Tuesday, May 13, 2025

June 6, 2019

You Gotta See This Crazy Helicopter Mountain Rescue Gone Wrong [Video]

An injured hiker in Arizona had to be airlifted to safety after sustaining multiple injuries. Everything didn't exactly go according to plan.

When you’re a youngster, you can do handstands and roly-poly moves without feeling the slightest bit ill.

Then the years tick by, and you reach the stage where even watching a video like the one below makes you feel queasy.

Spare a thought for this 75-year-old woman in Arizona, who was being rescued after she sustained an injury on a hike. When she was strapped to the stokes basket dropped down from the helicopter, things really took a turn for the worse.

CBS News reports:

 Phoenix Police Air Support chief pilot Paul Apolinar said a line used to prevent the spinning didn’t function properly.

“We were doing a rescue, a hoist rescue, we do a lot of them, it was a normal rescue,” he said. “Sometimes when we bring the helicopter up from the ground, it will start to spin, so we have a line attached to the basket to help prevent that. Today, it didn’t.”

The result is this dizzying footage:

I would be throwing up for days, but this woman is clearly made of sterner stuff:

Fire Department Capt. Kenny Overton told The Arizona Republic the woman suffered a facial laceration, wrist and hip injuries and possibly a fractured nose while hiking the peak. However, she suffered no ill effects from the spin.

All’s well that ends well.

[source:cbsnews]