The MD500D Island Hoppers helicopter

Message

golfmobile · #1 Post by **golfmobile** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 1:07 am

Okay, I checked here, and there's not a thread for this subject, though I know it has been discussed in some detail. So I'm considering it a part of the "cast" (like the Ferrari and the estate?).

When I came home from a flight to Chattanooga this evening, Larry was watching "Destroyed in Seconds" on History or Discovery or some such channel. He said they had just showed the crash with the helicopter where Kux was flying and Tiny picked up the heli to free Kux. Thank goodness for DVR, so I could back up and got that clip recorded. When I get it transferred to useable video, I will post it so you can all see it, for those of you who haven't.

Or is it already on youtube? Let me (the rest of us who hadn't seen it) know if it's already there. In this clip, they had to blur out Tiny's rear end, as I guess his "electrician's crack" was showing a little too much in his effort to free Kux than could be shown on broadcast TV.

The show said that Kux stopped flying helicopters after this accident, but I thought he kept flying. Input?

I need to ask "Michael" about this too . . . . if he remembers it and whatever an insider's story of it may be.

So if it's already on the internet somewhere, let me know and I won't bother to digitize it and post it here.

golf

SelleckLover · #2 Post by **SelleckLover** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 2:47 am

Footage of the crash is here:

http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/343846 ... -97-a.html

Scroll down to the post with the link.

The post by mu2.rick also states that Kux lost the use of his left arm from the crash, and had to stop flying.

golfmobile · #3 Post by **golfmobile** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 1:02 pm

SL,

Thanks. That video, for me at least, stopped when the guys jumped down in the ditch. The one I recorded shows Tiny lifting the heli and the other guys pulling Kux out, then shows him getting treated by the ambulance folk, etc.. If there's a full clip, let me know, and I won't bother with mine.

golf

P.S. Here's what "Michael" says about it:

Kux crash took place after 1988 or 89, the show had ended already ...I was
living in Los Angeles by then and heard about it...
..I saw it years later on TV...talked to Tiny & Steve Kux about it in the '90's.
The last I saw Steve he gave me a ride in his car...
he said that it was an electrical control malfunction...he had no control....and
he was good.
He did stop flying...he said it scared the sh*t out of him...about staying with
the show...the show was over already.
I haven't seen him since that day he gave me a ride, I don't know what happened to
him after that...I still see Tiny around town.

SelleckLover · #4 Post by **SelleckLover** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 3:24 pm

golf:

I couldn't remember if there was more to that clip or not. It's been a long time since I've seen it. I watched the clip and it stopped where you said it did. I couldn't find any other clips.

SL

golfmobile · #5 Post by **golfmobile** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 3:43 pm

SL,

Thanks. I'll upload mine. Can't hurt to see the whole thing, even if it is "again." Now we know more and can appreciate it more, in theory.

golf

golfmobile · #6 Post by **golfmobile** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 3:41 pm

Okay, the entire (?!?!) 2:30 minutes sequence from Destroyed in Seconds is

here

golf

pburke29 · #7 Post by **pburke29** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 5:07 am

I remember seeing a tour chopper painted like TC's on Maui back in 1986.

Jeffrey · #8 Post by **Jeffrey** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 12:38 pm

golfmobile wrote:Okay, the entire (?!?!) 2:30 minutes sequence from Destroyed in Seconds is

here

golf

I just watched it, gladd that Steve recovererd. How many choppers did they use in the series?

SelleckLover · #9 Post by **SelleckLover** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 7:28 pm

pburke29 wrote:

I remember seeing a tour chopper painted like TC's on Maui back in 1986.

I remember reading somewhere (please correct me if I'm wrong) that this was not a special paint job. It was the standard paint job that Hughes put on all the 500Ds made at that time.

golfmobile · #10 Post by **golfmobile** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 7:41 pm

SL,

I'm not sure, but as I understand it, the PATTERN was a standard, but it was usually in red, white, and black. I think the yellow, orange, and brown was done for MPI/IH.

(P.S. We're thinking about getting a German Shepherd puppy -- we're going to name him Quigley! I couldn't talk Larry into naming him Magnum, but I actually like Quigley better as a name. He will then become one kick-a** dog! And when he misbehaves, I can quote and play the "Matthew Quigley is really beginning to annoy me" soundbyte! I think I'll train him to drop and lie down and be perfectly still whenever he hears Alan Rickman say that.)

golf

golfmobile · #11 Post by **golfmobile** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 4:36 pm

Our upstairs (main living space) has been without A/C since last Wed. -- UGH! Hottest days of the year so far and our house is 94 degrees inside.

Anyway, new system being put it today, and Larry is at home and sent me this email at the office:

You might be interested to note that everyone (repairmen, contractors, AC guys) have all noticed your Magnum helicopters.
It would be hard not to due to the size LOL but they all knew them as Magnum.

Isn't it nice that the heli is recognized?? I can guarantee you my parents didn't recognize it (but then they were discreet enough not to even mention it, looming up above them!).

This picture doesn't show the other little one that is there beside it. I'll see if I can get a "group shot."

Here we go:

golf