helicopter summits Mount Everest

What will it cost to have a helicopter come and save your life?

What has changed, I always heard that there wasn't enough air for the rotors to grab at that elevation?

Conditions would have to be near perfect for a helcopter to extract you. Usually when it is that nice, climbers don't have as many problems. I think if you need it, chances are they won't be able to help.

Quote: Ayecarumba

Conditions would have to be near perfect for a helcopter to extract you. Usually when it is that nice, climbers don't have as many problems. I think if you need it, chances are they won't be able to help.

Even the weight of the rescue gear and the rescued person might make it impossible.

Could you land a Harrier jet on it?

Interesting. I always thought the air was too thin that high for helicopter travel. I hope to not see a business of tourists being flown to the top.

Quote: Wizard

I hope to not see a business of tourists being flown to the top.

I hope you do not get upset when it happens. We know it will.

They say the path up is already a dump with everything the climbers leave behind.

In 29 April 2010, a stripped-down AS350 B3 rescued three Spanish alpinists, one at a time, from the slopes of Annapurna I, Nepal at an altitude of 22,640 ft ; this set a new record for the highest such rescue.

The record was increased to 25,590 ft, during the rescue of Sudarshan Gautam between Camps III & IV in Everest's Yellow Band on the morning of 20 May 2013.

So no rescues for the top 3,5000 ft of Everest as of yet.

Quote: Ayecarumba

Conditions would have to be near perfect for a helcopter to extract you. Usually when it is that nice, climbers don't have as many problems. I think if you need it, chances are they won't be able to help.

A lot of the hired sherpas die in avalanches at somewhat lower altitudes. The paying customers tend to die of falls at higher altitudes.

On 19 May 2016, 209 climbers made it to the summit. So it can get pretty crowded up there.

Aside from the power problems of reduced engine power at higher altitudes and lower density air making lift harder to generate, another one of the difficulties is that helicopters, generally, are not pressurized.

As any rotor head will proudly proclaim: Helicopters do not fly, their pilots simply beat the air into submission.

The difficulty is that all maneuvers require more than straight and level flight. Even in a fixed witn aircrafts turns and banks can increase the requirements for lift rather drastically.

At extreme altitudes the flight envelope is already being challenged and complex maneuvering will only add to the necessity for lift at a time it may not be available. Even at sea level when a yachtsman is about to be rescued, the Coast Guard has to warn the yachtsman that the rotor wash will have the force of severe storm. This can be critical at the scene of a high altitude rescue.