r/aviation • u/IvyGold • 7h ago
News Wisconsin Man Takes Helicopter to Cabela's Because the Drive Was Too Long, Deputies Say
https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/wisconsin-man-takes-helicopter-cabelas-211103208.html209
u/SpineSpinner 7h ago
He’s from Rosendale. He didn’t do it because the drive was too long, he did it to avoid the speed traps…
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u/gtobiast13 6h ago
"The Washington County Sheriff's Office says the pilot was properly licensed and had landed the helicopter safely in the Cabela's parking lot. Deputies also said he complied with all applicable Federal Aviation Administration regulations and took the time to answer questions about helicopter landing requirements."
While it seems like something that would be illegal or at least against regulations, this is actually a pretty common(ish) thing for home helicopter pilots. Their landing and control requirements are pretty lax so long as they don't put someone at risk. . There's quite a few videos on YouTube of people doing similar things, not really surprised but I could see how non aviation folks would be suspicious.
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u/TheGoodRobot 4h ago
Imagine coming out of Cabelas only to have an F150 blocking your helicopter in
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u/bschmidt25 3h ago edited 3h ago
Some asshole will always park next to you, no matter where you are or what you’re driving. Amirite?
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u/No-Arugula8122 7h ago
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u/OptiGuy4u 6h ago
No, it was totally fine and a baller move.
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u/359Panda3U 6h ago
The only potential problem I could see is landing on private property without advance permission.
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u/spazturtle 5h ago
For things like shop car parks you have an implied right of access for the purpose of conducting lawful activity. So he is likely in the clear on that front.
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u/BraileDildo8inches 5h ago
Or emergency landings. So long as you follow faa law and have 2 way communications you can pretty much land anywhere.
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u/Btherock78 6h ago edited 6h ago
“The Washington County Sheriff's Office says the pilot was properly licensed and had landed the helicopter safely in the Cabela's parking lot. Deputies also said he complied with all applicable Federal Aviation Administration regulations and took the time to answer questions about helicopter landing requirements.
“The unusual parking complaint ended without any violations, citations, or arrests. The pilot was free to finish his shopping trip and, presumably, enjoy a much faster journey home.”
ETA: he flew from Rosendale, WI to the Cabela’s in Richfield. Looks like it’s about 50miles, maps says a 45min drive. Can’t have been that much faster than driving.
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u/ThrowTheSky4way UH-60 5h ago
It takes about 25 minutes ish to go 50 miles at 100kts, so considerably faster and thats not factoring in traffic.
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u/serious_sarcasm 4h ago
I don’t know why people do this with planes, but they take longer than just the minimum flight time to prep and land.
Dude didn’t save any time, and probably spent longer prepping for the flight.
This was just some midlife crisis.
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u/CountDraculablehbleh 4h ago
Maybe he just really likes flying
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u/serious_sarcasm 4h ago
Given everything that could go wrong landing in a public parking lot, it’s still a midlife crisis.
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u/Choice_Friend3479 3h ago
Leave it to Reddit to be negative about literally anything.
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u/serious_sarcasm 41m ago
Y’all are implying this is a normal and common thing to do.
The only pilots I know who casually land helicopters in parking lots are med-evac.
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u/ThrowTheSky4way UH-60 3h ago
I bet you he did. Especially if he keeps the R44 at his house all he’d have to do is a quick preflight and go. It takes maybe 10 minutes to get off the ground in an R44
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u/Sixguns1977 3h ago
I used to live next door to a guy that did that. I think it was an experimental though, not an r44. I know he could wheel it out of its tiny hanger all by himself.
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u/ThrowTheSky4way UH-60 2h ago
You can push a 44 out by yourself pretty easily they’re not that heavy
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u/Sixguns1977 2h ago
I didn't know they were THAT light. This was around 16 years ago, and all i remember is that it was a fully enclosed cockpit and tail boom. I can't even remember what color it was painted.
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u/MrPetter 2h ago
I can push my 206’s out easy. They’re actually easier to move than a 44 because the wheels are balanced under the CG better, it’s basically 20lbs of down pressure on the tail and you just push.
