Where the eagles fly - Chopper lands on top of Everest?
May 6, 2005 11: 29 EST
This just in from Jamie on Everest North side: "On 5 May from around 8:30 to 8:52 Nepali time a chopper tried twice to land on top of Everest (with a refuel in between?), possibly did land on top, but we couldn't see exactly from 7700m, the angle wasn't favourable. I repeat, we can't confirm if it did land or not, but it was close, very close!"
IAF
Is this the current IAF Everest expedition making waves? Possibly: Last year, on November 2, 2004 an IAF Cheetal Helicopter set a new world record at 0845 hrs by landing at a Density Altitude of 25,150 ft at Saserkangri near Leh.
Earlier, a Bell 407 helicopter held the world record in landing at the highest altitude, 22,180 ft, Pressure Altitude (24,971 ft Density Altitude) achieved on Jul 28, 2004.
Also in 2004, in rescue missions on May 11, 12 and 13 an IAF Cheetah helicopter landed at an altitude of 23,240 feet on the Kamet glacier in the Garhwal Himalayas to rescue three critically injured climbers. Wing Commander S K Sharma and his co-pilot Flt Lt A B Dhanake managed to successfully take off from the glacier with an increased pay-load of 70 kg. Sharma and Dhanake flew the rescue missions on May 11, 12 and 13 in severe turbulent conditions and in the face of jet speed winds.
2004 over Everest
Last year, FlyMicro stunned the entire mountain as they came soaring toward the summit. Wide eyed climbers near the top awed at the sight of a Microlight with a hang glider in tow flying up Mount Everest West Face.
Those high altitude pilots were awarded the Best of ExplorersWeb award for achieving the feat considered impossible by most.
This year, an expedition from IAF are currently attempting to scale Everest from the north side. Led by Wing Commander Amit Chowdhury, the IAF team has been training for this expedition for the last three years, climbing in Garhwal, Ladhak, Himachal and Sikkim Himalayas.
Image of Angelo d'Arrigo, hang gliding over Everest last year, courtesy of Angelo.
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