Helicopter Crashes in Grand Canyon

[applegrove]

3. I'll never forget when the rescue helicopter on Mount Everest went back down the

mountain a bit, got rid of seats, then flew back up to one of the base camps to rescue people. Was in a movie. I also remember working in a tea house in Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies. Some of our supplies came up by helicopter. That was at 7 000 plus feet. One of the guys I worked with asked the pilot how he got into such a job (rescuing people, emptying outhouses, flying up supplies to cabins). He said he was lucky enough, or unlucky enough, to get drafted into Vietnam and learnt to fly then. I guess after Vietnam, Mountain rescue flying is easy. Very brave. One time at the tea house as he was hovering near us, a family of tourists ran outside with cameras to photograph him 30 feet away. I ran after them, grabbed them by the shirts and ushered them back inside. I got a big thumbs up from the pilot for doing that. I can see how easily someone could fall in love with flying even though it is so dangerous. It is so dramatic. I flew in one once around the CN Tower in Toronto. A helicopter crashed 50 yards off the dock at my parent's cottage. It was going around an island and hit a power line and that was it. Thankfully i was not there. Takes a special kind of person to do such dangerous work.

Vibes to the victims and their families.