Pretty amazing - French Helicopter lands on top of Mt Everest

I'm kind of surprised this hasn't made more news.

(Apparently twice!)

http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=83814&n_date=20050526&cat=Asia

Kathmandu, May 26 : A French pilot became the first to summit Mt Everest from the Nepal side this climbing season, in the process knocking down the previous world record held by the Indian Air Force (IAF) for the highest landing by a helicopter.

Test pilot Didier Delsalle flying in his Ecureuil/AStar AS350 B3 first broke the IAF record by nearly 300 m and then bettered his own best by landing straight atop Mt Everest, the highest point in the world at 8,848 m.

Though Delsalle achieved the feat nearly a fortnight ago, it made the headlines this week, especially after he returned to France.

Delsalle landed right on top of Mt Everest on May 14, becoming the first to summit the peak from the Nepal side this season. So far, no mountaineer in a helicopter has been able to reach the top due to bad weather.

(More)

:evilgrin:

Maybe they can use the helicopter to rescue climbers in trouble.

I'll bet it'll end up on an IMAX film.

I believe he made a smart aleck joke about the overly rich smacking their heads about paying to climb it....

Nah, an American has landed a much bigger helicopter there. I'm sure.

in the future perhaps. I always thought there was not enough 'air' up there for the whirly-birds.

Oh - no! Think of the tourism?

If you are stranded or in trouble up there it is probably because of the weather.

fly because the air is so thin that they cannot push enough of it fast enough to safely stay afloat. Not in the rockies...but even there it probably gets dangerous the higher you go. But everest is three times higher than the rockies.

I guess if you have to deal with gusts of wind, snow and do not have enough air to push (within the control of your rotors) then you are more vulnerable.

I would guess that as helicopters improve, and if you could speed them up - then perhaps that is why they can go higher and higher. Also copters are getting lighter? Are they? That may help too. But really - the air is different up there.

Why you are not allowed to scuba dive (in the past) and then fly the next day. Too much difference in air pressure in the blood in that case.