Blackhawks never go down, do they? Special

Blackhawk choppers low over crowded city streets? Flight safety standards over an Oz capital city reach new heights. About a hundred feet, more or less,

A Queenslander who does not wish to be named, just back from tour of the badlands to the south, had an astonishing tale to relate. In case you are not a Queenslander yourself (probably just hard luck and not your fault) I should perhaps explain that among us Queenslanders, everything south of the Tweed River is referred to as "Mexico" and a local venturing down there and not in a football team, is a rare and daring thing. Anyway, while driving carefully through one of the larger of the native villages, which he said they call Melbourne, our intrepid explorer observed an amazing and alarming sight. Six Blackhawk helicopters flew down the main street, right over his head, one after the other, see. here for the technicals. The man, an experienced pilot, said it was the maddest thing he had seen for a long time. "They came down the main street really low. I would estimate they were only about a hundred feet up. Then they went round and came down two more times. When he was asked by this reporter if he had any idea why, he said he was a bit baffled. "Maybe they were hunting for a dangerous porcupine that had evolved wings, or something?. Or maybe they were training for the accident they were going to have, if they just kept at their training long enough? You must get it right, if you do it often enough". He commented further: "We have really well -thought-out regulations for civilian pilots here. I had thought the rules applied down south also. If this was the military, objecting to the health and safety obsession that's sweeping Australia, good on them, that was the perfect protest. It was not just my partner and I who were baffled. Everyone in Melbourne was asking themselves what was going on. The streets were full of people and cars, and the air flows between such buildings are tricky. " Neil Bowers, another Queenslander, flew Iroquois in Vietnam for the Royal Australian Air Force on more missions than he is game to admit to. Over a cuppa with this reporter, after hearing the story, Neil observed that such training over urban areas was not reasonable . "What were they trying to achieve, he asked? If you go down, you have nowhere to go. You want to keep in mind that helicopters are four times more likely to crash, per operating hour, than fixed wing aircraft. The problem is, young pilots think they are bullet-proof. You don't want to spoil their fun, but they should go practise between trees." But then, Blackhawks don't ever crash, do they?