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The pilot buries the front of his skids into the snow and holds a level attitude while the rotor blades get perilously close to the slope of the mountain in front of him. This daring feat was part of a rescue, and it is an extreme example of a technique all new helicopter pilots learn.
Slope landings, or setting the helicopter down on an incline, sounds simple enough, but it is fraught with gotchas. Pick a slope that’s too steep, rush the maneuver, or mix up the controls and you could easily end up with a spinning pile of scrap.
Many rotorcraft flight manuals specify the maximum slope angle the ship can handle. The Airbus H125 is limited to a slope of 8 degrees, for example. Obviously this can be difficult to judge, but experience helps. Others point to full cyclic travel as the primary limiting factor, not unlike the crosswind limits of an airplane.
