Monday, October 17, 2005
Earthquake helicopter 'heroes' - BBC News
... Particularly problematic for the choppers was to drop relief supplies at villages - tiny settlements really, often not larger than a dozen houses - close to mountain tops.
These areas have traditionally been served - in severe weather conditions for example - by the army's animal transport units (ATUs) made up of mules.
The mules are amazing animals. Each one of them is trained to carry particular kinds of supplies.
Those trained in carrying ammunition will not carry guns and the ones trained to carry clothes will not transport food - each of these mules is a specialist.
And they can find their destination without human assistance.
...
[A helicopter pilot] says one of the trickiest problems he has faced in relief and rescue work so far is airdropping supplies.
The hastily put together relief packages in the initial days could weigh in excess of 40 kilos.
"Can you believe that old men, women and children would run directly under the choppers, trying to catch the drops," he says.
"From a height of 20 to 25 metres, they would have been crushed under their weight."
...
"Some of the slopes are so steep - especially where levelled clearings have been swept down to the valley by the quake - that most of our airdrops just roll down to the river below," says one pilot.
"We don't want to hover too close to the survivors either, as the rotors would blow away whatever little shelter they are left with." ...
... Particularly problematic for the choppers was to drop relief supplies at villages - tiny settlements really, often not larger than a dozen houses - close to mountain tops.
These areas have traditionally been served - in severe weather conditions for example - by the army's animal transport units (ATUs) made up of mules.
The mules are amazing animals. Each one of them is trained to carry particular kinds of supplies.
Those trained in carrying ammunition will not carry guns and the ones trained to carry clothes will not transport food - each of these mules is a specialist.
And they can find their destination without human assistance.
...
[A helicopter pilot] says one of the trickiest problems he has faced in relief and rescue work so far is airdropping supplies.
The hastily put together relief packages in the initial days could weigh in excess of 40 kilos.
"Can you believe that old men, women and children would run directly under the choppers, trying to catch the drops," he says.
"From a height of 20 to 25 metres, they would have been crushed under their weight."
...
"Some of the slopes are so steep - especially where levelled clearings have been swept down to the valley by the quake - that most of our airdrops just roll down to the river below," says one pilot.
"We don't want to hover too close to the survivors either, as the rotors would blow away whatever little shelter they are left with." ...
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