AbleGuy
Officious Intermeddler
Looks kinda pricey, but here is another tool to add to your “out in the middle of nowhere” recovery kit, when the tow truck drivers refuse to come to your rescue….helicopter extraction!
“It's called the toughest single-day off-road race for a reason. The King of the Hammers competition earns this crown by combining triple-digit speeds through wide-open California desert stretches featuring wicked canyons strewn with Volkswagen Beetle-sized boulders. Drivers and vehicles alike must be ready to tackle both—but that doesn't always work out.
The High Performance Helicopters team briefs before attempting to rescue a disabled side-by-side UTV from the King of the Hammers racecourse.
Engine failures, damaged tires, twisted metal, and other catastrophes have all left racers stranded in the Mojave Desert during King of the Hammers races. But when the terrain is so unforgiving that towing a vehicle back to the pits isn't an option, the aviation experts at High Performance Helicopters swoop in (read: steadily hover over) to help.
With vehicles still running the race course, the crew descends upon the UTV stranded somewhere on the Jackhammer North trail.
High Performance Helicopters is based in Redlands, California, about a 30-minute flight from where the racing takes place in Johnson Valley. High Performance Helicopters offers services ranging from moving payloads onto construction sites to aerial firefighting to recovering vehicles.
Recovery rigging is attached to the UTV, and care is taken to affix the damaged passenger wheel to the car during transport.
During the 2023 King of Hammers showdown, High Performance Helicopters twice dispatched aircraft to the desert, both times to recover stranded side-by-side UTVs. The company sent its HP-60A (a Sikorsky Black Hawk) and its Huey-based UH-1H+++. Both helicopters are demilitarized, and upfitted with rugged equipment that makes tasks like grabbing immobilized vehicles a snap.
(Photo credits, Dirt Cinema)
www.motortrend.com
“It's called the toughest single-day off-road race for a reason. The King of the Hammers competition earns this crown by combining triple-digit speeds through wide-open California desert stretches featuring wicked canyons strewn with Volkswagen Beetle-sized boulders. Drivers and vehicles alike must be ready to tackle both—but that doesn't always work out.
The High Performance Helicopters team briefs before attempting to rescue a disabled side-by-side UTV from the King of the Hammers racecourse.
Engine failures, damaged tires, twisted metal, and other catastrophes have all left racers stranded in the Mojave Desert during King of the Hammers races. But when the terrain is so unforgiving that towing a vehicle back to the pits isn't an option, the aviation experts at High Performance Helicopters swoop in (read: steadily hover over) to help.
With vehicles still running the race course, the crew descends upon the UTV stranded somewhere on the Jackhammer North trail.
High Performance Helicopters is based in Redlands, California, about a 30-minute flight from where the racing takes place in Johnson Valley. High Performance Helicopters offers services ranging from moving payloads onto construction sites to aerial firefighting to recovering vehicles.
Recovery rigging is attached to the UTV, and care is taken to affix the damaged passenger wheel to the car during transport.
During the 2023 King of Hammers showdown, High Performance Helicopters twice dispatched aircraft to the desert, both times to recover stranded side-by-side UTVs. The company sent its HP-60A (a Sikorsky Black Hawk) and its Huey-based UH-1H+++. Both helicopters are demilitarized, and upfitted with rugged equipment that makes tasks like grabbing immobilized vehicles a snap.
(Photo credits, Dirt Cinema)
These UTVs Got So Stuck, They Needed a Helicopter To Pull Them Out
This is one impressive extraction.
