Who was the greatest pilot you ever saw?

You're lookin' at him..... Fly High Gordo

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Asgara
"Embrace the pain, spank your inner moppet, whatever....but get over it"http://asgarasworld.bravepages.com
http://perditionsgate.bravepages.com

AsgaraI do not know the person's name but in Mexico city? quite a few years back I remember seeing on tv a fire that was raging in a hotel in the upper half of the building.A local small helicopter removed a few people at first and in doing so he was able to get a good base for his landing rails on the corner of the building.
That impressed me quite well until the next one came along.I believe it was a military helicopter though I am not certain.Well,the building had a central structure rising above the roof proper and because of the size of his craft the pilot had to bring his blades within a couple of feet of this structure,I would say,in order to place one landing rail on the very edge of the building.
Imagine,if you will,the heat rising from the building on the outside,the propwash of the blades rebounding off the inner structure, people jumping in,while performing the single hardest maneuver for a helicopter which is holding still.Under this pressure I never saw that pilot budge an inch.He held that beast rock steady until all remaining were aboard then slowly backed off into space and took them to safety.I have never seen anything quite like that before or since.

Sorry you had to leave us, Gordo.

Yes Sidelined, I've seen some incredible feats of aeronautics in rescue situations.I don't know if you have seen the movie "The Right Stuff", the title of this thread is a line from that movie. Gordo Cooper was very...shall we say...confident. I don't know if it was a usual line from him in real life but it showed his personality quite well in the movie.

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Asgara
"Embrace the pain, spank your inner moppet, whatever....but get over it"http://asgarasworld.bravepages.com
http://perditionsgate.bravepages.com

AsgaraI am sorry for the mistaken assumption on my part about the jist of your post and having been an avid follower of the Apollo program I was aware of Gordon Cooper{backup commader for Apollo X}and I just spotted the news concerning his passing.You sound as though you had a personal connection to Gordon Cooper is this correct?