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Martin Tasker airbourne at the Med Cup - Source: Ian Roman -
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Funny how people recall their worst helicopter horror stories just before you are about to go up in one.
I don't need to hear of others' scary experiences. I had one of my own which put me off choppers for a very long time.
Before the 2002-03 America's Cup an Oracle yacht lost its keel of Waiheke Island and capsized. I jumped into a helicopter with a cameraman and we were just flying over Mairangi Bay when the pilot said the hydraulics had failed and he was going to try and crash land.
As we began to plummet I looked down at the rapidly approaching playfields of Rangitoto College and realised my HUET certificate - helicopter underwater escape training - was going to be a fat lot of use. Then the shrieking siren started warning of ground approaching and I was trying to work out if I could jump out just before impact.
Then as suddenly as it started the shrieking stopped and the pilot announced he'd sorted the problem and regained control. Phew. What an adrenalin rush. Not recommended.
Apocalypse Now
So there we were sitting out on the race course yesterday waiting for racing to start when we saw the dark shape of a Squirrel helicopter hurtling towards the fleet just above wave height. A stunning piece of flying and a stunning sight. It later turned out that almost every chase-boat had someone on board humming the "Ride of the Valkyries" as in "Apocalypse Now."
Later the cameraman on board the chopper, Jerome Teigne, was defending his pilot from accusations of 'cowboyism' and promptly asked if I fancied a trip. He reckoned I could do a great piece-to-camera to go in my report on the Med Cup Coastal Race.
I happily declined on the grounds of quite enjoying being alive and was instantly branded a chicken. Which is how I came to be sort of strapped into the Squirrel with the doors off and my legs dangling over the side fervently wishing I was somewhere else. "
Of course it turned out to be best chopper ride I've had. The pilot, Alberto Guerini, was one of the America's Cup aerial camera fliers in Valencia and like the best boat drivers instilled huge confidence in his passengers. I'd even go again.
