A video of a helicopter flying over the Drakensberg negligently with a body attached on a rope, following a rescue operation, has sent shockwaves through social media.
In the video, posted on Facebook in a group called FlyAfrica, the helicopter is seen taking off from the Drakensberg mountain range, and then you see a rope with a stretcher holding the body of ‘a foreign national’, according to the post. The body is tossed around by the wind, and all you can do is hold your breath hoping it doesn’t plummet from the air to the ground.
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It is unclear who shot the video, and details of the rescue mission are still unclear.
‘Guarantee whoever signed him off should also go through some training’
One social media user said: “Im sorry, I had to watch that twice as I could not believe what I saw. Not because it was a body but that Pilot must know F’all about slingloading anything. Guarantee whoever signed him off should also go through some training.If that load was on cable and he caught it, it could have jerked his ass out of the sky or snapped and gone through the rotor system.Someone should follow up on this.”
Many called out the pilot for being disrespectful to the deceased.
Another wrote: “No one asked at what altitude this happened. To get out of ground effect up at a high altitude you can’t just climb. You will need forward momentum or fly straight off the mountains edge. Why sling it? Why not strap it to the belly?”
