy, walked
over to stick the flag in the ground and suddenly throw the pole down
and run back towards the helicopter. Colin, the older guy, gestured at
Tony and I could see him saying, "What is going on?". Colin picked up
the pole and moved back where Tony had run from, did some wiggling of
the pole and suddenly stuck the pole into a hole, turned and waved me
off. I was to go back up on top of the mountain and flash a mirror in
response to his mirror signals. I know it sounds very primitive but
this was over 30 years ago.... When I got the signal; to go back and
pick them up, we had to go back up to the mountain for a final sighting
and then back to the little remote hotel and the pub for a cold Lion
Lager.
When we got back on top of the mountain which now was a ho-hum place
for me after several landings, they shot their final sights and we
loaded up to head back. I looked at Colin and grinned and he grinned
back. Poor Tony was sitting in the left rear seat which was the cliff
side, and I lifted off, made a left pedal turn and dove off the side of
the cliff which was probably 1000 feet sheer down. I loved it and Colin
laughed all the way through. We landed back at the hotel about :30
later happy the day was over and we could relax after nearly a 14 hour
day. Colin hopped out and began unloading gear while Tony sat in the
back seat. I was shutting down and occupied when I heard Colin ask Tony
to get out and help him. Poor Tony........he was embarassed to get out
of the helicopter as he had peed his pants on the drop over the side of
the cliff!
I asked what the fancy stuff was with the flag back at the survey site
and Colin told me they had picked the hidy hole of a cobra to put the
survery flag in, and Tony had panicked. Colin waited until the cobra
slithered into the hole and then closed the door with the survey
flagpole!
Ahh those were the days......
Sorry but I don't see me going to Oshkosh. May be in Baghdad then.
Tip a Castle for me will you?
Cheers
Rocky