The Helicopter Pilot Who Set Two World Records — One By Mistake!

On the 21st of June 1972, Helicopter Pilot Jean Boulet set a record for the highest altitude reached by a helicopter. The Helicopter he used was stripped of non-essentials. Extra seats, the stabilizers, tail rotor guard, and also the battery and starter, were all removed for weight to make it easier for the craft to meet its goals —  or so they thought. 

Due to the thin air and increasingly freezing temperatures, things started to get hairy fast. As Boulet passed an altitude of 11,000 meters the thinning air and cold were already restricting the craft’s movements. Boulet was unable to climb any higher. What’s worse, the helicopter’s engines flamed out. Remember that battery and starter removed for weight? I bet Boulet regretted that decision in the moment. With no way to restart the engine, the craft went into autorotation. 

Boulet also had no way to navigate. His altitude instruments were again removed for weight, and the plexiglass of the cockpit was bubble-iced under the immense cold, and the clouds were too thick to see through. Boulet managed to locate a light spot in the clouds while looking out through the canopy which he identified as the sun. With this as his only means of navigation, he managed to descend the powerless craft in autorotation for the full 8-mile descent. 

Boulet managed not only to land the craft, but he did so within FAI requirements of his exact takeoff point. This means that in one flight he not only broke the record for highest ascent, but also unintentionally broke the record for the highest ever power-off autorotation landing — a record that remains unbroken to this day.