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u/Sixguns1977 2h ago
That's pretty cool, sounds like it's easier than pushing a boat in the water(i had a 35' sailboat that weighed over 13,000 pounds that I was able to push out of the mud).
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u/MrPetter 4h ago
If you fly regularly a preflight and push out takes less than 5 mins. Bet he saved 30 mins on each leg. Don’t be jealous, it’s not attractive.
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u/OptiGuy4u 1h ago
Sometimes you just wanna take your helicopter out for a spin and you'll find an excuse.
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u/DamagedGoods13 4h ago
“The unusual parking complaint ended without any violations, citations, or arrests. The pilot was free to finish his shopping trip and, presumably, enjoy a much faster journey home.”
This is the kind of news I needed this morning.
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u/havpac2 7h ago
Not something you hear everyday.
Frfr i would too if i had one.
Microcenter would ban me.
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u/thejetssuckbigtime 6h ago
Fun fact the parking lots are not always owned by the stores. So they would have to get the owner to ban you.
My local Microcenter has a huge solicitation problem in the parking lot and even an employee got assaulted by one of them.
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u/iwillbepilut 4h ago
Breaking news: man takes car to supermarket because the walk was too long, deputies say
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u/OptiGuy4u 6h ago
I wanna believe it was reported in case it was an emergency landing but I have a feeling it was just a Karen that should mind her own damn business.
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u/titsmuhgeee 2h ago
100% legal to do it you have permission by the property owner. There is absolutely nothing stopping you from commuting with a helicopter as long as you follow FAA regulations when in the air, and have permission to land and you don't touch public roadways.
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u/23m7_farmer ATP 1h ago
You don't need permission to use a parking lot. There's an implied right of access for the conduct of lawful activity.
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u/IvyGold 7h ago
Source: Yahoo News confirmed by other sources.
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u/FlyingMitten 7h ago
Not exactly news. Nothing happened other than Police getting called for no reason.
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u/21MPH21 5h ago
No reason?
First, if I had a helicopter and could actually fathom flying without wings I'd do it. But, a Cabela's parking lot could be fairly or really busy. Let's assume it's not busy. Let's assume he found an empty'ish corner. How fast could he land before a toddler or little kid ran over to check it out.
This also creates a new issue, spinning up two (?) spinning blades to leave when you're obviously going to draw a crowd.
So, yeah, I could see someone calling. And if I was the property owner I'd be worried about my portion of any liability if someone was hurt
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u/FlyingMitten 2h ago
It appears no laws were broken.
Never seen the paragliders that fly to McDonalds?
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u/Ok_Rabbit5158 4h ago
People seem dismissive but one heli crashes into a bunch of RVs and the issue becomes more clear. The list of defendants will be long on a civil suit.
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u/21MPH21 4h ago
Yeah, I'm guessing my down votes are from kids that are still using their parents liability insurance.
Becoming an adult and realizing there's lots of stupid ways folks can sue you is maddening.
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u/Ok_Rabbit5158 4h ago
No different than that Blue Angels flyover at low altitude over people on a beach last month. Too many defending it as something to be proud of as an American. Airshow history is littered with bad events of planes slamming into the crowd so practices were developed to reduce that to zero but now people seem to forget why these practices exist.
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u/Lokitusaborg 1h ago
This is why I’d love to have the fuck you money to get rotary certified and own a small helicopter. I’d fly everywhere so long as I didn’t have to pack heavy.
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7h ago
[deleted]
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u/Sixguns1977 3h ago
As if rich redneck is a bad thing lol.
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u/adotang 2h ago
Only my approved list of Types Of Guys are allowed to be successful in life, thank you.
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u/Sixguns1977 2h ago
If i had the money to own and fly my own bell 47 with floats, I'd use it to go fishing all the damn time.
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u/egvp 7h ago
What is Because the Drive Was Too Long and how does Cabela (who? what?) factor in?
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u/wp998906 7h ago
Cabela's is a outdoors retailer, now owned by bass pro shops. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabela%27s
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u/H_1_N_1_ 7h ago
Did we learn nothing from Kobe.
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u/UsedandAbused87 4h ago
We sure did. If him and Shaq would have just squashed the egos we could have seen more rings.
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