I’ve been batting this idea around for awhile in my head, and I’m wondering what it would take:
I want to have a helicopter take me to the top of Mt. Everest, drop me off for a few pictures, and wisk me off again. this way when i have grandkids I can be flipping through some photos and say “oh here’s me and your mom in washington DC, here’s me and my mom at disney world, there’s me on Mt. Everest, oh and look this is me at the hollywood sign…”
so what would it take to acomplish this feat? are any choppers built today equipped to handle the kind of wind currents there must be up there? can they even go that high?
They can go that high, or at least they have in the past.
Everest has a height of 29,000 ft, give or take a few. The world record for altitude in a helicopter is 40,820 ft, set by an Aerospatiale SA315B Lama in 1972. I suppose it’s also relevant that the altitude record for takeoff/landing is around 24,600 ft, so you couldn’t set the thing down anywhere near the top.
Helicopters don’t like high winds when landing or taking off. Everest is notorious for high winds, not surprisingly. While it’s not an extreme technical climb, it is brutally cold at times and bad weather at the summit is not uncommon.
Helicopters don’t like high altitude particularly, either.
I believe the highest rescue is considerably lower than 29 thousand. It’s extremely dangerous as well. Not many pilots want to hang around at extreme high altitudes so you can take pictures, basically.
Even if it were possible, what happens if they drop you off and they get weather? You ready to hang around for a week or so on the summit? Maybe try and bum some Gorp off of any expeditions that amble by? Maybe a spot of rancid yak-butter tea?
You’d be a lot better off with a digital fake photograph of your face superimposed on a real climber on the summit, if all you want is bragging rights. Personally, the helo-skiiing and adventure stuff is obnoxious.
I seem to recall in the IMAX movie Everest an incident where a chopper was called in to rescue someone in a Mt. Everest expedition. The movie stressed how dangerous it was to fly a chopper at that altitude and with those wind currents–and this was without flying directly over Everest. I can’t say it would be impossible, but I would think that it would be very risky, at best.
Like as not, without supplemental oxygen, you’d be dead in a couple hours, since you wouldn’t be acclimitized to the rarefied air on top. So, add a weeks worth of oxygen bottles to your mountainous pile of equipment/gear that would be required for safety purposes in case the helicopter couldn’t come back to pick you up, or mechanical breakdown.
There may be some airspace issues as well, since it’s a border area, and the chinese might take offense, that sort of thing.
Trekking is very popular, however. Basically, you slog about the spectacular valleys in the Himalaya, several of which are above 17,000 feet and get sick there, then come home. Kind of pricey, but popular with the well-heeled.
Sounds liks a cool idea, f_n. Now, why can we put a man on the moon, but we don’t have helicopters that can deal with the altitude and the weather? Are there any helicopters that can do this? (not just the common ones, I’m asking about military 'copters).
Not to worry, FN. Within 30 years, some obnoxious corporation will install a pressurized monorail that whisks pasty-faced tourists from the base camp hotel-casino-brothel-mega mall all the way up to the summit for a steaming cinnamon latte in the Starbucks franchise whose balcony provides a nice backdrop for a quick photo op.
tsunamisurfer, not all tourists are pasty-faced. Now, can anyone answer my helicopter question? I am really interested in the answer, I plan on chartering one to Everest after I can buy my way into earth orbit.
Okay, since you appear to be serious, here’s a more realistic idea: commandeer a jet, divert it over Everest, then at 40,000 feet jump out with a parachute strapped to your back, an oxygen tank strapped to your chest, and an ice axe in each hand. Plant firmly upon impact. (Tip: avoid tumbling down into Tibet.) Once you drive your flag into the true summit, dash off the side of the Kangshung Face while simultaneously popping open your reserve parasail (very clever!) and then glide all the way back to the United States (with rocket assist) and a weekend getaway with a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model.
OK, tsunamisurfer, maybe I asked in the wrong way, but I am interested in the helicopter thing. I was thinking more of a Harrier-type aircraft, and I would be interested in knowing if there is an aircraft that at this point in time is capable of summiting Mount Everest.
And BTW, when you book my flight, I would prefer male swimsuit models, and I like dark-haired men.
It would seem to me that the summit of Everest is well outside the parameters that any aircraft is designed to takeoff or land within. Also, from an engineering perspective, the low air density and pressure would really decrease the lift.
Basically, it’s not that we couldn’t, just that designing anything to takeoff or land at that altitude would require sacrifices in the other 99.99% of the places in the world it would be used.
Apart from the altitude itself is the question of the prevailing weather at the summit. High winds don’t just make landing dangerous, it precludes landing at all, but not crashing.
Thank you waterj2 and Tedster for your answers. It seeems to me that we should be able to come up with an aircraft that is capable of handling such extreme conditions. I thought it was simply overcoming the thin air that would be a problem, but some 'copters have been able to handle extreme weather, right? I am thinking of Coast Guard helicopters that can fly out to rescue people in hurricane conditions.
If everyone will forgive this newcomer’s wild-assed guessing, Maybe I can help?
Well, as long as price/danger/etc. aren’t an issue, and we’re just talking about technical possibility, Hmmm…
Perhaps instead of actually LANDING on the summit, could one repel down to within a reasonable distance? Ala Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October? (I’m blithely assuming that with proper equipment, you’d be able to climb, I don’t know, 50 feet or so to the very top) You might not need your aircraft to stay completely stationary for that, at least. Being slammed into a snow pack at 40 mph might be a problem, on the other hand…
As for your extraction…perhaps fulton gear? Ala the U.S. “Corona” satellites, or, more importantly, like that captured general in The Green Berets?
Of course, the real question is: If you’re only dropping YOURSELF onto Everest for a picture…Who’s going to hold the camera?
Ranchoth
I’ve always wondered if a high-tech jet pack would be able to do it. The main problem I can see is the time of the burn required to summit and decend, and if the amount of fuel is feasible. The winds would be a problem once again as well though.
This question makes not a bit of sense. Why can I drive to work in the morning, but I don’t own a yak? Can a helicopter be designed that could deal with the altitude and weather? Of course. Why isn’t there one? No Government, corporation of person cares at this time to fund the development and building costs.
Actually, there are windows of opportunity that WOULD allow a landing of sorts on Everest. During the prime climbing periods (usually early May and, lesser so, in September), the jet stream diverts away from Everest momentarily and the winds can slow to a mild breeze. Some climbers have reported almost zero wind while on the peak.
Since a balloon is out of the question (or is it?), I think your best shot would be to parasail down on an nearly windless morning. Problem is, at 29,000 the chute would not provide very effective braking. But if you were good and very, very lucky, you could crash land near the corniced “Standard Route” ridge just meters from the summit, detach the chute, stagger the remaining few yards past the snow-and-rock strewn summit, and pose for a quick photo opp.
This, of course, would be a suicide mission, inasmuch as you will not be acclimatized to altitude and the weak stream of gas (and rarified ambient air) you are breathing will not sustain your life.
(Tip: Remember not to land on the cornices themselves. Climbers have accidentally broken through them before and fallen miles to their deaths.)
