| Hi there I was flying the 20 year old Bolkow Helicopter today and my ICS box failed. I couldn't talk to my passenger beside me or on any of the radios. I landed on an island at the very end of the Mississippi River Delta that had an oil processing facility on it. I called the tower of the airfield that I was based at and asked them if I could get a green light signal to land back there in 45 minutes. They said it was OK and that they would be looking for me. I then called my company radio room and told them that I would make my calls to them in the blind but that I wouldn't be able to hear them. They expect a call every 15 minutes. After 30 minutes they start calling around looking for you and after 45 minutes they start to launch an airborne search for you. I flew back to the airfield and when I was about a mile from the tower I got a flashing green light followed by a steady green light. I landed at my base and shut down. I then called our Operations to close out my flight plan. Ops was about ready to launch a search for me as they never heard from me and the radio room people never told Ops that I called them before my flight and prearranged the no contact flight. The funny part of the story, though, is that when I told the other pilots that I had to get a green light from the tower, they were envious of me. One said "I have never even seen a green light from the tower. " You know the tower light guns were put in the towers way back when airplanes had unreliable radios. My helicopter has 3 radios, so the odds of all three going out is very slim. With my 5000 hours of flight time, I have never lost more than one radio at a time. So, because I lost the ICS box that controls all the radios, I experienced total radio failure. Every year we get tested on what all of the different light signals from the tower mean. You read the list again and say "whatever" because you know the odds of that happening is about the same as winning the lottery and there are more important things to be current on and keep in your memory. On the other hand, the other day I had a passenger door jiggle loose and open up. They are like van doors that slide rearward. A few years ago a pilot was flying a Bolkow and one door slid off the hinges and sailed off into the ocean. My problem was that there were no passengers in back. If there were, I could have gotten someone to re-close the door. It was on my side, so I tried to reach back and close it but it was just out of my reach. I'm sure my helicopter flew funny as I was stretching my arm back to the back seat to try to close it. My real concern was that one of the life vests in the back seat might blow out the door and wrap aroung the tail rotor. Now that would be a real problem. Anyway, I slowed down and landed back on the rig that I was circling, and shut the door. It is interesting to have the passengers sit right next to you. They ask you questions like "if someone jumped out (we are at 2000 feet), would someone break their legs? I answered " the only good news is that you would have about 20 seconds to make it right with the Lord, as you would die on impact. I also regularly get asked what the in flight movie is. I always reply "BlackHawk down" Mike | 
airplanes
. TGIF! 
