Neat 305 story...RIP Harold

[tamflyer]

B305_pic013a 3.jpg (48.03 KiB) Viewed 3074 times

Brantly 305 with Bill Upton at the controls. It turns out that Bill and Harold were in this ship in Milheim, PA when they lost the tail rotor and the aircraft proceeded to crash into the down slope of a hillside. Of the incident Harold said, "I've probably got more time flying without a tail rotor than just about any helicopter pilot." Harold mentioned that a young man picked them up from the crash site and was taking them to the hospital, but Harold and Bill talked him into letting them out at the bar where they "recovered".

[seneca2e]

Great photo and story-I never get tired of hearing that one . Just brings a smile to your face when you think about it every time.

[bryancobb]

I saw the News Station footage when Harold rolled a B-2b over, just a couple of years before he died. He talked about the 305 crash you speak of in the interview.
The young, obviously inexperienced reporter asked "Is this the worst helicopter crash you have ever had?" Harold snickers at how stupid the question seems to him and says "No...I crashed a 305 on the side of a mountain one time and we rolled all the way down the mountain before we could get out." LOL

Then the guy asked him "What happened? Did something malfunction or did you hit an air pocket?" Harold, in that TexOkla dialect, says "No! Nothing malfunctioned! I just MESSED UP! I hovered sideways even though I knew I shouldn't, and caught a skid and rolled over!"