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by Herschel from You don't know, do you?

Last Post 234 days, 4 hours Ago


Chopper Chip: Twice in 8 years?
Jul 30, 2007 | 1:05 PM
Category: Traffic
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I don't remember if Chip was involved in this one or not, but I believe he was.  Circa 1999, I seem to remember a helicopter going down in the DFW area, and if memory serves- Chip was on that one too.

While I can't say with 100% certainty that Chip was on there (I believe he was) I do know that word of a DFW traffic chopper going down, severely shook up 104.5's traffic reporter Alicia Speed.  They were talking to her about the hard-landing. I was taking my wife to work that morning, and we were listening to the radio.  Alicia was so shaken up, she cursed on the radio. She said something to the effect of, "I work for a [...]**d up company, yall!"  And man, you should have heard Slammy-Sam Putney, and Skip & Company trying to cover that up...  (Hey-hey-hey!!!!)  Seeing that happen to co-workers though, that's an understandable reaction.

I'm sure there was no one on that hard-landing chopper back then, or today that didn't say, "Oh S***!" when they realized what was happening.

Thank God everyone is OK then, and now- and was able to walk away from it.

Walking away from one chopper crash is a miracle. 
Walking away from two means God in certainly on your side.

Dang, when that chopper lost power, it wasted no time coming down.  Good thing they weren't over the water, and that the pilot was outstanding with regard to auto-rotating, didn't over-react, and got everyone down safely. Pat's on the back to the pilot, thanks to God for everyone making it out OK.

We hope you come back Chip, but if you would like some ground time, I'm sure everyone whose ever had a close call in the air, (I have, on a Pan Am 747 in Rome, Italy~ whole different kind of Maalox moment) would understand.

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ChopperChip read my blog view my photos
Jul 31, 2007 | 8:22 AM

Thanks Henry! For the record I wasn't in the chopper that Alicia was in but I was in a ship in 2000 that had to make an emergency landing. In that case, we were able to land in an open area with no problem. In this case, the topography was terrible and when we hit the ground our skids stuck in the mud. In any event, any time you can walk away from a crash is a happy time indeed!
Herschel read my blog
Jul 31, 2007 | 12:35 PM

Agreed...

I did not know 747's were capable of such athletic maneuvers, but on my way home Desert Storm, landing in Rome, things were proceeding normally. The only thing odd was, the pilots had not told anyone to put their seat belts on, restored seatbacks, try tables, etc..

We were making our S-turns, bleeding off airspeed, and altitude. Common sense said go ahead and buckle up. Thirty seconds later, it felt like somthing crashed into the bottom of our plane. The engines roared, and our nose went up. I was on the port side, and amist all the screams from grown men & women, I looked out the window, where I saw the tip of our wing barely above the ground.

I closed my eyes, put my hands to the side of my head, and I felt the left wing come up, and the right wing go down, as we regained our bearing, with regard to the runway. We touched down, and the engines roared loudly (thrust reversers). We stopped.

Everyone clapped, the stewardesses said, "They got us down, they got us down!"

I looked out mu window, and saw 3-4 Italiian police cars racing towards us, blue lights flashing. They took the pilots off the plane, and left us on the plane, on the runway for 9 hours.

I didn't care, I was safe, in one piece.
I'd survived the war without so much as sand in my mouth. And, was about to die on the ride home. I still had to get across the Atlantic, and USA to get back to Arizona! So, we were all back on the horse, real quick.

Glad you're safe Chip. Congrats on gettign back on the horse!
khollowell read my blog view my photos
Jul 31, 2007 | 2:26 PM

God works in mysterious ways.
You both are very blessed.
khollowell read my blog view my photos
Jul 31, 2007 | 2:28 PM

Has anyone ever told you you look like Herchel Walker?
Herschel read my blog
Aug 1, 2007 | 7:52 AM

I get asked if he's my brother all the time after folks hear my name. But nah, I'm way bigger than H. Walker... :)
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Herschel

Dallas, (75287) by way of Waterproof, LA (71375). 10-year Army vet. 10 years in corporate America. Husband, Father, Son, Christian, Part-Time Comedian.

Member Since: 10/9/2006