Returning from a check flight after an engine replacement on a company
BK117, the pilot hovered at about 15 feet AGL and said "****! We're so low
on fuel, the thing won't set down... you're gonna have to hop out and go get
some sandbags and throw em on the skids". Being the gullible and
aerodynamically ignorant youngster I was, I promptly threw myself out of the
door, face planted into the tarmac, shoulder rolled out of it and
frantically ran to the backside of the hangar... I returned with the first
2 of many planned sandbags to find the ship on the ground and the pilot and
mechanic laughing their asses off.

Not quite an emergency but it was the closest I ever wanted to get to one.

By the way, the thing out in San Diego -- he made sure his grandson was
watching from the ramp. Plus, he happened to hit some wires on the way
down... no WSPS on him so he fell in two pieces to an apartment building
courtyard right in front of, yep, more kids. What a dignified way to kill
yourself.

-Mike

"SelwayKid" wrote in message
m...
Over the past weekend in San Diego, an 84 year old man decided to
unstrap and get out of the aircraft while on short final. It killed
him of course. He was in a biplane but it reminded me of some
incidents when I had passengers who became the emergency in
helicopters too. How to handle them?
A pax who was moving around in the front seat and stuck his foot thru
the chin bubble and got it stuck..... Or the big guy pax who filled
the seat so much that he limited the amount of aft cyclic while trying
to flare and land....
Or the guy who was drunk and tried to wrestle the controls away from
me so he could show me how it was done......
The pax who unstrapped and began to move around in the cockpit and was
actually going to change seats by crawling across me?.....
I'm sure you have seen others as weird. How about sharing them and
spice up the board? Its getting pretty dull....
Ol Shy & Bashful