A couple of days back had the chance to take a helicopter in and out of the Sierra Madre so I took it because it sure beats the hell out of a 10 hour drive both ways on bone jarring dirt roads into the middle of nowhere.
So I’m thinking this is a great thing, I’ve spent hundreds of hours in helicopters so I couldn’t be more comfortable in them but unfortunately this is the second time I’ve heard a pilot say

“WE’RE GOING DOWN!” and not at all in a good way

This time round Capitan dickshit ran out of fuel and we had to make an unplanned landing with only a couple minutes of fuel left. So we plunk down beside the tiny town of San SomthingErOther spook the living crap out of a couple of horses and raise one ginormous cloud of dust.

Great way to say hi to a new town.

Thus a fuel hunt begins.

Predictably a flock of kids and other assorted onlookers flock to the chopper. Can’t blame them since this was the most excitement there since well hmmmmmmm probably the last time someone got shot. Which may have been only a couple of days back.



It’s amazing that anywhere you go these days it seems like everyone has cell phone cameras.

Hey but they were all nice and more than happy to sell us some diesel at twice the going price.



and we blast off.



Just another day in Mexico

Thats all

LOL. that's actually really cool. Mexico is all about the little things. no can openers at the grocery store. pilot doesn't have enough fuel in the helicopter.

lmao



cellphones in mexico


u must be joking



haha...ur funny

LMAO again

fuel in mexico

haha


FUNNY

yeah, they're totally third world, but like 1 in maybe 25 people will have them.

cricket service for the win.

How bad did that thing smoke with diesel in it? Seems like that would be hard on the ignitors


Kerosene would have been better if they had any...

actually the second richest guy in the world is the owner of a mexican telecom company

FYP

Great trip report. Along with being entertained, I learned a few things:

1. Helicopters can fly on diesel.

2. There are no cars in Mexico. Only Pickups and an occassional SUV.

3. On average, Mexicans' trucks are more valuable than their houses.

4. Fenceposts made from sticks don't hold up to windblasts from helicopters.

Oye...this is a Mexican cellphone:

I didnt know these facts either.

They can if it's the only ****ing way to get back in the air and out of range.

The fenceposts made from sticks are actually holding up nicely. It appears that the section that is down is actually a gate to some sort of road.

Ran fine, El Capitan said that Diesel is the same as Jet Fuel only with a bit more paraffin. (ya that could smoke)
Longer term problems, wouldn't be too much of a shock.

Obv this was not the first time this happened to him.

I stand corrected. I guess I'll never get a job for the government analyzing spy sattelite images.

Isn't the Mexican phone company called Taco Bell?

I also went down in one after running out of fuel. I was in the Canadian Arctic in the summer of 2002 when our junior pilot ruined our day. We had to hike 4 hours back to our base camp (all tents), fill up some jerry cans with Jet B, then hike all the freakin way back to the heli with all that weight in fuel on our backs. I don't think there was another human within 200km to help us out.

I'll have to dig up some picks of my pilot filling the helicopter with fuel cans. I don't know how easily I'd be convinced that deisel would do the job.

Are you saying America is gay? That's pretty funny...Urban Dictionary definition of "beard"

We're goin' down, buddy...