Just freaking cut the cord and drop me from the sky. No way could I have handled this.
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Inside Edition -

An elderly hiker being airlifted to safety on a stretcher spins wildly in a dizzying video. The 74-year-old woman had fallen while hiking in Phoenix, Arizona, and suffered face, wrist and hip injuries. During the windy airlift, firefighters say a line that was supposed to prevent the stretcher from spinning failed, leaving the woman helpless as she twisted a nauseating 175 times over more than two minutes. Rescuers said the woman experienced dizziness and nausea but is expected to recover.

She did an incredible job of keeping count though!

Luckily she was a figure skater.

I think the story is wrong. That must be Super Dave Osborne.

I was watching this in public wearing headphones. Big mistake.

That’s why you need a tender/stabilizer line separate from the haul line. Luckily she was properly packaged- she might have been easily ejected.

Not a laughing matter but for some reason it makes me laugh. Glad she is ok. Things happen. People want to make a mountain out of a mole hill.

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Rescuers said the woman experienced dizziness and nausea but is expected to recover.

Ya think?!

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Originally posted by gearhounds:
That’s why you need a tender/stabilizer line separate from the haul line.

They had a line, but it broke.

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Originally posted by GT-40DOC:

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
That’s why you need a tender/stabilizer line separate from the haul line.

They had a line, but it broke.

Actually, it says it failed, but a proper tending line should be strong enough and properly attached to keep from detaching. It would be clipped into one end of the litter and tension kept on it until it is secured in the aircraft. My guess is that the line was improperly attached to begin with.

According to Phoenix FD, out of the hundreds of air rescue operations performed by the Phoenix FD helicopter over the years, this is only the 2nd time this has occurred. It has occurred with AZ DPS Air Rescue as well. The patients were secured and no injuries occurred from the events. It must be anxious moments for the patient and flight crew though.

Easy to second guess, find it funny and criticize.

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Originally posted by rusbro:
I think the story is wrong. That must be Super Dave Osborne.

It does look like one of his....

It was bad. Could have been worse, though. She could have auto-rotated. That makes for a low quality flight.

I can't go on anything that goes in a circle at any speed, it's so bad that I got sick riding a playground merry-go-round with my kids. I cannot imagine how I would have handled that.

If you turn the screen upside down, it looks like the lady is rescuing the helicopter.

On the bright side, she's not laying in the middle of the desert with a broken hip being eaten by a coyote. So,... there's that.

quote:

Originally posted by az4783054:
According to Phoenix FD, out of the hundreds of air rescue operations performed by the Phoenix FD helicopter over the years, this is only the 2nd time this has occurred. It has occurred with AZ DPS Air Rescue as well. The patients were secured and no injuries occurred from the events. It must be anxious moments for the patient and flight crew though.

Easy to second guess, find it funny and criticize.

Exactly. Easy to second guess. And it has happened before but not often. It was not life-threatening. The one doing the counting? Lawyer, likely.