ndvalium
Rescue Director
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it was way cool to be in the Helicopter. Totally different experience. Was so hard to not get to talk to the boys. I am sure they are very happy that its against the rules. they would have hated me telling them what to do. LOL
I did have a handheld to tell them if there was a dangerous situation like a car rolled in a corner. I saw a 10 car stuck on the berm in the Python and could not get the helicopter headset off and grab the handheld fast enough. So they ended up hitting the 10 car before I could say anything. it was nuts to see things happen in real time. We saw two rollovers and called them out on the Radio to BITD. The helicopters are all on the same frequency and BITD monitors it. So if any pilot sees something they let BITD know. Pretty cool that all the helicopters are looking out for everyone not just who they are chasing. It was pretty busy in our helicopter with communications and navigation. started to really get the hang of it when they stopped with engine troubles. I felt so helpless not knowing what was going on and or helping so that was a negative of being in the helicopter.
Lots of very professional and talented Pilots up in the air during a BITD race. They do a great job to make us all safer.
Mike
I’ll second this. For people that don’t realize these pilots helps us each and every race. The reports we get from them help us spot issues and in many cases they will warn drivers or provide spotting for my team when we are responding.
Besides I simply like helicopters.