Video: Pilot pulls incredible manoeuvre in French Alps helicopter rescue

To pilot chose to perform the ‘skate support‘ manoeuvre due to the adverse weather conditions on the pass.

Footage has emerged of an unbelievable helicopter rescue that took place in the French Alps on 2 January.

The rescue took place on Col d’Anterne near Chamonix after a skier dislocated his knee and was able to call for an evac from a mobile phone.

The video, posted by Nicolas Derely on Facebook, shows the Chamonix Gendarmerie pilot, Lt Jean-Francois Martin, ‘park’ his chopper up against the slope with the rotors whirling incehs from the mountain.

In a BBC video about the incedent, Martin said that the rescue team chose to perform the manoeuvre, known as a “skate support”, because of the weather conditions during the incident.

“It gained us some time because the weather conditions in the mountains were extremely changeable,” Martin said. “The level of cloud on the pass would have stopped us intervening just a few minutes later.”

Featured image: Nicolas Derely/Screenshot from video

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